CROSS SELLING AND UPSELLING STRATEGIES OF AXIS BANK

ABSTRACT
Every financial institution needs to generate a steady stream of new customers, yet one of the
easiest and most steady sources of new businesses and related revenue is to reach out to
current customers for additional business. With the cost of acquiring new retail, small business
or commercial customers being five to ten times the cost of retaining an existing one, and with
the average spend of a repeat customer being 50- 100 percent more than a new one, bank
marketers need to remember that the most efficient investment of marketing funds is to market
to customers that already bank with you UTI Bank, India's third largest private sector bank has
gone for an image makeover, changed its name to Axis Bank Ltd. This is the first time that a
bank has gone in for a brand-change voluntarily. The bank looks different by changing the
name & appearance, since it is Bank, stakeholders would be very cautious when it comes to
investments. So by keeping this in mind the company devised a promotion strategy where it
clearly says Everything is the same, except the name. The Bank had used the UTI brand
with great pride for the last 13 years, and has in recent years strongly contributed to the
resurgence of the UTI brand. The change in the name of UTI Bank to Axis Bank will affect the
interest of customers in the bank. The Bank has therefore decided to create a distinct brand
identity for itself. Rebranding provides an opportunity to communicate elements of
personality, values and vision, which are specific to the Bank. This rebranding becomes more
important as the Bank takes its initial steps in establishing a global footprint.
Axis as a name connotes solidity and stature and conveys a sense of authority and credibility.
Axis as a brand has the ability to transcend geographical boundaries. But totally changing the
brand visuals can give rise to consumer concerns about changes of ownership, or possible
changes in brand values, or even unjustified extravagance. If there is a strong brand
personality to which consumers are attracted, then substantial changes may destroy emotional
attachments to the brand. People do not expect or like wild swings in the personality behavior
of other people, and they are just as concerned when the brands to which they have grown
used exhibit similar changes.
In this project I will analyze the impact of change in name of bank on its customers. In
multimedia campaign bank have clearly announced only a name change, everything else
about the brand remains the same. It assured customers that the change will in no way affect
the services offered by the bank. But change in corporate brand can create an adverse effect on

its customers and their market share. Changes can create misconception if they are not
properly communicated to the customers. Often customers build an "emotional attachment" to
the company and a new look could alienate them.

INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Cross-Selling
Cross-selling generally occurs when the sales representative has more than one type of product
to offer consumers that might be beneficial to them. Some fields in which cross-selling is most
evident include those of the banking and financial services industries. Banking customers may
go into the bank and sign up for a checking account and later be sold various investment
vehicles such as bonds or CDs as part of a retirement plan. Investment firms do much of the
same, starting off clients within a specific investment product that they need and then later
identifying additional needs that their company can meet on behalf of the client.
Up-Selling
Up-selling differs somewhat from cross-selling in that the salesperson is not so much
concerned with selling an additional product to generate additional commissions, but rather
with selling a higher-end version of the product the customer originally came to buy. The
automobile salesman often engages in up-selling by showing the customer multiple versions of
the same product. Each version may differ in quality, starting with a base model and
progressing through more luxurious models with additional features.
Approaches
One of the main differences between up-selling and cross-selling is in the approach that the
salesperson takes when engaging in either method. When cross-selling, the salesperson
identifies a definite need that the customer has and fulfills that need by recommending an
additional product. Up-selling is somewhat less need-based in its orientation and typically
involves the salesperson building value in the product being offered. In other words, a car
customer may not need the top-of-the-line SUV with leather seating and a full entertainment
center, but the up-selling salesperson can help that customer see the value in having it by
painting a picture of how much more comfortable the family vacation will be with these
additional features.

Similarities
In many ways, cross-selling and up-selling are similar in that they each offer customers
additional value than what they would have otherwise received had they only bought what
they were initially looking for. Some salespeople make the mistake of cataloging features of
these additional products, rather than building value, or showing customers how they will
benefit from these additional or higher-quality products. A successful cross-selling and upselling salesperson will be able to paint a picture of the value that the customer will receive so
that the customer will be able to visualize the benefits of making the purchase. Up-selling
benefits the customer by providing higher quality, while cross-selling adds benefit by
providing additional quality.
UTI Bank began its operations in 1994 when the Government of India allowed new private
banks to be established. The Bank was promoted jointly by the Administrator of the specified
undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (UTI - I), Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and
General Insurance Corporation Ltd. and its associates viz. National Insurance Company Ltd.,
The New India Assurance Company, The Oriental Insurance Corporation and United
Insurance Company Ltd. UTI Bank Ltd. was set up with a capital of Rs. 115 crore, with UTI
contributing Rs. 100 crore, LIC - Rs. 7.5 crore and GIC ( General Insurance Corporation) and
its four subsidiaries contributing Rs. 1.5 crore each. The Bank's Registered Office is at
Ahmadabad and its Central Office is located at Mumbai. Presently, the Bank has a very wide
network of more than 420 branch offices and Extension Counters. UTI Bank has a network of
over 1841 ATMs, which is one of the largest ATM networks in the country.
India's third largest private sector bank, UTI Bank, has gone for an image makeover, changing
its name to Axis Bank Ltd. The rebranding, which came into effect July 30, includes change in
its logo and its color. The Registrar of Companies (RoC) has issued a fresh certificate of
incorporation to UTI Bank in the name of 'Axis Bank Ltd.' The bank had appointed an
internal committee and also sought help from its official advertising agency, O&M, for the
name change. UTI Bank has contributed to the resurgence of the UTI brand in last five six
years. The bank had a role to play in this. The bank has retained the burgundy color, but has
changed the logo. The logo uses the alphabet 'A' from the word Axis. The logo depicts a strong
growth path for the bank supported by a strong base, indicating that the bank is moving on
from a position of strength. Earlier, the bank's logo used the letters U, T and I. Their central

message is that nothing has changed except the name. The continuity is maintained through
the color. The committee had short listed 50-odd names. Finally, Bank chooses the name Axis
from a group of ethnic, traditional and funky names.
Axis is simple and it conveys a sense of solidity and a sense of maturity. This name also has a
universal appeal. They had to change their name to have own brand and identity. The bank
have to give up the UTI name after using it for 13 years as they were not prepared to accept
terms and conditions from UTI AMC to use the name. UTI Bank decided to choose the new
name considering the bank's pan-Indian as well as international presence. The bank would go
in for international expansion sometime down the line. "Moving on to Axis would only
reinforce the fact that they are a board-driven private bank, as against the previous image
which had a quasi-governmental touch, and in that sense, the brand-change will be actually
beneficial,"
The bank is likely to spend around Rs. 50 crore ($12.5 million) in the re-branding exercise in
the year 2008. The change in name was considered for avoiding confusion as several unrelated
entities were using the UTI brand. The board of directors of UTI Bank had, on April 30 2007,
approved the proposal to change its name to Axis Bank. UTI Asset Management Company
owns the UTI brand.
On August 1 2007, the bank launched a nationwide advertisement campaign with the catch
line - "Twins both equal." The rebranding exercise involves changing signages across 600
offices and 2,457 ATMs in 346 cities, towns and villages. The bank has already changed the
signages across eight major cities, including Delhi, Bombay, Kolkata and Hyderabad, among
others, while in other 250 cities, change of the signages will be done by the end of year.
The bank has already redesigned 96 elements, including cheque books, welcome kits, payorders, among others, suggesting the name change. It is also using the internet, automated
teller machines, mobile channels and call centers to inform its customers about the change in
name.
The bank has a 6 million customer base and is among the country's top automated banks.
The bank - the fifth largest bank in terms of market capitalization - is planning inorganic
growth for its ventures dealing with new areas. It is also overhauling its corporate banking
with the involvement of McKinsey. This is the first time that a bank has gone in for a brand-

change voluntarily, even as there are instances of banks changing their names due to a merger
or an acquisition activity for instance, the Centurion Bank of Punjab.
1.2 Objectives
To Find:

The background of change of corporate identity of Axis Bank.

The awareness level of the new identity among customers.

The level of brand comprehension among customers.

The overall change of image of bank among customers.

The objective of the research is to identify the reasons for the change in corporate identity of
Axis Bank. As change in corporate identity is a strategic decision it affects the interest of
stakeholders of the company which includes customers, investors, shareholders, employees
etc. But this research is limited to customers only because the researcher was not able to meet /
interview the senior management and shareholders for their views. The objective also includes
identifying the awareness level of the new identity of the bank among customers. The level of
brand comprehension among customers which means recall of brand by the customer. And
finally the overall change of image of bank among its customers.
1.3 Duration of the study
Schedule of the research includes a period of fourteen weeks within which topic selection,
preparation of questionnaire, survey conduction, analyses of data collected, preparing a report
based on the answer given by the respondents.
1.4 Purpose
In this project I have analyzed the impact of change in name of UTI Bank to Axis Bank on its
customers. In the multimedia campaign bank have clearly announced that only a name
change, everything else about the brand remains the same. It assured customers that the
change will in no way affect the services offered by the bank. But change in corporate brand
can create an adverse effect on its customers and their market share. Changes can create
misconception if they are not properly communicated to the customers. Often customers build

an "emotional attachment" to the company and a new look could alienate them. So in this
project a detailed survey on the consumer perception about the change in name of Bank and its
impact on customers has carried out. Although its not easy to understand the consumer
perception but with the help of comparison between the services provided by the UTI Bank
and Axis Bank, an attempt has been made to collect the appropriate responses.
1.5 Limitations
The proposed research would truly suffer from the following limitations:
1. Identity change is a strategic decision. However, the researcher is not able to meet /
interview the senior management for their views.
2. The researcher has to rely on published sources to know the background of the identity
change, which may not reflect completely the strategic thinking of the top management
of the bank.
3. Axis Bank is a national level bank. Ideally, the sample should be taken from across the
country for better analysis. However, time and resource constraints limit the scope of
the data collection to Ghaziabad city only.
4. Limited access to previous related researches.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
PROBLEM DIFINATION:
Falling the product demand and increasing the service by Axis bank have increased the Gap
amongst the profitability for the organization. Also Axis bank is facing very tough competition
from the other peers and almost similar product line would make more difficult to sustain in
longer run.
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

To study how company can differentiate its current service process vis a vis to opt more
proactive measurement to sell its product.

To study how Axis bank can leverage upon the Up-sell and Cross sell strategy.

To study the current sales process and changes because of the Up-sell and cross sell.

To study how effectiveness of the new strategy in service deliverable.

LITERATURE RELATED TO THE RESEARCH

An upsell is simply convincing the buyer that he or she should purchase a more
expensive (and higher quality or more versatile) product than the one under
consideration.

A cross-sell is an effort to encourage the committed buyer to add auxiliary items to the
purchase, such as accessories or related items.

