I started my life with advertising and from then I have been witnessing the fight for marketing budget that marketing teams always used to crib about. Marketing team wants to do so much for the brand through mass media but where is the budget ?
Today I am witnessing an ironic spectacle when marketing budgets have been showered on to the marketing team for a mega relaunch of a brand due to legal stipulations. And the marketing team wasting the opportunity - the once in a lifetime opportunity for a mega brand building exercise.
I am talking about the multi-crore mass media splash being done by Axis Bank - the erstwhile UTI Bank.
The message of the campaign - UTI Bank = AXIS Bank.
I wonder why Axis Bank cannot be better than UTI Bank?
It seems to me that UTI Bank is very disturbed by this development that they are forced to change their name from UTI Bank to AXIS Bank. As if it is a big loss for them. It is a lightning that struck them and they are fighting to say that they are not hurt.
I would have taken the situation to advantage. It would have been an opportunity to claim that we are changing for the better.
I would have understood if ICICI Bank or SBI had made such a claim that they have not changed. They have quite a sizeable share of market to worry about consumer dissonance. But UTI Bank has only to gain by changing for the better !!!!
What a loss of opportunity?
Without trying to justify what Axis Bank has done and looking at this very objectively, i think it's important that one understands the objectives of the campaign. The outcome needs to be judged against some goal...so what could this have been,
ReplyDelete1) UTI is one of the most recognised and largest financial brands in the country, thus no less significant that ICICI / SBI
2) The customer's sensitivity to a name change is more profound when his life's savings / investments are involved
3) It's first important to allay any fears of merger / takeover / change of management before any other objective is even set as failure to address this issue can lead to a chain reaction amongst customers affecting business (that is primarily based on trust)
4) UTI Bank is the fifth most valuable bank in India, has six million customers and therefore in no way small to not consider the basics
5) Other objectives can be met with a follow up / reinforcement communication, which i guess they will do
6) Reiteration: An advertisement campaign can only be as good as it's objectives
Whether or not it's an opportunity wasted, i believe, will be proven by how their business performs in the coming quarters....
Without trying to justify what Axis Bank has done and looking at this very objectively, i think it's important that one understands the objectives of the campaign. The outcome needs to be judged against some goal...so what could this have been,
ReplyDelete1) UTI is one of the most recognised and largest financial brands in the country, thus no less significant that ICICI / SBI
2) The customer's sensitivity to a name change is more profound when his life's savings / investments are involved
3) It's first important to allay any fears of merger / takeover / change of management before any other objective is even set as failure to address this issue can lead to a chain reaction amongst customers affecting business (that is primarily based on trust)
4) UTI Bank is the fifth most valuable bank in India, has six million customers and therefore in no way small to not consider the basics
5) Other objectives can be met with a follow up / reinforcement communication, which i guess they will do
6) Reiteration: An advertisement campaign can only be as good as it's objectives
Whether or not it's an opportunity wasted, i believe, will be proven by how their business performs in the coming quarters....
I really appreciate your comment on my blogopinion.
ReplyDeleteMy understanding however is that
Mass Media primarily TV are one way media and have instant mass reach. It is observed that you can make perceptions the way you want to.
So I agree with your objective point but then the objective could have been progressive in outlook.
Fear of merger, takeover and such issues can be takled by effective PR. PR, General share holder meetings et al are better vehicle to allay such fears...
Internal employee communication to spread a positive vibe to the customers also goes a long way to allay such fears in consumer minds.
Advertising more often than not needs to be progressive and the objective primarily should be to create perceptions.
I still think it is a lost opportunity.
Kindly excuse me for being direct but my understanding of the campaign based on whatever i have seen and read (check the article in the current brand reporter or this link http://digital.agencyfaqs.com/perl/digital/news/index.html?sid=18802 ) is that this was a 360 degree campaign across online, direct marketing, outdoor, print and TV. The 'only TV / mass’ perspective is therefore myopic.
ReplyDeleteFear of merger / takeover is not restricted only to investors if that is the assumption being made. Seeing many banks going bust makes every sensitive customer worried and he/she has every right to do so. Bad news spreads faster than any good one and therefore it would be extremely ambitious to rely on ‘Internal employee communication’ to communicate to millions of customers in a short period. Let me recall an incident in Ahmedabad where the news of ICICI Bank going bust spread like wild fire when one of its ATMs had run out of cash! This is how sensitive money matters can be.
In fact the very reasons for this exercise are technical and shareholder related, that a normal customer wouldn’t appreciate. There’s no point in therefore ‘trying to explain’ on one hand about the true reasons through PR/Press releases and claiming on the other that you are changing for the better. This would not only be wrong but suicidal, in attempting to send divergent signals.
Not wanting to get mired only in the Axis campaign and getting accused of trying to defend a particular brand, I think we tend to overestimate the value of mass advertising (TV advertising) in being able to change attitudes. I have my doubts. For every one successful mass campaign I can see 10 mediocre ones, may be even more. I don’t think a blanket certificate can be issued to ‘mass advertising’ about having the absolute power to make perceptions the way we want.
In fact the very notion that advertising aims to change/create ‘attitudes’ (and promotions tend to alter ‘behavior’) is suspicious. Take the example of ‘quit smoking’ advertisements. The smoker knows that his habit it harmful and can even kill him (building / changing attitude) but can’t alter his behavior. In fact change in behavior (the act of quitting smoking through workshops / peer persuasion) is what leads to an altered sustainable attitude towards the idea. Think about it!
(rc.priority@gmail.com)
You are right that they had a 360 degree approach to communication which is more of a reason for a opportunity loss. They have used media well with a very weak message.
ReplyDeleteSee, the very fact that Axis Bank is advertising is one reason that the bank is not bust but flush with money.
I really cant understand what is your point of contention.. my question is what is the harm in saying "I have changed for the better". How is it worse than saying I am the same. There are only positives about a progressive outlook. All your arguments really get taken care of by saying "I am changed of the better" ALSO. Where is the problem...
I am getting a sense that you are saying you cannot trust advertising always. So how does that make my prognosis incorrect. Moreover, if you think that way (even if it is true) before creating a advertising campaign, then you are starting on a pessimistic note. I dont understand why should I compare financial advertising with advertising of an addictive substance. I personally dont believe in anti smoking campaigns. The best advertising for antismoking was what I saw in Canada... all cigeratte packets have gory pictures of lungcancer, throat cancer etc. That might really make the smoker think twice before taking a cig from that packet.
By the way, research done by some agency (cant remember who) have found that the TOM recall of the AXIS campaign is not the new name of the bank. It is the kid. Consumers have remembered the kid more than the name.
I still maintain that there are better ways to announce a change of brand name.
My comments are prefixed by my initials against your points
ReplyDeleteI really cant understand what is your point of contention.. my question is what is the harm in saying "I have changed for the better".
RC: Because that's not the true reason for the name change. You can't fool the customer when the whole media is reporting what the truth behind name change is.
I am getting a sense that you are saying you cannot trust advertising always. So how does that make my prognosis incorrect.
RC: The following was your 'prognosis'...."It seems to me that UTI Bank is very disturbed by this development that they are forced to change their name from UTI Bank to AXIS Bank. As if it is a big loss for them. It is a lightning that struck them and they are fighting to say that they are not hurt."
anyways... let me tell you what I saw in Goa... None of the UTI Bank ATMS that I saw have been changed to AXIS BANK. ....
ReplyDelete