A study & solutions for developing brand of Anbinh bank in the period 2005-2010

Below are some reasons, which make me to, decided chose this topic what makes ABbank to develop its brand in coming time First, under competitive pressures from foreign banks, domestic b

vietnam national university, HANOI

hanoi school of business

Tran Sy Mau

A STUDY & SOLUTIONS FOR DEVELOPING

BRAND OF AN BINH BANK IN THE PERIOD 2005-2010

master of business administration thesis

Hanoi – 2007

vietnam national university, HANOI

hanoi school of business

Tran Sy Mau

A STUDY & SOLUTIONS FOR DEVELOPING

BRAND OF AN BINH BANK IN THE PERIOD 2005-2010

Major: Business Administration

Code : 60 34 05

Master of business administration thesis

Supervisor: dr nguyen viet anh

Hanoi – 2007

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i

ABSTRACT ii

TÓM TẮT iii

DECLARATION iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS v

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii

LIST OF FIGURES viii

LIST OF TABLES viii

INTRODUCTION 1

1 Background 1

2 Objectives & aims 2

3 Research question 3

4 Scope of work 3

5 Data & process 3

6 Methods & approaches 4

7 Significance 4

8 Limitations 5

9 Expected results 5

10 Follow –up (potential) 5

11 Short introductions 5

11.1 Introduction 6

11.2 Theoretical Foundation 6

11.3 Research methodology 6

11.4 Solutions for Developing Brand of ABBank 6

11.5 Conclusion 6

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 7

1.1 Understanding Brands 7

1.1.1 What is brand? 7

1.1.2 Types of brand 9

1.1.3 Function of brand 9

1.1.4 What is branding? 10

1.1.5 Key Concepts in Building Brand 11

1.1.6 The Corporate Brand 12

1.2 Branding strategy 16

1.2.1 Positioning 17

1.2.2 Brand Equity 17

1.2.3 Value 17

1.2.4 Brand Image and Identity 18

1.2.5 Brand Popularity 18

1.2.6 Service and Banking Branding 19

1.2.7 Yin and Yang Model to Branding 19

1.3 Building banking brands 20

1.3.1 Introduction about brand in banking 20

1.3.2 Factors in building strong brand 25

1.3.3 Communicating banking brands 36

1.3.4 What brand model for bank 41

1.4 Experience in building and developing banking brands 43

1.4.1 Failures and Success in building brand 43

1.4.2 Experience in building brand 44

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & EMPIRICAL FINDINGS 48

2.1 Research Approach 48

2.2 Research Method 49

2.3 Data collection method 49

2.4 Overview of the case ABBank 51

2.4.1 Introduction 51

2.4.2 History and development process of ABBank 52

2.4.3 Mission, Vision and Objectives of ABBank 54

2.5 Empirical findings 57

2.5.1 Empirical Data 57

2.5.2 Data analysis 58

2.6 Status of brand development in ABBank 72

2.7 Why are Vietnamese banking brands not great? 74

2.7.1 Overview of banking brand in Vietnam 74

2.7.2 Actual existences of bank branding in Vietnam 75

2.7.3 Why are Vietnamese bank brands not great? 80

CHAPTER 3: SOLUTIONS FOR DEVELOPING BRAND OF ABBANK 86

3.1 Orientations develop banking industry in coming time 86

3.1.1 Objective and strategy in developing Vietnam‘s banks in coming time 86

3.1.2 Government orientation in developing banking services 88

3.1.3 The future of banking branding 95

3.2 Difficulties and challenges in developing brand of ABBank 97

3.2.1 Difficulties to ABBank 97

3.2.2 Challenges to ABBank 100

3.3 Solutions for developing ABBank brand 101

3.3.1 Overall solutions for developing ABBank brand 101

3.3.2 Application of Brand Resonance Pyramid model in ABBank 113

3.3.3 Recommendations 117

CONCLUSIONS 119

REFERENCES 124 APPENDIX

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ABBank: An Binh Bank

CJS Bank: Commercial Joint- Stock Bank EVN: Electricity of Vietnam Group

PR: Public Relation

SBV: State Bank of Vietnam

SOC Bank: State-owned commercial bank VCB: Vietcombank

WTO: World trade organization

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1- 1: Importance of brand to banks 20

Figure 1-2: Seven factors in building successful brands 26

Figure 1-3: Brand resonance model 42

Figure 2-1: Highlight of performances 2004-2006 54

Figure 2-2: Performance Results in the period 2004-2006 55

Figure 2-3: Employees‘ Understanding about brand 61

Figure 2-4: Understanding of employees about aspects of brand 62

Figure 2-5: Customers‘ choice 66

Figure 2.6: Satisfaction level of Customers about bank 67

Figure 2.7: Feeling of customers about ABBank brand 68

Figure 2.8: Brand personality of ABBank 69

Figure 2.9: Difference between ABBank and others 69

LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: Employees‘ understanding about brand 63

Table 2-2: Difficulties of employees in working 63

Table 2-3: Logo of banks 66

Table 2-4: Factor affect to customer‘s choice 70

Table 3-1: Comparison between ABBank and other CJS banks 99

APPENDIX

Appendix 1: QUESTIONNAIRE (For customers)

Appendix 2: QUESTIONNAIRE (For Manager and employees)

INTRODUCTION

1 Background

In recent years, Vietnam‘s economy has been always at high growth rate, banking is one of the industries has influence on the economy with the highest growth rate in a long time Besides that, go together high growth is competitive pressure becoming increasingly among banks as well as foreign banks which has not only a strong power of finance but also experience in a long time Especially, when Vietnam become formal member of WTO since the 1 January 2007, after that there are many banks establish, and there are more foreign banks send file to State Bank of Vietnam to ask the Vietnam State Bank to permit them open branch or even establish a new foreign bank with 100% their capital What‘s more, with pressure from domestic competitors as well as foreign banks, domestic must have planning

to compete in fierce competitive environment An Binh bank (ABBank) is not exception To compete with competitors from domestic to foreign, each bank must have good brand Below are some reasons, which make me to, decided chose this topic what makes ABbank to develop its brand in coming time

First, under competitive pressures from foreign banks, domestic banks more increasing, ABBank cannot develop without development planning of brand and a certain brand image in customers ‗mind Therefore, ABBank needs to have a plan to develop its brand in coming time, before cope with direct competition from foreign banks

Second, Vietnam participates into WTO (world trade organization), more and more foreign banks penetrate into Vietnam market, and this makes a large pressure for Vietnam‘s banks