Experienced online cross-sellers know that selecting the items that are to appear alongside
each product is a huge, time-consuming job. You want to get it right, and after its done, you
should plan to keep track of how well the cross-sellers are doing.
The selection and placement of cross-sell items should be part of your web design, so youll
need some guidelines for your designers. These rules should also serve the folks wholl be
selecting the items for the product page. You can set whatever rules you want, but here are
some samples of rules in use by other vendors that you can use as prompts:

Display a maximum of three cross-sell items.

All items should be in stock.

The items should not be sale items.

Each cross-sell item should be less expensive than the main item.

The items should be familiar and not require descriptions and explanations.

The items should have no options (size or color choice, for example).

The images of the cross-sell items should be of a specific size (larger than thumbnail,
but smaller than the main item, and tiled along the right margin.

The database of items you provide or sell may be organized with an affinity link that
identifies them as possible cross-sell items for another product. If you have thousands of
items, creating these figures is bound to take a long time, although you could well decide to
cross-sell on just your best-sellers or major items. If youve decided to display three cross-sell
items per page, you should identify five or six compatible items in your database to ensure that
youre not offering items that are temporarily out of stock.
Heres a good hint for identifying cross-sell items. One large retailer identified a team of
particularly perceptive floor salespersons and invited them to select the cross-sell items for
their web site. This worked well, as these folks knew exactly what customers tended to buy
along with major purchases when they were in the store.
SCOPE OF THE THESIS WORK
The study remains focus towards the selling strategy which is up and cross for the Axis bank and
to understand Variations on the up sell and cross-sell particularly for the banking environment.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Secondary data
- Book, Internet, Journal would be require to collect the secondary data for the above topic
Primary data:
For this study I will try and gather the data through structured questionnaire.
Tool used: Excel.
Sampling method : Probabilistic sampling Random sampling
Sample Size : 100

 Target Audience: Sales staff, customer , Product Manager from the Axis Bank
JUSTIFICATION FOR CHOOSING A PARTICULAR RESEARCH PROPOSAL
It is always better for the Bank to be more proactive than reactive in approach as the product is
not perishable and bank can take some risk over using the different sales technique to gain
more confidence amongst the customer.

LITRATURE REVIEW
Cross-selling is a strategy of providing existing customers the opportunity to purchase
additional items offered by the seller. Often, cross-selling involves offering the customer items
that compliment the original purchase in some manner. The idea behind cross-selling is to
capture a larger share of the consumer market by meeting more of the needs and wants of each
individual customer.
The idea of cross-selling translates well into just about any business situation. In the fast food
industry, customers are often invited to try new products or established complimentary items.
For example, when an individual orders a hamburger at a local fast food restaurant, the server
will often ask the customer if her or she would like a side item to go with the hamburger. If the
restaurant is offering a new dessert, the server may also suggest to the customer that the new
item may be a desirable compliment to the hamburger. By employing this simple approach, the
server may entice the customer into making another purchase above and beyond the one
originally intended. Cross selling is employed in retail as well as the services sector.
Cross-selling in Banks
Cross-selling stands for being able to offer to the existing bank customers, some additional
banking products, with a view to expand banking business, reduce the per customer cost of
operations and provide more satisfaction and value to the customer. For instance, when a bank
is in a position to sell to a deposit customer (say saving bank or term deposit), a loan product
such as housing loan, credit card, personal loan or vice-versa, this would result into additional
business and lead to low per customer cost and higher per customer earning.
In the present day context, the cross selling has come into focus, as some of the new private
banks (ICICI Bank) have been able to offer to their customer a variety of products and thus
generate more business through cross selling. But for most of the public sector banks, in
particular, the concept in its new form, is still at its evolutionary stage.
Every bank has its own logic of how many relationships it would like to have with its
customers. It can be 1:2, 1:3, etc. The more relationships the bank has with a customer is
tantamount to one having a better wallet share of the customer. More spends on all the
products of the bank leads to better top- and bottom-line performance.

Scope of cross selling

The crossing selling may take place on the liability side (i.e. different kinds of deposit
accounts) or on the asset side (i.e. loans for different requirements) or between the two. It
could be either at the initiative of the customers or a bank can implement it as a well prepared
strategy.
Strategies for cross selling
The existing client base of the banks could be used by them for the purpose of cross selling
after carefully charting the profile of the customers. For this purpose, the banks can undertake
studies for various products and various geographical areas to understand the potential
available for cross selling. The banks may undertake some of the following steps:
Collection of data and preparation of data base of the customers, because the entire exercise
of cross selling is based on such data base of the customers.
Identification of customers and products that could be offered and then charting the strategy
to offer the products.
Imparting proper training to the staff to create team spirit and sharing with them the strategy
for undertaking cross selling.
Selecting target customers and narrowing down the product range, or even development of
new products if necessary, to meet the specific needs of the group.
Effective delivery.
Process of Cross selling
1. Get close to the customer

Heavy brand expenditure

Customer advice
CRM and capture of customer information
Intensive staff training

2. Dominate the customers product options

Takeover of other product manufacturers

Bundling (so customers have to buy Product A with Product B)

3 .Continual push selling

Cross-sales targets given to front-line staff

Heavy direct marketing

Benefits from cross selling

The major benefit is in terms of cost reduction as for a bank, the cost of contracting a
new customer is much higher than to serve an existing customer (may be up to 3-4

times).
Through cross selling the benefits of economies are available to the bank, which

reduce the cost further and increase the profits.

Another additional advantage is that the cross selling helps in building brand value if
the loyalty of the customer could be ensured for the brand, as in that case the
likelihood of shifting the business dealings to another organisation/bank by the

customer, is much less.

Strengthen Client Loyalty and Improve the Bottom-Line. There are many different
ways to build client loyalty, however cross/selling by far has proven to be the most
effective approach. Cross selling can clearly solidify a client relationship with an
advisor and their firm thereby reducing attrition and increasing the lifetime
profitability of each client.

2.1 Cross selling

Cross Selling is concerned with the visual aspects of a company's presence. When companies
undertake corporate identity exercises, they are usually modernizing their visual image in
terms of logo, design, and collaterals. Such efforts do not normally entail a change in brand
values so that the heart of the brand remains the same - what it stands for, or its personality.
Unfortunately, many companies do not realize this fallacy, as they are sometimes led to
believe by agencies and consultancy companies that the visual changes will change the brand
image. But changes to logos, signage, and even outlet design do not always change consumer
perceptions of quality, service, and the intangible associations that come to the fore when the
brand name is seen or heard.
The best that such changes can do is to reassure consumers that the company is concerned
about how it looks. Brands do have to maintain a modern look, and the visual identity needs to
change over time. But the key to successfully effecting a new look is evolution, not revolution.

Totally changing the brand visuals can give rise to consumer concerns about changes of
ownership, or possible changes in brand values, or even unjustified extravagance. If there is a
strong brand personality to which consumers are attracted, then substantial changes may
destroy emotional attachments to the brand. People do not expect or like wild swings in the
personality behavior of other people, and they are just as concerned when the brands to which
they have grown used exhibit similar "schizophrenic" changes.
On the other hand, if the intention is to substantially improve the standing of the brand, then
corporate identity changes can be accompanied by widespread changes to organizational
culture, quality, and service standards. If done well, and if consumers experience a great new
or improved experience, then the changes will, over the longer term, have a corresponding
positive effect on brand image. If you are spending a vast amount of money on corporate
identity, it is as well to remember this.
In marketing, a corporate identity is the "persona" of a corporation which is designed to accord
with and facilitate the attainment of business objectives. It is usually visibly manifested by
way of branding and the use of trademarks. Corporate identity comes into being when there is
a common ownership of an organizational philosophy that is manifest in a distinct corporate
culture the corporate personality. At its most profound, the public feel that they have
ownership of the philosophy. In general, this amounts to a logo (logotype and/or logogram)
and supporting devices commonly assembled within a set of guidelines. These guidelines
govern how the identity is applied and confirm approved color palettes, typefaces, page
layouts and other such methods of maintaining visual continuity and brand recognition across
all physical manifestations of the brand. Many companies, such as McDonald's and Electronic
Arts, have their own identity that runs through all of their products and merchandise. The
trademark "M" logo and the yellow and red appear consistently throughout the McDonald's
packaging and advertisements. Many companies pay large amounts of money for an identity
that is extremely distinguishable, so it can appeal more to its targeted audience.
Corporate identity is often viewed as being composed of three parts:

Corporate design (logos, uniforms, etc.)

Corporate communication (commercials, public relations, information, etc.)

Corporate behavior (internal values, norms, etc.)

Corporate identity has become a universal technique for promoting companies and improving
corporate culture. Most notably is the company PAOS, founded by Motoo Nakanishi in Tokyo,
Japan in 1968. Nakanishi fused design, management consulting and corporate culture to
revolutionize corporate identity in Japan.
Sociological sense
Corporate identity can also have a sociological sense. In any large society members of a
minority tend to develop a "corporate identity" where they feel a special bond to any other
member of that minority even if they have never met the person before. This bond develops
because they generally have similar experiences, face similar discrimination, have similar
cultural values, economic limitations, etc. In the United States, for instance, persons of Arab or
Jewish ancestry, blacks, Hispanics, lesbians and gay men, and persons who follow nonChristian religions, among many other minorities, each have a sense of corporate identity.
Within a particular group there are feelings of "we have to watch out for each other" and "I
have an obligation not just to succeed, but to help others of my group." A common corollary to
this sense of corporate identity is a concern about assimilating into the majority culture to the
extent where the minority group ceases to exist for all practical purposes. Corporate identity is
promoted, strengthened and encouraged by activities such as teaching the ancestral language,
practice of rituals and social customs, observance of holidays, etc., from the minority culture
and discouraging marriage outside the particular group or moving to a geographic area where
the minority group does not have a significant presence.
Organizational point of view
Corporate identity is the way corporate actors (actors who perceive themselves as acting on
behalf of the company) make sense of their company in ongoing social interaction with other
actors in a specific context. It includes shared perceptions of reality, ways-to-do-things, etc.,
and interlocked behavior. In this process the corporate actors are of equal importance as those
others; corporate identity pertains to the company (the group of corporate actors) as well as to
the relevant others. Corporate actors construct different identities in different contexts.
Corporate Visual Identity
Corporate visual identity plays a significant role in the way an organization presents itself to
both internal and external stakeholders. In general terms, a corporate visual identity expresses

the values and ambitions of an organization, its business, and its characteristics. Four functions
of corporate visual identity can be distinguished. Three of these are aimed at external
stakeholders.

First, a corporate visual identity provides an organisation with visibility and

recognizability. For virtually all profit and non-profit organizations it is of vital
importance that people know that the organization exists and remember its name and
core business at the right time.

Second, a corporate visual identity symbolizes an organization for external

stakeholders, and, hence, contributes to its image and reputation.

Third, a corporate visual identity expresses the structure of an organization to its

external stakeholders, visualizing its coherence as well as the relationships between
divisions or units.

