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Thursday, Oct 04, 2007
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Marketing Brand Line - Branding Marketing - Brands Brand new impact
Big bang branding: Hutch is re-branded Vodafone, UTI Bank becomes Axis Bank.
Purvita Chatterjee
Change is good’, especially when it comes with an image makeover to a better and upmarket product positioning. In the Indian context at present, a bank, mobile phone operator and an airline are hoping that their re-branding exercise will help them achieve that. . Inextricably linked with Hutch, the endearing pug has received special attention in Vodafone’s re-branding strategies. While Hutch’s migration to Vodafone has retained the pug and its meanderings, which have become synonymous with the phone’s networking capabilities, UTI Bank has brought in a set of twins to get its customers and the public at large connect emotionally with the Axis brand. And, in Air India’s instance, not willing to dilute the airline’s brand identification with the Maharaja, the airline will continue to use him as its mascot. Re-branding has started with a big bang for the Hutch brand as it becomes Vodafone in India. “This marks a significant chapter in the evolution of Vodafone as a dynamic and ever-growing brand. The brand change over the next few weeks will be unveiled nationally through a high-profile campaign,” says Asim Ghosh, Vodafone Essar’s Managing Director. The transition of Hutch to Vodafone is estimated to be a mega, Rs 200-crore campaign with multiple media channels being used to convey the message. Coincidentally, both brands already have an upmarket image in their respective markets and so transferring the values and emotions is not going to be difficult for the mobile telephony brand. As Hephzibah Pathak, Executive Brand Director, Vodafone, says, “Like Hutch, Vodafone is a brand with a very clear identity across the world. This simple and clear guideline gave us the necessary framework for our communication.” To move seamlessly from one brand name to the next, bringing in a familiar mascot is what is expected to do the trick in convincing consumers. Explaining the process of changing the Hutch brand, Pathak adds, “The important element in the changeover was to move seamlessly from Hutch to Vodafone with a positive attitude, while carrying our customers along with us. The pug is synonymous with our robust network and is the most endearing symbol of our brand. Our idea illustrates that the good things associated with us will continue while we build on our strong fundamentals. The baseline, Change is Good, implies that even if a well-loved brand changes, there are always positive aspects to it in the long run.” For UTI Bank, the re-branding story was slightly different. Making a clean break from its UTI heritage, Axis was the name chosen to represent its new global identity. Bringing in a set of twins to build an emotional connect with the new brand, for UTI Bank it was an attempt to build its image of being a professionally-run private bank with everything else remaining the same. Sumanto Chattopadhyay, Executive Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather, South Asia, says, “The change of name from UTI Bank to Axis Bank is precisely that: Only a name change. Everything else about the brand remains the same. Axis is a strong name with an international aura to it. It is very much in keeping with UTI’s success story in the private banking arena.” Rolling out a multimedia campaign to announce the change of name from UTI Bank to Axis Bank, it simultaneously reassured customers that the change of name will in no way affect the services offered by the bank. The creative platform adopted for the name change campaign was based primarily on twins: siblings whose names are different, but are identical in every other way. Television was given a priority as it gives the maximum reach amongst the mass media channels. Besides the mass media channels, the 2,500-odd ATM locations were also used to convey the name change message. Hemant Kaul, President - Retail, Axis Bank, explains that the name Axis is sharp, short, simple and acceptable in any geography or language. “This is in line with our global expansion aspiration. Axis Bank now has a pan-Asia presence — in Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai and Dubai. UTI has a connotation of being a PSU. The name ‘Axis’ reflects a more private sector identity, it reflects what the bank is more closely than UTI Bank did. Axis reflects new thinking.” Also, as Kaul elaborates, banking is a high-involvement product and involves product safety and security. Therefore people had to be assured that nothing would change with the re-branding from UTI Bank to Axis Bank. Kingfisher’s acquisition of Air Deccan would lead to the latter being re-branded under a new name. Plans are afoot to start the process. According to a spokesperson from Air Deccan, “The new brand positioning will be a shift from being a low-cost airline to a value-based airline. It will re-emerge with a new revamped stylish look.” The emphasis will be on creating a stylish airline keeping with the UB Group’s brand image. The branding exercise will encompass areas such as changing the look and feel of the aircraft, including interiors, ticketing and check-in counters and staff uniforms. The colours red and white will dominate the changes, with the aircraft, leather seats, carpet, boarding passes and airport counters painted red. When Indian Airlines and Air India merged, they retained the brand name of the latter due to its better brand positioning, says the Air India spokesperson. The logo was evolved out of a combination of the two airlines. The red coloured flying swan with the Konarak Chakra in orange became the new brand logo. Air India embarked on a massive advertising spree and signed six of the top Indian players for the print and hoarding campaigns. “We are going to graduate to television advertisements soon,” the company spokesperson adds. Like Air Deccan, Air India also plans to upgrade the aircraft quality by introducing different in-flight infrastructure and entertainment. For the uniforms, Pierre Cardin has been signed up for menswear, while Ritu Beri will be designing women’s modernised and contemporary salwar kameezes. The low-cost airline of the company, Air India Express, will introduce a food box for all passengers free of cost, unlike other low-cost fliers. However, in case of Sahara airlines being branded Jet Lite by Jet Airways, there could well be a dichotomy in the consumer’s mind of the new brand’s positioning. As Jagdeep Kapoor, Chairman, Samsika Marketing Consultants, says, “Jet has a premium connotation while Sahara was a low-priced air carrier. The Jet Lite brand might end up confusing its customers.” However, there are some success stories in re-branding. Binaca becoming Cibaca and more recently, the Awaaz channel being tagged as CNBC Awaaz are some of the examples cited by Kapoor. According to him, “If the transition is smooth and the integrity of core values retained, then any re-branding exercise can be successful. The new brand has to be updated and not outdated.” More Stories on : Marketing | Branding | Brands
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