| PSUs putting thrust on brand building |
| BS Reporter / Mumbai June 15, 2007 |
| A work environment with LCDs, bean bags and an internet cafe would be perceived as a typical office of an information technology (IT) firm. However, Bank of Baroda has offered these facilities at a recently opened branch at Pune. While petroleum company Bharat Petrolum has introduced non-petroleum retail stores at its pumps. These are some of the telling examples of how public sector undertaking are now engaging in providing additional services to compete in the changing business domain, said public sector undertaking (PSU) executives at a panel discussion in Mumbai. Titled "Building government owned brands" the panelists listed the strengths and weaknesses of PSUs. Generally, PSUs carry an image of trust and familiarity amongst the consumers. However they also convey a perception of government agencies being slow and engaged in red tape. But with the entry of multinationals, public sector units too have engaged in brand building exercises and introduced innovative services to customers. For instance, Bank of Baroda decided to break away from the image of a trusted family bank and adopted a youthful image. It roped in India cricket skipper Rahul Dravid as a brand ambassador and introduced other features like 24 hour banking, happy hour banking, retail loan factory amongst others. Anil Khandelwal, chairman and managing director, Bank of Baroda said, "There is a need to develop a mindset to look at public sector units a bit seriously. The immigration clearance at airports is becoming a big brand for the country." S Radhakrishnan, director (marketing), BPCL said that the most important brand building challenge for the company were hereditary, product offering, service and the environment issues. In an attempt to connect to customers, BPCL introduced petrocards and opened non-petroleum retail outlets in and outside its petrol pumps. "There was a need to differentiate BPCL from the competitors. While recognising the trend towards premium petroleum products, the company achieved this by introducing Speed. The company |
