Millennium bcp Brand. Evolution of the Commercial Model. Market segmentation

Transcription

1 Millennium bcp Brand Evolution of the Commercial Model Market segmentation The introduction of the new Millennium bcp brand is a project that involves the refoundation of the Bank, reflecting more than an important step in the ongoing search for the perfection of the Bank s commercial strategy in which market segmentation and brand management has played a decisive role. One of the critical success factors of the history of Banco Comercial Português has been suiting the value proposals to different markets segments, which are associated with a particular business area and brand. Another factor has been its capacity to innovate, to be audacious and to change ahead of future challenges. The launch of the first commercial networks Particulares and Empresas (individuals and companies) took place in May 1986 when the first two traditional Banco Comercial Português branches were opened, with their clearly defined target segment and value proposal: high-income individuals and medium-sized companies, addressed by means of a value proposal based on the concepts of personal service, innovation and a wide range of financial products and services. In 1989, the decision to move in to a more universal segment of the market medium-income individuals led to a careful evaluation of the available alternatives: either to enlarge the traditional branches network or to launch a separate new network linked to a new brand. The different target segments, the importance of suiting the network to a new value proposal that differed from the previous one, based on fast attendance, convenience and innovation, product simplicity and a competitive cost structure, in addition to the risk of eliminating the virtues of the brand that had been built up till then, justified the launch of a separate network under a new brand name: NovaRede. The new network was carefully designed to incorporate the critical success factors linked to its target segment. NovaRede, the new brand, was therefore linked to a new segment of the market not previously served and to a value proposal quite different from that of the traditional Banco Comercial Português network. In 1995, the Group s business portfolio was enriched by the inclusion of a new brand as a result of the acquisition of Banco Português do Atlântico. Atlântico s value proposal was enriched and the brand was substantially rejuvenated and it was kept on because of the complementary nature of the business portfolios of both banks, its considerable presence and brand awareness, and the prudence required to integrate a considerably bigger bank into the parent company, mitigating the risks of customer defection.the integration and centralisation of the operative platforms allowed the achievement of operative synergies,

2 but the two Banks maintained distinct legal status and autonomous Board of Directors until the merger by incorporation into BCP of Atlântico, in July The agreement to take over Banco Mello was signed in 2000 and Banco Pinto & Sotto Mayor was acquired in the same year, bringing into the Group s portfolio another two banking brands. In legal terms, the companies were merged, the targets to be met within the support structure rationalisation programmes were established with a view to obtain gains of operating efficiency, and commercial integration models were studied and designed for each of the institutions and brands that had been acquired. This involved the extinction of Banco Mello, its branches having been transferred to the BCP, NovaRede and Atlântico networks. The SottoMayor brand was rejuvenated and a greater commercial dynamism was given to the network, taking full advantage of the opportunity to improve the value proposal and the brand s historic strength to enhance its customer and business bases. Four autonomous brands were therefore maintained in the retail financial business BCP, NovaRede, Atlântico and SottoMayor initially supported by their own Marketing Departments and Support Units. Maintaining the four brands in the short term aimed not only at improving the value proposal and the image of the commercial networks of each brand, but also at allowing the safeguard of risks associated with any possible shortfall in the operating integration if the commercial networks had been integrated immediately. The New Commercial Model At the end of 2001, on conclusion of the integration programmes involving people, business areas and support structures, and of the rationalisation of the distribution network, the conditions were in place to focus energies on ensuring more dynamic commercial measures, thus moving on to another level of integration through the implementation, throughout 2002, of a new multi-product/ multi-channel commercial distribution model based on a new organizational structure. The new organisational model was also aimed at minimising the overlaps caused by the existence of four Marketing Divisions, each associated with its own brand, as well as increasing commercial effectiveness in response to the growing dynamism seen in retail banking, through the implementation of an organisational structure centred on an integrated vision of the needs and expectations of the customers and designed to reinvigorate the capacity for innovation. The adoption of this new commercial model was based on setting up a number of key units that between them ensure the defence of the customers vision, the focus and specialisation on their respective role, aggregating the specific visions and clear responsibilities customer, product, distribution and on the establishment of co-ordination mechanisms Commercial Activity Committee and Commercial Strategy Support Nucleus leading to the articulated, integrated management of commercial activity. The Product Units, recognised for their specialisation in product management, develop their particular skills in their activity domain on a proactive basis, optimising the value created by the product or service in the satisfaction of the customers, so as to reconcile a wide-ranging, competitive and profitable offer. 13

