Dost Education Branding Workshop

As the organizer of the Dost Education branding workshop held in Delhi on 16th Feb and 17th Feb, 2023, I was thrilled to be a part of this exciting event. Not only was it my first time organizing a workshop of this scale, but it was also my first trip to Delhi and North India.

The workshop was hosted by Maria from General Mills, and the venue was the Indus Action office in Lajpat Nagar, Delhi. The two-day event was aimed at providing insights and strategies to improve brand messaging and positioning.

The experience was truly unforgettable, and I am eager to share my thoughts and insights about the event with you.

The two-day workshop was an excellent opportunity to learn about branding strategies and techniques and how to apply them to our respective organizations. It brought together a diverse group of professionals from various fields, including marketing, technology, content, and communications.

The host, Maria, was gracious and welcoming and ensured that everything ran smoothly throughout the two days. Her hospitality and warmth made the workshop more enjoyable and comfortable for all the attendees.

The workshop began with an overview of Dost Education's mission and vision, which is to empower parents and caregivers with the knowledge and tools they need to support their children's early childhood development. The organization provides an innovative mobile platform that delivers personalized early childhood education content to parents in low-income communities.

Maria then provided an in-depth analysis of branding and its significance for organizations. We learned that branding goes beyond creating a logo and a catchy slogan. It involves the creation of a unique identity that distinguishes an organization from its competitors and communicates its values and vision to its stakeholders.

We were introduced to the concept of a brand persona, which is the personality and character of a brand. We learned how to identify our organization's brand persona, which involves understanding our target audience, their values, and their needs. This information is crucial in creating a brand that resonates with our audience and inspires them to engage with our organization.

Throughout the workshop, we participated in various group activities and exercises that helped us apply newly learned concepts to Dost. We worked on creating brand personas, developing mission and vision statements, and creating a brand strategy that aligns with our organization's goals and values.

On Day 2 after the workshop was done I had a chance to experience Lotus Temple which is by far my favorite temple I have ever visited. I love the reason behind the temple, the calmness inside and the structure it has. I love the fact that it is called as a temple without any god inside which once again took me back thinking about myself. I meditated there for few minutes and exited with some positivity.

I had a good time with team mates where we shared lot of memories, personal love stories which were 💔 and some ghost stories 🤣 . We watched a whole movie at Aronee’s house thinking it was a ghost movie after seeing the trailer, we watched 60% of movie just by waiting for the ghost to enter but it was neither a thriller nor a ghost movie, but we completed it. There was some suspense kind of thing which we felt I guess 😂.

And coming back to the experiences that I had during the workshop,

One of the highlights was the opportunity to receive feedback on our branding strategies from Maria and our peers. Also we once more realized the need to work on the potential branding gaps we have. We were encouraged to be open-minded and receptive to constructive criticism, which helped us refine our strategies and identify areas for improvement.

The tech people/product team had a fortunate opportunity to have lunch with Scott - Maria's spouse and a techy who worked for multi billion dollar companies with their technologies to improve them - and discuss about the technology. I feel bad that I came late to the restaurant and could not sit with the team and Scott as it was crowded. However, I had good time sharing the table with Krishna and Shreeja.

Overall, the Dost Education branding workshop was an informative and engaging experience. It provided valuable insights into the importance of branding and how to develop a branding strategy that aligns with an organization's mission and vision. I left the workshop feeling inspired and equipped with the tools and knowledge to take Dost's branding to the next level.

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