Currently, one can easily spot the 16 stars within the current Indian Railways logo that represent Railway’s administrative zones in the country. As the largest transporter of the country, the Railways initially started with six zones in 1950 and expanded progressively to 16 in 1996. Not many Railways employees that 4Ps B&M touched base with could provide clarity on the current logo’s history, fewer still could recall when the logo was introduced. The Delhi Railway Museum apparently believes that the Indian Railways logo was created somewhere in the 1952-53 period. But still, would it matter if the logo changed? Would there be more people who’ll start signing up for Indian Railways once the new logo is in place?
“The [current] logo of the Railways is what people connect to very strongly with and there is no business sense in changing the logo as it will leave a task of establishing it once again in the hands of the railway officials,” explained Jagdeep Kapoor, CMD Samsika Marketing Consultants, who mentions that it would perhaps be better if the Railways were to invest in making the current logo more visible to consumers. Says Prasoon Majumdar, President, Global Strategy and Investment Consulting (GSIC), “To say that a logo change is not required simply because the past logo did not work, is not the right approach. In fact, it builds a stronger case that perhaps a new logo would work better. But yes, given that the Railways earns most of its revenues and profits from the freight forwarding sector rather than the civilian travel sector – which is close to loss making – a logo change would be useless unless targeted at the profit target market – here the commercial sector. And there is a big case that if the intent is making money, then much more could be made by reengineering processes than by logo changes.”
Now what would be the Railways’ next move? A brand celebrity? We’ll discuss that too...
For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.“The [current] logo of the Railways is what people connect to very strongly with and there is no business sense in changing the logo as it will leave a task of establishing it once again in the hands of the railway officials,” explained Jagdeep Kapoor, CMD Samsika Marketing Consultants, who mentions that it would perhaps be better if the Railways were to invest in making the current logo more visible to consumers. Says Prasoon Majumdar, President, Global Strategy and Investment Consulting (GSIC), “To say that a logo change is not required simply because the past logo did not work, is not the right approach. In fact, it builds a stronger case that perhaps a new logo would work better. But yes, given that the Railways earns most of its revenues and profits from the freight forwarding sector rather than the civilian travel sector – which is close to loss making – a logo change would be useless unless targeted at the profit target market – here the commercial sector. And there is a big case that if the intent is making money, then much more could be made by reengineering processes than by logo changes.”
Now what would be the Railways’ next move? A brand celebrity? We’ll discuss that too...
Pawan Chabra
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
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