It’s now over to Brand Bengaluru

It’s now over to Brand Bengaluru
Swati Anand & Anshul Dhamija | TNN

Bangalore: It’s not official yet, but corporates, hotels, cafes and even the new airport has already warmed up to the idea of Bengaluru.
The airport was rumoured to have considered various names — from H D Deve Gowda to Sir M Visvesvaraya — before freezing in on Bengaluru International Airport.
“The name of the airport was decided by S M Krishna during his regime as the chief minister. All other speculations of names are merely political play,” clarify company sources. “As for Bengaluru over Bangalore, since the official directive had been given — though not in writing — we decided to kick-off with it anyway. Besides, Bengaluru is simply the Kannada variant of Bangalore. Since the logo was reflecting the native Bangalorean spirit, we decided Bengaluru would blend in well.”
The Pub City’s newest addition, Hard Rock Cafe, sports Bengaluru with the same elan as Bucharest. Jet Airways too is now flying with the spirit of the city, changing the name of Bangalore to Bengaluru on all its boarding cards, baggage tags, including its boarding nameplates across all airports. “We have also changed the city’s name in our in-flight magazine, timings booklet, and other journals that we publish,” said a Jet Airways official.
The ITC Windsor, which was recently rebranded — moving one notch up on the luxury ladder — kept with the sentiments of the city and got its name board changed to read ‘The ITC Windsor, The Luxury Collection, Bengaluru’.
However, most are switching over simply as a preventive measure.
“Change in signage and brand identity across visiting cards, stationery and the like are major expenses. One never knows when the directive will become official. The transition phase of Bangalore to Bengaluru leads to confusion, so it makes sense for new ventures to start with Bengaluru and existing ones to get proactive,” says a brand strategy consultant.
NAME DROPPING!
Hard Rock cafe sports Bengaluru Jet Airways has Bengaluru on boarding cards, timings booklets, baggage tags, in in-flight magazine, journals ITC Windsor too jumps on to Bengaluru