INTRODUCTION

About HDFC Bank:

HDFC Bank was incorporated in August 1994, and, currently has a nationwide network of 2000 Branches and 5,471 ATM’s in 996 Indian towns and cities.

Differentiate to lead:

Trust is a banker’s greatest currency and a great banking and financial services brand can be built only on a strong foundation of trust. That pretty much has been HDFC bank’s story as it emerged from the image of a state owned housing finance corporation to a slick new age universal bank. Incorporated in 1994, the bank’s contribution to the bustle of post liberalization has been incredible.

The bank’s service offerings include a spectrum of innovative products in retail banking, wholesale banking, the capital markets and many more areas growing consistently at 25-30 percent for over a decade. This has been driven by HDFC bank’s decision to adopt technology as its backbone. Not only did the technological revolution cut down costs but most significantly it enhanced the customer experience. The experience fostered trust and confidence among customers and the virtuous feedback loop catapulted HDFC bank into the league of elite private sector banks in the country.

HDFC bank’s biggest differentiator from others is its robust set of policies that they worked on backed by quality service. Clear de-risking policies in a high risk Indian market have paid rich dividends to a brand run with great vision and strategy. When others concentrated on numbers, HDFC bank concentrated on quality. That made them an extremely respected bank to deal with.

Power Creation:

With the vision of being one-stop financial superstore in mind, the bank operates in three segments: Personal Banking, Wholesale Banking, and NRI Services. The Personal Banking segments provides various deposit products, exclusive banking for high net-worth individuals including Wealth Advisory, Private banking and Personal loans such as auto, personal, home, gold, business loans and more. This segment also is the distribution point for third party financial products, such as Mutual Funds and Insurance. In the space of Personal Banking, HDFC bank’s credit Cards are also enormously trusted. Here as well some well-crafted strategies of the past have yielded brilliant results for the bank. One of the key success factors for HDFC bank is clear de-risked business strategies that not only ensure the right revenue inflow but a loyal customer base. The Wholesale Banking segment provides loan and transaction services to large corporate organizations, emerging corporate organizations, small and medium enterprises and institutional customers. It also offers deposit and transaction banking products, working capital and term finance, foreign exchange products and the like. Other services include trade services, cash management, money market, custodial, tax collection and electronic banking. In addition, it provides correspondent bank services to co-operative banks, private banks, foreign banks and regional rural banks and investment services for non-resident Indians.

Communication Strategy:

The positioning strategy in recent years has been to position the bank as a one-stop financial supermarket. The objective of the communication has not just been acquisition of new customers, but also creating product awareness, enhancing usage and providing value-adds to customers. The campaigns from HDFC bank have always focused on that and their tagline ‘We Understand Your World’ only carries the legacy forward. Advertisement campaigns are aimed at highlighting how a product fulfils an identified customer need. The communication showcases the customer benefit first showcasing the bank’s commitment towards excellence in customer service facilitated through various means, especially technology. The bank also compliments its visual media presence with below the line activities including innovative programmes such as the Merits’ Scholarship plan which received high acclamation.

Magical factors:

As a brand, HDFC bank remains committed to India and enhancing the financial service space for everyone in the country. HDFC bank plans to bring financial viability in the next five years to 10 million families at the bottom of the pyramid through supporting microfinance programmes which can be driven by the bank through self help groups rather than just relying on microfinance institutions. The relentless pursuit of efficiency through technology also makes the bank a customer favourite. Their latest innovation is the ‘My Favourite’ features at ATMs which help customers reduce the time they spend at the ATM. The feature enables the consumer to customize his most often used withdrawal amount thereby speeding up the process by about 40%. It is the focus on little things also that has made HDFC bank such a customer centric bank and is the heart and soul of the brand.

Brand Ethos:

HDFC bank has always been about making customers comfortable thereby earning their trust. Whether it is through offering transparent products with no hidden fine print or through technological enhancements, HDFC bank has always paid attention to understand customer needs, reinforcing the trust it holds among customers. Its current tagline – “We Understand Your World” is only apt in the sense that if there’s one word you’d like to associate with HDFC bank it has to be ‘understanding’.

What is a Brand?

The word “brand” is derived from the Old Norse “brandr” meaning “to burn.” It refers to the practice of producers burning their mark (or brand) onto their products.

