Surprisingly or not?
For more than a month now, State Bank of India has been running ad campaigns - basically a set of teaser questions, all of which end with a matter-of-fact "SURPRISINGLY SBI".
I particularly liked the ad campaign, because SBI is probably the only "old bank" that I respect and would like to bank with. If you visit branches of old-gen banks, you would know why. I have had particularly poor experiences with Indian Bank. SBI's new ad campaign meant that it was looking into the future, and wanted to push its way into the ground it had lost to banks like ICICI, UTI and HDFC.
However, my dad was not impressed with the ad campaign. He was of the opinion that SBI got the last line totally wrong. "SURPRISINGLY SBI" gives the impression that SBI is some lowly two-branch bank, and not the 200000-strong behemoth that it actually is. The ad campaign should have ended with "NOT SURPRISINGLY SBI", which would have conveyed the bank's pre-eminence.
Sucheta Dalal (Financial Express) and Kaps (Sambhar Mafia) express similar opinions.
I particularly liked the ad campaign, because SBI is probably the only "old bank" that I respect and would like to bank with. If you visit branches of old-gen banks, you would know why. I have had particularly poor experiences with Indian Bank. SBI's new ad campaign meant that it was looking into the future, and wanted to push its way into the ground it had lost to banks like ICICI, UTI and HDFC.
However, my dad was not impressed with the ad campaign. He was of the opinion that SBI got the last line totally wrong. "SURPRISINGLY SBI" gives the impression that SBI is some lowly two-branch bank, and not the 200000-strong behemoth that it actually is. The ad campaign should have ended with "NOT SURPRISINGLY SBI", which would have conveyed the bank's pre-eminence.
Sucheta Dalal (Financial Express) and Kaps (Sambhar Mafia) express similar opinions.
posted by Vijay Krishna Narayanan | 11/23/2005 12:17:00 AM
2 Comments:
Almost everyone knows that SBI has the biggest network and biggest balance sheet among Indian banks. But if they continue to rest on their laurels, they will be a thing of the past. Physical infrastructure is slowly becomign redundant. Foreign banks will very little branches are able to expand rapidly thru credit cards, loans etc. SBI has to project a tech-savvy image and also provide better service either thru longer working hours / Sunday branches or thru ATM's and priority banking.
You could read this article from The Hindu Businessline (you may have already read it, but in case you didn't)
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/catalyst/2005/11/24/stories/2005112400130200.htm
The author analyses the SBI ads top to bottom!
Cheers!
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