3 The Distribution Units are responsible for the management of the use of their respective distribution channel from the standpoint of maximisation of the value of sales and optimisation of the service, contributing to a coherent multi-channel approach with a rationalised cost structure. Start branch Av. da Liberdade, Lisbon The mission of the Customer Units attached to each brand, which subsequently evolved into a single entity common to the various brands, was to ensure the consistency of the offers through the management, defence and strategic vision of the customer base, with implications on a dynamic segmentation, on the definition of medium-term targets and on monitoring their evolution. The integrated overview of the various commercial activities and the link between the targets and the strategic objectives are priorities of the Units in conjunction with the Commercial Strategy Support Nucleus, which ensures concerted action and provides support to the Commercial Activity Committee, a department appointed by the Board of Directors to coordinate retail commercial activity. The experience that was acquired provided recognition of the gains of capacity but also suggested paths towards the evolution of the model and towards capturing more value by creating the conditions to simplify the Product Units, providing integrated management of similar products, to align the Distribution Units with the segmentation strategy first adopted by the Bank and the adoption of an organisational model based on a geographic responsibility concept for all retail customers at every branch, as well as unification of the vision of the customer through a single entity Customer Division aggregating the segmented vision of a single customer base, opening up the way towards a single brand. The purpose was to take full advantage of the opportunities to opt for another level of behavioural segmentation of the customers, maximising the profitability, commercial effectiveness and customer satisfaction. Launch of the New Brand The strategic decision of introducing a single brand The next stage, begun in December 2002, consisted of a step-by-step construction of a new, unifying corporate identity. The launch of a new Group bcp institutional advertising campaign marked the start of this process, and the convergence was further strengthened by the apposition of the family name group bcp to the name of each one of the brands and, subsequently, by the overlap of the family name in certain types of communication, seen for example in not inserting the brand name of the network in the statement newsletters, which came to be called bcp contact for the 14

4 individual customers and bcp manager for companies. In mid-2003, the bcp logo was placed on the doors and windows of every branch of the various brands and all the institutional and commercial communication came to be signed bcp. Lastly, in October 2003, the first product campaign appeared under the single bcp brand. The graphic conditions were then in place to allow symbolic continuity of the chromatic and typographic bcp pattern in the Millennium brand, bcp acting as the endorsement brand, lending continuity to what already existed at the branches (the bcp band) added to the vitality and autonomy of the word Millennium. The new unifying brand, Millennium bcp, was announced on October 23, Outline of the application of the new brand on typical branches façades The introduction of the new Millennium bcp brand therefore represented the culminating stage of a process that formally began with the implementation of the new Commercial Model at the end of 2001, but that had been triggered by the incorporation by merger of Atlântico, Banco Mello and SottoMayor into BCP during 2000, designed to achieve greater effectiveness, free of duplication and redundancies, lending priority to quality and customer satisfaction by shifting the emphasis of the four autonomous brands to the more decisive reality of the commercial action the segments. Segmentation, which has been one of the principles of bcp, since its foundation, initially associated with distinct brands, has hence evolved as a result of exogenous and endogenous changes into an approach to various nuclear segments that reflect patterns of financial conduct that have been typified but now associated with a single brand, with a model of service in accordance with the customers profiles that can be reflected in personalised management or in a mass-market approach. It should be underlined that this process resulted from an objective choice to carry out, in the first place, the integration of the operative platforms, integration of the networks, rationalisation of the staff of the various back-office and front-office units, and to assure the circularity of operations between different brands, making the four different networks act as a single one. Subsequently the commercial model was optimised and lastly, having exhausted the benefits of multi-brand management, the single brand was introduced, in keeping with the time required for the psychological adaptation of the customers. Outline of the application of the new brand on ATM involving 15

