Design Thinking

What is Design Thinking, and how can it help a brand/business?

Design Thinking is a management tool that persistently helps evolve, innovate and outpace change to cruise across choppy business scenarios. It is a human-centric way of solving business problems using the power of design. Think of it as an easy way to solve complex business problems. 

            Why Design Thinking is the best way forward?

• 10% of the Fortune 500 has stated that design is their No. 1 priority. -CMO.com
• 78% of design-led companies have defined a process for coming up with new digital customer experience ideas. - Adobe
• 50% of design-led companies report more loyal customers as a benefit to having advanced design practices. -Adobe

           What does it involve?

• Empathize – It all starts by learning how we can empathize with the human beings at the core of our challenge. They may be customers, employees or any other stakeholders.
• Define – Next we need to clearly define and articulate all the challenges, needs, and wants.
• Ideate – Once our challenge areas are defined, we can now explore different approaches to come up with solutions for the problem at hand.
• Prototype – Once we have a great idea, it is now time to prototype our solution and bring it to life.   
• Test – Before we implement the solution, it is important to test it and then revisit any of the earlier mentioned steps as per what we learn from every step.

            How does it help a Brand or Business?

•  It can help a company boost innovation across all departments
•  It can help enhance your culture.
• It gives you the opportunity to view problems from different perspectives to determine its root cause.
• It is an ideal process to developing deep empathy for our users to create a solution that will best match their needs.

           What is Designomics?

Designomics is VGC’s proprietary process where design thinking is used to create solutions for complex problems as a branding agency. Apart from being a knowledge and an award platform, today Designomics also forms the foundation for any strategic exercise that VGC, as a marketing agency in Mumbai and Bangalore undertakes. It also endorses the value of strategic integration of Design in Business. It started as an initiative to showcase the effectiveness of design in and for business.

Learn how you can use the power of design thinking through the Designomics workshops. Get in touch today to learn more.

  

VGC designs brand identity for BITS School of Management, a BITS Pilani initiative

BITS Pilani, an Institution of Eminence recently announced their foray into business education with BITSoM (BITS School of Management), a global business school based in Mumbai. The new age institution will be offering a residential two-year MBA Programme at par with the leading business schools in the world. Carrying forward the BITS Pilani legacy of excellence, BITSoM will be led by its Chancellor, Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla and an esteemed Governing Council. The business school aims to offer world-class business education blended with new age knowledge that encompasses tech + design + data, and brings together world-renowned faculty, an innovative curriculum and more, to shape the next generation of visionary leaders.

 

VGC came on board as brand partners to BITSoM, to help develop the brand mandate and launch the business school. Starting with an in-depth strategic exercise, the brand was created in close partnership with the BITSoM, 9Dot9 and Aditya Birla Group teams.

Carrying a celebrated legacy into the future

BITS Pilani has been synonymous with excellence for decades now. VGC's core task was to strategically carry forth aspects of this legacy into a new, future-focused brand without directly linking the two. In order to strategically position the brand, VGC undertook an in-depth research exercise, studied the market, category & competition, and spoke with students, faculty, recruiters, an exam administering body and many more, both in India and abroad. The insights revealed that people preferred a brand that was inspired by heritage, yet modern at the same time. These insights were then used to uniquely position the brand and also to develop BITSoM’s vision & mission.

 

Leading from the brand positioning, in order to develop the new identity, VGC identified key aspects of the new brand and brought them to life through relevant symbolism within the concept of heraldry (an ancient practice, still in use, where elements of nature that have specific representations, come together to create a unique crest or symbol that collectively becomes an identifying mark for organisations, families or even governments). The symbols taken forward were the Tiger - representative of India, leadership, agility & vision, and the Sun - representative of new beginnings, a fresh approach, the origin & energy. The brand identity collectively represents BITSoM's origins, it's global outlook, future-focus and emphasis on moulding next gen leaders for a new age world. While the initial ask was to create a brand identity for a business school, VGC went a step further and delivered a brand that is entrenched in key insights, new age symbolism and a focus on the future.

Group Mentor, Vice Chairman, Hindalco and Chairman, Business Review Council, Aditya Birla Group, Mr Debu Bhattacharya had this to say about the brand exercise and working with VGC – “As we launch BITSoM, I would like to acknowledge with thanks the wonderful role that VGC has played right from the word go in developing the Brand, the logo, and the creatives! The team has been like our extended arm - available always and responding rapidly and with precision. Wish the organization all the very best.”

  

 

The BITSoM Tiger finally roars! 

Apart from developing the brand's strategy and designing the brand identity, VGC also created a compelling launch campaign and plan for BITSoM. The campaign went live in the last week of January/first week of February and was designed to stand out from any other communication in the education sector. The launch ads highlight the multiple USPs of the new brand and is aimed at students who are considering doing an MBA in 2021.

 

“It was an honour to be invited to design the positioning strategy, branding and communications for Bits Pilani’s launch of a new age school of business in Mumbai. Our Design solutions endeavour to combine the legacy of an iconic institution with contemporary accents in keeping with the times.” Said Preeti Vyas, Founder & Chairwoman, VGC.

 

The brand universe that VGC has created for BITSoM covers the entire brand & communication ecosystem, so that BITSoM can not just survive, but thrive and work towards its goal of becoming a top 10 global business school, based out of India.