BOI 'hijacks' Hindu Businessline front page

Bank of India rules the front page on Hindu Business Line. The complete front page has been turned into an Ad. page for BOI.

Let me describe the Ad to you. Headline; 'Despite odds, BOI stays true to form'. The page is dominated by copy with numbers declaring how profitable and how well BOI has grown in comparison to last year. It also shows how well managed the bank is, by quoting NPA figures which are low and have declined. The 'back' of the front page is even more denser with figures.

At a time when people are tightening their purse strings and are wondering if their money is safe in their banks, here's one that comes out big time to state how well they are doing despite the 'odds'. The communique scores heavily on two factors, its and big and bold and therefore a sure attention grabber, and its provides just about the right details to the consumer who wants to 'know the numbers' when it comes to banks.

Good going, BOI!

Comments

Raneeth Reghu said…
JUst to add to the point of having ads during recessionary times. Just when the early signs of the slowdown came up ( during Lehmann's collapse), there were a lot of Bank ads coming up. These were normal ads with hardly any copy unlike the BOI one.

Now, just wondering whether simply having ads during a time when there is hardly any good word of mouth going around about the sector would do any good to the banks or even have a negative effect in terms of people starting to associate these banks with the bad times.

Now what BOI has done smart is that it has had copy saying how it has been still doing well, as you say with just the right kind and amount of information. This would definitely go well with the public. In fact, if we go a step further, it could also be worthwhile on the bank's part to explain their "major" customers about the situation and reveal how strong their position is. This could in fact go a long way in building brand loyalty and customer confidence which could translate into what we call customer lifetime value.

But, again coming back to the point of running ads simply as many have done. Does it do any good or could it actually have a negative effect with people having little knowledge about the whole thing starting ti associate these brands with the bad times?
Just need to know your views on that!

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