Leading media portal exchnge4media interviews Elephant Co-founder Ashwini Deshpande on commencement of 25th year of design practice

e4m: What will the key area of focus of Elephant Design in the next five years??
Ashwini: It is a very interesting time for us as the world is looking at India for frugal design principles and Elephant has demonstrated how to get more for less for more in more way than one; be it product innovation, building an enhanced retail experience or creating new benchmarks in out-of-box through user-friendly packaging design.
The key focus will be to unlock the potential of our experience in India and apply it in places and situations where years of abundance have become a curse in recessionary times.
We already have good presence in Singapore since the last two years and we are looking at very interesting challenges across South East Asia. We will soon have presence in Europe, where our understanding and experience in emerging markets gives us a unique advantage.

Read the interview on:

http://www.exchange4media.com/news/story.aspx?news_id=50904/

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How far did Elephant go in 2015

Elephant directors Ashish& Ashwini Deshpande were invited to deliver a keynote at Puebla Mexico at the 2nd International Congress DI-Integra in March 2015. 
Ashwini Deshpande was invited to be part of the esteemed Design Lions jury at the Cannes Lions Festival of creativity in France in June 2015. This was followed by another invitation to join the jury panel of Design for Asia Awards at Hong Kong n July 2016. 
Ashish was invited to deliver a talk at the International Design Congress 2015 that took place in Gwangju, S Korea in October 2015. At the same conference, Ashwini was invited to conduct a workshop.
 

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Redesigning Legacy Brands With Empathy

Most often, we give less-than-due credit to iconic Indian brands. And there are quite a few, in every category of the FMCG sector. Tata Salt, Thums up, Parle G, Santoor, Good Knight, Britannia Marie Gold, Bisleri, Saffola, Real – the list can go on.

These brands have a large market share. In most cases, they have remained in a leadership position despite the entry of competing international brands and changing consumer preferences. These brands can, therefore, be called ‘legacy brands’. They have managed to have loyal consumers for a sustained period; they are a part of their users’ lives, and they are irreplaceable for those who opt for them. 

What is rarely discussed, however, is the way these legacy brands transform their visual identity to align with young, progressive Indians and their high-lifestyle aspirations today. How often do they change, and to what extent? 

While Lacto Calamine had established credence with the woman who equated beauty with simplicity, it was time to ladder up to a larger and aspirational space; It was time to connect with a ‘self-assured’ woman who makes informed decisions. The brand needed alignment with the new positioning, without losing its core of simplicity. The challenge for Elephant was to create packaging that carried forward the simplicity from the past, but also looked believable as an advanced skincare solutions expert with a growing portfolio. 

Packaging is the first moment of truth for any FMCG brand, and the transformation or alignment basically starts with visual identity and packaging change. It is a huge responsibility when legacy brands like Good Knight or Wagh Bakri tea ask us to redesign their brands’ packaging experience, so that they stay relevant to their existing and intended audience. In such cases, the migration needs to be evolutionary, perceptible and must conform to their leadership status. And then there are the legacy brands like Chandrika or Lacto Calamine, that need to transform themselves, either to get back in the reckoning or reach a completely new audience altogether, without alienating their loyalists.

Chandrika has been a trusted Ayurvedic soap for generations in India. The brand needed to reach out to a younger audience, while staying true to Ayurveda as its core story. Here, the challenge was multi-fold. Ayurveda was not associated with a contemporary lifestyle. And, as a concept, has been dogged by several misconceptions, one of them being slower efficacy. ‘Active Ayurveda’ as a proposition, resolved some of these issues. Ingredients like neem, lemon oil, patchouli oil etc were showcased to help demystify Ayurveda. Colours were changed to a fresher, more natural palette. 

Packaging is the most crucial link of closing the loop between maintaining legacy and getting a new conversion going. However short, packaging lives its moment of glory. Great packaging design makes that moment meaningful and relevant to the consumer. It is very exciting to know that you might be reaching a billion hands if you do it right. Or you may just get discarded if the evolution is not based on relevant insights. The approach to packaging design is, therefore, always viewed through several lenses: That of users, of shoppers, of non-buyers, of trends, of technology and so on. Most importantly, discovering and defining what kind of dialogue the brand needs to have at that point in its existence, becomes the pivotal clause. A client once told me we must believe that every square millimetre on the pack can do the job of a billboard. How true!

Whether you decide to add a message, icon, colour or image on every available surface, or you decide to leave breathing space, you land up communicating something one way or another. So one has to be extremely careful about adding or removing elements. Because what matters is the story you are telling.

Great design aims to delight the user ahead of expectations. If we use a simple tool of three questions that need to be answered by packaging design — Who am I? What do I do? And how do I do it? — we are mostly home in terms of communication. 

