Chapter 7

Why Brand Matters

One of the building blocks of any brand is trust. A brand is what ultimately expresses the personality of a company. For financial services companies, because the product itself and its delivery are intangible elements, the brand plays an even more important role. Private banks in the past tended to pay little attention to marketing and branding. This has changed today. One reason is that there are more companies in the industry, allowing clients to be increasingly selective. Branding sets a bank apart from its peers and sends a message that the promise of competent and high-quality service excellence will be met. Our industry also has grown increasingly global in its approach. A strong brand is one of the things that unites a company operating in many different regions of the world. It is therefore important to examine the reasons why brands have even come to be used by private banks, which is a recent development, compared with the history of branding.

THE ORIGINS OF BRANDING

Branding in its earliest form was already practiced in ancient Egypt. Marking the hide of an animal to signify ownership proved to be very practical. Once branded, cattle belonging to different owners could be herded together (a shared investment) and still be easily separated for sale (profit-taking). Where free-range grazing was common, such as in the American West and Australia, branding evolved and owners began to register their brands to prevent duplication. During the industrial ...

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