Third, ABBank changed operation in commercial and investment banking in

a short time and it is new one in Vietnam financial market Therefore, ABBank must do many things to build and develop a believable image in customers trust Furthermore, ABBank has difficulties in finding solutions for developing brand as well as improve brand image in customers‘ mind Therefore, ABBank has to not

only compete with domestic commercial banks but also prepare finance and human resource to guarantee existence and development in fiercely competitive environment as well as cope with foreign banks At this moment, ABBank has not yet an overall plan to develop its brand Therefore, it must have a plan to develop brand if it wants to exist and develop in fierce condition in today Moreover, there are sub-reasons what make me interest in studying brand in banking, that is brand in banking is new concept in Vietnam and the number of banks have strong brands is very little

2 Objectives & aims

The purpose of this study is to show the issues of ABBank case and propose the solutions for developing brand of ABBank in the period 2007-2010 In the study, I will concentrate studying brand problem of ABBank and raise solutions to develop its brand in coming time Furthermore, the purpose is to provide an overall seeing about bank brands in Vietnam financial market as well as foundation for future research in the banking brand in Vietnam in the future In this thesis, the objectives and aims as following:

Objectives of the study

This study focus mainly on three objectives as following:

 Studying deeply and more detail how brand development is conducted in banking field

 Finding issues in process of building brand at ABBank as well as aspects, which relate to ABBank

 Propose some solutions and brand model for developing An Binh brand in coming time

Aims of study

 Applying successfully solutions in the process of developing ABBank brand

 Help ABbank become one of five leading commercial joint stock banks in Vietnam in 2010

 Make ABBank brand becomes one strong brand in Vietnam

3 Research question

As mentioned above, there are several important issues need to consider when developing a brand Local bank brands not only have to compete with each other but also to compete with international bank brands that have the advantage of capital and management skills to attract the consumer Because of new business in investment and commercial, ABBank actually has not an overall brand strategy for developing bank brand The question to ABBank now is to find the solution for developing Brand of ABBank in coming time As an intangible and risky purchase, the brand can reassure the customer and add functional as well as emotional value Based on the discussion so far, the research problem is stated as:

Research question 1: What solutions can help ABBank develop its brand in the

period from now to 2010?

However, to have solutions for developing brand of ABBank, the study needs consider the issues discussed in this paragraph, the research problem is further narrowed down as one following sub research question

Research question 2: What are difficulties and challenges facing AnBinh?

5 Data & process

With the main objectives are to find solution for ABBank to develop its brand in the period from now to 2010 Study takes information from many sources

as following:

Data source: Bank‘s information & findings, Internet, papers

The way to process data: The method to process data is mainly by excel

Data has been taken from some websites, which specialize on branding in the world and Vietnam such as Brand channel, Interbrand, Businessweek or vneconomy, saigontimes and so on Information from survey/interviews more than 100 customers in Hanoi as well as over 100 employees of ABBank in Hanoi branch

6 Methods & approaches

The study uses case study to make clear the problem of brand in banking system in Vietnam Moreover, to have information for this study, this study concentrates on survey customers and employees by some ways such as questionnaires, interview and observation or in research method, we use case study method Especially, in the survey, we use three methods that includes questionnaires, interview, observation

This study will be an empirical research, which preliminarily adopts the following: Review of related literature/documentation, survey, in-depth interview, Review of related literature/documentation: this will examine the multidisciplinary theories of and empirical studies on brand in the literature In Surveys/interviews sessions: questionnaires will be developed and structured interviews are conducted

7 Significance

With the objective mentioned above, the study contributes several meanings

to banks in Vietnam On the theory, this study makes clear some aspects of the theory of banking brand in general and in ABBank in particular This study is also a good reference for banks in Vietnam when they have demand to build brand It is hoped that this study will contribute to the body of knowledge on brand and show how the brand concept could be deployed more effective in other parts of Vietnam

It will also help Vietnamese banks to understand fully about brand importance and come up with more suitable brand strategies and policies On the practice, this study gives an overall strategy for ABBank developing its brand in the future

8 Limitations

Thesis has some limitations as following:

 The scope of work, which only in Hanoi branch of ABBank is narrow Not study in head office

 The time of the study from 2005-2010 is another limitation

 Customers in surveys are mainly personal not consist of enterprises

 Numbers of customers to interview and survey is not large

9 Expected results

The study expects to show the following findings:

 Propose solutions for building and developing brand in ABBank

 Understanding more detail and deeply about brand in banking

 Finding the difficulties and challenges in the process of brand in ABBank

 Giving out the best solutions for developing brand in ABBank

10 Follow –up (potential)

Further study will be taken on building and developing ABBank brand after

a period Other way of study will be analyzing the importance of brand to banks in ABBank particularly and all over banks in Vietnam in generally This study is an information channel and reference source for banks in Vietnam when they want to develop their brands Apply successfully in ABBank in the further future

11 Short introductions

With objective is considering brand development in ABBank, therefore, this study concentrates on studying brand problem in ABBank case The result of study will respect the status of brand development all over Vietnamese banks Furthermore, the study will be conducted as a case study limited to ABBank and certainly, will not directly be applicable to other banks in Vietnam In addition, this study will only examine branded difficulties and show solutions for ABBank Due

to the standardized thesis format and for the sake of clarity, this thesis will be divided into five clearly defined parts and chapters as follows:

11.1 Introduction

This part presents the topic and the research question to the readers It seeks

to build interest in the topic and help the readers understand the motivation for choosing the subject

11.2 Theoretical Foundation

This chapter presents to the readers about basic theory of brand and brand in banking, consist of factors, criteria and process to build a successful brand in banking The chapter focuses on considering internal factors and criteria as well as others relate to building a strong brand in banking Beside that, this chapter also brings the theoretical foundation and different, more detail understanding of brand

in general and banking brand in particular

11.3 Research methodology

This chapter explains the theoretical, empirical and analytical approaches that were used for the study It also seeks to establish the validity and reliability of the paper Moreover, this chapter shows the research methodology in detail and all findings on the research based on reaching above objectives as well as mention model for developing in the case And present the overview of the case study

11.4 Solutions for Developing Brand of ABBank

This chapter bases on the results of the survey, interview, observation and study in relation to research questions and the theory presented in chapter one and two More importantly, this chapter indicates difficulties and challenges of ABBank and since then propose appreciate solutions, recommendations for bank in developing its brand in the coming time

