SYNOPSIS ROLE OF BRANDING IN THE BANKING INDUSTRY:THE FUTURE ROAD AHEAD By:AKSHITA TOMAR OBJECTIVE OF STUDY:y

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The primary objective is to present key branding findings from a qualitative study of consumers and financial services practitioners and explores the current role,importance and challenges associated with branding. The aim of applying branding is to differentiate a product or service from others and creating a unique brand image of a certain product or service in the minds of target market. The managerial and consumer research highlighted the limited role of branding and the growing gap between brand-based expectations and service brand execution. The main motive of the study is that it is often hard to completely distinguish between bank products from different institutions that is why a strong brand is so important to a bank's overall strategy. The main aim is to explore the current role and challenges associated with branding within financial services.

INTRODUCTION:Despite the commercial importance of services and the increasing role of brand-related strategy in services, an overwhelming majority of academic interest has been directed at products rather than services, which have often been traditionally viewed as a monolithic mass.While there is more recent evidence of conceptual development with regard to services and services branding,there has been a lack of empirical investigation or understanding of services branding in practice. Debate exists in the branding literature as to whether the principles of branding and brand-building within manufactured goods should be applied to service and it is proposed that branding adjust ents are m needed to comply with services characteristics. Indeed, it has been suggested that successful management of services brands should be adapted to accommodate particular services characteristics such as intangibility, heterogeneity and inseparability.Despite this recent increase in academic attention to branding issues, the branding culture in service firms,notably financial services,is particularly weak. Indeed, the financial services sector, which has witnessed significant change and turbulence in recent times, has enjoyed little success with its branding initiatives and strategies. While the financial services sector has received increased academic attention over the last few decades, it continues to pose challenges for marketers as an academic area of research .Based upon supplier and consumer perspectives on current branding practice in financial services, it is evident that rhetoric rather than reality underlies much services branding theory. While it may be argued that brandbuilding is imperative in the highly competitive arena of financial services, the creation of solid core brand benefits is no longer sufficient to carve a competitive advantage in the face of intense competition,deregulation and increasing technological advancement in the financial services market. Recognising these significant developments, the increased instrumental approach of customers and the increasingly automated and commoditised nature of financial services exchange, the time has come for financial services suppliers to finally identify and promote branding strategies and practices which are relevant, meaningful and above all implementable within this dynamic and turbulent sector. With the increasing commodification of the financial services marketplace and the resultant pricedriven, opportunistic approach adopted by consumers, it is crucial that financial services suppliers finally provide salient brand propositions which are founded upon attributes of importance and relevance to consumers.Given the importance and relevance of functional brand values and banks current lack of brand-building success, it is recommended that financial services providers design and communicate their brand position in a manner targeted at consumersfunctional financial needs.

Suppliers are recommended to engage in dialogue with consumers through a programme of in-depth and systematic research and communicationin order to successfully identify current key financial brand values and appeals,including functional criteria such as interest rates, convenience and appropriate access to services that will form the basis of branding strategy which is meaningful to and desired by customers.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:PRIMARY RESEARCH:Primary data collection process was carried out by personally interviewing the targeted distribution channel using structured questionnaire.

SECONDARY RESEARCH:Secondary data is collected from various recognized publications and was collected and analyzed to interpret the trend. However, secondary data are collected through following sources.
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CONCLUSION:This paper asserts that a significant gap exists between the rhetoric of the services branding literature and the actual practice of branding in financial services. The key difficulties associated with the brand management of retail financial services were emphasized through the range and complexity of issues identified by supply-side representatives of the financial services sector. Although service branding has been closely aligned to product branding principles, it is clear that its application differs in many respects , particularly within the financial services context. While the importance of people in enacting the internal brand and operationalizing the brand promise is promoted in the literature , the sector of financial services have witnessed increased levels of disintermediation, resulting in financial services employees being effectively removed from banking and replaced by automated channels. It is therefore highly questionable how brand theories centered upon the brand as relationship builder concept can be implemented in the increasingly depersonalized environment of banking. Conversely, it is clear that customers still desire high levels of service and welcome a banking approach based upon service process and delivery-related factors. It is important to distinguish these customers from the minority group, discussed in the findings, who welcome a friendly face and an emotional approach to banking. Rather, these process factors relate to high levels of service in terms of quality and performance, including responsiveness of the bank to customer needs, and can therefore be categorized as primarily functional in nature. We argue therefore that cur rent services branding development remains highly conceptual and has little relevance or value in terms of offering current branding guidance for financial services providers.

REFRENCES:http://www.marketingprofs.com/6/young40.asp http://www.marketingsherpa.com/barrier.cfm?contentID=3092 http://doi.contentdirections.com/mr/hbsp.jsp?doi=10.1225/504023 http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jht...