BRAND PROVOKE CONSULTANTS: Brand Strategy, Identity Design, and Digital Strategy.
Who doesn’t like to do business with companies they are familiar with? Your brand experience, from the advertising message to the logo to the way that your phones are answered, tells a lot about your company. There is no denying that if the branding has goodwill, it can make people feel trusted in purchasing your products or services.
Business Connect in its newest edition is in conversation with Mr. Vishal Sengar/Founder, CEO & Chief Brand Strategist at Brand Provoke Consultants.
From 5 employees in 2017, Brand Provoke has currently grown into an organization with over 25 employees. Despite the relatively smaller size, the company has bagged some of the biggest clients in the industry such as Lenskart, RRB and Advant.
What is ‘Brand Provoke’?
Brand Provoke, is among the few ‘pure branding’ companies in India. We emphasize on ‘pure branding’ because branding in the country has often been confused with either designing, marketing or advertising. Brand Provoke, however, is much more than that! While working on a project, we work as an ‘extension’ of our client’s workforce. We understand their business to the core, services they offer and device a strategy that helps them raise their brand awareness, generate more leads & increased ROI and enhance their overall brand image.
The company shares that its services are divided into three categories. What are these?
Our services are divided into three categories- Brand Strategy, Identity Design, and Digital Strategy.
Brand Strategy incorporates the ‘research phase’ which includes brand audit, brand positioning, naming (if required), brand attributes, personality, etc. This allows us to create a solid strategic plan for our client’s brand, allowing us and our clients to seamlessly transition to the ‘execution phase’ of a project.
The ‘execution phase’ involves ‘Identity Design’ and ‘Digital Strategy’. Using the ‘brand strategy document’, we devise brand guidelines. These guidelines define the type of font, colors, graphics which are to be associated with all the brand assets like logo, packaging, website, brochures, visiting cards, email signatures etc. ensuring total consistency across the brand.
During the ‘digital strategy’ phase, we focus on the UI/ UX design, web & mobile app design as well as development, email & social media marketing, SEO/PPC and much more.
How do you feel you are different from your competitors?
Almost all our competitors call themselves branding firms, but in reality, either they are design companies or marketing agencies. There is barely any focus on brand strategy and the project effectively starts directly with what we call the ‘execution phase’. The result, as expected, is ‘failed execution’, extremely inconsistent brand assets and negligible ROI. A lot of our clients actually come to us after unsuccessfully collaborating with these so-called ‘branding agencies’.
Did you see any transformation happening for startups, over the years in your field?
We have seen a lot of branding startups fail simply because they have little knowledge of branding and are mostly masquerading themselves as ‘branding agencies’ when in reality they are either marketing or design agencies. The biggest challenge for them is client retention as their efforts fail to produce anything productive for their clients. However, for ‘pure branding’ companies, we have seen nothing but growth including ourselves. Pepsi reportedly paid $1 million for its logo redesign. That shows how serious they are about beating Coco-Cola as the market leader in the soft drink segment.
Did everything come easy, or you have your story of struggle?
Of course not. One of the biggest challenges we have faced and are still facing is market perception regarding branding. A lot of our prospective clients ask us why they should choose us when a freelancer can do the same work for 10% of the cost we proposed. Fortunately, new age India slowly though surely is understanding the importance of proper branding if they wish to stay ahead of their competitors.
What kind of clients do you serve any special mentions?
We are currently serving over 20 clients and already have some of the biggest names in the industry.
Some of our top customers include: Lenskart– India’s #1 e-commerce app/website for an eyewear Planova- Europe’s top supplier for shopfitting and shelving systems. RRB Energy– One of India’s largest manufacturers of renewable energy products. The founder was awarded Padma Shri in 1991. Advant Group– Among the biggest real estate companies in India.
Do you still come back to work with the same zeal, like you did when you started?
Yes, always. Maybe even more than when we first started. As with any other business, we have seen our share of ups and downs and have come out stronger than ever, whenever we have been put under the pump. Every day, we learn something new and our ‘sky is the limit’ philosophy encourages us and our workforce to always maintain that ‘zeal’ required for the success of the business.
How are you giving back to society?
Multiple ways. We encourage our employees to go green and discourage the use of printouts, unless absolutely necessary, within the organization. Apart from that, we make regular donations to Sanjay Gandhi Animal Care Center (SGACC) and encourage people to adopt rather than shop for pets. Most of our employees also use public transport or carpool to help reduce air pollution in Delhi NCR.
Apart from work, what else do you like to spend your time doing?
We have a few non-branding projects on the side but Brand Provoke always remains our main focus. For instance, we run the largest Game of Thrones fan page on Facebook and are also partners in www.wikiofthrones. com – #1 fansite for A Song of Ice & Fire universe.
How do you see the initiatives of the present government with respect to your industry?
Have they helped you in any sense? Yes. We are proud taxpayers of India and are happy with the initiatives of the current government which have considerably reduced tax evasion and allowed for more transparency. Implementation of GST has helped us save a lot when making purchases on behalf of the company.
What does the future hold for the company?
We are a bunch of highly optimistic individuals and the future does look quite bright to us. Every day, we learn something new and are amazed by the opportunities this beautiful world has to offer.
Lastly, what message would you like to give to the readers of the Business Connect Magazine?
Never give up on your dreams. Never think you have learned enough. Aim for the stars and don’t be afraid of failure. Treat your coworkers/employees with respect and above all, do not take your clients for granted- Their success means your success.
