Bank of Baroda, Federal Bank hope to catch them young

The two banks have chosen to go down two divergent paths in their quest for the young customer base

When a recent survey informed the top team at Bank of Baroda (BoB) that close to 70 per cent of its customer base was less than 40 years of age, it took everyone by surprise. While there was a growing realisation that the bank’s customer profile was rapidly changing, the survey set things clearly in perspective. At another bank, another survey served a similar purpose: The majority, around 55 per cent, of the transactions being conducted with Federal Bank was via the digital route. For the bank, this was a signal to focus its branding initiatives around the digital consumer, largely the under-40 age group.

Interestingly however, the two banks have chosen to go down two divergent paths in their quest for the young customer. BoB has turned the spotlight on sports (not cricket, which the bank says is a cluttered space) as a brand qualifier and is focusing on creating mass visibility with its promotions and advertising initiatives. Federal Bank has, on the other hand, decided to use humour to define its brand, reaching out to its target audience with messages they can easily identify with.  

Bank of Baroda is backing the Under-17 FIFA World Cup, tapping into the euphoria for the sport among the young. It had also signed badminton stars PV Sindhu and K Srikanth before the Rio Olympics 2016. The idea is to be future ready said the bank. “The FIFA programme will touch 15,000 schools across the country covering more than 11 million students, teachers, parents etc. Bank’s presence in these programs is an opportunity to tap business and future mind space,” said Rakesh Bhatia, general manager, head (marketing and WMS), Bank of Baroda.

At Federal Bank, the aim has been to craft an effective communication campaign. “We intend to create desire with the theme question, ‘Why settle for less’,” said N Rajanarayanan, deputy vice president (marketing and investor relations), Federal Bank.

Humour, sports and brand value

Ask any expert and the unanimous view is that to build value and long term recall, a brand must step beyond the product or service that is being peddled under its name. For BoB, the decision to go with sports is driven by such a motive. However instead of cricket that has been the staple for brands looking to build mass appeal, BoB went with badminton and football. “Cricket is already overcrowded and endorsed by multiple brands, including other banks. We want to remain out of the clutter and ensure strong visibility,” said Bhatia.

K Srikanth

Sports serves as an entry into the world of the young consumer, the bank believes. Besides, having associated with two emerging badminton stars whose careers have spiraled in the past year of their association has brought global recognition. The deal has brought the bank immense visibility, said Bhatia.

For Federal Bank, the objective was to infuse humour and fun into the brand as these were the qualities, it believed, appealed to the young and would help differentiate the bank from the rest in the market. “The objective of the campaign is to reinforce the target market with an accent on those who are young at spirit. We wanted to say that we are a full spectrum bank that is digitally ahead,” said Rajanarayanan.

Products are easily duplicated as are service protocols according to Federal bank and its present campaign was spurred by a desire to create a clear, differentiated identity. It wanted the youth within the Bank’s target market to relate to the bank said Rajanarayanan. “We are confident about our product and wanted to put our message in a slightly respectfully cocky manner,” he added.

Visibility and recall

At BoB, Bhatia said, “Despite the growth in the bank’s performance, the brand visibility seemed to be fading. In order to revive the brand, we decided to take bold initiatives.” 

 It was important to identify the platforms that would offer maximum returns, besides social media. In addition, the bank thought that the best way it could reach its desired audience was by going to the malls and metro stations. Hence, the decision to acquire naming rights for metro stations Sikanderpur in Delhi and Andheri in Mumbai.

Sikanderpur gets around a million commuters daily and Andheri metro station has close to 2.5 million commuters daily and the name of both the stations is now prefixed with ‘Bank of Baroda’ and this change in name applies to station boards and train announcements as well as maps, Bhatia pointed out.

For Federal Bank, the digital route seemed to be the best way to proliferate its brand, especially since the bank wanted to concentrate on the age group 25-45 years. “Digital directly relates to you and we wanted to tell the world that we are technologically up ahead of the curve,” said Rajanarayanan. In keeping with the digital focus, the Federal Bank campaign is skewed more towards digital media. “A commercial hording will become stale after some time and even if one has a wonderful TVC, it can get repetitive. In social media you can keep on changing the message,” he added.

It is important to back up the claims being made in campaigns with service on the ground, both banks said. The banks must be particularly careful about this given that customer trust here is easily shattered.  “Brand value needs to be substantiated by service, branding does not end with hoarding and advertising,” Bhatia said. That is in fact when the true test of a bank’s branding strategy begins.