11.5 Conclusion

This part will summarize the findings of the study and give out conclusions about the study Furthermore, through comparison between theory and practical

understanding this study gives out implications for further research of building and

developing brand in Vietnamese banks

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Since 1 January 2007, Vietnam became formal member of WTO; this is an opportunity for Vietnam economy as well as most enterprises However, go together opportunity is challenge and challenge in here is extremely large, if we have no well preparation we will fail, especially to banking industry, which is easily affected by international and multinational corporations such as HSBC of UK or Citibank of America… With a strong power of finance and labors force as well as over one hundred years experience they are easy to defeat domestic banks when they are permitted to open their own banks in Vietnam market It is necessary to build and develop brand and this is an important task even necessary mission to all Why? Building brand in order to assert banks‘ position, credit, and reputation is the most important task in this period Through building brand, banks improve image, competitive ability, develop market, keep market share sustainable and enhance competitive ability to not only among domestic banks but also among foreign banks

Branding is a relatively new concept for the banking industry Banks are slowly realizing that they need to manage their strategic assets, too Competition in the global business environment is tough and achieving a unique position and competitive advantage becomes more and more difficult and expensive The high level of investment necessary to maintain production capabilities and rising cost of R&D for product differentiation makes strong marketing capabilities and unique brands pre-requisites for modern companies to cover these heavy investments How can companies and management teams catch up?

1.1 Understanding Brands

1.1.1 What is brand?

According to the American Marketing Association, a brand is defined as a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them

from those of competition In other words, where product features can be copied in constantly diminishing periods, brands offer companies the possibility of distinguishing themselves from their competitors Whereas products offer tangible benefits, such as different uses, and feature tangible attributes, such as price and quality and physical characteristics, brands are much more complex A brand is often loaded with symbolic meaning; it can bring up associations with seemingly unrelated subjects that have been linked with the brand, a perception of quality beyond physical attributes, or other positive/negative associations

A brand is ultimately built in the consumer‘s mind, where he or she gathers

up all the knowledge regarding the bank, its products and services, the communication they have with the outside world, and the associations all those elements bring up Branding is ideally done in a manner that appeals to the needs and wants of the proposed target audience, and thus communicates to that audience issues that give them a positive impression Building profitable brands is a hard task, especially with the huge competition in today Only approximately 5% of new brands succeed, and even huge, well-known banks or companies often experience the need to downsize their brand portfolios However, the value of a strong brand can be immense, so a look into what researchers has deemed effective ways of building brands is in order

A short history of brands

Mention brand we can know the short history of brand consists of three stages:

 Brand as a mark

 Brand as a marketing tool

 Brand as a source of sustainable competitive advantage

Branding started to develop and come to the fore in the marketing process in the USA in the 19th and early 20th centuries Many famous brands date back to this time, for instance, American Express and Coca-Cola With growing consumer sophistication branding became associated with a mix of values that gave consumers a message about a product Consumers saw the brand as encompassing a

specific set of values, which would lead them to reject an alternative unless their perceptions were altered or other factors

1.1.2 Types of brand

A brand in many ways is an external manifestation of an internal culture The essential point of a brand is that it inspires customer loyalty and/or a method of distinguishing one product from similar rivals For the owner of a brand, two important characteristics should flow from the existence of the brand There are two types of brand

Manufacturer brands

Manufacturer brands are created by producers and bear their chosen brand name The producer is responsible for marketing the brand The brand is owned by the producer By building their brand names, manufacturers can gain widespread distribution and build customer loyalty

Own label brands

Own-label brands are created and owned by businesses that operate in the distribution channel – often referred to as ―distributors‖ Own-label branding – if well carried out – can often offer the consumer excellent value for money and provide the distributor with additional bargaining power when it comes to negotiating prices and terms with manufacturer brands negotiating prices and terms with manufacturer brands

1.1.3 Function of brand

Brand is very important to all banks Especially in this stage, when competitive pressure is large and a lot of difficulties and challenge come to domestic banks Therefore, to understand about function of brand is the way help banks to use brand as a tool in the development process Below are some functions

of brand and these expressing the importance of brand to a bank

 First, brand has recognizable and distinguishable function

 Second, announcing and Conducting function

 Third, Making feeling and confidence

 Last, Economic function

1.1.4 What is branding?

Branding is determining the essence of your institution and communicating

it Branding helps clearly communicate our heritage Branding also captures and

communicates our distinct personality

a Branding Context

Relate to brand name, there are many factor such as customers service, price quality, advertising, marketing sales, public relation, financial performance, facility appearances, competitors offerings, internet presence, employees behavior,

employee appearance…

b Service Branding

A holistic brand image integrates entities such as values, colors, name, symbols, words and slogans Many people argue that once an organization establishes a favorable brand image its main task is to ensure consistency They further argued that since service firms often follow a monolithic branding strategy, consumers mentally group all the corporation‘s portfolio together, expecting uniformity, thus management of brand consistency is even more important

Successful service brands also depend on good internal communication programmers enabling greater consistency delivering the service experience, regardless of the customer‘s point of contact Having well designed induction and training programmers creates greater commitment, which is an important component in services brands

Many services branding issues require a company-wide approach to their solution and implementation Such issues include closing service quality gaps; a focus on internal and external stakeholders, including staff; a need to monitor the whole service delivery process and the role of strong organizational values in motivating staff to deliver the services brand

1.1.5 Key Concepts in Building Brand

Brand is common term and in that term, there are quite many concepts related to it In this study, the research focuses mainly on finding difficulties and challenges as well as solution for develop bank brand This section will examine key concepts in this process Bank brands are different application of the brand concept; however, the theory presented applies to bank

Brand Personality is defined as ―the set of human characteristics associated

with a brand (Aaker, 1996, p.347) The brand image building strategy implies the definition of a brand personality and a user personality The match between brand personality and consumer personality is also an underlying concept of the relationship marketing which is based on the self-image congruence notion Brand Personality is an important source of imagery, a soft attribute of image According

to Aaker (1996), brand personality can create brand equity according to three models: self – expression model, relationship basis model and functional benefit representation model

Brand Identity includes brand names, logos, positioning, brand associations

and brand personality A good brand name gives a good first impression and evokes positive associations with the brand