A fourth, internal function of corporate visual identity relates to employees

identification with the organization as a whole and/or the specific departments they
work for.

Corporate visual identity management involves the planned maintenance, assessment and
development of a corporate visual identity as well as associated tools and support, anticipating
developments both inside and outside the organization, and engaging employees in applying it,
with the objective of contributing to employees identification with and appreciation of the
organization as well as recognition and appreciation among external stakeholders. Special
attention is paid to corporate identity in times of organizational change. Once a new corporate
identity is implemented, attention to corporate identity related issues generally tends to
decrease. However, corporate identity needs to be managed on a structural basis, to be
internalized by the employees and to harmonize with future organizational developments.
Efforts to manage the corporate visual identity will result in more consistency and the
corporate visual identity management mix should include structural, cultural and strategic
aspects. Guidelines, procedures and tools can be summarized as the structural aspects of
managing the corporate visual identity. However, as important as the structural aspects may
be, they must be complemented by two other types of aspects. Among the cultural aspects of
corporate visual identity management, socialization i.e., formal and informal learning

processes turned out to influence the consistency of a corporate visual identity. Managers are
important as a role model and they can clearly set an example. This implies that they need to
be aware of the impact of their behavior, which has an effect on how employees behave. If
managers pay attention to the way they convey the identity of their organization, including the
use of a corporate visual identity, this will have a positive effect on the attention employees
give to the corporate visual identity. Further, it seems to be important that the organization
communicates the strategic aspects of the corporate visual identity. Employees need to have
knowledge of the corporate visual identity of their organization, not only the general reasons
for using the corporate visual identity, such as its role in enhancing the visibility and
recognizability of the organization, but also aspects of the story behind the corporate visual
identity. The story should explain why the design fits the organization and what the design in
all of its elements is intended to express.
UPSELLING
The growing significance of managing corporate identity is underscored by a 1989 survey in
Britain by Market Opinion Research International, which found that 77 percent of the leading
industrialists questioned believed that the importance their firms attached to developing and
promoting their corporate identity would increase in the near future. Research a year later by
CBI and Fitch Consultants corroborated this finding and the experience of the 1990s strongly
suggests that this expectation has materialized. The overriding reason for the burgeoning
concern for corporate identity is abundantly clear. We live in a time of immense environmental
complexity and change, and consequently corporations have been forced to significantly alter
their strategies to better compete and survive. Mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures represent
a major dimension of corporate change over the past several decades. Consider the extreme
example of the Greyhound Corporation. For most of this century, Greyhound was the largest
busing company in North America. In the 1970s, however, the company initiated an aggressive
acquisition/diversification and by the late 1980s was competing in five different industries (it
even sold off most of its busing operations). To signal this metamorphosis to its external
audiences, the company belatedly changed its name to the Dial Corporation and completely
revamped its corporate communications. The acceleration of product life cycles is another
vital dimension of the turbulent business environment. Nowhere is this more apparent than in

the electronics industry. Personal computers can become outmoded in the period of less than a
year. In the audio segment of the market, tapes replaced records and, in turn, were replaced by
compact discs, which may in the future be superseded by digital audiotapes. Companies with
strong corporate images, such as Sony Corporation and Casio, obviously have an advantage in
such dynamic markets because their name adds value to their products by reducing uncertainty
in the eyes of distributors, retailers, and consumers. Deregulation has been a critical factor in
many industries. For instance, as a result of the court-ordered breakup, AT&T has had to
develop a new strategy and a more aggressive marketing-oriented culture to adjust to its new
realities. Concurrently, the telecommunications giant adopted a new logo and initiated a
communication program to help convey its new identity. Globalization has been still another
catalyst in the rise of corporate identity programs. To illustrate, American Express Co.
originally was a freight company in the North American market. As the company matured into
a global credit card, banking, and travel organization, it wisely developed a corporate
communication program aimed at projecting its new identity. American Express understood
that a strong and positive global image can be a powerful weapon for firms expanding
internationally. IBM, McDonald's, and Baskin-Robbins are examples of other companies that
have been able to expand to all areas of the world with relative ease because of their global
prominence. A related factor is that as a corporation expands its operation internationally, or
even domestically, through acquisitions, there is a danger that its geographically dispersed
business units will project dissimilar or contrary images to the detriment of corporate synergy.
British-based Courtaulds has a globally dispersed organization but until its latest identity
review allowed its operating companies to use their traditional names. As a consequence of
this policy, there was little cooperation among these units and no cohesive corporate identity.
Courtaulds remedied this problem by instituting a common naming policy and a correlated
corporate communication program. Still another factor stimulating the current interest in
corporate identity is society's growing expectation that corporations be socially responsive.
One salient manifestation of this trend is that many of today's consumers consider the
environmental and social image of firms in making their purchasing decisions. Companies
such as Ben and Jerry's and Tom's of Maine have built their strategies around this idea and
consequently have grown very rapidly. Another manifestation of the trend is the rise of
socially responsible investment funds.

Theory of Corporate Identity

Theory always underlies good practice. Theory identifies and defines the key variables in the
process under consideration and explains the interrelationship among them. In the process for
managing corporate identity, the fundamental variables are corporate identity, corporate
communication, corporate image, and corporate reputation. Corporate identity is the reality of
the corporation. It is the unique, individual personality of the company that differentiates it
from other companies. To use the marketing metaphor, it is the corporate brand. Corporate
communication is the aggregate of sources, messages, and media by which the corporation
conveys its uniqueness or brand to its various audiences. Corporate image and corporate
reputation are in the eye of the beholder. Image is the mental picture that people have of an
organization, whereas reputation constitutes a value judgment about the company's attributes.
The objective in managing corporate identity is to communicate the company's identity to
those audiences or constituencies that are important to the firm in a manner that is both
positive and accurate. This process involves fashioning a positive identity and communicating
this identity to significant audiences in such a way that they have a favorable view of the
company. The feedback loops in the model indicate that an unsatisfactory image or reputation
can be improved by modifying corporate communication or reshaping the corporate identity or
both. The principal issues relating to the five components of the modelidentity, image,
reputation, communication, and feedbackwill now be examined in greater detail.
Corporate identity is the reality and uniqueness of the organization. It may be broken down
into its component parts: corporate strategy, corporate culture, organizational design, and
operations. Strategy is the overall plan that circumscribes the company's product/market scope
and the policies and programs by which it chooses to compete in its chosen markets. For
example, Southwest Airlines is a regional carrier competing in the airline industry through
strategies that result in low costs and low fares. Corporate culture is the shared values, beliefs,
and assumptions that the organization's members hold in common as they relate to each other,
their jobs, and the organization. It defines what the firm personnel believes is important and
unimportant, and explains to a large degree why the organization behaves the way it does.
Southwest Airlines has a strong corporate culture that highly prizes company loyalty, internal
cooperation, and service to the customer. Southwest's culture supports the company's strategy

and is a prominent component of its identity. Organizational design refers to the basic choices
top managers have in developing the pattern of organizational relationships. It encompasses
issues such as whether basic departmentation should be by function or product division, the
overall configuration (tall vs. flat), the degree of decentralization, the number of staff
personnel, the design of jobs, and the internal systems and procedures. All of these factors can
affect, to some degree, corporate identity. From the perspective of the firm's external
constituents, however, the corporate/product relationship normally is the most critical element
of organizational design. The corporate/product relationship refers to the deliberate approach a
firm follows in structuring the relationship of its products to one another and to the corporate
entity. Corporate/product relationships may be categorized as single entity, brand dominance,
equal dominance, mixed dominance, or corporate dominance. Single entity companies offer
one product line or set of services; consequently, the image of the company and that of the
product tend to be one and the same. Southwest Airlines is an obvious example of a single
entity company; it is 100 percent involved in the airline business. Identity problems typically
arise for single entity firms such as Southwest Airlines if they expand into areas and activities
not immediately related to their current strategy. The corporate planners must carefully
consider the corporate identity they desire to have and the concomitant image they wish to
project. Under the brand-dominant approach, the decision has been made not to relate the
product brand and corporate names. This approach is followed by many consumer products
companies. For instance, Marlboro and Merit cigarettes, Post cereals, Jell-O, Kraft cheeses,
and Oscar Mayer meats are all well-known products but few consumers realize that they are
all marketed by the Philip Morris Companies, Inc. General Motors Corp., historically, has
exemplified the equal-dominance approach. The principal General Motors' automobile
divisionsChevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, and Cadillacmaintained separate
identities, but each was also closely associated with the corporation. Neither the corporate nor
the individual brand was predominant. In mixed-dominance companies, sometimes the brand
name is dominant, sometimes the corporate name is dominant, and in some cases they are used
together with equal emphasis. Operations, the fourth and final component of corporate
identity, is the aggregate of activities the firm engages in to effect its strategy. These activities
become part of the reality of the corporation and can influence its image and/or reputation in a
wide variety of ways. Several examples will highlight the range of possibilities.

Corporate Image and Reputation

Corporate image and reputation are discrete but related concepts. As noted earlier, corporate
image is the model that people have of a company. Corporate reputation, on the other hand,
represents a value judgment that people make about the firm as a whole or one or more of its
attributes. Corporate images typically can be fashioned fairly quickly through specific actions
and well-conceived communication programs, whereas reputations evolve over time as a result
of consistent performance (and they can be reinforced through corporate communication).
Clearly, a corporation must be concerned about its image and reputation amongst its important
constituent groups. In academic parlance, these significant constituent groups are called
stakeholders. They are groups that have a stake in the company. Stakeholders are affected by
the actions of the company and, perhaps more importantly, their actions can affect the
company. Consequently, its image and reputation in the eyes of its stakeholders is critical to
the company. The principal stakeholders with whom most large firms must be concerned are:

Customers

Distributors and retailers

Financial institutions and analysts

Shareholders

Government regulatory agencies

Social action organizations

The general public

Employees

The company's image and reputation vis-a-vis its various stakeholders will influence their
willingness to provide or withhold support. Thus, if its customers develop a negative
perception of the company or its products, its sales and profits assuredly will decline. Consider
the recent travails of the Nissan Motor Company. In the 1980s it enjoyed the image of a
customer-oriented, trendsetting automobile manufacturer with an excellent reputation for
automotive engineering. By the mid-1990s, however, as a result of a series of poor decisions,
its image as a cutting-edge producer, along with sales and profits, had declined precipitously.

