Third Eyesight Carries Out Workshop on Branding

Third Eyesight, the Delhi-based consulting firm, held its workshop on Creating and Managing Lifestyle and Fashion Brands on the 23rd of August, 2008 at the ITC Sheraton, Delhi. This workshop is part of the Third Eyesight Knowledge Series©.

The workshop was led by Mr. Devangshu Dutta along with Ms. Sharmila Katre having over 5 decades of industry experience between them. Devangshu, who has wide ranging Indian and international experience is amongst the better known professionals of the Indian retail industry. Sharmila Katre, has been in the clothing and textile industry for the past 28 years, including operational roles as well as an ongoing involvement with academics.

The Brand workshop had an interesting and diverse group of participants with senior and mid-level professionals attending from brands and retailers such as Reliance, Benetton, Uni Style Images (USI), Lerros Fashions, The Accessory Factory, Femella Fashions, Pinnacle Retail, Ostermann, suppliers and service providers such as Century Apparels, Team Krian and academics from the National Institute of Fashion Technology and the Pearl Academy of Fashion. Students from academic institutes were also given a special access to the workshop by Third Eyesight.

The workshop addressed and imparted information on defining and understanding the basics of branding; the uniqueness in the process of branding lifestyle and fashion merchandise; creating and developing a brand through identifying its specific differentiators and reaffirming the need for the 4 P’s of marketing.

Of specific importance were the areas of brand architecture, and having a clear brand strategy to manage and grow a brand portfolio.

The content of the workshop and the supplementary course material was found to be very current, applied and relevant to the market requirements.

The workshop was liberally sprinkled with examples and case studies from India as well as international markets.

Various individual and group exercises on identifying the values and positioning of specific brands, and personifying the brands were part of the workshop which encouraged a healthy, and at times noisy, discussion.

The one-on-one interaction during the workshop facilitated sharing of opinions and ideas and arriving at solutions related to branding of fashion and lifestyle merchandise in the Indian and international business scenario.

The workshop was an extraordinary blend of faculty pedagogy and delegate participation. The delegates took away a strong understanding of the fundamentals of branding and its effects on the overall growth of their business.