Since Nigeria became an independent state, many brands have come and gone. But in the banking sector, the ability to reinvent and rebrand have made some old generation banks to become a heritage brand. ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI examines how the old banks have transformed to blend with modern market demand.
Sustaining old brands in the challenging modern market could be a task. For a country that has faced market challenges over the last 100 years, seeing some old brands that are even older than the country itself around, could be a mystery, considering the notion that the nation’s operating environment makes brand life transient.
While some brands have gone into extinction, conforming to the product lifecycle principles, which argues that products transit from introductory, growth, maturity, decline to death stage, some brands have continued to sustain their brand essence, innovating along modern market realities to sustain and uphold brand equity.
With competition becoming stiffer than the days of old, some of the brands have remained market leaders through constant innovation, strategic foresight and dynamic brand building efforts. These have made them to become the industry benchmark for competition. That doesn’t come easy in a market inundated with growing consumers, unstable social economy life.
A brand expert, Jamie Gordo of North Start Hob, United States while citing how Levi’s attained a heritage brand status and a century of category leadership, saidLevis is one of the few (if not only) brands that have existed since the dawn of industrialisation in America.
He said: “While they have been adept at reinventing themselves from a product and marketing perspective over the years to be in line with changes in consumer culture, Levi Strauss & Co. has never strayed from their core identity as influenced by the original 501 – “superior quality and fit for all.”
“Levis’unparalleled accessibility means that regardless of your demographic realities, or function versus fashion inclinations, if you walk into a shop to buy a pair of jeans, you can be guaranteed to find a pair of Levis that fits your price range and preferences. What’s also notable is that, as at their 140th anniversary, they will have remained a stable corporate presence in an ever-changing consumer landscape.
“You can probably count on one hand the number of global brands that can make such a claim.”
Like Levi, since the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914, only a few brands that have existed before 1914, are still around. As UAC and Unilever have been the only surviving consumer good firms, Lintas Advertising to the advertising industry, so are UBA and FirstBank the only banks that have continued to sustain their brand equities despite turbulent marketing landscape across the century.
The industry, which used to parade once-upon-a-time brands, such as Nigerian Mercantile Bank Limited, Nigerian Farmers and Commercial Bank Limited, British and French Bank (which transformed to UBA), the Agbonmagbe Bank in 1945 (which later transformed to WEMA Bank) and African Continental Bank. But for FirstBank, which traces its existence to 1894 as the Bank of British West Africa, the bank has sustained its brand equity to the country’s largest bank by assets.
Anchoring its success and brand sustainability on value creation, resounding dynamism and relevance, some brands have gone with the bank for relying on mere slogan rebranding which failed to sustain their market share.
The Group Managing Director of SO & U, Mr. Uffot Udeme, said rebranding goes beyond logo recreation and sloganeering, but about creating value and respect. “Branding is not arrived at through sloganeering, it cannot be conjured through any wishful thinking, it must be delivered through actions and attitudes that have been shaped by values and principles that are held dear. Those values over time become a part of the culture of the people,” he said.
But formerly perceived as slow-paced in service delivery, shrewd with old marketing concept that drives away modern customers, FirstBank after various strategic acquisition of some banks to get ready for global market frontiers, this year is marking 120 years of brand sustainability and used the occasion when the country is celebrating centenary to refresh its corporate identity, 10 years after the previous attempt.
The brand, synonymous with blue and iconic elephant, kept the elephant, but with a few changes. The elephant’s head has been lifted, the tusk is larger, the forehead wider, the ear’s less pointy, the trunk longer and the eyes, looking upwards. More noticeable in the refresh identity, is the absence of the hind legs of the elephant which has instead been replaced by the company name.
According to the bank, the raised head of the elephant in the refreshed identity is a promise to customers that with the bank in their corner, they can face challenges with their head held high. The new deep blue, on the other hand, represents momentum, innovation and evolution.
With the new logo, recreation of its iconic elephant logo, it has not been an easy one for an old brand to break the jinx of corporate culture. “There has always been a major contention surrounding the bank’s logo, which has always featured a walking African elephant. Although the use of the elephant signifies its leadership position as the first financial institution in the country, as well as its legacy of permanence, confidence and dependability, for many critics, the brand symbol of an elephant also suggest sluggishness. A brand’s logo is its birthmark and is a way to be recognised subliminally. They advise that consistency should be adopted, which perhaps explains why FirstBank is being tactical not to do away with the elephant element in its logo. The bank understands the need to retain the elephant, which has always been, from time immemorial, a vital object in its positioning and imagery,” brands analyst critique.
The FBN Holdings Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications, Folake Ani-Mumuney, said the refreshed identity embodies the group’s internal values and the direction the group was headed for. She added that the group is on a mission to build a strong global presence to reinforce their leadership position while constantly striving to find better ways to service customers and drive growth.
“In 120 years, FirstBank has built a heritage on courage, foresight, innovation and dynamism. As far back as 1912, we showed business leadership through our acquisition of the Anglo African Bank, the first of its kind in the region and a testament to our resolution for longevity,” the bank said.
The bank takes pride that as a heritage brand, it has produced formidable minds. “We have produced formidable minds, that have gone on to become other bank MDs, MDs of government organisations, commissioners, ministers as well as prime ministers; our story of success can only be told through the successes of our people,” the bank added.