When the technique of branding first started, it was meant to make identifying and differentiating a product easier. Over time, brands came to embrace a performance or benefit promise, for the product, certainly, but eventually also for the company behind the brand. Today, brand plays a much bigger role. Brands have been co-opted as powerful symbols in larger debates about economics, social issues, and politics. The power of brands to communicate a complex message quickly, with emotional impact and the ability of brands to attract media attention makes them an ideal tool in the hands of activists.

Brand is the personality that identifies a product, service or company (name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or combination of them) and relates to key constituencies i.e. customers, staff, partners, investors etc.

Brand identity and image

Brand identity is the outward expression of a brand, including its name, trademark, communications and visual appearance. Because the identity is assembled by the brand owner, it reflects how the owner wants the consumer to perceive the brand and by extension the branded company, organization, product or service. This is in contrast to the brand image, which is a customer’s mental picture of a brand. The brand owner will seek to bridge the gap between the brand image and the brand identity

Brand awareness

Brand awareness refers to customers’ ability to recall and recognize the brand under different conditions and link to the brand name, logo and jingles etc., to certain associations in memory. It helps the customers to understand to which product or service category the particular brand belongs and what products and services are sold under the brand name. It also ensures that customers know which of their needs are satisfied by the brand through its products. Brand awareness is of critical importance since customers will not consider your brand if they are not aware of it.

Brand Tracking

The role of brand tracking methodologies is to monitor the health and the value of your brands. These are the business equivalent of taking your temperature or reading your pulse – they can tell you quite reliably (within statistically-dictated tolerances) whether you are ill or well, and even how ill or how well. They can also point to certain symptoms. However, if you want to know how to get better, you may have to go to see a doctor (or, in this case, a consultant/marketing research agency using sophisticated diagnostic and prognostic techniques)

Effective brand management relies on getting timely and accurate information from the target audiences. Brand tracking involves designing a program of measurement that is completed on a regular schedule to allow for trend analysis and comparison.

Some of the key metrics that are involved in tracking a brand include:

• Brand awareness and familiarity
• Brand perceptions
• Brand positioning
• Delivery on brand promise
• Perceptions of competitive brands

What are marketing collaterals?

Marketing collaterals consists of printed materials that describe a business and its products and services. Marketing collateral includes brochures, posters, banners, standees and other printed materials produced by or for an organization.

Types of the marketing collaterals used in HDFC bank are displayed as follows:

• MARKETING COLLATERALS
• WINDOW GLAZINGTENT CARDS
• LCD TVSTANDEE
• BANNERLEAFLETS
• POSTERNOTICE BOARD
• DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT

Impact of marketing collaterals in branches:

Every bank has several branches spread wide all over. As we enter a branch we witness many informative items such as banners, posters, standees, leaflets, window glazing, etc. These are known as marketing collaterals. These collaterals are put up with the intention of being read and used by every individual, customer or non-customer, whosoever enters the branch for whatever purpose. They carry information regarding new offers, schemes, rates, changes in banking operations, RBI implications, list of services provided, etc. These are meant to grab customer attention and to probe them into enquiring about the information displayed. It not only helps in improving sales opportunities but also helps in spreading information about the bank and its services.

By observing and studying how effective these collaterals actually are, we could do a cost-benefit analysis and also provide recommendations on improving the effectiveness and usefulness of these collaterals by making desired modifications. The project involves observing visitors and also using questionnaires to identify the effective usage of marketing collaterals in the branches of HDFC bank spread over Mumbai city.

Brand tracking of HDFC bank in semi-urban regions of India:

A brand is defined as a name, term, sign, symbol or design or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or a group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors.

It is very difficult to understand the perception that people have about a particular brand. The role of brand tracking is to monitor the health and the value of a particular brand. It can tell you quite reliably how are the brand performing and what is the image of the brand, as perceived by the people. Brand tracking can point out the reasons why a brand is not performing well and can also recommend suggestions on improving the brand image.

In this project, I will be using questionnaires to interview already existing customers as well as non-customers in semi-urban areas of selected cities of India about how they feel about HDFC bank and its services. Interviews would be done face-to-face or door-to-door. Analysis will be made from the data obtained and the current brand image in the minds of people can be formed. Accordingly, suggestions can be provided on how the brand image can be improvised.

