Santosh Desai picks up 30 per cent stake in DY Works

Future Brands holds 60 per cent stake in the brand strategy and design firm, which Alpana Parida continues to lead.

Eminent brand consultant, managing director and chief executive officer, Future Brands, Santosh Desai, has picked up a 30 per cent stake in brand strategy and design firm DY Works. Desai picked up the remaining stake from the erstwhile promoter of DY Works, Sanjeev Malhotra of Alia Group. In 2009 Future Brands, helmed by Desai, picked up the majority stake in DY Works.

The controlling 65 per cent stake in DY Works will remain with Future Brands, which bought it in 2009 from Malhotra. Moreover, Alpana Parida, who heads the company, holds the remaining 5 per cent stake.

Speaking on the occasion, Parida, president, DY Works, said, "We'll be looking for future synergies between the work Future Brands is doing and design work DY Works does. Given Santosh's in-depth knowledge and wide experience, we are confident of building synergies through culture-based design and rural-focused brand amplification strategies. We'll be working together on some projects. We'll be focusing much more and building design for India in product innovation and creating brands which are more India-specific."

Adds Desai, "The synergy between strategy and design is relevant. DY Works encodes solutions through design, thereby creating designs that impact market shares and brand valuation. Additionally, an approach embedded in culture is common to us as well. For brands to succeed in India - we need an understanding of the Indian cultural context, of dimly lit kirana stores and changes in consumer mindsets."

Parida believes that understanding India is the key to building successful brands - and that building strong brands should not simply be an outcome of how large your advertising spends are. Understanding the deeper belief systems of Indian consumers, the retail environment and the shopper experiences at kirana stores, the understanding of why some products and brands are adopted in inner India and why some are not. Using that understanding to create solutions that grow market shares is what makes this firm unique.

DY Works has grown almost three-fold in the last six years and has corporate, consumer and SME practices with offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru. The firm also focuses on the rural market and is currently undertaking an extensive rural research to understand the emerging consumer - new behaviours and beliefs in over 150 villages.

DY Works claims to be the largest brand strategy and design firm in India. It was founded in 1997 as DMA Branding and later merged with Yellow design as DY Works. DY Works has a prestigious clutch of clients like Mahindra, L&T, ITC, Marico, Godrej, PepsiCo and many others.