It is now perceived by customers as well as other stakeholders as a conservative maker of

stodgy, boxy cars with its engineering reputation compromised. The impact of corporate
identity in the financial community can be seen through the history of the British packaging,
printing, and coating company that recently changed its name from Bowater to Rexham in
response to confusion in the financial community as well as among its customers as to its
identity. In North America the company traded under the name Rexham, whereas in the rest of
its markets it operated under the Bowater banner. The name change was initiated by its chief
executive officer to create the image of a global competitor in the eyes of financial institutions
and investors, as well as its customers. The company's shareholders are another critical
stakeholder group because they ultimately give or withhold their approval of management's
decisions through their proxies. Moreover, their "buy" and "sell" decisions influence the
corporation's stock price. Government regulatory agencies, another important set of
stakeholders, are required by law to monitor and regulate firms for specific, publicly defined
purposes. Nevertheless, these agencies have considerable discretion in how they interpret and
apply the law. Where they have a positive perception of the firm, they are likely to be much
less censorious. Social action organizations represent still another set of stakeholders. To the
extent a corporation has a negative reputation in the particular area of concern of a social
action group; it likely will be targeted for criticism and harassment by that group. For
example, the Labor/Community Strategy Center has organized a boycott of Texaco stations
and products in an effort to influence the company to reduce the air pollution emanating from
its refinery in Wilmington, California. Although there are many refineries in the Wilmington
area, the environmental group targeted Texaco for its boycott because of a recent much
publicized explosion at the company's refinery. A strong positive image with the general public
can be beneficial to the firm. Research suggests that a prominent corporate image and an
outstanding reputation are consequential factors in attracting a high quality workforce. Merck,
Microsoft, and Hewlett-Packard, for instance, have traditionally attracted topnotch job
applicants because of their sterling reputations. Current employees represent the internal
constituency that a firm must consider when communicating corporate identity. It is widely
believed that a positive reputation in the eyes of employees is a prime causal factor of high
morale and productivity. This condition is frequently cited as a fundamental reason for the
success of Japanese firms. Additionally, it should be emphasized that employees play a large

role in representing the company to its external stakeholders. Obviously, each of the various
stakeholder groups is likely to have a somewhat different perception of the corporation
because each is concerned primarily with a different facet of its operation. Thus, customers
are principally interested in the price, quality, and reliability of the company's products and
services. Financial institutions are concerned with financial structure and performance.
Employees are mainly concerned with wages, working conditions, and personnel policies.
Logically, then, a company should tailor its communication to each stakeholder group
individually to engage the special concerns of that group. A consistent image among the
various stakeholder groups, however, is also essential. Although it is prudent to stress different
facets of the firm's identity to its various publics, the firm should avoid projecting an
inconsistent image for two key reasons. First, some of the concerns of the stakeholders
overlap. For example, the financial community and the shareholders would have many of the
same financial and strategic concerns about the company. In fact, many shareholders rely
heavily on the advice of experts from financial institutions. Both employees and the general
public have an interest in the overall prestige of the firm and the reputation of its products. A
social action group's criticisms whether economically effective or not, is bound to influence
some customers and affect the company's public reputation. Of course, a regulatory agency
such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration would focus narrowly on the firm's
safety record and policies but the company's employees and their labor unions also have a
stake in these matters. The second and related reason for avoiding an inconsistent image is that
the sundry stakeholders are not separate, discrete entities. Membership overlaps. Consider the
example of a typical public utility where almost all of its employees are also customers and a
significant number may also be shareholders. Furthermore, it is not unlikely that some of its
employees will be active in environmental or consumer rights groups that challenge the
company on specific issues. It is also likely that some of the company's bankers and regulators
will be among its customers.

Corporate Communication

Corporate communication is the link between corporate identity and corporate image and
reputation. It should be defined in the broadest possible sense because companies
communicate their identities in many different ways. This includes almost everything they do
from the way telephones are answered to the involvement of their employees in community
affairs. The different categories are Nomenclature, Graphics, Formal statements, Architecture
and Interaction and events.
Nomenclature
The primary concerns in this category are the names used to identify the corporation, its
divisions, and its products. In recent years, many firms have changed their corporate names to
communicate a major change in identity. To illustrate, International Harvester changed its
name to Navistar to signal its exit from the agricultural equipment industry. Carter Hawley
Hale Stores changed its name to Broadway Stores to identify more closely with its store
operations and accentuate its revitalization.
Graphics
Graphics, which were the original focus of image consultants, are concerned with the overall
visual presentation of the organization. The graphics system should dictate the design style of
the company's literature, signs, and stationery. It involves coordinating the style of the
typeface, photography, illustrations, layout, and coloring in all the company's graphics. The
key question here, as with the nomenclature issue, is whether the company's visual
presentation is appropriately communicating its identity. Consider the example of Alitalia
Airline. Although Alitalia was one of the largest transatlantic carriers, it projected an image of
a relatively small, casual, inefficient "Italian" airline. To counter this negative image, Alitalia,
following the lead of Olivetti and Ferrari, developed a graphics program stressing superior
design and high technology. All forms of corporate communication such as aircraft insignias,
uniforms, baggage tags, and promotional materials were redesigned to consistently project and
reinforce this positive image. Today Alitalia is regarded by the flying public as a major global
carrier. The logo is the heart of the corporate graphics design system. Unlike nomenclature,
logos can be changed subtly over time to reflect the evolving corporate identity.
Formal Statements

This category includes mission statements, credos, codes of ethics, annual reports, advertising
copy, and company slogans. Company slogans can be a particularly potent means of
communicating to stakeholders. ICICI Banks "Hum Hai Na," for instance, has been
remarkably effective in conveying the company's identity.
Architecture
The design of corporate buildings and the interior layout of offices also can reveal much about
a company. A series of closed offices suggests a very different culture from a large open room
with desks in full sight of each other.
Interactions and Events
This is a catch-all category, but a critical one, because every interaction a company employee
has with a stakeholder, and every event related to a company, communicates something of the
firm's identity. This means, for one thing, that employees should be trained and motivated to
project a positive image of the company. The increased popularity of training employees on
answering telephones shows that many firms understand the criticality of this communication
source. Unexpected events also can conspicuously communicate corporate identity. The
catastrophe at Union Carbide's Bhopal plant projected a negative image, as did the controversy
over the treatment of African-American customers at Denny's. A company's reaction to such
events, however, also can play a prominent role in its projected image.
Feedback
Feedback is essential to managing the corporate image. Without it, company executives are
"flying blind." They need accurate information on stakeholder perceptions if they are to make
sound decisions. Ideally, feedback should be continuous. As a practical matter, relatively
continuous feedback can be elicited from salespeople, public relations executives, finance
managers, and other employees who routinely interact with stakeholders. Based on such input,
modifications may be made in the company's communication methods or, if warranted, a
formal study of the corporate identity initiated. In addition to systematically utilizing internal
sources, it is prudent to conduct formal studies on a regular basis, say every five years. Formal
studies are typically performed by identity/image consultants using in-depth, one-on-one and

group interviews as their chief research tools. This type of comprehensive outside review
would normally include an analysis of the corporate identity, an appraisal of the firm's image
and reputation in the eyes of its stakeholders, and an evaluation of the efficacy of its corporate
communications. The consultant's recommendations might run from making slight alterations
in the corporate communication program to a reshaping of the firm's identity.
For example, Jaguar, in the days prior to privatization, learned from research that it had a
terrible reputation for quality and reliability among customers. To correct this problem, Jaguar
initiated a rigorous quality program which has helped the firm regain its earlier reputation for
quality vehicles.
The modern concept of corporate identity has a broad sweep and a strategic focus. It views a
company's image and reputation among its several stakeholders as critical resources over
which the firm has control. The framework presented here outlines a conceptual model
through which management can comprehend, monitor, and influence the development of these
intangible assets. The concept is relatively simple but its effective implementation can be
profoundly challenging. The firms that master this challenge will, in all likelihood, be the ones
that will survive and prosper today's turbulent business environment.
Brand identity is the total proposition that a company makes to consumers - the promise it
makes. It may consist of features and attributes, benefits, performance, quality, service
support, and the values that the brand possesses. The brand can be viewed as a product, a
personality, a set of values, and a position it occupies in people's minds. Brand identity is
everything the company wants the brand to be seen as. The brand identity is the audio-visual
trade dress of the brand that expresses, and brings to artistic life, the brand definition,
especially the:

Central organizing thought of the brand- what the brand is all about from an insiders
perspective, expressed in one short sentence.

Slogan- the publicly expressed statement of the brand that translates the central
organizing thought for the benefit of its target customers.

Personality of the brand- the human character of the brand, maybe supported by a
celebrity character within the company.

Values of the brand- what the brand stands for and believes in.

Tastes/appearance of the brand- what it likes, what it wears, how it speaks.

Brand heritage- the stories told about the brand - the insiders view.

Emotional benefits of the brand- what the brand delivers emotionally - avoidance of
pain, reduction in pain, promotion of pleasure.

Hard benefits of the brand- what the brand delivers rationally- Utility Values.
The brand identity, used in all aspects of communication (including literature,
brochures, packaging, the product itself, the Internet, stationery, and so on), must
reflect all these things in its:

Graphical design & Type face

Use of color & Sounds

The more differentiated the identity, the easier it is to protect from infringement. Competitors
will

often

pick

up

on

elements

of

the

trade

dress

of

the

brand

leader.

They must be confronted, otherwise the trademark is lost as a valuable piece of intellectual
property and, more importantly, the clarity of the companys identity becomes drowned in
confounding noise from other brands.
Brand image, on the other hand, is the totality of consumer perceptions about the brand, or
how they see it, which may not coincide with the brand identity. Companies have to work hard
on the consumer experience to make sure that what customers see and think is what they want
them to. The key in brand image research is to identify or develop the most powerful images
and reinforce them through subsequent brand communications. The term "brand image"
gained popularity as evidence began to grow that the feelings and images associated with a
brand were powerful purchase influencers, though brand recognition, recall and brand identity.
It is based on the proposition that consumers buy not only a product (commodity), but also the
image associations of the product, such as power, wealth, sophistication, and most importantly
identification and association with other users of the brand. In a consumer led world, people
tend to define themselves and their Jungian "persona" by their possessions. Good brand
images are instantly evoked, are positive, and are almost always unique among competitive
brands. Brand image can be reinforced by brand communications such as packaging,
advertising, promotion, customer service, word-of-mouth and other aspects of the brand

experience. Brand images are usually evoked by asking consumers the first words/images that
come to their mind when a certain brand is mentioned (sometimes called "top of mind").
When responses are highly variable, non-forthcoming, or refer to non-image attributes such as
cost, it is an indicator of a weak brand image.
2.2 Corporate Rebranding
It is the wave of 'corporate rebranding' identity, that touch the Indian corporate to go for global
identity makeover. India witnessed in major rebranding of corporate identity such as
Pantaloons, Hutch, Bajaj auto, Dabur, Bank of Baroda, UTI Bank and IDBI Bank among
others.
What is corporate rebranding?
Rebranding is defined as the process by which a product or service developed with one brand
or company or product line affiliation is marked or distributed with a different identity.
Rebranding are now creating and reshaping the future of corporate identity. On the
Other hand corporate identity in turn is considered to be the starting point for creating a
relationship with customers. New corporate identity is aimed at to give rebirth to the old
brand. Brand identity Guru Vahid Mehrinfar has optly said that 'creating a brand identity,
including logo and brand name, entails a process where one projects the inherent qualification
of the brand'. Hence the process range from change of the brand logo to the positioning based
on brand name to portray the inherent qualities. Logos reflects the qualities, aspirations of the
brand, the culture and the personality of the organization. Brand identity is what to stay in the
mind of the consumers. Hence corporate internal and external link with consumer through
brand identity mechanism go a long way by ensuring consistency of the brand promise. Hence
brand identity is not just logo design; it is paradigm shift of the corporate to portray the culture
of the brand. A corporate identity is complete set of association along with brand identify the
brand based on familiarity and recall.

