PR Works if you deliver.

Few years back State Bank of India (SBI) unleashed a new advertising campaign to change the image of the bank and infuse some freshness to the brand. The campaign was around the theme “FULL OF SURPRISES”. Huge money was spent and somewhere I was not sure if the tone and manner of the communication connected with the Bank. Obviously good visibility was created as huge money was pumped in. The poignant part was the agency that created the campaign was in a hurry, to overnight change the image of a PSU bank which to me was a distant dream. A more down to earth campaign with a bit of emotion perhaps could have helped the bank in building the brand especially when PSU’s looked advertising more as an expenditure and not as an investment to build their brand.

The Bank revisited the strategy and came out with new and innovative and competitive products to woo customers. This was supported by some advertising to sell their various products. I also saw a change in the leadership of the bank and in came Mr.O.P.Bhatt to manage this big financial ship with great ambitions. Mr. Bhatt defined new goals for SBI and re defined banking in the category with speed and aggression and stood tall amongst all private banks when he delivered the goods in a very tough and tight market conditions.

Initially I did not see much of Mr. Bhatt in media nor had I heard about him. This is where Mr. Bhatt demonstrated the true leadership by first delivering value to clients and corporate and then talk to media. And once he did this there was no looking back and he was the cynosure of media or any commerce body in the country. PR here worked very well for SBI and Mr.Bhat because he delivered consistently and followed his goals and objectives in the most systematic manner that each time one picked up the new paper we could see SBI achieving their milestones and was always amidst some important news across the country.

Today SBI has been able to dictate the market with their aggressive and innovative approach and is seen has a brand not only to reckon in India but also in the overseas market.

And Shri.O.P. Bhatt has become the thought leader in the banking space and his bank has once again emerged as the best bank against all odd.