Brand Awareness is a status when people recognize your brand as yours

This does not necessarily mean they prefer your brand (brand preference), attach a high value to, or associate any superior attributes to your brand, it just means they recognize your brand and can identify it under different conditions Brand awareness consists of both brand recognition, which is the ability of consumers to confirm that they have previously been exposed to your brand, and brand recall, which reflects the ability of consumers to name your brand when given the product category, category need, or some other similar cue Aided awareness occurs when you show or read a list of brands and the person expresses familiarity with your brand only after they hear or see it

Brand Positioning: A positioning statement tells in one sentence, what

business the company is in, what benefits it provides and why it is better than the competitors are The market position of a brand shows where a specific brand is located It also shows the relationship to competitive brands We can determine the market position of a brand based on the answers to the following four questions:

 Why (which benefits and advantages does the new brand bring to the

consumer)

 When (determining the opportunities for which the brand is most suitable)

 For whom (it is about the determination of the consumer of a brand or target

group)

 Against whom (determining the main competitive brands)

Brand Essence is the heart and soul of a brand—a brand‘s fundamental

nature or quality Usually stated in two to three words, a brand‘s essence is the one

constant across product categories and throughout the world Some examples are:

Nike: Authentic Athletic Performance

Disney: Fun Family Entertainment

Starbucks: Rewarding Everyday Moments

Brand essence determines the corporate vision Without brand essence, we cannot communicate the brand Brand essence comprises brand personality, characters, relationship, and brand image and brand position

1.1.6 The Corporate Brand

Referring brand name we must mention one concept, which often relate to brand image or message of a bank or company that is corporate branding What is corporate branding? Corporate branding is a potentially strong tool for re-aligning a corporate strategy and ensures that the corporation – big or small – is leveraging adequately on the untapped internal and external resources A strong CEO and a dedicated management team are always seeking to raise their own bars and be change agents for their corporations backed by a strong corporate branding strategy

A well-drafted and professionally managed corporate branding strategy and implementation plan can be a powerful component of the boardroom work According to this concept, corporate branding is often, but wrongly, referred to as

an exercise where the bank logo, the design style and color scheme are changed Naturally, these are important elements to evaluate and potentially change at a later stage once the strategy has been decided upon It is often accompanied with a new corporate slogan, and then everyone expects results to occur during the project Corporate branding is a serious undertaking that entails more skills and activities than just an updated glossy marketing facade with empty jargon

A strong corporate branding strategy can add significant value in terms of helping the entire corporation and the management team to implement the long-term vision, create unique positions in the market place of the bank and its brands, and not the least to unlock the leadership potential within the organization Hence, a corporate branding strategy can enable the corporation to further advantage on its tangible and non-tangible assets leading to branding excellence throughout the corporation

a) The Corporate Brand in the Banking Sector

Branding is the cornerstone of service marketing for the 21st century; the corporate brand is the primary brand for banks In banking, the corporate brand builds on the identity of the corporation to offer a distinct promise to customers, shaped by all members of the organization Both bank brands and corporate brands involve multiple interfaces, and employees are an important part of communicating the brand Because of the intangibility, heterogeneity and inseparability of services, there are specific challenges to branding services Banks can use their corporate

brand to overcome intangibility Without a brand, customers might view the service

as a series of standardized actions There is higher risk associated with intangible products Customers must trust the bank through its brand, which helps consumers

to visualize the service That is why VCB or BIDV brand make confidence in customers‘ mind

Risk also results from the heterogeneous nature of services A service cannot

be produced in the factory and checked for quality before it is delivered to customers Staffs, whose understanding, commitment, behavior, attitude and performance are vital to the success of a brand, deliver services Services must become more tangible through clear reference points, such as physical elements like furniture and building design Fixed elements create a consistent offering, which is necessary to build the brand in the future

Another important characteristic for branding services is inseparability,

meaning that the brand promise is delivered through staff and customer interaction Services are usually produced on a regular basis with the customer, while customers who are not a part of the production process buy products Therefore, service providers have more opportunities to create a positive impression and strengthen their brands To take advantage of their potential, service companies should align processes, organizational structures, and the physical environment to deliver a consistent superior service Due to the characteristic of inseparability, internal implementation of the brand is very important for bank and its services Thus, the corporate brand in the banking sector plays an important role for a bank, and needs

to be carefully managed

b) The Value of the Corporate Brand

Brand creates value for the organization and its customers through brand

equity Brand is the most powerful weapon that the firm has at its disposal

Corporate brands can be used as master brands and have a longer life than product

or service brands As we know, product brands live in the present while corporate brands live in the past, present and the future Differentiation is not enough in business today, it is also important that the sender of a message represents the real source, which is the case for the corporate brand Businesses that come from a corporate body reassure stakeholders in insecure times

Moreover, as businesses are becoming more global, banks tend to emphasize corporate brands instead of service and product brands The increased use of the

corporate brand is also a response to the imitation and homogenization of products

as well as the fragmentation of markets

The corporate brand is a strategic resource that guides the business and creates value A general advantage to corporate brands is the economies of scale that it generates in all aspects of communication, compared to the promotion of individual line brands As a result, of strong brand values, higher prices can be charged for services, and sales volumes are likely to increase It is easier to introduce new services under the existing brand name, but it can be difficult to enter new markets if the brand does not fit the new customer segment In addition, if a new line fails, then more damage could occur than with a firm that practices individual branding The power of the corporate brand is clearly demonstrated by Interbrand‘s list of the world‘s 100 strongest brands, of which a vast majority is corporate brands

By creating clusters of functional and emotional values for their brands, banks can add value to the lives of customers Customers generally do not create relationships with individual products or services, but it might do so with a brand (which represents a set of promises) People argue that customers consume all facets

of the brands identity: physical aspects, personality, and implicit relation Consumers perceive the brand‘s identity through its relation to the outside world and through their self-image Through this identity, the brand tries to achieve a strong emotional bond to the consumer, which gives the brand a special quality Consequently, the brand becomes a guarantee of quality and reduces the perceived risk of purchasing the service

c) Communicate

Bring the corporate brand to life through a range of planned, executed marketing activities, and make sure the overall messages are consistent, clear and relevant to the target audiences Make sure the various messages are concise and easy to comprehend Do not try to communicate every single point

well-from the corporate branding strategy Instead, a selective approach will make much more impact using the same resources

d) Measure the brand performance

A brand is accountable and this is no different from a corporate brand How much value does it provide to the corporation and how instrumental is the brand in securing competitiveness? These are some of the questions that need to be answered and that the CEO will automatically seek as part of a commitment to run the strategy successfully The brand equity consists of various individually tailor-made key performance indicators and needs to be tracked regularly A brand scorecard can help facilitating an overview of the brand equity and the progression as the strategy is implemented