Rebranding Strategies
There are some cases in which corporate rebranding is the primary initiative needed to
successfully reposition a company or brand. Rebranding strategies and rebranding initiatives
are appropriate and needed when the company or brand already has strong, relevant
underlying differentiation, is currently doing everything right, and the sole purpose of
rebranding is to reflect what the company is already doing in a much more compelling,
persuasive manner. In short, corporate rebranding is about strategically polishing the company
with sharper, more differentiating positioning. Most companies in need of rebranding suffer
from generalized positioning. Usually a company doesn't want to narrow its message too much
for fear of missing opportunities. Therefore, the company doesnt strongly position itself as an
expert in its sweet spot. As a result, people searching for what the company does best dont
recognize the company as an expert, and the company needs to fight harder to win the
business it is really good at, business it should win easily every time.
On the other hand, conventional wisdom is that more generalized positioning gives a company
more opportunities. The reality is this generalized corporate positioning positions a company
as, you guessed it, a generalist. To win business, generalists have to not only won over other
generalists but they have to also beat out specialists.
Words of Caution
Unfortunately, many marketers and ad agencies view corporate rebranding as a change in
corporate identity. This alone rarely yields significant results. Sure, occasionally a corporate
logo may need an update, but that typically isnt going to solve much unless other change
occurs.
Beware of internal and external voices that promote the need for a new corporate identity as a
panacea for the companys problems. Also, be sure to assess whether its rebranding or
repositioning that you need. While corporate rebranding can make a significant difference in
attracting and securing new business, its benefits will be short lived if you don't deliver on
your brand promises or if more significant change was really needed.

Table 2.1 Four Stages in Corporate

Rebranding

Re-branding Objectives
The most common objective of rebranding is to develop a new image of the company in the
market.
The issue areas can be built into an integrating conceptual model of the re-branding process as
an aspect of, or activity within, corporate renewal. It suggests that re-branding though indeed
infrequent, might be seen as part of a cyclical model of organizational management and
renewal.
Table 2.2 Main Areas in Corporate
Rebranding

Main Areas in Corporate

Rebranding

Conceptual
Model
of
This model suggests a processFigure
based 2.1
approach
to corporate
re-branding
organizations which
Rebranding Process

starts from consulting and discussing the issues with the stakeholders. Then the strategies for
the
Re-development of brand should be developed so that it should be properly communicated to
the stakeholders. The management of the firm and its brand should be properly handled &
implemented so that it reflects the goals and objectives clearly. Then monitoring the
stakeholders perception about the change is necessary in order to evaluate the success of the
project. These issue areas can be built into an integrating conceptual model of the re-branding
process as an aspect of, or activity within, corporate renewal. It suggests that re-branding
though indeed infrequent, might be seen as part of a cyclical model of organizational
management and renewal activities and schemes.

2.3 Reasons for Corporate Rebranding

There are several reasons why a corporate takes the brand makeover strategy:
1. Visibility and Recognisability:

It provides an organization with visibility and

recognisability so that people should recognize name and the core business philosophy
through its brand identity.
2. Diversification into new area: Diversification into new area of operation may require new
corporate brand image makeover so that general public can easily differentiate it.
3. Merger Acquisition: A successful rebranding strategy portrayed the post merger brand
activity in the similar line of business. For example Maruti Suzuki Company.
4. Demerger: Demerger embarks upon the firm to opt for new brand identity to position
differently from its existing association. For example Reliance Communication Limited.
5. Transformation: Sometime to face the new market challenges makeover of brand is
considered to expand its operation either in the new segment or regenerating new values in the
market. For example various companies like Hutch, Pantaloons, Indian airlines etc.
6. Others:
Taking the brand into a new area like retail or internet marketing
Planning an IPO
Rejuvenating the existing brand
Launching into a new market
Developing a new variant of the existing product.
There is a list of examples given below:

Table 2.3 List of examples of Corporate

Rebranding

It changed its logo from

Pantaloon

"knowledge group" to "Future

group" featuring the upcoming

retail revolution.
The rejuvenation from its
traditional logo, the new banyan
tree identity combine with form

Dabur

and color featuring freshness and

stability. It expresses a brand that
is positive, proactive and
progressive.
The new look of Bajaj brand
identity and logo depicting a

Bajaj

flying "B" in pitch blue is a great

makeover to show style with
technology.
It replace its blue and yellow
identity with a vibrant orange call

Bank of

"Baroda Sun" with cricketer Rahul

Baroda

Dravid as brand endorser to

project itself as a modern and tech
savvy bank.
The wheel of the sun temple at
konarak inspires the new graphic

Indian

depiction of a partly visible blue

Airlines

wheel. It stands for timeless

motion, trust and courage to face
competition.

The today's brand marketers are facing cutthroat competition in the domestic market. Rising
competition in the domestic form, force the company to go for a corporate brand makeover.
But a mere change in logo will not serve the purpose; it requires a overall corporate identity
makeover to represent a fundamental shift in the way the companies will operate.
The main reason that corporations change their name is because of mergers and acquisitions
with other businesses. In such cases, a complete new name may be chosen to signal
capabilities. In other cases, a new corporate name arising from a merger or acquisition may be
based on some combinations of the two existing corporate names. Finally, in some cases, the
name with more potential inherent brand equity is chosen and the other name is regulated to a
sub-brand role or eliminated altogether. Deciding the appropriate strategy is depends on the
existing and potential brand equity associated with each brand in the context of the newly
merged business. Another reason that corporate names may need to be changed is because of
divestitures, leveraged buyouts, or sale of assets.
The corporate name may also need to be changed because of public misperceptions about the
nature of the companys business. Finally, significant shifts in corporate strategy may
necessitate name changes. In changing the corporate name, the assumption is that the existing
brand associations do not have the desired strength, favorability, and uniqueness and that a
new name can be chosen perhaps in combination with a corporate image campaign that better
conveys the desired brand image. Name changes are typically complicated, time consuming,
and expensive, however, and should only be undertaken when compelling marketing or
financial considerations prevail and a proper supporting marketing program can be put into
place. A new corporate product cannot hide product or other marketing deficiencies.
2.4 Tools of Corporate Rebranding
There are different tools of corporate rebranding and it should be adopted carefully because
costs associated with rebranding are normally high because reaching the Right audience
repeatedly is difficult. The different tools and strategies to tackle the implementation are:
Internal communications

Internal brand proposition

Management visibility

Internal feedback

Rebrand intent and direction

External communications

Unified and aligned brand change programme for all employees

External rebrand engagement and feedback

Another important tool for Corporate Rebranding is Corporate Brand Matrix

The Corporate Brand Matrix is a tool for planning, sourcing, budgeting and staffing
institutional rebranding programs and a tool which helps the client, consultants and designers
and unable them to speak the same language.
The Matrix is based on three propositions:
1. It can identify effectively all purposes for undertaking a rebranding initiative, 'the
drivers,' and the strategic branding options (in the form of communication goals)
commonly associated with each driver. It is one axis of the Matrix.
2. It can also identify all the tools and tactical choices that can be used to effect
rebranding. It is the second axis.
3. This gives us a structure for learning from history -- a potential data base of`
rebranding case histories. What were managements' driving purposes and what tools
were used to achieve each purpose?
In Corporate Brand Metrics, there are two axis:

The Driving Purpose axis

The "Tools and tactics" axis

The Driving Purpose axis:

Structural Drivers to accommodate structural changes
Driving Purpose

Communication Goals

Merger & Acquisition

Merger of equals, best of both

Transformed survivor brand

New vision, forget the past
Spin out

Preserve existing equity

Express a new vision

Drivers are of three kinds -- structural (organizational change), strategic, or functional.

Structural
Drivers

Strategic Drivers
Strategic Drivers to effect strategic repositioning
Driving Purpose

Communication Goals

Change direction

Refine industry/ core competence

Broaden the scope

remove limiting category association

Narrow the scope

Express a more specific focus

Changing internal culture

Table 2.4 Structural Drivers

Enhance pride & confidence

Change expressed personality

renew / refresh public image

Change perceived composition

redefine the defining units

Functional Drivers to improve branding functionality

Driving Purpose

Communication Goals

Name weakness

increase name impact & recall

Name confusion

increase name differentiation

Design weakness

increase visual strength / quality

Table 2.5 Strategic Drivers

Advertising breakthrough

incorporate the successful element

Legal requirements

retain or transfer brand equities

Functional
Drivers
The Tools & Tactics axis:
There are four broad tools categories Identifier tactics, identity system elements, situation
factors and changed events which are as follows:
Name Change
1.

