Wake up to the born-agains

By yearend 2005, no Marriott hotel anywhere in the world will own a floral bedsheet. Minimalist white duvets or triple sheeting are the new step up. The homely neighbourhood bank BOB’s no longer your uncle, now offering incisive expert advice to an investment-eager Rahul Dravid. And it’s a vividly attention-seeking ‘Indian’ sun that will be blazing off an intensely crowded tarmac.
In a move akin to stepping out of the sandals and into stilettos, makeover mania is taking corporate vision from reliable and sturdy to the realm of the hip. Problem is, in the meanwhile brand consulting has moved from making over a company, to making over merely the perception of it. When Indonesia’s Airline Awair changed tracks to Indonesia Airasia, the reason cited was to increase service quality. Anil Khandelwal Bank of Baroda’s chairman has described how the new brand image has forced the bank to up the ante. When Phillips worldwide famously stagnated with its ‘Making things better’ slogan, in 2002 company chief executive, Gerard Kleisterlee, acknowledged, that what the company needed was not just a new advertising campaign and a rebranding exercise, but a transformation.
While Indian’s move to acquire new A319s and lease A320s next year will increase its fleet capacity, and prides itself on its in-flight food, the born-again airline will do well to remember that passengers are more likely to be skeptical about the quality of service and so far marginalised features such as timeliness.
Even as IDBI strives to picture itself in a think big bubble, companies around the country are pushing the perception envelope in an economy that is boosting expectations all around. A spanking new image is fine way to break from the past and discover a new energy for functioning as long as it does not come as merely an empty shell to a disappointingly unchangeable inside. Insurance companies that drew strength from a monotheistic closed market and that opened to FDI are still largely bound by original practices and principals. Banks that move to compete in image with successful financial institutions should contrast the colours, logo, hoardings and flashy ATM/credit cards and related telemarketing campaigns to the stringent standards and security measures that the institutions are based upon.
Loopholes and lapses occur primarily in security measures, adherence to codes of conduct, ethical standards, assessment protocol, and employee satisfaction. Companies that focus on reducing employee attrition rates, and improve focus on all-around staff training have a better chance at holding down for the long run than the feel-good power boosters. Bigger brands, younger images, and higher recall values are great, but as they say, there’s nothing anything as good as word of mouth publicity. A delayed flight and tea come cold no matter how vibrant remains just that—disappointingly delayed. It’s not an aftertaste worth spending big branding bucks for.