1.2 Branding strategy

As wee know, a brand is described as a name, term, sign, symbol or design,

or a combination of these intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors We can further look at a brand to identify the maker or supplier of a product, while presenting specific features, benefits and services to consumers Moreover, a brand is a promise to the consumer of what the product, service, or company stands for, and of the kind of experience, they can get from it

A brand incorporates a personality based on cultural factors including film stars, sport heroes, or fictional characters Today‘s brands are viewed and understood from an emotional perspective Therefore, branding has to do with the way that customers perceive and buy things, not simply a characteristic of certain industries A brand equals a ‗relationship‘, ‗reputation‘, a ‗set of expectations‘ and a promise Moreover, they state that a brand is a combination of tangible and intangible attributes, symbolized in a trademark, which if properly managed, creates influence and generates value

1.2.1 Positioning

Positioning is the process by which a company offers its brands to the consumer and positioning is an essential aspect of branding It is necessary that the message to be communicated by all the organizations activities because any of them may be the particular characteristic that the customers analyses and develops their perception Moreover, the objective of the positioning as the process makes the offer into a brand Positioning is not about what you do to a product, but what you

do to the mind of the prospect This means products and services are positioned in the mind of prospects According to Aaker (1996), brand positioning refers to both the process and the result of building or rebuilding an image for a brand relative to a target market segment

1.2.2 Brand Equity

―Brand equity‖ refers to the value of a brand Brand equity is based on the extent to which the brand has high brand loyalty, name awareness, perceived quality and strong product associations Brand equity also includes other ―intangible‖ assets such as patents, trademarks and channel relationships Brands differ in the amount

of power and value they have in the market place due to different factors Powerful brands are known to have brand equity Brand equity is a set of brand assets and liabilities linked to a brand through its name and symbol, which adds or subtracts from the value provided by a product or service to a firm and/or to that firm‘s customers (Aaker, 1996) Nevertheless, the brand equity is based on the extent to which it has brand loyalty, name, awareness, perceived quality, strong brand associations, and other assets such as patents, trademarks and channel relationships Furthermore, brands that have strong brand equity are seen as a valuable asset to the company and can be bought or sold for a price

1.2.3 Value

Value is the trade-off between what a consumer gives and gets from a brand Intangible values are the benefits that customers experience that are not functional

or physical aspects of the brand, which can include the aspects of the brand personality These characteristics of the brand cannot be seen, tasted, felt, heard or smelled before they are bought For example, trust, freedom, power and excitement However, tangible values are the benefits that the customer experiences that are the functional or physical aspects of the brand These characteristics of the brand can be seen, tasted felt, heard or smelled before they are bought Perceived value is the consumers overall evaluation of the benefits of a product, which is based on what they receive (ex: quality, satisfaction, or convenience) and what is given (ex: price, time, effort) Furthermore, perceived value is completely based on the individual Perceived quality is the consumers perception about a products overall excellence or

superiority in comparison to other products, and is based on the individual

1.2.4 Brand Image and Identity

Personality and the positioning of the brand make up the brands identity and image Brand is built by creating a strong brand personality, or set of brand values, and positioning the brand by creating a favorable perception in the mind of the target audience Brand images are the set of beliefs that a consumer holds about a particular brand Consumer‘s beliefs may differ based on their individual experience

or perception of the brand Furthermore, the brand identity is the total proposition that a company makes to consumers, or the promise it makes and is everything the company wants to be seen It may consist of features, benefits as well as all other values that the brand possesses

short run as well as in the long run, by creating a favorable brand image in the minds of consumers As a result, the brands popularity will have a positive contribution to the brand's loyalty, image, or market sales

1.2.6 Service and Banking Branding

A company uses product branding when they decide that the product should stand on its own, and should be left to succeed or fail without any support from the corporate brand or company name Usually fast moving consumer goods are associated with this level of branding Corporate brand is when the brand name gives all its identity to the products or service, and then the products receive strength and association through the companies brand values In extreme cases of corporate branding, the company‘s name is strongly associated with the product, while there is no mention of products and services at all

1.2.7 Yin and Yang Model to Branding

According to Asian culture, Yin and Yang are complementary sides to every individual, and it provides balance so that the individual is harmonized Like Yin and Yang, the human brain has two hemispheres; one on the left, another on the right The left side of the brain deals with logic and rationality, while the right side

is concerned with emotions, dreams and creativity In branding the Yin represents the rational, while the Yang represents the emotional Both the left side and the right side of the brain are important for people to have because it creates balance Based on this concept, bank either builds their brand personality to appeal to the rationality, or the emotions of consumers, while others use both This way of looking at consumers began with packaged consumer goods, but has adopted rapidly by practically every type of business in various industries, since it has shown to provide many benefits With specific products are services, therefore, the bank need to build a brand must based on combination of opposite factors That is philosophy make many successful brands in Asia, especially in Japan with famous brand in the world such as Toyota, Sony

1.3 Building banking brands

To have a good and prestigious brand such as HSBC or Citibank, Vietnamese banks must spend much time and expenditures in a long time to prove their ability, management ability as well as finance power before have customers‘ absolute confidence To do this, banks must understand the importance of brand and other factors, which have influence on process of developing brand of bank Next step we will consider elements relate to brand and role of brand in banking

1.3.1 Introduction about brand in banking

a The importance of brand to bank in business

If brands are a strategic asset, then how do they affect business? A strong brand provides a point of differentiation for the member and customer by leaving an impression in the mind of the members or customers It builds a long-term relationship for long-term gain through loyalty and trustworthiness The goal of branding is to create perceptions that drive choice of customers

Figure 1.1: Importance of brand to banks

[Source: Steffen Leditschke, Successful branding in the Financial

Sector 2004, p50]

There are two things, which affect people‘s perceptions and preference communications about an offering and experience with the offering Communications and experience both affect brand image More importantly, what

you communicate and the experience you deliver must be closely aligned to build a positive brand image Finance in general and banking in particular is, as it were, the stomach of the country, from which all the other organs take their tone Brands have until recently been a relatively minor part of the marketing message of retail financial services companies and bankers in particular

With changes over in 20 years, since economic reform began in 1986 have changed the pattern of banking Some of these have been driven by changes in regulation, but more significant have been the changes in consumer behavior Today, demand of customers has changed much Customers are now more aware of safety of their asset and comfortable with new technologies Customers are more willing to purchase banking services such as home banking, internet banking… They have embraced change, regulatory changes have made many financial products more transparent, and thus more easily compared

b Why should banks try to build their brands?

