SBI scouts for PR agency to devise brand building strategies

As part of the brand building exercise, the State Bank of India (SBI) is looking for a public relations agency to help it become the preferred choice of customers for their banking needs.

The country's largest lender, SBI has a network of more than 22,000 branches spread across India. It is also present in over 30 countries.

"SBI is looking to engage with a public relations agency for providing public relation services (conceptualisation and implementation/execution of public relations campaigns)," it said in a request for proposal (RFP).

In its RFP document for selection of a PR agency, the bank said it aspires to give an impetus to its marketing efforts to develop a highly favourable brand perception from what it is today, and at the same time, the lender endeavours to become the preferred choice of customers.

The selected agency will be responsible for developing and implementing public relation activities to be organised by the bank.

The agency may also be required to engage with any specialist service providers such as film production house, event venues, travel agents, or other relevant service providers to deliver holistic solutions, the document said.

As per the RFP, the public relation agency will be engaged on a pure contractual basis for a period of three years, subject to annual performance review.

The selected agency will have to design and implement the bank's corporate communications strategy with a long-term perspective.

Also, it will have to "articulate short-term and long-term objectives with specific, actionable and measurable initiatives to build positive saliency for the bank by moulding opinion among various stakeholders i.e. customers, investors, media fraternity, analysts, government and public at large", the RFP said.

The scope of work for the agency includes media relations, media monitoring, timely intimation to the bank about any coverage that is detrimental to the interest of SBI, market intelligence and event management, it added.