SBI- the Banker to Every Indian:

The world of finance and economics is very complex and boring for the layman. India is a developing economy moving from agrarian to the service sector directly giving manufacturing sector a miss in its transformation. The extent of a developed country can be gauged from the level of complexity and maturity of the financial market. Banking forms a critical part of the financial market comprising of equities, debt, commodities and a bit of insurance.

SBI is the oldest bank in India with a rich heritage of more than two centuries. It is India’s largest public sector bank in terms of balance sheet, customers, number of branches and ATMs and number of employees as well. Yet it doesn’t have the brand recall of say an ICICI or HDFC or any other foreign bank. SBI was a sleeping giant even post liberalization. Foreign banks and even Indian private banks went miles ahead in the race of brand equity and brand recall and service. SBI stood for a government bank, lethargic in its service. SBI was not the preferred choice for customers. Its scale, backed by the government made it sustainable. But since last couple of years it has woken up to the array of opportunities and turned itself into a versatile origination attuned to the needs of the changing customer.

The Indian consumer’s purchasing power and disposable income has grown exponentially in the last 5 years. The nimble and lean foreign and Indian banks have grabbed the customer with both hands. SBI lacked in this, rather all Indian Public sector banks lacked in this. Thus there was a line of PSBs outside ad agencies for changing everything from logo to the positioning and the promotional campaign. We had union bank of India, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda among others changing their logo and using celebrity endorsements for their promotions.

SBI of late has started with a print and outdoor campaign which is drastically different. Neither are they talking about financial products, interest rates or returns nor are they going for the emotional appeal of trust, ease in service or reach of maximum ATM. The campaign is based on the value which makes all great brands i.e. the longevity. IBM, Coca Cola are century old brands. SBI is also trying to say that if we are centuries old, we are that damn good for the people. The methodology to convey this message is quite peculiar.

Motilal Nehru, one of the early Indian independence activists, Sardar Patel, architect of the integrity of India, Jagdishchandra Bose, an eminent Indian scientist, Dadabhai Navroji, founder of Indian National Congress for independence of India, Rabindranath Tagore, literature Nobel Laureate, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Independent India’s first President, M Visvesvaraya, Engineer and Statesman were customers of SBI. This methodology is unlike testimonial ads yet it has that flavour. No other bank can boast of such an elite clientele. Thus they are trying to say that this is the clear differentiation which no other bank can claim to have.

A good and a refreshing piece of creativity and strategy. Kudos to you, SBI and their agency.