Until now, there are 37 commercial banks and representatives in Vietnam Under strong competitive pressure from all sides, domestic banks must build strong their brand in order to attract customers as well as to cope with competitors If they don‘t build brand for themselves that means they will make them in trouble in the process of competition To avoid being merged and acquisitioned by foreign large banks, banks must have strong enough brand to cope with them as well as to attract

customers There are many advantages to businesses when they build successful

brands for them These include higher prices, higher profit margins, better distribution, and customer loyalty Businesses that operate successful brands are also much more likely to enjoy higher profits A brand is created by augmenting a core product with distinctive values that distinguish it from the competition This is

the process of creating brand value

c Brand value in banking sector

A good brand name is invaluable asset in banking industry Banks rely heavily on their reputation After all, banks only work if the consumer is willing to

trust the bank company with large sums of money Branding is particularly important to the financial sector in the current economy, since investors and other big spenders are being cautious about making large financial transactions

Finance Brand is a London company that tracks the value of bank brands The company tracks 150 global brands across all industries The top financial services brand, holding the number 13 spot on Finance Brand‘s worldwide list, is Citibank (According to Interbrand, the world's top brand name is Coca-Cola with brand value

is over $ 70 billion)

Scandals are not the only factor affecting brand value in the banking sector Banks and financial service firms have sought to trim their budgets over the last few years Like other industries, the banking sector has had to react to the recent economic downturn by becoming leaner and more efficient Seeing losses in investment units, banks are looking to their consumer divisions to find a profit As a result, instead of being rewarded for bringing banks their business, customers are often seeing higher fees and decreasing personalized customer service Some banks have even adjusted their fee structure to encourage customers to use ATM machines instead dealing with bank tellers These cost-cutting measures lead to a depersonalized banking experience in which customers have little emotional connection to the bank's brand The lack of human contact is increased by modern technology While many basic banking transactions can now be handled either at an ATM or at a bank's Web site, neither outlet is capable of perceiving, let alone addressing, a customer's fears or frustrations Unfortunately, as banks rely more and more on technological outlets for service, there is often fewer helpful and knowledgeable staff in the bank lobby when the customer shows up in person

Maintaining the value of a single bank brand is difficult Corporation in the industry bring new branding challenges The function of a brand is to make the bank and its services recognizable and memorable In corporation, however, corporate politics often become involved The fate of the acquired bank's name can be perceived as a symbol for what is happening to the bank itself Employees are afraid

for their careers often fight to preserve what they believe are the core identity of

their company

d Signals to recognize a strong brand in market

It is not easy to recognize the mistakes of bankers in their investment of brand building Experience from crisis in 1997 in Asian countries gave us important lessons about right investment decision in branding A large brand without difference or specific characteristic or image, it could not get profit The same to the case a large brand and famous service without profit also lead to failure in the near future

Moreover, to have a strong brand as well as to know that we need to know necessary signals to a brand in market What are signals to know a brand is strong in the financial market? There are many signals to recognize a strong brand, but in

banking industry, we only need to know six signals below Those are Difference,

Image, Service Quality, Price, Profits and Distribution channel

You can know and make a plan for building and developing a strong brand in the future Therefore, how to measure our brand whether it is strong or not You cannot describe how your brand difference to competitors in one word With product are invisible, it is very difficult for banks when make customers see the difference between your service to competitors If do not that, your brand is not strong Why did you succeed? What would you have in that case? The answer is certainly profit However, how could we to cope with financial difficulty or crisis if

we would have not a strong brand to base If not, certainly you go to bankruptcy

If you cannot summarize your mission, task, vision, and brand value in a word That mean your customers also cannot feel Therefore, you have to answer clearly the question: ―what your brand‘s mission is? How does it develop and where is your brand‘s Customers only remember your brand‗s symbol when it is clearly different and salient to others If you have intention to imitate to others, you will fail Company value is visible assets This is right However, if your bank has been fired

all assets disappear, how much is your bank value? At that time, only brand is factor can help your company to restore

Who make brand in first time is very important, all people remember to founder of company, who help company to growth as today Moreover, to make a good image of leader in customers ‗s mind is very important of all brand, especially that is commercial bank, where all beliefs have been put in one leader‘s hand

Above are some analyses about six standards to know a strong brand in market We need to strive make a good image through service quality and others factors which relate to customers as well as employees in your bank Actually, systematic brand building process is important for creating a strong brand

f Process of building & developing brand

Building brand in general as well as in banking field in particular is a complicated and difficult process To build and develop a brand, the bank needs have a detail and suitable process A number of models of the branding process exist in the literature; however, they have generally been criticized for the lack of empirical testing The brand building processes in general and will be reviewed in this section Brand building process focuses on building the overall brand Since all brands have an identity, the framework is applicable to any type of brand After considering factors, which relate to a bank brand, we found that, building brand is a process of combination and choice of invisible and visible attributes as well with objective to differentiate product and service by meaning, interesting and attractive way To build a sustainable brand in the long time, bank can apply seven steps as follow:

First step is marketing research This is a necessary preparation step to any

marketing expert or brand expert To have this information system, bank can outsource or to do by itself If bank does research by it self, there are two types: qualitative research method (Focus group, Face to Face, interview) or quantitative research method (questionnaire, survey )

Next step is building brand vision This is bank‘s neat and clear message,

which banks to send customers and express development trend of bank in coming years In other words, brand mission express the reason for bank‘s existence Below are some roles of brand mission Unify bank‘s development aims and make consistence in leadership point out a strategy to use human resource Making measurement for development of brand and make base for building development objective in the future Encourage employees towards a common development objective HSCB is a typical example for this or Sony, IBM and Honda…

Third step after building brand mission is to map out strategy for brand

development That mean we must have a strategy for developing brand in short term and long term Fourth step, based on strategy of brand development, we continue to

choose position for brand or Brand positioning In this step, we have to determine

our brand position compare to competitors in market, which are recognized by

customers In this step, there are eight characteristics Fifth step is building system

of Brand Awareness This is a set of imaginativeness, which bank wants its image

to survive in customers‘ mind through service, bank, employees‘ behaviors, logo, symbol….However, it is not enough when building system, and we must make customers remember, understand and accept our brand In other words, we have to bring brand to public This is very important step in building brand To do that, many people know brand Through that, we assert the success of brand in the market That is core problem lead to success in building brand To get that we need

to do a continuous step, that is brand media operation The last step is brand evaluation Through this step, we know awareness level, imaginativeness in

customers‘ mind, or customers‘ loyalty to brand Besides that, brand measurement also help to know the effectiveness level of cost budget to developing brand in bank

1.3.2 Factors in building strong brand

a General brand factors

To answer the question: What factors are important in building brand value?

