Brand ambassador not the only way to endorse a business: Anoop Manohar

At the Pitch BrandTalk 2023, Anoop Manohar, Chief Marketing Officer of Axis Bank, shared with the audience how the bank has built consumer trust and emotional connect over the years.

“You have to know the past to understand the present,” he said quoting Carl Sagan, as he began to narrate the inception of the bank.

Axis Bank started in 1993 as a semi-privatised bank (UTI Bank) when then finance minister Dr. Manmohan Singh opened up the economy and there was a need for more banks in the country to create capital. In early 2000s, UTI Bank realised there was too much competition and that’s when it was privatised. The newly formed entity was called Axis Bank in 2007.

Back then, the top management realised India is gradually becoming a country that is really emerging, and has an increasing middle-class population. “But at that time banks were a place that took your money and made you stand in a line for it. We wanted to change that,” Manohar added.

‘Badhti ka naam zindagi’ was a campaign launched to make a progressive communication of the bank. Later, Deepika Padukone was roped in for the same.

In 2019, a new vision was opted and business transformation happened. Technology was the new entrant making banking convenient and efficient then, but it came at the cost of human touch and empathy. Hence, the bank wanted to communicate with its customers.

Manohar further shared, “As Amitabh Chaudhry, the CEO joined, the brand idea totally changed. We communicated to be a bank that’s very open and launched the ‘Dil Se Open’ campaign.”

We do not believe that a brand ambassador is the only way to endorse a business. Our belief is that our employees are our ambassadors too. If a customer walks in, and has a sour experience with any employee, it impacts our reputation,” he added.

Further in the session, Dr. Annurag Batra got in a one-on-one conversation with Manohar to know more in depth about the bank’s journey.

Speaking on why the bank did not carry out any campaign for the cricket world cup this time, Manohar shared, “We did a print ad for the WC final. But we are a nine-o-clock brand, more in an empathetic and calm space. We feel that arts & culture is more of a passion point for us than sport. Like, this year, we partnered with NMACC, the museum of art and photography in Bangalore.”

Manohar then underlined how the role of a CMO is evolving over time. “In most organisations, everything is converging. So, the clear divide of three divisions of finance, brand and retail activation is not working anymore. Now everyone needs to work in a mesh.”

Further talking about the roles of CMO and CEO, Manohar said for a CMO to become a CEO, they have to know where the whole business is going and not be concerned only with the marketing function. “One cannot stick to being the goalkeeper of the team always. One needs to adapt to the game they are playing,” he said.

With the emergence of neo banks, the competition has gone tougher. "Banks may come and go but banking will always stay. We have to be more consumer centric and if we don't do that, customers will get that experience elsewhere and that's where they will take their money."