Isha Leadership Academy’s “Brand Insight – Decoding Branding” interactive workshop took participants through a carefully crafted journey of learning to build their brands as a key to scaling up their businesses.
The very first in-person edition of “Brand Insight” was conducted from 3–5 March 2023 at the Nalanda Conference Center, Isha Yoga Center, Coimbatore. Forty-six participants including brand managers, business owners, and C-suite executives from a wide spectrum of B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) enterprises came together to learn from India’s finest brand strategists how to take their brands to the next level.
Envisioned by Sadhguru specifically for Indian businesses, Brand Insight evolved from a key realization – that Indian businesses fall short of fulfilling their full potential because of lack of awareness of the power and tools of branding.
Designed as an interactive workshop, the 3-day program was conducted in typical Isha fashion – with relaxed rigor and an easy intensity. In this carefully crafted environment, India’s leading brand strategists came together to help the participants decode the science of building an impactful brand. The program was expertly engineered and anchored by Anisha Motwani – a distinguished business leader and a doyen of brand building.
“Branding is something that you do before you take your offering to the market. You can take your brand to the market in a million ways. Branding is strategic, marketing can be very tactical.” —Anisha Motwani; Brand, Digital & Innovation Expert
She started off by sharing Sadhguru’s unique perspective on branding, and how the next three days were going to be an immersive “learning by doing” exercise with case studies, working sessions, expert lectures, and enriching interactions with fellow participants. Drawing from her decades of experience, she emphasized the importance of getting the process right and left the participants with sage advice: “In marketing, inputs are based on science, the output is an art, and the outcome is commerce.”
In every session, participants had the opportunity to learn from India’s leading brand strategists, who guided them through the journey of creating a compelling brand purpose, evolving it into a strategic brand positioning, and translating it into impactful marketing material.
“Purpose lets brands do three things: stand up for something, stand out from the competition, and stand firm. Once you take a stance, brands have to reflect it in their action.” —S. Subramanyeswar, Group CEO of advertising marketing communications company MullenLowe Lintas Group; Chief Strategy Officer – Asia Pacific, and Head of Global Planning Council of MullenLowe Group
“A hallmark of some of the most successful companies is that they actually live their purpose. It’s only when they live their purpose that their employees don’t need to be told what to do. They automatically know.” —Alpana Parida, Founder & CEO of composite fiber helmets manufacturer Tiivra Ventures Private Limited
“Rally for Rivers was a perfect example of how a powerful purpose, clothed in messaging that is simple and credible, and consciously laced with mechanisms to move both the hearts and minds of people, can create not just a brand but an entire people’s movement in a very short period.” —Yuri Jain, former Global Vice President, Unilever; Project Coordinator, Isha Outreach
“There are two parts to branding. There is logic, and this logic has to convert into magic. If you make it very strategic, it becomes boring. The job of a creative magician is to add their magical interpretation to logic and make it interesting.” —Sourabh Mishra, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Branding, Azendor Consulting
“First, be visible in a distinctive position, and then find a way to be relevant, interesting, and useful in some way. That’s what positioning comes down to.” —Narayan Devanathan, Chief Strategy & Communications Officer, National Foundation for India, an independent grant-making organization.
“When you are living the business day in and day out, you don’t even realize what your strengths are. So, make a list, then sacrifice by asking, ‘This seems right, but is it really true?’” —Atika Malik, Strategic Advisory Partner; former COO and CSO, advertising agency Cheil India, South West Asia
“Every time a work is presented to you, it becomes very important to have a solid brief with you and questions that you should ask yourself so that it becomes a process rather than just ‘I like it’ or ‘I don’t like it.’” —Sonal Dabral, Creative Director, former Chief Creative Officer South East Asia at advertising company Ogilvy; International Advertising Association (IAA) Creative Agency Leader of the Year
Also peppered throughout the program were insightful gems from Sadhguru, whose video recordings on the various intricacies of branding were shown to the participants at appropriate moments.
As the 3-day journey unfolded, participants quickly realized how immersive and interactive the program really was. Not only were there plenty of opportunity to interact with the experts, but co-creating with fellow participants in unique ways constantly pushed the envelope and opened up new perspectives.
Reifying the adage, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” talented artists brought the day’s developments alive as they unfolded through vivid images on canvas.
Working sessions were designed to crystalize key learnings and practice implementing them on real brands through case studies. Half the room worked on Zoho and the other half on Bengaluru-based iD Fresh Food. But there was a twist! Their guides for this exercise were none other than Rahul Gandhi, the Chief Marketing Officer at iD Fresh Food (India) Pvt. Ltd., and Praval Singh, the Vice President of Marketing at technology company Zoho Corporation. What better way to grasp the essence of a brand’s purpose than to take it apart and put it together right under the nose of people who live and breathe the brand every day!
No program at Isha would be complete without yogic tools for transformation, and Brand Insight was no exception. The days always started with Yoga, followed by a hearty sattvic breakfast in the tranquil ambience of the Nalanda Conference Center. There were also powerful guided meditations by Sadhguru that left the participants feeling serene and refreshed after an intense day of brainstorming.
On the last day of the program, participants were treated to an invaluable surprise: an hour-long personal message from Sadhguru that he had recorded the night before specially for this group. With his characteristic wit and wisdom, Sadhguru explained his own take on branding and what kind of brand we need to craft to be successful in the current market.
Finally, Yuri Jain brought the program to a close with a few poignant words: “To build a powerful brand, you need inspired, inclusive, and involved leaders at the helm of things. Brand budgets and advertising talent are not the binding constraints. To unlock the full potential of a brand, you need to unlock your own potential.”