Professor David Jobber identifies seven main factors in building successful brands,

as illustrated in the diagram below:

Quality is a vital ingredient of a good brand The core benefits must be

delivered well, consistently Research confirms that, statistically, higher quality brands achieve higher market share and higher profitability that their inferior competitors

Positioning is about the position a brand occupies in a market in the minds

of consumers Strong brands have a clear, often unique position in the target market

It can be achieved through the combination of brand name, image, service

standards, product guarantees, packaging and the way in which it is delivered

Figure 1.2: Seven factors in building successful brands

[Source: David Jobber, 7 Important Factors in Building Brand

Value, 2005, p2]

Repositioning: occurs when a brand tries to change its market position to

reflect a change in consumer‘s tastes This is often required when a brand has become tired

Well-blended Communications: All elements of the promotional mix need

to be used to develop and sustain customer perceptions Initially, the challenge is to build awareness, then to develop the brand personality and reinforce the perception

Credibility: In terms of brand development, first-mover means that it is

possible for the first successful brand in a market to create a clear positioning in the minds of target customers before the competition enters the market

Long-term perspective: This leads to the need to invest in the brand over

the long-term Building customer awareness, communicating the brand‘s message

and creating customer loyalty takes time This means that management must invest

in a brand, perhaps at the expense of short-term profitability

Internal marketing: Management should ensure that the brand is marketed

internally as well as externally To do this, we mean that the whole business should understand the brand values and positioning This is particularly important in banking businesses where a critical part of the brand value is the type and quality of service that a customer receives and in banking there are 70% influence to brand from internal factors

b Internal brand factors driving successful banking brands

There is little research has been undertaken to identify and understand factors contributing to brand success in the banking sector Due to the intangible nature of brands leading to different people holding different interpretations, management faces the challenge of ensuring that all employees have similar interpretations to ensure coherent enactment of brand strategies The organizations with more successful brands were characterized by the following factors: a holistic, consistent and integrated approach to branding, a focus upon excellent and personalized customer service, an ethos, which challenges the norm, responsiveness to change, a high degree of brand literacy, and a synergy between the brand and organizational culture

 The brand is a holistic experience

A major theme emerging was the idea of the brand as a ‗holistic‘ experience For the successful banking brands, the brand is interpreted as everything experienced by the customer The synergy between each element of the experience enables the brand to be more than the sum of its parts This is highly appropriate in

a services context, services branding uses these in addition to intangibles such as the behavior of employees during the service encounter Conversely, amongst less successful banking brands, the branding approach was a more nạve and simplistic

 Consistent and integrated approach to branding

For the successful banking brands, consistency between the brand elements was recognized as vital to brand success, a fact reflected in the literature We can see the importance of consistency throughout the organization in terms of communications about the brand We also notes the need for consistency, with the most effective way of encouraging this being to gain employees‘ belief in the values governing their behavior To encourage consistency all employees should work on the brand in an integrated fashion Many theories stress that an integrated branding effort is everyone‘s responsibility in the company The bank also needs to highlight that for a brand to appear as a coherent whole, managers from different functions and backgrounds must work together on branding issues The importance of cross-functional teamwork in building brand is expressed through campaigns in bank

 The brand is responsive to change

Another factor, which differed between the more and less successful banking brands, was the degree to which the brand was dynamic and responsive to change Essentially, a brand can be described as a cluster of functional and emotional values Societies are dynamic, as reflected in the constantly evolving values held by consumers It, therefore, follows that for a brand to be successful over time; its values may need to be adjusted to reflect changes in consumers‘ values Rather, the brand needs to respond and adapt to its environment in a unique way

General speaking, the less successful brands tended to be seen as more traditional, staid and set in their ways In contrast, despite one of the more successful brands also having a long heritage, both of them demonstrate certain unique aspects to the service offered which reflect the ways in which the brands have responded to changes in the environment Retaining the brands‘ anonymity, one of the successful brands has harnessed changes in technology to offer customers a particularly

convenient and modern service The other successful brand responded to changes in the banking industry by adapting its service to incorporate new markets

 Synergy between brand and culture

Definitions of organizational culture are conspicuous in their abundance and diversity We can temporarily understand culture on three levels – artifacts, values and basic assumptions It is at the values level that the link between brand and culture is most evident If there is congruence between the organization‘s espoused values, employees‘ values and brand values, then the resulting synergy should encourage a strong brand which is genuinely ‗lived‘ by employees It was found that the successful brands were capitalizing on their corporate culture and were congruent with this The brand often reflects the culture and values of the organization The brand is part of the culture Its combination of factors, different ways we live our lives and vision and not necessarily a specific thing says ―this is the brand We also remember that we cannot copy a culture or people and our brand

is based in our culture and we can do whatever we want with the brand but unless the culture matches, it does not work However, from typical less successful brands

we should remember that there is a culture of fear and there is very much fear, people are looking over their shoulders and so on It is a negative culture

Culture changes slowly the most difficult thing is long time employees, getting them to change We have been looking to change culture for years and still have loads to do The influence of corporate culture upon the success of brands has been noted in the literature For example, culture of a bank may have as much influence

on external stakeholders through the behavior and attitudes of service personnel as

do the more formal corporate communications and visual identities An organization needs a ‗corporate religion‘ whereby all members believe the same things about the organization and share the same values Because culture relates to the shared values within an organization and through influencing staff behavior impacts upon performance If the values of the organization and the brand are congruent, then employees will not face such conflict and their behavior will reflect the values of

the brand In line with this, respondents from the more successful brands were less likely to make negative or unenthusiastic comments about their brands

