MARYLOU ANDREW: Why did Bank Alfalah decide to change their logo and corporate identity?

ALY MUSTANSIR: The logo change is part of a rebranding exercise. The important thing is deciding your brand proposition and then determining your vision, mission and values accordingly. This is how we started looking at it as well, because our brand proposition is all about ‘go your way with Bank Alfalah’. We have never chosen the easy path and we have done things our way and this is what we want people to be able to do. Although we were alone on our journey, we want to help people who want to do it so that it is less difficult. When we started talking about our identity and our colours, we realised that we are young and we are playing to our age. We don’t sound old or over the top authoritative; we are energetic and extremely passionate about how we impact people.

So the colour red came very naturally and it helped us stand out in the sea of greens and blues that are prevalent in the industry. Then we looked at our logo – and I will be honest, with brands like ours it is very hard to create a new identity and leave the last one behind, so you choose the evolutionary method of doing it. Interbrand, the consultancy that helped us with this, came up with the idea of making it more flexible and dynamic. So we kept pretty much the same shape but altered one side of it. We have a hard point to show our determination and a curved point to show our flexibility – it is an instrument that moves and that is where our flexibility comes in as well. Our previous word mark was a bit odd in the sense that it had a very colonial font for a bank that is seen both as a conventional and Islamic bank with a strong Middle Eastern association. So we created a new script that is modern yet has touches of Arabic typography and we chose an upper lower case which is a bit more informal and approachable.

MLA: What is the brand proposition?

AM: Well let me tell you about our vision statement which is drawn from it. It is to inspire and empower people to do things differently and carve their own path in life and business. What we are saying to people is you pick the idea and we will work with you on it. Practically and effectively our SME business does that. We are the first bank to have launched the SME toolkit, which was done in collaboration with IFC. This toolkit guides entrepreneurs not only on how to set up a business but how to move forward with different things like accounting, warehousing, inventory management and marketing. These are the advisory services that were not available before.

MLA: Have there been other changes within the bank?

AM: Our identity is a cue for internal changes. In the last three years that Atif [Bajwa, CEO, Bank Alfalah] has been here, a lot of changes have taken place. It started with HR; there were changes in the management team trickling down to middle and lower management. We have brought in people to train us on sales management; our focus on customer experience and the processes that go with it have been revamped and we moved to a different banking system, which is the Temenos T24. We have stepped up internet banking, rolled out mobile banking and teamed up with Warid to launch branchless banking. We have revived the management trainee programme and the product suite has been enhanced. We were starting to trail a little on our consumer side but we got the hang of that and made sure that our leadership in credit cards and in auto finance remains.

"There is also a strong focus on renewable energy. Our new ad isn’t just a little story or a gimmick, solar is very close to our hearts. We recently introduced a green mortgage for individuals and we have signed up with three different partners who are solar energy experts to design a simple loan product, whereby people can easily finance their home solar solutions."

MLA: This is the first major campaign from Bank Alfalah after a long time; why the silence for so many years?

AM: We did a campaign for Alfalah Kamyab karobar about two years ago but that was not a very differentiated campaign so maybe it didn’t get noticeability. When I came in and had a chat with Atif and the board, we decided that we needed to change things. The results of a brand health tracker had also come in and we did not score very well on brand equity, and it seemed as if we were losing relevance with the market. So it is always advisable to hold your money on campaigns until you have decided on your new branding. Now that we have launched our first one, we are planning a campaign for Islamic banking during Ramzan. We also have a great new alliance – we will be the sole authorised bank to launch American Express cards in Pakistan. We are also planning niche products for kids, women, etc., so there should be a fair amount of excitement and action coming from us now.

MLA: Your TVC looks like a film trailer; why did you choose that style of execution?

AM: Two reasons. One, which is the obvious one, is that we wanted to do something different. Throughout the campaign we have kept that look, so while the TVC looks like the trailer or a film, even our print ads and billboards are like film posters. Two, as a bank we are fairly involved in promoting the revival of cinema and good filmmaking.

"We have sponsored a movie that will be released in August. It is based on a true story about a boxer called Hussain Shah, who won the bronze at the 1988 Olympics. There is another movie coming up, an ISPR project, of which we are part sponsors and we have content integration in that. "

MLA: The TVC comes across as if you are promoting loans and finance. Was there a reason for doing that?

AM: It would come across like that because people look at a bank’s role in that way, and every time you do a brand positioning campaign, people will think the bank helps by giving money. We did this consciously, to try and show our support to entrepreneurs and we have been doing this not only through our products and our businesses, but through our marketing as well.

MLA: You have chosen to highlight three differentiating points in your ad. Why those particular ones?

AM: They are the ones we are proud of and they are the ones people relate to the most. Banking is still not widely understood by the average customer and these are some of the things that make customers feel that the bank is credible. These are strong points – we are the fifth largest bank, and for a bank that has not yet turned 20 this is a very big thing to achieve. We have peer banks which have been in existence for 30 or 40 years and have not made it to that level. Then there is Islamic banking; we have the largest network of dedicated branches offered by any conventional bank and we want to maintain that strength. Finally credit cards are our success story and we want to make sure that people remember this. We have a very good shot at being the guy right after HBL until a time comes when we can actually challenge them.

“We are a challenger brand and we will constantly challenge everyone on our path to change the way things work and the way banks and financial institutions think. The only way is up.”

MLA: What can we expect in the next six months?

AM: Both in terms of business and marketing you will see us being very busy. There will be a fair bit of noise in the media. We want to build our TOM awareness and regain our equity. When we worked with Interbrand on our brand proposition, Atif was very clear that it had to be something that changes the way the bank thinks and works. So we are going to various cities to explain the brand to our staff and we want to make sure that every one of them understands what the vision is, what this mission means and what the values tangibly mean for them, and Atif drives a lot of this himself. We have set up an innovation management system and we are thinking of creating an innovation cell, which Atif will chair. So in everything we do there will be a benchmark. Atif, as the gatekeeper, will ask if this has a differentiating factor and if it doesn’t then we will go back and do it again. This applies to products, our processes, our customer service and to what we do in marketing. The market is going to see a lot of things that they probably saw from Alfalah in the past but then they stopped seeing for the last five to seven years.

MLA: Are there any plans to move up the rankings from the fifth largest bank?

AM: Absolutely. We already murmur the fact that we want to be among the top three within a timeframe that most of us are still here. The top banks are very strong, they have a lot of capital and they have been here for so long, and HBL with its renewed feel has really set itself apart. But we have a very good shot at being the guy right after HBL until a time comes when we can actually challenge them. We are a challenger brand and we will constantly challenge everyone on our path to change the way things work and the way banks and financial institutions think. The only way is up.

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