One of Bangalore’s most venerable institutions, Canara Bank, changed its logo and identity last week. Having been part of a Canbank family for many decades (my father began and ended his 40-year career with the bank), I have strong reservations.

The finest institutions worldwide do not dramatically alter their logos or identity. If essential, they may introduce change, while maintaining continuity with their rich heritage and past. Canara Bank’s new logo of two intertwined triangles bears no resemblance to its hundred year old symbol, which depicted a flower and spoke sincerely of a commitment “to serve and to grow”.

Contrast this with the State Bank of India. In the past three years, it has made a big effort to modernise itself, and its recent marketing campaigns have highlighted this effort brilliantly. Yet it has maintained its “blue keyhole” logo because millions of Indians have for several decades associated this logo with their favourite bank.

Of course a logo need not be an absolute constant. It can move to reflect the times. During the 1950s, IBM’s logo was the three alphabets “IBM” in bold blue colour. During the 1960s, the company adopted a more solid and grounded rendition of these three alphabets, to reflect its status as a giant global corporation and world leader.

And from the mid-1970s, the logo has depicted the same three solid alphabets in the same blue colour, but with horizontal stripes, to depict speed and dynamism.

Canara Bank’s new logo has no continuity with its past at all. For a very successful century-old bank which is proud of its heritage, this is a damaging break with its rich history.

If there is dramatic change of identity, it must also signal dramatic discontinuity. For instance, when ICICI changed its fundamental character from being a developmental credit corporation to being a retail bank, it deserved and gave itself a significant change of logo and identity. In the case of Canara Bank, such significant discontinuity in business is not quite evident.

It has been a bank, and will continue to remain one, maybe with some new services and products added to its portfolio. This newness in offerings only represents modernisation and growth, not discontinuity.

Also, if there is a change of logo, the move should at the very least help signal the industry or category which the brand belongs to. For instance, the famous Mercedes logo — the three-pointed star in a circle — signals a steering wheel and therefore a car.

In a semi-literate Indian environment, this is even more important for good brand recognition, particularly after a significant change. Canara Bank’s new intertwined triangles, with the line “Together we can” does not capture or represent the essence of banking.

And finally, any such change of logo requires huge expenditure running into several crores of rupees.

Advertisement campaigns, change of signboards across the country, changes at every consumer touchpoint including ATMs, branches and passbooks.

Unless there is a compelling need to change the superficial symbols of branding, all this public money is far better spent in enhancing consumer service levels, a key requirement across many public sector banks in India today. Canbank should become a “can bank” through far better appreciation of its consumer needs, otherwise such “logo” changes will be seen as shallow exercises.