Borrowed words

Identifier
Tactics

Created words
Abbreviations
Brand

Logo Change

Word-mark dominant

Table 2.6 Functional Drivers

Symbol dominant

2.
Identity Systems
Visual systems
Elements

Typography
Graphic devices
Palette

Verbal elements

Formal/ legal names

Tag lines

Unit signature systems

Visual endorsement

Table 2.7 Identifier Tactics

Monolithic
Mix of systems

3. Situation Factors
Table 2.8 identity Systems Elements

Corporate level facts

Industry definitions
Geographic scopes
Ownership
Management

Sub corporate facts

Competencies
Defining units
Subsidiaries
Brands & Products

4. Change Events

Table 2.9 Situation Factors

Low visibility

Employee mention, functional focus

Medium visibility

Public launch ads, internal publishment

High visibility

Anchors installation campaign, staged events

Table 2.10 Change Events

The Corporate Brand Matrix is a comprehensive tool for planning an institutional rebranding.
COMPANY PROFILE
AXIS BANK AN OVERVIEW
3.1 History of Banking Industry
Banking in India originated in the first decade of 18th century with The General Bank of India
coming into existence in 1786. This was followed by Bank of Hindustan. Both these banks are
now defunct. The oldest bank in existence in India is the State Bank of India being established
as "The Bank of Bengal" in Calcutta in June 1806. A couple of decades later, foreign banks
like Credit Lyonnais started their Calcutta operations in the 1850s. At that point of time,
Calcutta was the most active trading port, mainly due to the trade of the British Empire, and
due to which banking activity took roots there and prospered. The first fully Indian owned

bank was the Allahabad Bank, which was established in 1865. By the 1900s, the market
expanded with the establishment of banks such as Punjab National Bank, in 1895 in Lahore
and Bank of India, in 1906, in Mumbai - both of which were founded under private ownership.
The Reserve Bank of India formally took on the responsibility of regulating the Indian
banking sector from 1935. After India's independence in 1947, the Reserve Bank was
nationalized and given broader powers.
Early History
At the end of late-18th century, there were hardly any banks in India in the modern sense of
the term. At the time of the American Civil War, a void was created as the supply of cotton to
Lancashire stopped from the Americas. Some banks were opened at that time which
functioned as entities to finance industry, including speculative trades in cotton. With large
exposure to speculative ventures, most of the banks opened in India during that period could
not survive and failed. The depositors lost money and lost interest in keeping deposits with
banks. Subsequently, banking in India remained the exclusive domain of Europeans for next
several decades until the beginning of the 20th century. The Bank of Bengal, which later
became the State Bank of India. At the beginning of the 20th century, Indian economy was
passing through a relative period of stability. Around five decades have elapsed since the
India's First war of Independence, and the social, industrial and other infrastructure have
developed. At that time there were very small banks operated by Indians, and most of them
were owned and operated by particular communities. The banking in India was controlled and
dominated by the presidency banks, namely, the Bank of Bombay, the Bank of Bengal, and the
Bank of Madras - which later on merged to form the Imperial Bank of India, and Imperial
Bank of India, upon India's independence, was renamed the State Bank of India. There were
also some exchange banks, as also a number of Indian joint stock banks. All these banks
operated in different segments of the economy. The presidency banks were like the central
banks and discharged most of the functions of central banks. They were established under
charters from the British East India Company. The exchange banks, mostly owned by the
Europeans, concentrated on financing of foreign trade. Indian joint stock banks were generally
under capitalized and lacked the experience and maturity to compete with the presidency
banks, and the exchange banks. There was potential for many new banks as the economy was

growing. Lord Curzon had observed then in the context of Indian banking: "In respect of
banking it seems we are behind the times. We are like some old fashioned sailing ship, divided
by solid wooden bulkheads into separate and cumbersome compartments." Under these
circumstances, many Indians came forward to set up banks, and many banks were set up at
that time, a number of which have survived to the present such as Bank of India and
Corporation Bank, Indian Bank, Bank of Baroda, and Canara Bank.
Post-independence
The partition of India in 1947 had adversely impacted the economies of Punjab and West
Bengal, and banking activities had remained paralyzed for months. India's independence
marked the end of a regime of the Laissez-faire for the Indian banking. The Government of
India initiated measures to play an active role in the economic life of the nation, and the
Industrial Policy Resolution adopted by the government in 1948 envisaged a mixed economy.
This resulted into greater involvement of the state in different segments of the economy
including banking and finance. The major steps to regulate banking included: In 1948, the
Reserve Bank of India, India's central banking authority, was nationalized, and it became an
institution owned by the Government of India. In 1949, the Banking Regulation Act was
enacted which empowered the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) "to regulate, control, and inspect
the banks in India." The Banking Regulation Act also provided that no new bank or branch of
an existing bank may be opened without a licensed from the RBI, and no two banks could
have common directors. However, despite these provisions, control and regulations, banks in
India except the State Bank of India, continued to be owned and operated by private persons.
This changed with the nationalization of major banks in India on 19th July, 1969.
Nationalization
By the 1960s, the Indian banking industry has become an important tool to facilitate the
development of the Indian economy. At the same time, it has emerged as a large employer, and
a debate has ensued about the possibility to nationalize the banking industry. Indira Gandhi,
the-then Prime Minister of India expressed the intention of the GOI in the annual conference
of the All India Congress Meeting in a paper entitled "Stray thoughts on Bank
Nationalization." The paper was received with positive enthusiasm. Thereafter, her move was

swift and sudden, and the GOI issued an ordinance and nationalized the 14 largest commercial
banks with effect from the midnight of July 19, 1969. Jayaprakash Narayan, a national leader
of India, described the step as a "masterstroke of political sagacity." Within two weeks of the
issue of the ordinance, the Parliament passed the Banking Companies (Acquition and Transfer
of Undertaking) Bill, and it received the presidential approval on 9th August, 1969. A second
dose of nationalization of 6 more commercial banks followed in 1980. The stated reason for
the nationalization was to give the government more control of credit delivery. With the
second dose of nationalization, the GOI controlled around 91% of the banking business of
India. After this, until the 1990s, the nationalized banks grew at a pace of around 4%, closer to
the average growth rate of the Indian economy.
Liberalization
In the early 1990s the then Narasimha Rao government embarked on a policy of liberalization
and gave licenses to a small number of private banks, which came to be known as New
Generation tech-savvy banks, which included banks such as UTI Bank (now re-named as Axis
Bank) (the first of such new generation banks to be set up), ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank. This
move, along with the rapid growth in the economy of India, kick started the banking sector in
India, which has seen rapid growth with strong contribution from all the three sectors of
banks, namely, government banks, private banks and foreign banks. The next stage for the
Indian banking has been setup with the proposed relaxation in the norms for Foreign Direct
Investment, where all Foreign Investors in banks may be given voting rights which could
exceed the present cap of 10%, at present it has gone up to 49% with some restrictions. The
new policy shook the Banking sector in India completely. Bankers, till this time, were used to
the 4-6-4 method (Borrow at 4%, Lend at 6%, Go home at 4) of functioning. The new wave
ushered in a modern outlook and tech-savvy methods of working for traditional banks. All this
led to the retail boom in India. People not just demanded more from their banks but also
received more.
Current situation
Currently (2007-08), banking in India is generally fairly mature in terms of supply, product
range and reach-even though reach in rural India still remains a challenge for the private sector

and foreign banks. In terms of quality of assets and capital adequacy, Indian banks are
considered to have clean, strong and transparent balance sheets relative to other banks in
comparable economies in its region. The Reserve Bank of India is an autonomous body, with
minimal pressure from the government. The stated policy of the Bank on the Indian Rupee is
to manage volatility but without any fixed exchange rate-and this has mostly been true. With
the growth in the Indian economy expected to be strong for quite some time-especially in its
services sector-the demand for banking services, especially retail banking, mortgages and
investment services are expected to be strong. One may also expect M&As, takeovers, and
asset sales. In March 2006, the Reserve Bank of India allowed Warburg Pincus to increase its
stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank (a private sector bank) to 10%. This is the first time an investor
has been allowed to hold more than 5% in a private sector bank since the RBI announced
norms in 2005 that any stake exceeding 5% in the private sector banks would need to be vetted
by them. Currently, India has 88 scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) - 28 public sector banks
(that is with the Government of India holding a stake), 29 private banks (these do not have
government stake; they may be publicly listed and traded on stock exchanges) and 31 foreign
banks. They have a combined network of over 53,000 branches and 17,000 ATMs.
3.2 History of Axis Industry
Axis Bank, previously called UTI Bank, was the first of the new private banks to have begun
operations in 1994, after the Government of India allowed new private banks to be established.
The Bank was promoted jointly by the Administrator of the Specified Undertaking of the Unit
Trust of India (UTI-I), Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), General Insurance
Corporation Ltd., National Insurance Company Ltd., The New India Assurance Company, The
Oriental Insurance Corporation and United Insurance Company Ltd. UTI-I holds a special
position in the Indian capital markets and has promoted many leading financial institutions in
the country. As on the year ended March 31, 2006 the Bank had a net worth of Rs. 2872.19
crores with the public holding (other than promoters) at 56.65%. Net Profit for the year was up
44.98% to Rs 485.08 crores.
Axis Bank stands apart from its private sector competitors ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank
in one crucial respect. While the other two banks have envisaged retail banking as a key area
of strategic emphasis with the share of the retail business (both on the funding and asset

sides) growing strongly year after year the share of retail business, particularly retail assets,
has actually come down quite sharply in the case of Axis Bank. The numbers here are quite
interesting. For ICICI Bank, retail loans now (as of June 2007) account for as much as 70 per
cent of the banks total loan book of Rs 2,00,000 crore. For HDFC Bank, retail assets are
around 57 per cent (Rs 28,000 crore) of the total loans as of March 2007. In the case of Axis
Bank, retail loans have declined from 30 per cent of the total loan book of Rs 25,800 crore in
June 2006 to around 23 per cent of loan book of Rs.41,280 crore (as of June 2007). Even over
a longer period, while the overall asset growth for Axis Bank has been quite high and has
matched that of the other banks, retail exposures grew at a slower pace. If the sharp decline in
the retail asset book in the past year in the case of Axis Bank is part of a deliberate business
strategy, this could have significant implications (not necessarily negative) for the overall
future profitability of the business. Despite the relatively slower growth of the retail book over
a period of time and the outright decline seen in the past year, the banks fundamentals are
quite resilient. With the high level of mid-corporate and wholesale corporate lending the bank
has been doing, one would have expected the net interest margins to have been under greater
pressure. The bank, though, appears to have insulated such pressures. Interest margins, while
they have declined from the 3.15 per cent seen in 2003-04, are still hovering close to the 3 per
cent mark. (The comparable margins for ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank are around 2.60 per cent
and 4 per cent respectively. The margins for ICICI Bank are lower despite its much larger
share of the higher margin retail business, since funding costs also are higher). Such strong
emphasis and focus on lending also does not appear to have had any deleterious impact on the
overall asset quality. The banks non-performing loans are even now, after five years of
extremely rapid asset build-up, below 1 per cent of its total loans.
From a medium-term perspective, it appears that Axis Bank could be charting out a niche for
itself in the private bank space. It appears to be following a business strategy quite different
from the high-volume and commodity-style approach of ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank. That
strategy also has its pluses in terms of the relatively higher margins in some segments of the
retail business and the in-built credit risk diversification (and mitigation) achieved through a
widely dispersed retail credit portfolio. But, as indicated above, Axis Bank has been to able to
maintain the quality of its loan portfolio despite the concentrated nature of wholesale
corporate lending.

