Consumers want and expect to be heard & responded too. – Megha Malik

“Every great design begins with an even better story.”

Like, the story of the Co-Founder & Brand Consultant of DesignerPeople – Megha Malik. Megha supports the futuristic brand presentation of DesignerPeople in tune with global trends. She is a go-getter woman with an amiable temperament. She is a multitasker wearing many hats including branding design, management, and the financials.

About DesignerPeople:

DesignerPeople is Delhi NCR based professional creative agency headed by a young team of most proactive designers since 1998. It has carved a niche in the field of brand development, advertising consultation, and innovative marketing presentations. In DigiTalks By Digiperform, we decided to get in touch with her to know more about her passion, work, and foundation of the company. Here is the transcript of the conversation we had with Megha. Have a look!

Digiperform: Who is Megha Malik? Briefly share about yourself, your hobbies, likes or dislikes, previous experiences…..etc.

Megha: Hi Digiperformers! First, I would like to thank Digiperform for giving me the opportunity. My entire team is thankful. Talking about me, I’m a Chartered Accountant by education and a Brand Consultant by choice at DesignerPeople.  My acute curiosity and observation about various stages of life, people and their surrounding always fascinate me.  This inspired me to go deeper and help others understand themselves in their business at a deep level so that they can communicate themselves effectively in such a busy world. My Hobbies: I love  – Travel and explore new places  – Playing with varying tones of color  – Meeting people to uncover their purpose and mission behind their business and positioning that in the foreground to build a deep emotional connection with their audiences.  That’s the short story of how I become a brand consultant.

Digiperform: Kindly share about your company – Designer People? What is the motto behind Designer People?

Megha: DesignerPeople is an integrated creative agency, specializing in brand development and packaging innovation for Food, FMCG and Cosmetics brands. 

We offer our clients the complete package, not just Design services, but naming, strategy, packaging shape, point of sale, marketing strategies, brand launches, trade show design, digital marketing, Online Presence – the list goes on. Phewww.. 😀 As we are aware, India is expected to turn one of the major economies with $5 trillion by 2025. Where SMEs in the country are making a significant contribution towards the economic goal and branding turns to be a need for them rather than a luxury.  Our motto is to give grounded yet professional branding, packaging and digital marketing services to SME/MSME, which further helps them to stand with pride in the global market.

Digiperform: What is your typical day out as a founder of Designer People?

Megha: Hmm! Honestly speaking, a normal day out for me is meeting clients and addressing some common misconceptions about branding that I feel is useful to educate my clients.  One of many is people think that logo is the brand or they need just fancy packaging. This is not going to cure your root problem.  Entrepreneurs need to understand that a beautiful packaging solves some of the issues but not all branding problems.  And, people might think “After I have my logo created, I have a great brand and brand strategy”.  This is completely a misconception. People think that branding and marketing are the same. They get confused with both.  A great marketing campaign may help you on the first steps and get people to purchase the product or service right away, but the brand defines whether you’ll be buying the product for the rest of your life. My second phase, is building an excellent work relationship with creative staff and graphic designers where I express myself as a client and make them understand about our client in the market and how they want to communicate their brand values.

Digiperform: Knowing your high professional activity, how do you combine your agenda to fulfill the tasks as a creative head and entrepreneur?

Megha: I believe Entrepreneurs need 5 Ingredients to Succeed.

1. Time Management
2. Money Management
3. Stress Management
4. Faith 
5. Sales, Marketing and Networking Abilities

As I said, I’m a chartered accountant by education. My academic qualification teaches me the first 4 points where I learned how to manage time, money and stress.  Sales, marketing and networking abilities are more of communication skills and if one has an inclination towards these areas then you naturally practice and improve the communication skills. Also for sales, marketing, and networking abilities, I have supporting staff who work hard with me and understand all branding requirements. And, I’m very thankful for them.  

Digiperform: What makes Designer People – the Best Creative Design Company?

Megha: We are different! How? DesignerPeople doesn’t follow the conventional way of working where they ask for client requirements and start the design work.  We understand that market changes with time so does the end consumer.  We believe that within every organization, there is an unrealized branding potential, which is just waiting to get discovered.  As a catalyst, if we can transform any organization, then we can change people’s lives making the world a better place to live in.  We follow the transitional 5 phase success formula (I guess, My favorite number is 5 😀 ). Well, its:

1. One to one Discussion
2. Project Briefing
3. Brand Strategy
4. Design and Creativity
5. Launch and Review

We believe a good creative agency works for excellent results and also boost the company’s morale by just working productively together, and increase the company brand value.

Digiperform: How do you see advertising evolving in the future? What are the top three trends do you foresee for the coming year 2019?

Megha: I’m glad you asked! Advertising is more alive and interactive today than it’s ever been.  Traditional advertising is dying a slow, painful and very public death.  The reason is simple: Consumers want and expect to be heard and to be responded too. Unfortunately, traditional advertising doesn’t permit a two-way communication as well as the relationship, because it’s based on the premise of broadcast: the one-to-many paradigm.  Enter Social.  Now, consumers and advertisers can engage and share in a lively, interactive conversation that makes bi-directionality possible. In my opinion, the Top three trends do you foresee for the coming year 2019 1) Artificial Intelligence in Ads 2) Users’ Review of Advertisement  3)  Content is not King, Its Queen in Ads. 😀

Digiperform: Tell us something about your latest projects or any campaign you are running?

Megha: We are working on digital marketing campaigns for Rpure Spices – a product of  Brand MDH where we are doing the following activities for branding –

• YouTube video ads, 
• Social Media Postings, 
• Social Media Campaigning.

At present, we are working with the king of spices MDH for their advertising and digital marketing.  Company is celebrating 100 years of establishment and planning to upgrade packaging with new photo shot.

Digiperform: According to you, what are the various ingredients for successful advertising and marketing business?

Megha: Nowadays, brands need a direct connection with consumers and vice versa.  Moreover, customers want a relationship with brands who embrace their differences and understand their needs.  Three Ingredients which create magic in advertisings and marketing campaigns. 1- Simplicity: Simpler is generally better, and this applies to advertise too. 2- Relatable: When a consumer relates themselves to what ad is portraying, they connect with the brand.  3- Target Audience: Studying about your audience is a must- how they shop, and what they value, etc.

Digiperform: Any suggestion you would like to give to our readers and students?

Megha: I feel, the young generation is more focused on specialization in the tools or the course they are pursuing.  It is necessary to know about your surrounding and the peripherals aspects that could influence art.  When we are developing a story or branding, it requires specific sensibility towards what is going on around socially and environmentally, politically and more what is happening in the country and outside.  Youngsters today need to realize that the audience connects with designs and stories that are practical, real and relevant to the time.  If they do not have general knowledge it will be difficult to create a convincing design. They focus so much on their specialization that the ideas they give are no more holistic.  My Advice,  As a young designer or marketer, you first need to have a more general and holistic approach towards a project. The organic path would be specialization after generalization.  Read blogs and books to enhance knowledge instead of getting distracted with different media channels because readers are leaders

Digiperform:

Thanks, Megha for sharing your day-to-day activities and valuable input regarding advertising & marketing. It felt amazing discussing talking with you. We wish DesignerPeople a great success. For DesignerPeople at: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DesignerPeople/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/designerpeople/