Yes, you read that right. Indian Railways stations could soon have commercial branding. So, you might start your journey from Air India New Delhi via Paradise Biryani Hyderabad to your destination Cred Yeswantpur. And perhaps head from there to Dixcy Scott Sealdah.
Indian Railways recently issued guidelines for co-branding of railway station names. According to the guidelines, the branding of the advertiser will be attached to all places in the station building area where the name of the station is displayed. Co-branding in this case will mean prefixing or suffixing brand identities or logos to the name of the station.
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Therefore, you will likely see branded signs at station entrances, name boards in the station premises and at other places where the station name is referred to. However, original station names will remain intact, officially and in timetables, on tickets, in announcements or on route maps.
Indian Railways has also barred the use of co-branding on heritage buildings, or stations that already have names of famous personalities.
Key Guidelines for Co-Branding of Indian Railways Stations
- Only Station Name Boards will be co-branded
- Official name of the station will not change
- No surrogate or banned advertisements allowed
- Divisions would be empowered to take up the co-branding
- Not more than two words prefixed or suffixed
- Co-branding in a different colour
- Co-branding words can be replaced by a brand logo
According to Indian Railways, the objective behind the co-branding initiative is to increase non-fare revenues.
Co-branding will adhere to all the advertising guidelines and will not include any surrogate advertising, or branding by political or religious organisations, branding by alcohol, tobacco companies. Individual names will not be allowed to be used for co-branding. So, no chance of a Hari Sadu Chinchpokli. Any banned by the Advertising Standards Council of India or by law will not be allowed.
The guidelines recommend that prefix-suffix must be in a different font and colour and smaller in size to the station name and IR’s logo to maintain the prominence of the station’s name and IR’s logo. The brand name should not look similar to the station’s name and IR’s logo.
IR will only permit the use of either the brand logo or brand name to the station’s name. In case the brand name has more than two words, only the logo should be used. Indian Railways will award rights for co-branding after a tendering and vetting process.
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The,co-branding example picture used points to a terrible furture. Even if allowed, the space provided for advt. should not share th3 station name.plaques tpnavoud confusion. It should not Halwa -Puri at Puri Rly. Station or Masala Dausa for Dausa rly. station of for that matter Idli Sambhar Lake for Sambhar Lake rly stn. or Lifebuoy Sachin for Sachin Rly. stn… Already a number of stations have peculiar names .. Much deeper understanding of this co-branding business is required before it is opened up.
Dr. Satyendra Bhandari