Joseph Baladi: Branding for Financial Services

Joseph Baladi examines the hurdles financial services face for their brand building – and the keyword is “Purpose”.

joseph baladi

A lot of people argue that whilst it is all good and fine to have a reason to exist (the generic definition of purpose) most, if not all, customers are ultimately more interested in results – that the real purpose of financial companies must, therefore, be numbers driven and profit-centred. This argument appears to be so self-evident that most financial brands do exactly that: they talk almost exclusively about return on investment. What they fail to recognize is how their brands all but ultimately degenerate into commodities in the process.

A big part of the reason financial brand owners fall into this trap is that they interpret the purpose of purpose too narrowly. They think in linear terms believing that almost nothing can displace the basic expectation customers have of their brands. So whilst some may make genuine efforts to explore different purposes and positionings, they almost always regress and go back to promising their customers what they believe is the only benefit that matters to them. A more lateral thinking approach – pretty much like looking at something from a physically different location – would likely reveal more possibilities.

Read more here…

Joseph Baladi

Joseph Baladi is an expert on Asian branding strategy. As the CEO of BrandAsian Joe divides his time providing one-on-one business and branding advice & counsel to CEOs of some of Asia’s largest companies. Joe’s book – The Brutal Truth About Asian Branding – was released worldwide in January 2011.

Joseph is the former CEO of Carlyle Brand Consultants, and has been directly responsible for shaping or repositioning major SME and MNC brands: Millennium Hotels (Hong Leong Group); Crocodile International; Eu Yan Sang; National Health Care Group; Macau Grand Prix , HTL International, SINCERE Watch and many others.

Prior to moving to Asia, Joe held senior regional and global brand responsibilities as a Senior Vice President at DMB&B and McCann-Erickson Worldwide: Procter & Gamble, MARS, Labatt beers and Coca Cola.

He is also a frequent speaker on the conference circuit, a regular guest on business television programs, and regularly contributes thought leadership articles to business magazines and newspapers across the region.

Contact us today to engage Joe at your next event on your Asian branding strategy.