So here's another feel good ad from yet another bank. 'We partner with our customers', 'we love our customers', 'we are with you for the long term', 'we care for you' etc etc etc.

But I thought that the ICICI Khayaal aapka series was well done. There is something truly warm and real about an elderly lady being able to speak as much as she wants to a stranger - a bank employee. And the bank employee listening to her into the wee hours of the night. Banks are about speed and efficiency; so its reassuring to know that you can get a listen. Similarly the other one in the series, shows a child comfortably fooling around at the bank while the mother gets the work done. Simple, warm.

But. And here is a big but. It's not good enough to do slick ads. Brands have to see the promise through to the customer, else the ad can do more harm than good. 

As luck would have it, I happened to visit an ICICI Bank in Bangalore to close a loan recently. I reached at 3.50 pm, and the home loan counter person was out for lunch and I was told will be back in 10 mins. Thankkfully she was. Good start, but it ended there.

I was 2nd in queue. The first thing she tried to do with me was to send me off. 'Do you have this'? 'Do you have that'. 'Sorry ma'am I need the account statement'. Their customer care rep did not tell me to take any account statement despite a specific question on that. In this day of internet banking and technology, ICICI refused to offer me internet access to print 2 pages of an account statement. I had to go all the way back, procure it and come back. To top that, the amount given to me was wrong, and I had to write a fresh cheque.

Empathy for the customer? Zero.

So can brands get away with zero connection between their brand promise as depicted in big budget television commercials, and the actual customer treatment on the ground? I don't think so. And I really hope I am right. It is a service they are selling, not a feel-good film you are making for creative satisfaction.

Brand advertising must come from the core of the brand. It sets expectations from the brand. So, ICICI, please don't make a promise you can't keep.