in particular for Islamic Bank of Britain, by memories of some consumers of banking failures such as BCCI, despite this predating the rigorous regulatory regime that banks and other financial institutions operate un- der in the UK these days.
Taking Islamic Bank of Britain first, this busi- ness was going to be the first Islamic bank in the Western world, and in the UK was launching into a market where there was lit- tle knowledge of Islamic finance beyond ba- sic awareness that interest is Haram.
Islamic Bank of Britain is a British bank (later becoming listed in the UK stock ex- change) and was going to offer products and services which were designed to meet the requirements of the Islamic faith.
It wasn’t a foreign bank, and it was impor- tant to convey that. As such the use of a very clear, almost simplistic, name was important – a British bank offering Islamic products and services: Islamic Bank of Britain.
The bank is now using the acronym “IBB” more and more. Many customers have re- ferred to the Bank as IBB for years, but it was important for the Bank not to do this initially so that the brand could be established.
If it had launched and used IBB from the start, this wouldn’t have identified the busi- ness as being any different to any other small Bank using initials, and it would be somewhat close to BCCI.
As I mentioned earlier, the insurer was ini- tially set up as British Islamic Insurance Holdings, and this was appropriate during the initial development phase for the busi- ness, but was never going to be right for its launch.
The Islamic finance market had developed in the UK, thanks to IBB and the subsequent activity from other Islamic finance provid- ers in the market, such as Alburaq, HSBC Amanah and Lloyds Bank, and there was therefore scope to launch a brand that was more consumer orientated, and less of a mouthful.
There was also an opportunity to create a brand strategy that would enable the busi- ness to extend its proposition in the non- Muslim market.
It was important when the insurer launched into the market that the brand identified it- self as being relevant for Muslim consum- ers, otherwise it would have simply been one of a raft of new insurance brands, and would be ignoring it’s key differentiation of offering Halal insurance.
Therefore a brand overtly targeting Muslim consumers was required, but there was also a desire to be able to offer Takaful to non-Muslims. Some non-Muslims would be comfortable buying a product from a Muslim brand, but others wouldn’t be.
So we wanted to be able to have a multiple brand strategy, where there was the op- portunity to offer the same basic Takaful product, but under different brands, with the Muslim brand focusing on being Islamic, and the other brand focusing on the ethical and mutual nature of the offering.
This didn’t preclude the potential in the fu- ture to merge these brands into one, once the nature of the propositions are clear, whether it be using the Islamic brand or the non-Islamic brand.
The upshot of this approach was the use of a neutral, some might say traditional or staid, brand for the holding Company, Principle Insurance Holdings, but an overtly Islamic brand for the initial product offering, Salaam Halal insurance.
The use of the descriptors ‘Halal’ and ‘insur- ance’ were about taking the same approach as at IBB, making it very clear what the prop- osition is i.e. Halal insurance from Salaam.
There is then the potential in the future to drop the use of ‘Halal’ as the brand be- comes better known and Salaam becomes synonymous with offering Halal insurance, and if the business was to offer financial products other than insurance, over time ‘insurance’ could be replaced with the alter- native product e.g. ‘investments’, and, with further product diversification ‘Salaam’ as a brand could be positioned as the one-stop shop for Islamic finance products.
Do you have separate strategies for market- ing/selling to non-Muslims and Muslims, or is the strategy targeted at the consumer market as a whole?
All the Islamic finance providers in the UK want to be seen as being inclusive and of- fering their products to all, and not just Mus- lims.
This is supported in research amongst Mus- lim consumers as well, as they want every- one to be able to participate, and they don’t wish Islamic finance to be seen as ‘exclu- sive’ to them.
However, notwithstanding the above, mar- keting is driven by market segmentation, and prioritising the target segments. The Islamic offerings are tailored for a specific group of consumers, who want Islamic finance prod- ucts, and who are the most likely adopters of
Islamic Finance Branding and Marketing gif
these? Muslim consumers, of course.
As such marketing strategy is designed to target Muslim consumers, and if non-Mus- lims respond to it, then great, but they are not the priority.
Islamic finance is targeting a specific niche in the market. Normally businesses segment their customers into homogenous groups with similar needs, attitudes and behaviours, so as to make their targeting more efficient, and their business strategy more focused.
Targeting Muslim consumers reduces the size of your target market, but does nothing to reduce the diverse range of personal cir- cumstances, needs, attitudes, understand- ing of financial products, wealth or behav- iour.
By targeting the Muslim segment, you have reduced the size of the market significantly, without creating much homogeneity, and you’ve added further complex dynamics such as understanding of Islamic finance, attitude and understanding of faith and cul- tural diversity.
With this added complexity businesses tar- geting Muslim consumers would find it hard to justify the cost of actively promoting their offering to non-Muslim consumers until they have got critical mass amongst their own niche of the market.
Additional Reading
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Joy Abdullah, It’s what THEY think a BRAND is, March 2010, Umah Talk
Alsadek Gait and Andrew Worthington, An empirical survey of individual consumer, business firm and financial institution atti- tudes towards Islamic methods of finance, 2008, International Journal of Social Eco- nomics, Vol: 35 Issue: 11 pp: 783-808
Salma Sairally, Evaluating the ‘Social Re- sponsibility’ of Islamic Finance: Learning From the Experience of Socially Responsi- ble Investment Funds, 2005, Dinar Stand- ard
Autumn St John, Your Business Plan and Market Research, November 2009, Busi- ness Plan Coach eCourse
Issam Tlemsani and Robin Matthews, Ethical Banking: the Islamic view, 2002, Kingston University
Rodney Wilson, Going Global, 1995, The Banker, 145 829:45
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