The Bank today is capitalized to the extent of Rs. 357.48 crore with the public holding (other
than promoters) at 57.03%. The Bank's Registered Office is at Ahmadabad and its Central
Office is located at Mumbai. Presently, the Bank has a very wide network of more than 608
branch offices and Extension Counters. The Bank has a network of over 2595 ATMs providing
24 hrs a day banking convenience to its customers. This is one of the largest ATM networks in
the country. The Bank has strengths in both retail and corporate banking and is committed to
adopting the best industry practices internationally in order to achieve excellence.
Axis Bank continued its robust growth in the December 2007 quarter and has once again
beaten analysts expectations on all parameters. However, the difference this quarter is that the
growth in profitability has been driven more by a significant jump in the net interest income
(core business) rather than non-interest income unlike in last several quarters. Net interest
income leaped by 91 per cent y-o-y to Rs 747 crorethe highest in the past four quartersas
advances and deposits grew by 50 per cent and 35 per cent respectively and also there was an
increase in net interest margin (NIM). Its NIM went up by 63 basis points q-o-q and 91 basis
points y-o-y to 3.91 per cent. This was because of a jump in yield on advances while CASA
(current and savings account) was maintained at 45 per cent sequentially. Though other
income went up 74 per cent y-o-y to Rs 488 crore, it was still lower than the 87 per cent
growth reported in the September 2007 quarter. The banks fee income increased by 81 per
cent to Rs 348 crore and trading profits were up 65 per cent to Rs 131 crore in Q3. All these
factors led to doubling of operating profit to Rs 672 crore while operating expenses went up
67 per cent. However, its net profit grew relatively slower at 66 per cent to Rs 307 crore as
provisions and contingencies went up 290 per cent and a 68 per cent jump was recorded in tax
provisioning. However, growth in net profit is still higher than previous three quarters and has
been higher than expectations. Axis Bank is relatively immune to the slowdown in the retail
credit and high cost of funding. This is because retail credits share of 25 per cent has gone
down from 28 per cent last year and other advances like corporate, SME (small and medium
enterprises)

and

agriculture

loans

Changes brought in the Bank are:

have

grown

faster

than

retail-advances.

Table 3.1 Changes in UTI

Bank

Before

After

Name

UTI Bank

AXIS Bank

Logo

Tagline

Solutions for a life time

Not Yet Declared

3.3 Reasons for Changes in UTI Bank

Few banks have gone in for a brand makeover; UTI Bank is one of them that have changed its
name to Axis Bank. It seems to be quite clear from the strategic decision about the way
forward, the change in identity, the positioning of the bank, the pros and cons of pursuing
organic growth, etc. One of the reason for bringing changes in the corporate identity is to
enhance the image of the bank because now they want to become an MNC bank.

Why did the bank decide to change its brand name?

Bank has done this partly because there are shareholder-unrelated entities that carry the UTI
brand, which was becoming increasingly untenable. If there are no shareholder relations
between the two organizations, how can they actually share a common name? When UTI was
split into two vehicles, the brand was given to UTI Mutual Fund and others were permitted to
use the brand only till January 2008. When it became clear to the bank that it was no longer
tenable, they decided to have a brand of our own. The name Axis was chosen as it means a line
of reference, around which everything is measured. Their feeling is that with time, people will
think of the bank brand as Axis Bank. The tough test was whether in the next six months
people would forget old name or not. Otherwise, nothing has really changed in the bank. They

raised capital worth Rs 4,500 crore, which helped Axis Bank to start off on a strong footing.
They feel that this capital would last at least for three years in the case of pure organic growth.
The UTI brand had a quasi-government sovereign ring to it, especially when it goes
outside metros. It was an advantage, then why bank have taken this decision on cost of
losing it?
Banks customer base is very different from the customer base of a mutual fund. So they have
never really able to ride on the brand. The pace at which customer base have grown indicates
the level of customer service bank provide. Also, the UTI brand was seen as a public sector
brand. They were board-managed private sector entity. By changing the name, Bank have
reinforce this image.
Where Axis Bank positioned from the business point of view?
Axis Bank has taken first step towards seeing themselves as becoming an MNC bank from
India. They have presence in four overseas locations Singapore, Hong Kong, China and
Dubai. This is part of a journey for becoming a pan-Asian bank and then, eventually, a bank
that is more multinational. They are foraying into smaller towns and entering district
headquarters in a big way. In the next thirty months, they want to be present in 450 district
headquarters. They have received licenses to open 150 branches and 500 ATMs. Also they are
planning to open 125 branches by July 2008, half of which would be in large cities. They are
also setting up a large agriculture financing business, for which they need to be close to
farmers; hence the bank is going to open branches in villages. Besides, the bank has set up
priority banking branches for customers with deposits of over Rs 5 lakh. It is one of the fastest
growing customer bases of our bank, growing at 4% each year. They have three such
specialized branches now, and planning to have one each in all the major metros.
Would it have been very tempting for the bank to stay on the existing brand by paying a
higher royalty, given the cost and time involved in this exercise?
In recent years, the Bank has contributed more than their fair share on restoration of the UTI
brand. But when it was clear to them that there was no other option, they decided to bite the
bullet. Bank decided to assume their very own identity. The UTI identity came to the bank

from the undivided Unit Trust of India (UTI). The split of UTI was the starting point for what
was eventually a search for a new identity.
When Axis Bank looks at private sector peers, there are missing links, since most of them
have a mutual fund and insurance business?
Axis Bank has tried to focus on Commercial banking since their inception. As the first step
towards diversion, bank has set up an AMC to manage a private equity venture.
They would be in a position to launch the first tranche of the fund by end of September 2008.
The AMC will provide equity support for infrastructure projects. There are not many private
equity funds here, focusing on infrastructure projects.
1. Start With the Lowest Hanging Fruit: The easiest sales that can be made to current
customers are engagement services that help a customer use an account they already
own. These 'sticky services' include a debit card, online banking, direct deposit, bill
pay, automatic savings transfer, personal line of credit and security solutions such as
privacy protection. These services help to ensure the customer will use the products
they own more frequently, will significantly improve retention and will help to
improve the overall customer experience.
2. Stay Connected: About a year ago I was talking to a friend who said, "I was very
impressed with how much love my bank gave me when I opened some new accounts,
but amazed that I never really heard from them again except to tell me about new
fees". While some banks have very successful onboarding programs to help stay
connected with new customers, a surprising number of banks still rely on the customer
to onboard themselves. And unless the customer expands their relationship, their bank
may never include them in a model-driven cross-sell program.
3. Continually Evaluate Upsell Opportunities: Rather than using product-driven
programs that are done seasonally, consider funding more customer-focused programs
that evaluate each customer's propensity to open one or more of the products and
services you offer. With some of my clients, we evaluate each customer's transactional,
product ownership and even behavioral characteristics to determine what would be the
most likely next purchase and whether the propensity to purchase is high enough to
make an offer. In some of most successful programs, this evaluation of opportunities is
done monthly, with smaller mailing universes, but much higher response rates.

4. Empower Your Customer Contact Teams: For most customer facing employees of
your bank, their primary responsibility revolves around efficient processing of
transactions and/or customer service. To leverage the thousands of customer
engagements these employees have each year, you need to provide easy ways for them
to extend their conversations to include relationship expansion opportunities. Many
banks provide prompts on their employee's computer screen around recent sales
communications received by the customer, most likely products that may interest the
customer and even special offers that can be made as part of their transaction or service
conversation. The best programs don't stop there, but include tools for the customer to
take advantage of the offer. This may be an immediately generated custom printed
sales document, a follow-up email or sales call or a referral form.
5. Ask for Referrals: One of the easiest ways to generate new business and increase
loyalty of current retail or business customers is to ask (and possibly incent) for
referrals. If a customer is happy with the way they are treated at your organization,
they usually want others to know. This is especially true with satisfied small
businesses, private banking customers and with retail customers that are part of a bankat-work program. And it doesn't hurt if you provide an incentive to your current
customer. At a time when new customer acquisition offers often exceed $100 and when
the overall cost of acquisition is more than $250, offering a 'bounty' of $50 would be
less expensive and would most likely generate a more loyal customer.
6. Leverage All Channels: Never assume that customers understand all that your
organization offers or absorb communication the same through all channels. Remind
your customers continuously that you know who they are, understand their needs, are
looking out for them and that you are willing to reward them for their loyalty. And use
as many direct channels as possible to reach out to your current customer base,
including direct mail, email, statement inserts, banner ads on your website, ATM
messaging, outbound calling efforts, etc.
7. Measure and Reward What You Want Done: By providing ongoing measurement of
the cross-selling objectives you want to achieve and paying for this achievement of
these objectives, you have a much better chance of reaching your goals. This
continuous reinforcement of your cross-sell mission allows your team to be focused on

what's important. You can also turbocharge your results by communicating how you
are assisting in their efforts. Provide Opportunity Reports of the customers where they
may have the greatest opportunity for success. As part of these reports, it is also helpful
to provide background as to why the customer is being selected for a specific offer.
Finally, remember that current customers like to be rewarded for their loyalty. One of the best
ways to do this is to remember to include an offer with any cross-sell or upsell message.
Without an offer, you may be perceived as simply 'pushing product' without leveraging the
relationship value already in place. A strong offer will not only generate a better response to
your communication, but also remind the customer of the value of doing business with your
organization.
How to find the holy grail of effective cross-selling and upselling.

First, you need to admit or accept that the information silos created by the many
product and service offerings that can exist in a typical bank are hampering effective
cross-selling and upselling and that this isnt a DIY fix. Most of these silos, if
connected at all, are point to point connections that limit data sharing. So, the first
opportunity to discover a potential cross-sell product is lost because youre not able to
match a customer need to a product or service across the bank because youre relying
on a manual process with hard coded rules that are spread out across the silos.

Second, you need to get some decision management -- in the form of business rule
management -- in order to easily make, test, automate, and ultimately govern those key
operational decisions that help line-of-business employees and systems recommend the
best offer (quickly and safely).

Lets zoom in: How decision automation can support effective cross-selling and upselling.
Operational decision making is a multistage process one that can be completely or partially
automated. In the case of cross-selling or up-selling in banking it generally works like this
(refer to the graphic below):

Stage 1: The data from the information pool, seen below, is used to determine the
customer profile or model. Typically, this is customer information such as
demographics, credit ratings, products purchased, accounts held, etc.

Stage 2: Next the customer profile data is added to the recommended cross-sell
products based on business objectives, such as customer retention or acquisition,
increased wallet share, revenue maximization, etc. Out of that, the bank can determine
which products to sell to what customer profiles in order to achieve a particular
business objective.

Stage 3: The list of selected products is then customized by filtering out the products
that either the customer already owns or has already declined.
o Note: The built-in and automated rules, defined and authored by the business,
are not only selecting the best products for the customer, but are also

determining eligibility so that in the end what youre offering a customer is

something that hes willing and able to accept.

Stage 4: Before displaying the product recommendation, the decisioning software

(business rule management system in this case) calculates the banks risk. For example,
it can calculate the loan amount and loan rate, taking into account the maximum
exposure the bank is willing to accept based on organizational policy and customer
status (i.e., client's current credit history and credit limit).

So, in the end, this kind of intelligent decision automation is able to guarantee that the
products recommended are the best match for that customer, are within the customer
purchasing power, and that the customer is 100% eligible for those products.

FINDINGS & DISCUSSIONS

5.1 Profile of Consumers/ Percentage Analysis
1.

Gender

Table 5.1 Gender

Gender
No. of Respondents
Percentage

Male
86
86%

Female
14
14%

Gender

14%
Male
Female
86%

Interpretation:

Figure 5.1
Gender
1. Out of total sample size 86% of respondents
are male.