 The brand challenges the norm

Differentiation is widely accepted as vital to brand success The brand may play a more vital role in terms of differentiation for services than for products, given that tangible evidence of differentiation is less feasible with services A basis for differentiation succeeds when genuinely relevant to and welcomed by consumers Many people argue that service organizations with the strongest brands demonstrate

a conscious effort to be different and to ensure that what they stand for is important and valuable to their customers In spite of the acknowledged importance of differentiation but many corporate brands have no value proposition? They are simply large, stable firms that can be trusted to deliver adequate products and services, but with no point of distinction and sometimes with a hint of being bureaucratic and ponderous We found that the more successful banking brands differentiated by challenging the norm Of the less successful brands, respondents noted that there was generally very little differentiation or deviation from the norm For banking brand, therefore, to be successful there needs to be something, which makes it unique

 The brand is based upon excellent, personalized customer service

Another factor strongly related to banking brand success was the quality and nature of customer service Essentially a brand is a cluster of functional and emotional values, which enables an organization to make a promise about a unique and welcomed experience Whilst it is difficult to make the functional values unique, as these can often be quickly copied, the emotional values have the potential

to sustain differentiation Ultimately, what is delivered is less important than how it

is delivered The importance of high quality customer service is well grounded in the literature The uniqueness of a services brand is more likely to emanate from the augmented level More generally, performing a needed service and performing it

better than competitors is a powerful brand-building combination Within one of the more successful brands, the idea of high quality customer service was taken further

On the other hand, within the less successful brands both the quality of service and the bonding between the brand and consumers were regarded as being significantly lower One aspect of customer service, treating customers with respect and not patronizing them, was noted as particularly important One of the choices organizations face is whether to adopt a ‗loose‘ or ‗tight‘ style of brand management However, the importance recognized by managers of the more successful brands of personalizing the customer service experience is more in keeping with the idea of loose branding There is a realization that senior management must relinquish their dominant control over the brand, so staff can be allowed, or even encouraged to personalize the experience for consumers Such personalization is governed by the brand‘s values, as these define boundaries and enable staff to understand what appropriate behavior is That is why; there are so few successful banking brands, given how consumers seem to welcome an individualized service experience

 Organizational members are highly brand literate

Within the more successful banking brands, staff with direct influence upon

or involvement with branding matters were highly brand literate, having a comprehensive understanding of their brand and its implications for their job

Compared to product branding, banking branding is more dependent on employees

It is, therefore, essential that all staff understand the brand so each element of the internal value chain adds value in the desired coherent manner, and there is a link between the internal and external brand Without a strong connection between the internal and external brand, it becomes almost impossible for a significant consumer relationship to develop

Employees with more successful brands have a much clearer and consistent understanding of their brands They commonly provided short, sharp statements characterizing their brand, which resonated across levels and functions Within the

less successful brands, particularly managers that are more senior often gave very elaborate and sometimes confusing brand explanations Additionally, some respondents amongst the less successful brands confused advertising slogans with brand essence statements From reality and theory we found that the brands may not

be salient and did not make a strong connection with consumers

Employees working with more successful brands appeared to have a greater understanding of how their departments contributed to brand success, and how their behavior impacted upon the brand in the eyes of consumers Everything we do has

to contribute to the brand and if not anything is contributing then you have to ask if

we are doing the right thing making sure we operate in HR in a way that is consistent with the brand It was also notable that the brand understanding within

the more successful brands was independent of seniority and functional area Often,

respondents within the less successful brands had received minimal or no education about the brand and therefore could either not understand that a services brand is more than just its advertising, or not appreciate the implications of the brand for their role The less successful brands tended to be poorly understood, within the organizations‘ lower ranks and outside the marketing function This reflects a theme within the branding literature refer to an overall lack of understanding about branding

c Fundamental principles of building a brand

When do any thing we often have a principle, to do that we have clear direction

in dong Building brand is not exception; in building brand, we also need a principle

The following are the fundamental principles of building a brand:

 Differentiate yourself Whether you choose to highlight your education, your high-tech equipment, an aspect of your service, or your expertise, focus on something that sets you apart

 Create a position Positioning is the place a product or service occupies in the minds of prospects A firm might specialize in a specific service or focus on a specific audience Decide what position

suits your background, abilities, and audience, and then build the marketing plan around that

 Be consistent and persistent After determining the differentiator and position, create the brand by advertising and promotion Repetition in more than one medium is key factor Print ads, direct mail, radio, the Internet, speaking engagements, newspaper articles—any available medium should be used to communicate your name and your message

to the target audience

 Customize your services Once you have built your brand, begin refining your business to fit your identity If the business is about personalized services, qualify its identity by offering a specified amount of one-on-one time with clients

d Key Criteria in Building Bank Brands

Here we focus on a review of the relevant services management and services branding literature to understand the problem of developing successful services

brands Many papers representing the defining issue in the management of banks

But the service encounter frequently is the banks from the customer‘s point of

view‘ Yet often front-line employees are not trained to understand customers and

do not have discretion to ensure effective responses Furthermore, customer-facing staff may be relatively poorly paid, resulting in low levels of motivation and

responsibility This can be disastrous for the bank and its brands

Competitors easily copy products; but service is not Because, service depends on the culture of the organization, the training and attitudes of its employees, it is more difficult to build and sustain successfully and it is more difficult to copy As we see that ―banking is perhaps the most sustainable differential advantage in building successful brands The most often raised criteria for succeeding with bank brands is having a focused position, followed by consistency, values, system and other themes conducted an empirical study to

determine the key criteria in building banking brands The following some elements were mentioned most frequently by respondents

 Focused Position

The bank brand must be positioned in the mind of prospective customers Positioning must be understood by both staff and customers Faced with an abundance of communication in the market, this is indeed a challenging task To succeed, simple communication of the service brand is imperative; the firm must focus on creating few associations A positioning statement should associate the brand with a restricted number of benefits Consistency is essential to all brands

 Consistency

Consistency was seen as being almost as important as having a focused positioning in successful banking brands As many others have observed services, marketing presents the challenge of variable quality through dependency on staff The single most important and most difficult factor is achieving some kind of consistency in the experience that consumers have of the brand Consistency could

be encouraged through systems For example, the way the ACB bank uses IT to get call centre to ask, in almost a mechanical manner, a few questions to help locate the caller‘s details on their database Once confirmed, the support of the database facilitates a more personal interaction When developing support systems for staff, the organization needs to consider how these can be implemented across all points

of customer contact

 Values

The third most apparent theme about successful services brands is that they come from organizations, which have a clear view about their values, with a culture, which is focused on doing the right things for the customer A successful bank has a clear understanding of its values, often expressed through the corporate culture It has been proven that there is a clear connection between values and behavior It is said that, values guide and motivate staff Management must also

―live the brand.‖