Companies in MENA Adopt New Concepts For Rebranding

There has lately been a flurry of name changes in the UAE banking industry. First Gulf Bank has become FGB; National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah is now just RAKBank and Noor Islamic Bank is Noor Bank. But the trend goes beyond just UAE banks. The international real estate company Jones Lang LaSalle rebranded to JLL and the audit firm Ernst & Young now goes by EY. The trend – not a fad, but here to stay – is a result of the dual forces of globalisation and digitisation, according to Charles Doyle, JLL’s chief marketing and communications officer, who directed the rebrand. As the company expanded internationally – it is now present in 75 markets – the original name seemed too westernised. “It’s a very western-conceived idea to have founders’ names layered one after another because the origins were in private partnerships,” he explains. Moreover, some countries had pronunciation problems. And a short name can be more visually striking. Mr Doyle’s Chinese, Turkish, Russian and Spanish colleagues – who represent markets JLL considers important for its future – were all in favour of the name change. When FGB announced its rebrand in April, it also said its new corporate identity would help it win business in new international markets. The bank plans to open branches in London, Shanghai and Singapore this year. Zak McKinven, the UAE managing director at Brash Brands, worked on FGB’s rebranding and says the name-shortening trend started in Europe and North America and has fed through to the MENA. While boosting FGB’s international appeal, Mr McKinven also wanted to ensure the bank’s brand continued to resonate locally by retaining the name in Arabic above the English letters. “We were very cautious with FGB that we still retained the heritage and the history that we needed in the local markets,” he says. Mr McKinven agrees that digitisation is also an important factor underpinning the trend because of the online world’s intolerance of long names. “That’s part of the rational, definitely, of keeping it simple,” he says. “Something that is memorable but short … to maximise social tagging through the likes of Twitter and Facebook.” There are also other forces for name changes. In January this year, Noor Islamic Bank announced it was dropping “Islamic” from its name as it sought new customers. “The name change is an important part of the bank’s evolution, but does not mean the Sharia-compliant bank is stepping away from Islamic banking,” Hussain Al Qamzi, the bank’s chief executive, said at the time. Dropping the word “Islamic” from a bank’s title has pros and cons, according to Mr McKinven. Yes, it may fit better internationally but in markets such as Malaysia and Indonesia, hungry for Sharia-compliant products, a name that conveys that is a boon. And customers seeking a more ethical way of banking may be drawn to Islamic finance if the principles are explained. “There are real positive messages to be portrayed about that way of lending,” he says. Another impetus is the need for banks to restore the confidence and trust lost during the financial crisis. “Trust is at an all-time low,” according to Penny Couchman from da Vinci Marketing, a consultancy. “This provides the drive and need for some existing financial services brands to reposition themselves using a brand change as the strategic catalyst.” Emirates Islamic Bank at the end of last year rebranded by dropping “bank” from its name – to reflect its “modern, more vibrant, and customer-focused approach”, according to the website. But of course, rebuilding trust will require more than a name change. “Brands are built through customer interactions,” Ms Couchman says. “Treatment of customers, interactions with organisations, product offerings, leadership and the people hired are the critical factors shaping a bank’s brand.” Isn’t there a danger, though, that these initialisms will result in customers swimming in a bowl of alphabet soup? “No,” says Mr McKinven. This is where the company motto comes in. “They all use taglines to get across the emotive side of what they do for their customers or what their story is all about,” he says. “ I see that as the core of how banks engage with customers, less so whether they use an abbreviated name or not.” Some rebrands can backfire, while others are phenomenally successful. Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank’s transformation to HSBC as expended internationally has helped make it the second most valuable bank brand globally, according to Brand Finance. Another measure of success is the absence of ridicule, according to JLL’s Mr Doyle. “The reaction so far has been good,” he says. “You usually get some form of ridicule from somewhere. We didn’t seem to have any of that. I always take the absence of ridicule as one of the most positive things.”

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