Blog

The Divisions of a large company were working in Silos. Each one on his own with very little team mindset. I was called in to carry out an internal communication campaign to bring all together as one team.

“What exactly do you do in the case of internal communications” the prospective Client asked me. After a 45 minute presentation, I was signed up for a 4 month project. I came up with a concept and internal communication strategy for the client. Internal research was carried out to understand the goals and aspirations of the staff and how they relate to each other. Internal communication lines and processes were studied. I came up with a campaign strategy called “Bright Ideas” and I asked for a cross functional team to implement same. The Managing Director asked me to work with the Operational level – Mid level managers. They came up with a programme where staff got engaged in finding answers to all operational and management issues. The Operational Team bonded. They helped to build bridges. The teams started to work together.

My associates in Middle East could not see eye to eye with my other local partner. Managing relations between the team members became a more or less a full time job.

The Philosophy of Avanke` is such that team constructs are based on value addition as well as emotional intelligence and adaptability of each team member. So I brought in another expert to the table which worked very well for the next two projects. We carried out a retail audit for a mobile operator and impact assessment on training programnmes that are sponsored by a semi government organization in the Middle East.

Client in the Middle East, Consultants in Colombo and Analyst in USA… Precision coordination was required to deliver desired results. Working with different cultural traits and on different time zones was quite challenging.

A Company engaged in HR training, Change Management and Process Re-engineering based in the Middle East ventured out to undertake market research. The Company engaged me to work on the bid proposals for research tenders. We tried some, were short listed but failed to clinch the deal. Then the first job came our way. We won the first research tender -A public opinion survey on marketing communications conducted by a semi government organization. With an excellent Project Management Team on ground with my limited experience and knowledge of the market we pulled it off very well.

The next couple of jobs that came our way (An impact assessments, customer satisfaction surveys etc.) required greater expertise. That is when we decided to bring in Consultants and Experts with similar values and principals. I worked as the qualitative expert and I brought in another renowned and experienced team from Colombo who undertook the quantitative research area. Our analyst was based in the US and when he was up others were sleeping… dealing with different work cultures had its own difficulties. Despite frequent stepping on toes, the work that was finally done met our Client’s satisfaction. I found the work quite enriching and I became a frequent visitor to the Middle East.

Working with a Not for Profit research organization broadened my scope. I got the opportunity to get involved in social research.

My Father together with few others had started a civil society initiative and development research center 40 years ago. Right throughout my youth all I heard at home was about his work. I was living and breathing all the civil society activity that took place in the country and development research that his Institute was engaged in. After I started my own Consultancy Avanke`Marcom, I had more time to get involved with my father’s work and received better exposure on island wide research work.

“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.

This was one of our first Hotel assignments. The owner had dropped in at my Brother in Law’s place to give a message to him and that is when he met me. He casually asked me what I was doing for a living. When I told him that I was in advertising and PR business, he asked me whether I could develop and produce a brochure for his Hotel. That was beginning of a long relationship. I visited the place, spent a couple of days with his staff, checked out wild life sanctuary and told the staff that every single one of them (from security guard to the general manager) must not only be wild life enthusiasts but “tour guides”. They must learn about animals, fauna and flora, the whole nine yards.

For the concept I used a small child with Hotel staff where photographs of different staff members pointing out to the wonder of the wild around to this little child were used. There were frequent visitors to the Hotel – a lone Elephant, a Wild Boar, a Rabbit, who sneaked in to the outer sections of the Hotel. The copy was written in poetic style to bring out highly charged emotions. The idea that is was a safe location was conveyed. The luxury of the hotel that was amidst of a jungle was made obvious through carefully planned and art directed photography.

I worked on the outdoor branding as well. I supported the marketing manager to build databases and carried out direct marketing campaigns supported with PR articles in local newspapers and offshore travel magazines. Couple of years later, when the owner was negotiating a price to sell this hotel to one of the key conglomerates in the country, he got the price he wanted because of the brand equity we had built. One of the greatest compliments came from a rival advertising agency who worked with the new owner. “We wish we came up with an idea like that” they told me.

I had just started my communications consultancy. Just my wife and I and that’s what made Avanke` in those early years. I got a break to work on a peace campaign for a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO). I constructed the team- translators, production crew, media placement agency… and that’s just about it. Once I presented the campaign idea, visuals (which were developed by my partner advertising agency based on our concepts) and TV story boards, I found that I had to also convince the donor organization. However they saw our passion and belief. “As surely as there would be a full moon on Poya day, Peace Will return to Sri Lanka” I said – And our entire campaign, Press, Radio and TV ads projected our faith in the human spirit.

Civil war had ravaged Sri Lanka for 24 years. But we believed.

I believed that our country would return to peace then.

I also believed in Avanke` that it would make a difference to our clients.