January 2015

“Will this Bee sting me” She asked whilst going through my visuals for the new logo. Rest of the ladies chuckled and I knew it was something to do with the local idiom. Later when I realized what it meant I was so embarrassed. It is better to pre-test concepts, logo’s etc. Research is an investment and not a cost.

I had worked with the branding team to come up with a concept and logo for a localized campaign to promote a culture of entrepreneurship in four districts in Sri Lanka. The strategy was to use Forum Theatre as the main communication platform – An interactive art form which would work at grass root level. The entire campaign was branded and ultimately we came up with two alternative brands and logos. It was time to test it out. I went to Kurunegala and Anuradhapura to test it out. Females did not like the Bee at all and we used the Bridge concept ultimately.

I enjoyed my work during the next couple of years working as an external collaborator/ campaign consultant and travelled much to the North Central Province and North Western Province. I worked on branding exercises for the Micro and Small Enterprise Forums that were set up by this INGO and also published a media resource guide on SME’s in Sri Lanka.

I asked the Client what the name of the hotel meant and it rang a bell deep inside my soul. “Oh the place is special and we must make the entire staff believe in it” I said. So the process began. We went there, interviewed the staff, came back, brain stormed and came up with the concept – Where the river meets the sea right in this corner all the 5 elements (Fire, wind, water, earth and sky) come together to create enough energy to make dreams come true.

We worked together on the ambiance, the layout, décor and even came up with some structural changes and mural& fountain that depicted fire, wind, water etc. and created photographs to match my story for the website and brochure.

When the Tsunami hit Sri Lanka and devastated our tiny island my client wanted to do something. He contacted three celebrities and planned to appoint them as company spokespersons but I said No!

I had different ideas. I always felt that company spokespersons should be company staff. The key is to come up with a “message” that they really believed in and then train them to deliver it in the credible manner. I proposed that the Client initiates a Tsunami fund; a percentage off every item that is sold and contribute it to tsunami rehabilitation. We used company staff in our TV commercials to communicate the message to the public. It worked!

The staff got highly motivated and the client was able to contribute millions of rupees from the money that was collected for over 4 months.