5 Mil Sorrisos Mil Sentimentos Mil Projectos Mil Caminhos Milhões de Sonhos Milhões Clientes Identity and values of the new corporate brand The new brand represents much more than the adding together in a single unit of the four brands that served retail banking and financial services: Millennium is viewed as a project involving the refoundation of the Bank, focused on the life of its customers, mobilising the energy of the whole staff and re-centring the corporate attitude on the service and on the sharing of benefits with customers; a single brand that not only brings together the various autonomous identities that had existed to date, but also exceeds and projects into the future the desire to do more and better. The choice of the word Millennium has the expressive potential to go even further in terms of brand content: it is intelligible, it expresses universality and opens up horizons to rich and interesting contents. It creates expectations of change and innovation, it makes a break with the past and a projection into the future, and the fact that it is Latin lends it greater timelessness, greater grandeur and ambition.these are the values that are projected by the new brand universality, timelessness, grandeur, solidity, credibility, efficacy, quality, dynamism, modernity, innovation, boldness, ambition, vision of the future and success values that make it understood as more than the sum of the Bank s four previous brands. On the other hand, the adoption of the institution slogan, or signature Life inspires us is fully justified because, in fact, the life of our customers is our source of information and knowledge; because our commitment to our customers is that we shall be their accomplice when and where their financial needs A VIDA materialise, and because our commercial offer is designed, in the final instance, INSP in the light of dreams that 16

6 MIL SENTIMENTOS everyone wishes to realise and of their wish to be accompanied by the Bank in the key moments of their lives. Cherishing dreams and projects that require the co-operation of a modern, diligent and committed Bank, with tailor-made solutions, responding to the financial needs of the customers, presenting them our capacities and our availability in every circumstance, with a view to finding realistic solutions. In chronological terms, the introduction of the single Millennium bcp brand involved three stages. The first consisted of the presentation of the new brand to employees and the market through a press conference held on October 23, The second stage involved an institutional advertising campaign, the transformation of the branches and the replacement of the stationery. In January 2004, with over 1000 branches converted to the Millennium bcp brand, the third stage was implemented, involving the first commercial campaign under the new brand, the launch of the Millennium bcp cards.the receptivity and effectiveness of the communication of the new brand, measured by the impact on public opinion undertaken by specialised companies, has been extremely good. MIL GESTOS Impact on the business and on operating efficiency From a commercial standpoint, the single brand allows the optimisation of the advantages of the commercial model implemented in 2002, giving leverage to greater specialisation and suitability of the value proposals in keeping with the characteristics and financial needs of customers previously spread across the various brands. Co-ordination of commercial activity has been completely integrated, bringing benefits both in greater commercial effectiveness and in capturing operating savings, through the elimination of the duplication of operating structures and procedures and, above all, the savings provided by the unification of the image as far as commercial and institutional communication costs are concerned. The overall investment in the adoption of the brand, including adaptation of the branches, of the selfbanking areas and of the merchandising infrastructure, is estimated at 11.4 million euros. Offsetting this, the impact on the communication project for 2004 and for following years will provide sustained savings of 8 million euros or 9 million euros a year compared to the 2003 budget. The single brand also brings about greater clarity and affirmation in communication with our customers, illustrated in the more marking presence stemming from the existence of over 1000 Millennium bcp branches, contrasting with the four brands that dispersed attention, efforts and investment, while it will also allow rationalisation of the geographic dispersion of the commercial network. The foregoing benefits will, in turn, contribute to an improvement of quality and of the adequacy of the service provided to the customers. On a par with the optimisation of geographic cover, this will allow Millennium bcp to be more widely inserted both into the population that already has a bank account and as the Bank chosen by customers as their first Bank. MIL CORAÇÕES MIL PROJECTOS MILHÕES DE CLIENTES Lastly, it should be pointed out that the sense of refoundation introduced by the new Millennium bcp brand, that has been started and had more immediate visibility in the transformation of the financial retail IRA-NOS area, involves the banking business as a whole and will be reflected in an ample number of measures to be implemented in the short and medium term. MIL SORRISOS