Theme of the Shortlisted Papers for SMIA 2007

BANK OF BARODA
Rebranding Strategy

The advent of private players in the banking sector has necessitated marketing initiatives for all the public sector banks. Bank of Baroda rejuvenated its brand identity to project a more contemporary personality that reflects the modern customer's aspirations. Prior to their re-branding strategy the bank was not at par with global best practices in the banking sector. The brand's ranking as reported by ET-AC Nielsen was poor and the brand salience was also low.

The bank decided to undergo a complete revamp wherein the changes in its practices were complemented by a new marketing and communications initiative. They created a new logo of the rising sun which complemented their brand identity of being forward thinkers. They also roped in Rahul Dravid as a brand ambassador.

This new marketing strategy helped them reposition themselves as 'India's International Bank', which is not a tag associated in the minds of the consumer with any other bank. The impact of the exercise can be seen in the fact that the plummeting market share was arrested and the bank regained the No.3 position among peer banks, moving up two places in terms of Key Performance Indicators.

ITC LTD-IBD
Weather Insurance - Derivatives Marketing

ITC has always been perceived as a nation oriented organization. ITC's e-Choupal initiative has benefited the lives of farmers all over the nation and helped in the growth of the agricultural sector. They have taken this initiative further by providing farmers with weather insurance as an alternative to crop insurance.

90% of crop failure is on account of weather risk and so weather insurance is a superior alternative to crop insurance. Since monitoring weather is not easy, the company took the help of the Sanchalaks to give weather data and field information to farmers. It was initially an ancillary product but in the last three crop cycles it has moved to become a core product in the e-Choupal financial services portfolio.

This initiative has helped farmers all over the country. The success can be seen in the fact that claims worth Rs. 14 lakhs were settled in the 2005-06 Rabi season and 30 lakhs in the Kharif season.

AKANKSHA ART FOUNDATION
Art Workshops - A Unique Marketing Initiative

The Akanksha Foundation is an organization which is known for it outstanding work for the less privileged children. The art programme at Akanksha was started with an aim of providing the children a mode for self - expression and enhancing their self esteem. But today the programme means much more, both to the less privileged children as well as to Akanksha.

The art work shops which Akanksha holds today were started at the Kala Ghoda Festival in 2005. Ten trained less privileged children were the conductors of these workshops for children and through these workshops Akanksha realized that this was the door to freedom and happiness for its young talent. Akanksha began to hold these workshops even outside of the festivals using their database collated at the Kala Ghoda Festival.

These workshops are for 2 hours and are full of energy and fun. They are aimed at teaching children various forms of art and to express themselves freely through art. The workshops attempt to narrow the bridge between the less privileged and privileged children and bring about an awareness in the young minds. The workshops also give a chance to the less privileged children for employment and living a normal life.

These art workshops have had a positive effect on Akanksha as it has increased its visibility.

HCL TECHNOLOGIES
Enabling Organizational Transformation - CMS (Capital Market Services)

HCL Technologies is one of India's leading global IT Services companies, providing software-led IT solutions, remote infrastructure management services and BPO.

HCL challenged the rationale of "cost arbitrage" with "skill arbitrage" by providing high end services, requiring high domain understanding and execution capabilities along with technological and operational expertise for managing these high risk and complex operations.

The case talks about how CMS embarked on a path of positioning itself as an "Extended Enterprise" in Capital Markets and is now being touted as way to increased Efficiency, Effectiveness and as a Competitive Advantage needs.

The CMS business has been growing over the last 2 years, as is evident from growth in revenue. This practice has grown to more than 3500 people from a modest practice of 1000 odd people in 2004. Leading analysts and customers too have appreciated the quality of service provided by HCL and are speaking in terms of strengthening their relations with HCL.

The case goes on to elaborate how CMS has been successful in bringing together in-depth business knowledge in areas of trade finance, custodial services, private banking, asset management and electronic banking using IT skills to deliver high quality and cost effective services.