Have you heard about Axis bank? I hope the answer would be a definite yes. It’s been a week since the UTI bank changed its name to Axis bank and thanks to their intense marketing effort in print media, bill boards and TV commercials, most of the people would be aware of the rebranding of UTI bank.
Having such a powerful and established brand for 13 long years, changing name is not that easy decision. But they are left with no other choice as they have the right to use the brand only till January 31, 2008, beyond that they have to pay royalty to the brand owner UTI AMC.
Unit Trust of India (UTI) – There is a possibility that some people might confuse the name with a Govt. entity. So when I first heard about the name change, I thought it was the bank’s decision to be a global player necessitates the change. But the fact that they waited till the deadline nears to change the name, shows the love for the name UTI with the management.
Everything is the same except the name – that’s the tag line they chose for this rebranding campaign. Yes, it focuses clearly on the name change, but what will a customer who had bad experiences with the bank previously think on hearing the campaign – Everything is the same? Add to that there will be always room for some improvement, however good one is now. So when you are spending crores of rupees for marketing, why say everything is the same?
May be the marketing team and the advertising agency Oglivy & Mather (O&M) did not want to do too many things with this rebranding exercise and should have decided to focus only on communicating the name change.
However, the bank would not spend such a big amount on advertising everyday. So this rebranding provided an wonderful opportunity for them to communicate their unique advantages or their global aspirations in addition to the change in name. A powerful tag line would have done the trick.
Now it’s an opportunity lost, indeed.
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“everything is same expect name”
Bad caption.As u said they might have sought for some good caption..:-)
They just want to build the new brand name in the long run . In short term it looks the marketing dept. spend crores. in long run they earn more.
Saravana – Thanks for your comments.
Anon – Yes, they want to build the new brand name in the long run. But they could have very well started that along with this name change campaign, saying Axis Bank is not the same but even better than UTI.
If they said “Axis Bank is not the same but even better than UTI”, then it might left the impression of UTI also exists. I believe, there clear focus to convey the name change alone is the correct thing, considering the UTI’s strong brand value.
Navaneeth – Agreed UTI has strong brand value and there should be clear focus to communicate the name change, however with a even more powerful tagline they could have communicated the name change along with some unique advantages or their aspirations too.