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Executive Interviews: Interview with Anil K Khandelwal on Rebranding Strategies of Bank of Baroda
June 2006
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By Dr. Nagendra V Chowdary
We discussed at the board level
several names, whether it should be from the
film industry or from the cricketing world, a
male or female, or or or all those things.
Names of some good stars, female stars from
the film industry also came up, apart from
Rahul Dravid's . We finally decided on Rahul
Dravid. In between we thought of a brand
ambassador also because the bank's image
was the key issue and over a period of time it
was not as good as wewould have liked, given
the strengths of this institution when we started
this thing. My experience with brand
ambassador was my Dena Bank experience.
For the first time in a public sector bank,
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I
introduced a film star Juhi Chawla as brand
ambassador of Dena Bank and my experience
was very good. So I thought why not for Bank
of Baroda with such grand presence. After
thinking of a brand ambassador, I took the
issue to the board. Our board is also very proactive. I think they were also charged up
and wanted lots of things to happen. They felt
things should happen very fast as we were
lagging behind, compared to other banks in
many things. -
Why only Rahul Dravid?
We found a great personality fit between
BoB and Rahul Dravid (RD). First, banks are
serious organizations. Banks as you know hold
publicmoney for trust, they are a hundred year
old institutions and they are not into FMCG
business. And the second thing is the public
trust and faith, bank's solidity and consistency
are more important. In RD we found us a
complete match. For example RD is a very
stable and dependable man in times of crisis
in Indian cricket. We found that BoB has also
been consistent in giving profits ever since its
inception. Third is RD has not been in any
controversy. He is a very straight person and
has not been in any scam, match fixing or
anything. And the BoB is also a scam free
bank. It has not been in any scam a clean
bank. The fourth thing is that RD is an
international star. He is known asmuch in India
as abroad. BoB is also an international bank
and wewere branding it as India's international
bank. RD plays both one day and test with
the same elan and we believe BoB also
undertakes rural banking and international
banking with the same excellence. We found
that the personality fit between the brand
ambassador and the institution was complete.
So that is how we took RD and in hindsight I
believe it was one of the best decisions that
we took. -
Going back to the process of change, did
you find any resistance within the institution?
I thought our trade unions and officer's
associationsmight resist because trade unions
in banks have been resistant to transformation
and change. Surprisingly, at least there was
no formal resistance. Someone filed a petition
in Baroda court as to why we did not take X or
Y from Baroda, why we took RD. I am sure
that was a very small thing. There was some
resistance in the way of some anonymous
letters to government and we dealt with it
because it was decision ofmanagementmade
in the best interest of the bank. Let me confess
that we didn't get as much resistance as I had
expected. -
Was it because of the fact that you were
there as an insider, you've been there with
the bank for a long time, so people have
accepted you?
I think more than that what was important
was that people were looking for a change.
There had set in certain degree of stagnancy
and complacency. And when I shared with
them the business figures of competitors I
could see the frustration. They were looking
for someone to do things faster. And then the
press started writing about the logo and how
it looked and there were stories about it.When
we brought the logo and RD together, it
created a certain degree of pride in
employees. They were looking for change. I
think it was more the need for change than I
am an insider issue. I think themore important
thing is that they were looking for a change. -
About the logo, we've never seen, definitely
in India, any bank having this vermilion color.
Was there any special reference or anything
that it is supposed to symbolize?
I am told vermilion color symbolizes
loyalty. I think for a bank loyalty goes very well.
And I think that it is a bright color. More than
anything else, it is a bright color.And I am told
through some research that world over very
few banks have this kind of a color. It has just
clicked you know, it has become very popular
now.
1.
Rebranding Strategies Case Study
2. ICMR
Case Collection
3.
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