2. Out of total sample size 14% of respondents are female.

3. Majority of respondents are male.

2. Age

Table 5.2 Age

Age
No. of Respondents
Percentage

18-25 yrs
25
25%

26-40 yrs
43
43%

41-55 yrs
18
18%

Above 55 yrs
14
14%

Age

14%

25%

18-25
26-40

18%

41-55
56 above
43%

Figure 5.2 Age

Interpretation:
1. Out of total respondents 25% are in age group of 18-25 years.
2. Out of total respondents 43% are in age group of 26-40 years.
3. Out of total respondents 18% are in age group of 41-55 years.
4. Out of total respondents 14% are in age group of above 56 years.

3. Annual Income

Table 5.3 Annual

Annual Income
No. of Respondents
Percentage

Below 1 lacs
2
2%

1-2 lacs
19
19%

2-3 lacs
52
52%

Above 3 lacs
27
27%

Annual Income

27%

2%

Less than Rs 1,00,000

19%

Rs 1,00,000 - 2,00,000
Rs 2,00,000 - 3,00,000
More than Rs 3,00,000
52%

Interpretation:

Figure 5.3 Annual

1. Out of total respondents, 2% are having annual
income below 1 lakhs.
Income

2. Out of total respondents, 19% are having annual income between 1-2 lakhs.
3. Out of total respondents, 52% are having annual income between 2-3 lakhs.
4. Out of total respondents, 27% are having annual income above 3 lakhs.

4.
5.
6. 4. Occupation

Occupation
No. of Respondents

Table 5.4

Business
22

Service
43

Professional
15

student
11

Others
9

Percentage

22%

43%

15%

11%

9%

Occupation

9%

22%

11%

Business
Service
Professional

15%

Student
others
43%

Figure 5.4
Occupation

Interpretation:

1. Out of total respondents, 22% are running business.

2. Out of total respondents, 43% are in service.
3. Out of total respondents, 15% are professionals.
4. Out of total respondents, 11% are students.
5. Out of total respondents, 9% are engaged in others occupational activities.
5. Educational Qualifications
Educational
Qualifications
No. of

Graduate

Post Graduate PhD

Others

respondents
Percentage

52

21

19

52%

21%

19%

8%

Educational Qualification
8% Table 5.5 Educational
Graduate

19%

Post Graduate

52%

PhD
Others

21%

Interpretation:

Figure 5.5 Educational

Qualification

1. Out of total respondents, 52% are graduates.

2. Out of total respondents, 21% are post graduates.
3. Out of total respondents, 19% Phd.
4. Out of total respondents, 8% are having other qualifications.

6. Awareness about the change

Aware about the change

Yes

No

No. of respondents

100

Percentage

100%

0%

Level of Awareness
Table 5.6 Awareness about the
change

Yes; 100%

Figure 5.6 Awareness about the

change

Interpretation
Out of the total respondents, 100% are aware about the change in name of UTI bank to Axis
Bank.

5.2 Centroid Analysis

a) Customer Sales Representatives/ Tellers
Intensity Level of Customer Sales Representatives / Tellers

Poor

Average

Excellent

AXIS
BANK

UTI Bank

Figure 5.7 Intensity Level of

CSR

Interpretation:
On a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 is termed as poor and 5 is termed as excellent,
respondents have ranked UTI Bank near 3.02 and Axis Bank near 3.43. This signifies
that customers are finding changes/ improvements in the services provided by
customer sales representatives / tellers. Now The Bank is more concentrating more on
customer satisfaction.

b) Supervisors / Management level

Intensity Level of Supervisors / Management level

Poor

Average

Excellent

AXIS
BANK

UTI Bank

Figure 5.8 Intensity level of supervisors/ Mngmt

level

Interpretation:
On a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 is termed as poor and 5 is termed as excellent,
respondents have ranked UTI Bank near 2.40 and Axis Bank near 3.01. This signifies
that customers are finding changes/ improvements in the services provided by
Supervisors / Management people. Now they are more available to customers to solve
their queries.

c) Branch Facilities

Intensity Level of Branch Facilities

Poor

Average

Excellent

AXIS
BANK

UTI Bank

Figure 5.9 Intensity Level of Branch

Facilities

Interpretation:
On a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 is termed as poor and 5 is termed as excellent, respondents have
ranked UTI Bank near 3.28 and Axis Bank near 3.48. This signifies that customers are finding
little changes/ improvements in the branch facilities in terms of clean & well cared
environment, pleasant and attractive dcor, no long line wait ups etc.

RECOMMENDATION
After going through a detailed research it is clear that consumer is finding differences in the
services provided by UTI Bank and Axis Bank. Now the bank is more focused towards
customer satisfaction which is improving their market share. A name change can create
differences in consumer perception about the bank but with the help of effective rebranding
campaign bank is spreading information about the services and creating awareness. The bank
looks different by changing the name & appearance, so by keeping this in mind the company
devised a promotion strategy where it clearly says Everything is the same, except the
name.

An upsell is simply convincing the buyer that he or she should purchase a more
expensive (and higher quality or more versatile) product than the one under
consideration.

A cross-sell is an effort to encourage the committed buyer to add auxiliary items to the
purchase, such as accessories or related items.

Experienced online cross-sellers know that selecting the items that are to appear alongside
each product is a huge, time-consuming job. You want to get it right, and after its done, you
should plan to keep track of how well the cross-sellers are doing.
The selection and placement of cross-sell items should be part of your web design, so youll
need some guidelines for your designers. These rules should also serve the folks wholl be
selecting the items for the product page. You can set whatever rules you want, but here are
some samples of rules in use by other vendors that you can use as prompts:
Customers are finding changes/ improvements in the services provided by
customer sales representatives / tellers, management people and branch facilities. It shows,
perhaps, Bank is going to become a multinational corporation bank but they are more focused
towards their home country customers. As UTI bank was the third largest bank in India and
had a quasi-government sovereign ring to it, definitely change in corporate identity could harm
their identity in domestic market. But with the help of effective corporate rebranding strategies
the bank has done the positive repositioning in the minds of the consumers. All the

respondents are fully aware about the change in name and logo of the bank and the strategic
decision took place.
CONCLUSIONS
Axis Bank is a national level bank. Ideally, the sample should be taken from across the country
for better analysis. However, time and resource constraints limit the scope of the data
collection to Ghaziabad city only. The finding in Ghaziabad city shows that:

Most of the customers lie in the age group of 26 to 40 years which means that Axis
Bank is popular in the mid-age group.

Most of the respondents are having annual income in the slab of Rs 2 to 3 lakhs which
means Axis bank is targeting the middle income group people as their customers.

A large percentage of respondents have service as their occupation which is followed

by business which signifies that bank is concentrating more on saving bank account
schemes followed by others.

Most of the Axis Bank customers in Ghaziabad city have good educational
qualifications. Most of them are graduates.

There is 100% awareness among the customers about the change in name of bank. This
signifies that Axis Bank is creating awareness through various marketing tools. It
shows an effective implementation of corporate rebranding strategy.

Customers are finding differences in the services provided by the UTI Bank and Axis
Bank in terms of branch facilities, customer service representatives and management
people. Now customers are more satisfied and finding improvements in the services of
the Axis Bank. That shows bank is now more focused towards customer satisfaction.

The overall satisfaction level of the customers from the Axis Bank in terms of all the
services provided like banking facilities etc are showing improvements after the
change.

Most of the customers are relating UTI Bank with the words like Quasi-government
sovereign, Reliability and Security. That shows consumer perception with the UTI
bank was very strong in terms of security and reliability as quasi government ring was
attached to it.

Customers are relating Axis Bank with the words like Global, Modern etc which shows
the strong growth path for the bank supported by a strong base, indicating that the bank
is moving on to become a MNC Bank.

Axis bank advertisement is very popular among the customers. There is 100% recall
ratio of the advertisement of the twin sisters and the tagline Everything is same
except the name.

Almost every respondent was able to recall the Axis Bank

advertisement and tagline.

APPENDICES
1) NAME

2) GENDER

Male

3) AGE ( years)

18-25

Female

26-40
41-55
56 and above
4) ANNUAL INCOME: Less than Rs 100, 000
Rs 100, 000 200, 000
Rs 200, 000 300, 000
More than Rs 300, 000
5) Occupation

Business

Service

Student

Professional
Others

6) Educational Qualification: Graduate

Post graduate

PhD

Others

If others please specify..

7) Are you aware of the change in name of UTI Bank to Axis Bank?
Yes

No

8) Do you have an account in Axis Bank?

Yes

No

9) How long you have an account in Axis Bank?

0-2 yrs

2-4yrs

4-6yrs

6yrs and above

10) Do you have account in another Bank?

Yes

No

If Yes then please specify..

11) Please indicate any perceptual changes do you find in the transition from UTI Bank to
Axis Bank on the following parameters. Please rank the following parameters in
reference as mentioned. Please give rank 5 on those parameters which may be termed
excellent, 4 as good, 3 as average, 2 as fair and 1 as poor.

a) Customer Service Representatives/Tellers

Attributes
Friendly and courteous manner
Knowledge of bank's products & Services
Fast and efficient service
Recognition of you as valued customer
Professional and attractive appearance

UTI Bank

Axis Bank

UTI Bank

Axis Bank

UTI Bank

Axis Bank

b) Supervisors/Management
Attributes
Friendly and courteous manner
Knowledge of bank's products & Services
Fast and efficient service
Available to customers when needed
Professional and attractive appearance
c) Branch Facilities
Attributes
Clean & well cared facilities
Efficient, no wait service
No long line ups at counter
Pleasant & attractive dcor
ATM Facilities at convenient locations

12) Assume that UTI Bank was not a bank but a human being, then how would you
describe that human being?

13) Assume that Axis Bank was not a bank but a human being, then how would you
describe that human being?

14) What one word comes to your mind instantly when you think of UTI Bank?

15) What one word comes to your mind instantly when you think of Axis Bank?

16) Can you briefly describe any advertisement of Axis bank that you have seen in the last
6 months?
0% recall

50% recall

100% recall

17) You have seen Axis Bank logo, in your opinion what sense does it convey?

18) Please rate your overall satisfaction on the scale of 1 to 5 for services provided by Axis
Bank:

Very

Dissatisfied

Neutral

Satisfied

Very Satisfied

Dissatisfied
1

Thanks for your valuable cooperation

Signature:

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Websites:

http://www.axisbank.com/aboutus/aboutaxisbank/About-Axis-Bank.asp

http://in.ibtimes.com/articles/20070806/uti-bank-goes-for-rebranding-new-name-axisbank-ltd.htm

http://www.corporatebrandmatrix.com/the-matrix.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_identity

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banking_in_India

Books, Magazines, Journals:

Brand Reporter

Strategic Brand Management by Kevin Lane Keller, Edition IX.