Tata Salt, an undisputed leader and pioneer in the category, was ready for change as the brand needed to align with the progressive homemaker. We set out to solve two major challenges. One was to take up the position of being a ‘friendly’ expert, and another was to shake off the ‘me-too’ players who had completely emulated all the codes of Tata Salt packaging over years. First, the typography of the word ‘salt’ was humanised to add a layer of warmth to the trusted Tata logo. To reiterate confidence of the leader, images of food, people and such were removed from the earlier packaging, and a fresh outlook of a modern lifestyle was depicted through visuals of a modern kitchen setting. The colour palette was made more vibrant, but in alignment with its earlier portfolio. Graphics and mnemonics were designed to communicate relevant benefits in a clean and contemporary manner. This has clearly been very well accepted, as is evident from the market success as well as rankings of a recent survey of Most Trusted Brands, where Tata Salt has gone from No 16 to No 2. 

While on the one hand, the quest is to get more legacy brands to stay relevant, on the other it is to help more start-up brands like Paper Boat establish a legacy. Indeed, it gives you an amazing rush when you see carefully-crafted packaging find its rightful place – in the shopper’s basket! 

Ashwini Deshpande is an author and co-founder/Director of Elephant, a leading multidisciplinary design consultancy with offices in India and Singapore. A part of this article first appeared in dna of brands and mxm portal in December 2015. 

Prestigious Recognitions from 2015

In March 2015, International Innerwheel Club felicitated Ashwini Deshpande on World Women’s Day by conferring TejaswiniPuraskar, an award that recognizes women achievers. 
In the same month, Ashwini was also listed among 50Most Influential Women in Media & Advertising by Impact magazine. 
Ashish Deshpande was felicitated at the by Ico-D as the ‘Regional Ambassador’ at Internationa Design Congress in S Korea. This recognition comes as an acknowledgement of his work in promoting the profession of design in the Asian region. He is also recognised as the Regional Ambassador for Design for Asia Awards by Hong Kong Design Centre.

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Ashish Deshpande on India Design Mark jury being held on 19-20 February 2015

India Design Mark recognizes and evaluates good design through a systemized process. The specific Mark reflects virtues of good design in Indian context and can be used as a symbol of distinguished excellence of the product. India Design Mark is granted by India Design Council - an autonomous body, established by the Government of India. 

Ashish Deshpande (Director, Elephant) has been on the selection jury since the inception of India Design Mark in 2012. 
In the same context, Ashish was earlier invited to visit Japan to understand practices followed by Good Design Mark of Japan. The visitor delegation was hosted by Overseas Human Resources and Industry Development Association (HIDA), Japan.
 

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Ashish Deshpande leads the ADI delegation at Global Design Network, Hong Kong.

As the Vice President of Association of Designers of India, Ashish Deshpande was invited to lead the delegation of select association members visiting Hong Kong during the Business of Design Week 2014. 
ADI was inducted as an honorary member at the Global Design Network symposium concurrent to the conference. 
At the same event, Ashwini Deshpande was invited to represent the Design Alliance Asia that is already an honorary member at the Global Design Network.

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Ashwini Deshpande to speak at “Design For a Billion” Conference at IIT Gandhinagar

The Design For a Billion conference is a cross-disciplinary forum to bring together researchers, educators, practitioners, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists to discuss the implications and future of mass impact design. Conversations will interweave the theoretical and the empirical, research and applications, market pragmatics and social idealism.

Ashwini Deshpande has been invited as a distinguished speaker where her talk will include applied design case studies. Her session will take place on 7th November 2014.

Elephant Soundsense team designs audio-branding for Delhi Duty Free at T3, first ever in retail space

Elephant SoundSense has designed the aural experience at 5 critical touch points at the international arrival and departure at Terminal 3 at Delhi International Airport. A signature tune has been composed with different renditions for different touch points. The brand attributes, geographical location, spirit of the country, products on display, busy travel times and the wide range of travelers were the key points in the design. Elements of bio-rhythm have been incorporated and a new range of hardware by Bosch EV has been installed in July 2013 for the project across the stores at the airport to enhance the aural experience.

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Future of Talent in Media & Communication Industry

Elephant Co-founder Ashwini Deshpande was invited for panel discussion on Future of Talent in Media & Communication Industry at the Impact Careers 360 conference in Delhi in June 2013. The panel was moderated by Roshan Abbas, a well-known media personality. 
Read more about the conference here: 

http://www.exchange4media.com/51752_there-is-more-to-media-entertainment-than-the-current-scope.html/

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Lacto Calamine targets today’s ‘self assured’ women with new look by Elephant

While Lacto Calamine had established credence with the woman who equated beauty with simplicity, it was time to ladder up to a larger and aspirational space. It was time to connect with a ‘self-assured’ woman who makes informed decisions.
The brand needed alignment with the new positioning without losing its core of simplicity. From being present in basic categories like moisturizing and face wash, the trade-up was also about introducing newer products in sun protection and skin renewal space that came with definitive promises and differentiations. The challenge for Elephant was to create packaging that carried simplicity from the past and also looked believable as an advanced skincare solutions expert with a growing portfolio.
Read the story on: 

http://www.exchange4media.com/49937_lacto-calamine-targets-today’s-‘self-assured’-women-with-new-look.html/

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