press release

August 31, 2020

mCanvas' Interactive Mobile Ad for HDFC Life has Won a Prestigious Silver Accolade at CIDCA Awards 2020

Integrating face and speech recognition technology, the award-winning ad creative engaged users innovatively on mobile

mCanvas, the experiential storytelling ad platform for small screens, announced that it won a silver award for HDFC Life in the Mobile – Integrated category at the CIDCA Awards 2020.

HDFC Life wanted to promote its life insurance products as a step towards offering financial security to customers, while highlighting some of the policy benefits. Coupling innovative technology and creativity, the brand aimed to promote its insurance covers with a novel ad concept, that would resonate well with users and enhance the overall brand experience on mobile.

The tech-driven mobile ad created by mCanvas first prompted users to tap on the ‘I’m ready’ button to activate their phone’s camera. Instructing users to then point the camera to a loved one, the ad captured a photo of that person, using face recognition technology. Thereafter, they were encouraged to tap on the microphone button on the screen and say “Secure our future”. The ad then transitioned to the closing screen with the brand’s messaging, along with an option to ‘Showcase your love by sharing on WhatsApp’. The CTA enabled users to share a link of the microsite that contains the image of the loved one, along with the messaging via WhatsApp. Another CTA ‘Buy Today’, directed users to the website for more information on the insurance policies.


The campaign reached over 2.6 million users and saw a 1.2% click through rate which is 6 times the interest compared to the 0.20% industry average for mobile banners. Users spent over 8 seconds, on average, while engaging with the creative.

“It was important for us to showcase our insurance covers with a distinct, tech-driven ad with impeccable storytelling. The mobile campaign created by mCanvas achieved exactly that, and we are ecstatic to be conferred with this prestigious award,” said Vishal Subharwal, Executive Vice President – Ecommerce & Digital Marketing, HDFC Life.

To conclude, Vishal Rupani, Co-founder & CEO, mCanvas, said, “We always focus on delivering meaningful and relevant mobile experiences, that will drive value for our clients. By integrating face and speech recognition technology into our ads, we enabled users to interact and learn about the brand’s products in a unique way. Our gratitude to the CIDCA Awards 2020 jury for acknowledging our work.”

About mCanvas:

mCanvas is an experiential storytelling platform that helps brands emotionally connect with their audiences on small screens. Our mobile ads and content marketing solutions make experiences interactive and memorable by etching phone sensors and device features into the brand narrative. mCanvas is creating ‘wow’ moments every day by reinventing formats, building tools, and providing a marketplace (of 120+ publishers like The Times of India, The Indian Express, Entrepreneur India, CarDekho, ScoopWhoop) to run these experiences at scale. Our ads formats are programmatically available via Adobe, AppNexus, DV360 and MediaMath. To see our award-winning work and learn more, visit: uattest2.mcanvas.com

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