Brand makeover seems to be the flavor of the season with India Inc., as a host of firms including India's largest airlines, "Indian Airlines", have gone a brand overhaul exercise recently. The photographs of the new avatar of Indian Airlines' Airbus-A319, with a new logo and a new name "Indian" splashed print and electronic media. The last change was done way back in 1967 from Indian Airlines Corporation to Indian Airlines. Others like SBI, Bank of Baroda, Hutch, Dabur etc., too have been making up high decibel ad pitches. While brand marketers see this as an impact of growing competition on the domestic front, which compels companies for a brand makeover, there are also a number of other reasons behind the trend. While some experts argue that it has become critical for a company to stay contemporary and relevant owing to the dynamic nature of markets and customers, and the company needs to overhaul its brand completely; others say that companies take up the exercise when their images look old and tired, and they want to change the perception of the customer or convey a new message to him. "The increasing realization amongst companies is prompting the leadership in these companies to take a special interest in the branding process to ensure greater value to their stakeholders and interest groups, thereby, helping promote supportive behavior amongst all these constituencies," says Samit Sinha, Managing Partner, Alchemist Brand Consulting.
While some of the well-positioned brands like Airtel, to remain competitive, have sought a change in brand identity due to the rapidly changing external environment, others like Tata AIG Life Insurance, ONGC, Dabur, Bajaj Auto, Kinetic, Hutch, Gecis are a few among the others who have undergone a thorough brand makeover exercise recently and are reaping the benefits. The companies that go for a change in their corporate images are interestingly divided into two segments. One segment includes companies which want their logos to reflect their changing functions. The two-wheeler maker, Bajaj Auto, for instance, has become a multi-product, multi-channel corporation with the younger management now at the helm of affairs. It needed a new identity which aligned to its changing philosophy. It shed its 40 year old logo and switched over to a new logo, "flying B", which represent style and the technology it adopted. The other segment includes those companies that are set to bring far-reaching changes in their entity and want to make it public in the form of a new corporate identity. For example, Kineticas it was poised to undertake new initiativesrolled out a new logo to reflect a premium and inspirational brand image.
Even PSUs, which never cared to spend a dime on their images, joined the bandwagon of brand makeovers. With the entry of an era of privatization and disappearing monopolies, the PSUs which grew on their own in a protective environment till date, are now feeling the heat of the increasing competition as markets are becoming consumer-centric. While Bank of Baroda introduced a new logo, double `B' with a rising sun, SBI launched a new campaign to serve a dual purpose: To effectively market SBI's products and services and also achieve an image correction in the target group (25 to 35 year-olds). Not only is makeover the makeover and transformation visible across most of the segments such as services, manufacturing and banking. It also seems to be a global trend as a lot of iconic corporate logos have been remodeled in the last three years. Kodak, Intel, Sprint, AT&T have shedd their old logos on modernization and product evolution verdict.
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