Brands of Desire shifts from branding to management & strategy consulting

Delhi-based brand consultancy Brands of Desire is undergoing a multifaceted transformation, both in terms of services and in terms of operations. The firm will open a new office in Gurgaon’s cyber city in August this year, and will reorient its offering to further incorporate strategy and management consulting. 

Brands of Desire (BoD) was founded in 2008  by former Investment Counselor at the Citi Group, Saurabh Uboweja. The firm was conceptualised as a strategy and brand consultancy, leveraging its innovative capabilities to generate valuable brands for its clients.

Therefore, BoD’s roster of services began with a distinct orientation towards branding services, such as brand assessment, support with rebranding, experience design, digital marketing and integrated marketing. Over the decade that it has been in operation, the firm has grown to operate in New Delhi and Mumbai with a combined ream of 40 professionals, serving clients across India as well as in Europe and the Middle East.

BoD has now decided to undergo a makeover in services, going in the opposite direction from most of the consulting industry. Across the globe, major accounting, advisory and consulting firms are expanding their operations to include digital-based creative marketing services.

In India, the digital marketing market is projected to skyrocket over the next few years, and a number of international firms have been quick to seize the opportunity. Professional services firm Grant Thornton opened a digital arm in India, and Big Four accounting and advisory firm Deloitte followed suit earlier this year.

Mirroring this trend, BoD has now rebranded to move from the creative digital sphere to further incorporate management & strategy consulting into its operations. Specifically, the three domains that the firm will now focus on are strategy consulting, implementation management and executions services.

The firm has a dual approach to bolstering its new service offerings. The first is increased investment in digital enhancement, focusing on building expertise in the data analytics, automation, and artificial intelligence domains. Secondly, BoD is building an internal research arm, which will publish market insights to inform its solutions.

Commenting on the shift, Uboweja said, “We admire the extraordinary work of global management consulting firms like Mckinsey, BCG, and Bain & Company and aspire to create a parallel of these iconic firms but deeply focused in the pursuit of building brands which is our core competency. Our clients want us to implement the strategy and recommendations we propose and handhold them on their journey to become a brand which often results in significant changes across all business functions including organization strategy, operations, human resources, finance, sales & marketing and customer support. The other important reason for the shift is that we often get perceived as a creative or brand design agency which is not central to our value proposition though it is a market leading capability today.”