The Hindu Business Line : Why logo?

Many corporates are donning new logos and seeking new identities. Is this just skin-deep or does it signal a fundamental change? Catalyst finds out.

BAJAJ Auto announced that it was getting onto the fast lane with a new logo, a stylised `B'; Dabur unveiled its characteristic banyan tree logo, albeit in a "younger, contemporary look" in form and colour which celebrates life; Kinetic jettisoned its symbol of red and blue letters spelling out the word Kinetic with a small forward arrow with a new one — a metallic grey and silver unit meant to indicate "high-precision engineering" which would turn on "aspirational" youth and also infuse a sense of dynamism into the company's products; and more recently, Bank of Baroda rose in a new avatar with what it calls the "Baroda Sun" with cricketer Rahul Dravid (in picture) roped in to endorse the brand which now projects itself as a modern and tech-savvy bank.

Brand marketers are calling it the impact of cut-throat competition in the domestic market. Faced with rising competition on the domestic front, many Indian companies are increasingly going in for a corporate brand makeover. But, as they insist, it's not merely a logo change but represents a fundamental shift in the way the companies will operate henceforth.

The last couple of weeks saw the Kinetic group and Bank of Baroda reveal their new logos. In the recent past, corporates such as ONGC and Tata AIG Life Insurance have also gone in for a similar change. And if market reports are to be believed, there are currently many companies, including the Indian subsidiary of a large FMCG firm, which are working on new corporate identities in an effort to look fresher, younger, more global and in sync with the times. "And not to forget, more relevant too," quips Sudhir Sharma, Director of Elephant Design, which has designed the brand identities for Bajaj Auto and Standard Chartered among others.

According to Sharma, it is the fast-changing society and environment which is driving companies to go in for a change in their corporate logo and identity. "The change has to be relevant, as the company is related to society and society is changing quickly and that change needs to be reflected," he says. "In fact, consumers are evolving all the time, so it becomes critical for companies to stay contemporary and relevant. A makeover gives a new identity and infuses freshness and is undertaken with an aim of altering perceptions," says an official from Synovate India, a market research firm. In most cases, the change in corporate logos is also used to announce a far-reaching change within the company itself.

As Meeta Malhotra, Director, Ray + Keshavan Design, which redesigned the Bank of Baroda logo, says, a logo is the face of a company and when you change that face, a company sets a certain level of expectation which it has to meet. "Logo redesign is meant to signal change in a company and is the most effective way to do it," she says. In BoB's case, she explains, the bank was itself undergoing a transformation in its operations and services. "It's a huge exercise, and companies need to communicate that they are changing in a tangible and visible way." A mere logo change without a change in a company's functioning is a meaningless exercise, she adds.

The Bangalore-based design house has a five-point test for a company's brand identity: Is it relevant, enduring, sustainable, memorable and unique? If they fail to meet one or more of the above requirements, companies should look at a change. "It is hard to imagine a company changing logos just for cosmetic reasons because it requires such significant investment and change management," says Malhotra

Interestingly, companies which are going in for a change in their corporate image can be divided into two - those that have already implemented a change in their style of functioning and want to come up with a fresher image to reflect it and those that are set to bring about far-reaching changes within the firm and are announcing those changes through a new corporate identity.

Two-wheeler major Bajaj Auto, for instance, opted for the former when it announced a change in its logo last year. Points out a market analyst, "Bajaj Auto had made the transition from a scooter company to a motorcycle one. At the same time, a younger management was taking over. There was increased thrust on R&D and there were several new product launches in the offing. The company had also taken widespread initiatives to upgrade its dealer network and service workshops. So the change in logo reflected these changes which had taken place within the company." Last year, the company replaced its more than 40-year-old logo with an open, abstract form of a stylised B, the "flying B" as it has been named, to represent style and technology.

Earlier this month, another two-wheeler manufacturer, Kinetic, rolled out its new logo and brand identity as the group is posed to undertake several new initiatives, the most important being the launch of its new range of Italjet scooters. The new logo will appear on all Kinetic two-wheelers, dealership insignia, advertising and other brand-related initiatives. "The fresh identity comes at a time when we are preparing to launch a series of very exciting Italian-designed new scooters," says Ajinkya Firodia, General Manager (Marketing), Kinetic. "A company's logo is perhaps the opening impression of a company in the eyes of its consumers both internal and external. For companies which grew organically over the last few decades and were often sheltered in an economy that did not allow competition, the importance of the logo or initial impression was lost. Too few players and hugely different product offerings! So no real competition. They didn't feel the need to invest in an image. However, increasing competition and the need of companies to be seen differently from their peers has catalysed the need for change." says Anisha Shakdher, Founder & Creative Head, Bounce Design.

This is probably the reason why even public sector banks are now going in for an image makeover. While State Bank of India is sprucing up many of its branches, the 97-year-old Bank of Baroda (BoB) is now sporting a new logo and will soon unleash a high-pitched ad campaign. The old logo makes way for a new one, which is a double `B' with a rising sun called `The Baroda Sun.' According to Anil K. Khandelwal, Chairman & Managing Director, BoB, "The new corporate logo is much more than a cosmetic change. It is a signal the bank recognises and is preparing itself for the new business paradigms in the globalised world."

Coinciding with the unveiling of the new logo, the Bank also announced that it would be launching a number of customer-centric initiatives, including IT products and expansion of electronic delivery channels. The uphill task, however, is to create a lasting, perceptible difference in the consumer's mind that its style of functioning too has changed. Otherwise, the whole exercise might be ineffectual.

"For instance, if a bank were to go in for a new corporate identity to appear younger and more modern, but its branches are working in the same manner in which they were earlier, the point of the whole exercise of a change in corporate identity would be lost on the consumer. Thereby, a change should not merely be cosmetic," points out Sharma. In other words, a huge bank such as Bank of Baroda, which has over 2,700 branches, would need to implement a change across a large portion of its network to make an impression. "In fact, it is tougher for service-oriented companies to make this transition. And even more difficult for banking ones, since they have to focus on building a relationship with the consumer and in the same breath ask them to use technology for banking, as banks increasingly do not want consumers visiting banks in order to cut costs," says Sharma.

On whether the makeover actually makes a difference to the company's sales, analysts say it depends on whether, after the initial "cosmetic" change, the company has been able to infuse the same freshness into its functioning over a period of time. Trademarks or logos are unique symbols that help identify a product, a brand or an institution, but as legendary designer Paul Rand once explained, "a trademark is created by a designer but made by a corporation."

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