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT

Impact of marketing collaterals in branches:

HDFC bank has 1780 branches and 5231 ATMs in 833 Indian towns and cities. Every branch has several marketing collaterals placed with the intention of spreading awareness about the bank and for improving sales. HDFC bank incurs expenses to put up these marketing collaterals. If the collaterals do not help the bank up to the desired extent at which the bank requires then it is considered that the bank is making losses on these marketing collaterals. The core objective of this project is to study the usefulness of marketing collaterals and to identify the obstacles that are faced by the customer/visitor in utilizing these collaterals. Thus, changes can be suggested in order to improve the utility of these marketing collaterals.

Brand tracking of HDFC bank in semi-urban regions of India:

A brand plays a very vital role in the sales of any company. The image that people have about a certain brand influences them to make decision regarding whether to use a certain product or service of that particular brand. Thus, in order to improve sales, it is very important to improve the brand’s image in the minds of people. Brand tracking is a methodology which helps in tracking and identifying the brand’s image i.e. what people perceive about the particular company. Identifying the brand’s image is very helpful in placing marketing strategies. The objective of this project is to track the image of HDFC bank in the minds of its customers as well as non-customers in semi-urban markets of India and identifying the bank’s brand position as compared to its competitors.

BENEFITS TO THE ORGANIZATION

• With the help of this survey, HDFC Bank can identify how much impact its each marketing collaterals has on the customers and which are the collaterals which are not helpful or fail to induce enquiries from the customers. Also the reason behind the collaterals not being attractive are found out and accordingly modifications are suggested. Thus, the effectiveness of the marketing collaterals at various branches of Mumbai city can be increased.
• The brand tracking survey would help HDFC Bank to identify what people in semi-urban regions perceive about it. Also it can know where it stands as compared to its competitors and what people understand about HDFC Bank’s local taglines. The brand awareness, visibility, likability and its recall value is calculated. Future marketing strategies can be designed using this information.
• Apart from these core objectives, HDFC Bank can also use the database collected by the survey for generating leads and other such purposes.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

• As the method of communication used for the survey is face-to-face or door-to-door, the limitations include limited geographical flexibility, high cost and difficulty in call back or follow-up.
• The entire surveys, research, analysis and decisions are based on the primary data collected by interviewing people from different cities. So the project is highly reliable on the perceptions, thoughts and ideas of people, which are ever changing. Also measuring the cognitive, affective and behavioural components of an attitude is a limitation.
• The project on brand tracking is limited to the semi-urban regions of India and does not include the urban cities.

RESEARCH PROCESS ADOPTED

Both the projects that have been selected are research based projects. To study the impact of marketing collaterals in the branches of HDFC bank in Mumbai city as well as for tracking the image of HDFC bank in semi-urban regions, a research had to be made which followed a process that is divided in 7 steps which are as follows:

The entire research process has been designed keeping these 7 steps in mind. Accordingly, a schedule was formed and the stipulated time frame was decided to complete the tasks of the schedule. This helped complete the projects in a smooth and systematically planned manner.

THE SCHEDULE OF TASKS IS AS FOLLOWS

METHODOLGY USED

The methodology adopted for researching on both the projects is by collecting primary data through questionnaire method. Customers as well as non-customers are interviewed using questionnaires on face-to-face basis by visiting different semi-urban regions of a few cities where HDFC bank has its branches located at. Data collected from questionnaires will be used in percentage form as the primary data for making analysis.

It is a stringent research methodology based on a perception based survey which would include parameters like brand awareness, brand image/perception, brand recall value, brand performance and brand association.

The process for preparing the questionnaires for the brand tracking survey is by interviewing 100 people (random sampling) on what they feel are important attributes or features that they look for while selecting a bank for opening a CASA account. The next step is to select the features that have been desired by maximum number of people asked. These features are to be included in the questionnaire along with the other questions for tracking the brand image of HDFC bank. By multiplying the rank given by interviewees to the importance level of the attribute, a clear idea can be drawn as to where HDFC bank stands as compared to its competitors and in which areas the bank need to work upon. Also, the local taglines of HDFC Bank in different cities for example, Gujarati in Surat, Marathi in Aurangabad and so on has been included in the questionnaire for indentifying the understanding that people, of that particular region, have about the local tagline.

