SBI - Proud to be Indian - again !!!

SBI with its “we are India” ad again… its an age old and time tested attempt (premise or formula) that many big players (many a times the first movers, the big elephants who later fell asleep, did nothing for years, resting on the laurels and past work, waking up one fine morn to realise that others are stealing the show) resort to when they see some soil from under the feet washed and gone…

SBI wants to own the category of Banking in India, and right fully so had it done some good home work and did what they do now some years back … Now with the private banks influx and with the repositioning and re branding of almost every bank we know, it is a bit late.. At least that is what I feel as a bank customer, an ad enthusiast and a marketing reviewer…

Why is this ad relevant and why now?

It not only shows that SBI is in an attempt to own the category ( that is, in spite of all those not so great art works that spoke of being” every Indians banker” that attacked us for the past two years or so) it some how is frantic to be seen as the category owner. The fact of the matter is that no one, not even SBI will be believing that they do actually own the category (alas!).. They could have but their own fallacies have made the gap so huge that others have grown up there and now it’s too hard to make a come back. They had become complacent, looking to the past, and have showed tunnel vision. (still if you walk into an SBI branch you will see how arrogance is a common trait among its staff) This became a seedbed of opportunity for innovators and new players to redefine the business, the products, and establish a new category and, possibly, brand leadership within it… New gen banking is what I am talking about…

This ad fails to show the banks technical expertise, it totally fails to establish its credentials (if any) as an employer and as a bank to the ordinary (?) and its reach in the core insides of India.. Had they done it, it could have been better rated.

There is nothing really fresh about this ad…. The India element fails to enthuse as we have seen it all better and brighter and well executed in all those Bharatbala productions (Remember Mile sur mera tumhara, Vande mataram by AR Rahman etc etc…) A lot of creative liberation could have been taken to emphasize the reach and network of the bank that makes the real difference but they some how chose to keep it really a plain and morbid ad hoping that India will fall in love with the INDIAN stuff.. India is now prudent enough to be duped by such inanity. I don’t call it boring & monotonous all the way through but yes it fails to inspire..

I didn't bother to find out who the ad agency is .. whoever it is, there is a lot more to go guys !!!!

Having said that, one must also admit that this ad is easy to remember. That seems to be one plus of this ad… The magnitude and the scale, the colours and the imagery will and could be remembered not because of great ideation or execution but because not many have attempted it in the Indian landscape.. It is not ever ones cup of tea.. Not a Canara bank or an Axis bank tomorrow can say and make such an ad.. It will look funny if they do so, but when and SBI does it, it becomes believable...

Ads as Jack Trout put it, if it is only about getting laughs, or giving shock or creating a wow; it’s about theater and not marketing!!!

SBI- Every Indian's Banker !!!

What will happen if banks do not advertise?

Nothing ! would be the answer for most of us but when in the midst of competition, most of them are forced to full scale venture into Marketing Communication, albeit half heartedly. SBI ads in the past (Surprisingly SBI for example) was quite a misnomer for this notion and for a PSU (a public sector unit) bank it was indeed surprising for the people to see SBI rolling out ads which for the first time smelt class and appeal ….

That ,but was the spring .. a lot of trees bloomed,… it was fragrance all over…banks across the country went for an image revamp … logos got redesigned, now colors , new brand elements, new communication, celebrity endorsers and a lot of soft music… a whole new banking scene so much so that an NRI who came home after a gap of three years simply refused to step in to an Union bank of India branch seeing its new aura, little knowing that inside its all the same- the same old people, processes and procedures that reeked incapacity and incompetence and over everything a disgusting apathy to the customer( kasht se Mar..)…

But the Ads were good .. but then came the autumn season… recession and its vampire effect spilled blood… the main stream private banks which gave the public sector banks a run for their money ( and eventually forced them to look, talk and smell good in branding and communication) started falling like palaces made of cards.. branches closed down .. The 8 to 8 customer friendliness and plastic smiles vanished and notable enough, advertising virtually stopped… none of the new and improved banks thought of continuing communication with the market place during tough times…

SBI but is and was an exception… they went on in what any neutral observer could easily see as a huge communication vacuum and probably was the only big bank to be keeping talking to the people during the din and dust of a recession battle… The emptiness which others left and SBI still talked in was the best opportunity in the recent times but the ads that came out was more or less an also ran or at the max one can call it as a good idea married to poor execution( every Indian’s banker!)… Initially when the concept was fresh, it was attention-grabbing but then the drag and too much of overdoing the dish spoiled it..... Then they took the same idea from the ordinary Indian ( teacher, police man, boat driver ,street vendor and the like ) to great men like Tagore and Jagadish Chandra Bose and keeping on saying Every Indian’s Banker…

I am not saying that the ad’s are a total disillusionment but it could have been better… Agreed that Interpub (the ad agency behind this creative) is no O&M (who left SBI for Bank of India after having got accolades for its 'Surprisingly SBI' campaign) .. but Interpub in the past have shown better creatives for SBI- the 'Pure Banking-Nothing else' campaign for instance, which said ‘We could make all our offices look really plush. Instead we choose to establish 9,500 branches to serve you’. If that was a bench mark this one is making me a bit unconvinced- day after day !

Every Indian's Banker... !

My primary question is IS IT? because it is not my bank and so is my friends , colleagues, acquaintances and students.. I talked to about 25 people in a sample survey just to avoid being biased against India’s biggest bank, and no one had an SBI account…

Surprisingly? Not really !!!






My second question is even if it is SO WHAT? Should a bank of the stature and size of SBI resort to such awareness type of ads,,,? Or is it smelling of a reminder appeal that comes when brands fall into a decline stage in their life cycle?


My third question is about the kind of money that is being spend to reach across the length and breadth of India with this ad and that too continuously and that too when we are hearing cost cutting and optimization of spends….I guess of all the spenders, a bank should know the value of money than anyone else..






SBI and Interpub should rethink of "what it wants to say" before the ads become every Indian's worry !!

Tell us a story, but something new... please !

Tail piece :- 'One of life's disappointments is discovering that the man who writes the bank's ads is not the one who makes the loans.'