In order to prepare the questionnaire to study the impact of marketing collaterals in branches, the most common marketing collaterals have been identified and included. The questionnaires are prepared with the aim of identifying the importance and effectiveness of each marketing collateral and the problems faced by the visitors in using these collaterals. For providing more clarity, both the questionnaires prepared are attached with this report.

The entire data derived from the questionnaires regarding both the projects, is coded and saved in EXCEL sheets so that it can be included in the bank’s MIS and can be used by the bank in future whenever required.

CITIES AND BRANCHES VISITED TILL DATE

Lists of cities that have been visited for Brand Tracking of HDFC Bank is as follows:

1) Aurangabad

People outside the branches of HDFC bank’s competitors i.e. ICICI bank, SBI and AXIS bank were interviewed using questionnaires that were prepared.

2) Surat

Semi-urban regions near Surat city were visited i.e. Bardoli and Amroli.

3) Madhya Pradesh

Semi-urban regions of M.P were visited i.e. Khandwa and Harda.

4) Rajkot

Semi-urban regions of Rajkot were visited i.e. Wankaner, Metoda and Una.

A list of branches of HDFC Bank in Mumbai that were visited to conduct the study on impact of marketing collaterals in branches is as follows:

1. Hughes Road branch
2. Sandoz house branch
3. Khar Road branch
4. Borivali branch
5. Vashi branch
6. Andheri branch
7. Sanpada branch
8. Zaveri branch
9. APMC 2 branch
10. Kandivili branch

EXCEL sheets containing the entire information of the cities and branches visited along with the data collected is attached with this report.

DATA FINDINGS OF MARKETING COLLATERALS SURVEY

List of branches visited:

1. Hughes Road branch
2. Sandoz house branch
3. Khar Road branch
4. Borivali branch
5. Vashi branch
6. Andheri branch
7. Sanpada branch
8. Zaveri branch
9. APMC 2 branch
10. Kandivili branch

Total number of people interviewed: 200

Data collected is as follows:

1) How often do you visit the branch?

a) Very often – 48%

b) Less often – 28%

c) Rarely – 24%

2) How much time do you spend in the branch at every visit?

a) 5 to 10 minutes – 17.5%

b) 10 to 15 minutes – 34%

c) 15 to 20 minutes – 20.5%

d) Above 20 minutes – 28%

3) Which of the following collaterals attract your attention the most?

4) Do you often spend time reading these collaterals?

a) Yes – 67.5%

b) No – 32.5%

5) Do you find it easy to read them?

a) Yes – 94%

b) No – 6%

6) If yes, does it induce you to inquire about it?

a) Yes – 75.5%

b) No – 24.5%

7) If no, what are the obstacles that prevent you from reading it?

a) Location of the collateral – 2.5%

b) Font size/colour – 2%

c) Too much text matter – 12%

d) Language – 0.5%

e) Other issues – 6%

f) No issues – 77%

DATA FINDINGS ON BRAND TRACKING

Cities Visited:

Aurangabad, Surat (Bardoli and Amroli), Madhya Pradesh (Khandwa and Harda) and Rajkot (Una, Wankaner and Metoda)

Total Number of peopleinterviewed:

200

Data collected is as follows:

(The data provided is divided into three sections i.e. in terms of all the data collected, data collected from customers and data collected from non-customers)

1) Banks that the people were aware about are as follows:

All data:

HDFC bank – 26.3%

ICICI bank – 21.8%

State Bank of India – 18%

Axis bank – 15%

Other – 18.8%

Customers:

HDFC bank – 28.57%

ICICI bank – 19.72%

State Bank of India – 16.32%

Axis bank – 12.92%

Other – 22.44%

Non-customers:

HDFC bank – 25.60%

ICICI bank – 22.51%

State Bank of India – 18.54%

Axis bank – 15.67%

Other – 17.66%

2) Public opinion about each bank with regards to the attributes mentioned as follows:

a) Trust

All data

Customers

Non-Customers

b) Customer friendly staff

All data

Customers

Non-customers

c) Speed of services

All data

Customers