Mudra to take intellectual revenge with Water

The communications agency has forayed into brand strategy and design to help brands grow and craft a distinctive identity

Mudra has opened a new chapter in its creative shop, Water Consulting, which is a brand strategy and design consultancy.

While addressing the press, Madhukar Kamath, managing director and chief executive officer, Mudra Group, said that Water aims to empower its clients to build competitive advantages. The outfit will be headed by Ashish Mishra, who will be business head and chief strategist. "We have been working on this for the past seven months and have put together a great team," said Kamath.

Mishra has spent the last 14 years at Mudra. He was vice-president, strategic planning, before being assigned a position at Water. As a brand strategy expert and an Interbrand India consultant, Mishra was part of the Godrej rebranding project.

Mudra to take intellectual revenge with Water

Mishra explained the idea behind the name, Water: "Water endeavours to be a resource pool that will be one of its kind." He emphasised that it was necessary to establish creative unity, so that a brand expression could be created.

Water aims to provide the expertise to build iconic brands. Thus, the basic constituent of Water is Culture Analysis, which believes that all iconic brands are brands that operate at a cultural level. Mishra explained that by learning about the cultural imprints and tensions of the past, one could create certain myths and notions that would resolve these conflicts, thus creating a solid brand strategy.

Madhukar Kamath

Ashish Mishra

As a design and brand strategy company, Water will be involved with identity design, engagement and environment design. Identity design would include logo, tone of voice, image and visual style, packaging and more. Engagement would involve processes, internal communications and more. Environment design would include retail, zoning, material, furniture, lighting, sonic design and more.

Pradeep Debnath, designer, Water, who was earlier part of Mudra and has worked on the design aspect for the past two years, says to afaqs!, "Naming, which is massive in the West, will soon gain a good footing in India. And Water is looking forward to doing some work in naming."

With Water, Mudra will also relaunch its newsletter, CultureSign, a business forecasting tool.

As of now, Water has consciously and carefully strived to create an iconic brand for itself, through its own offering. Very soon, it will announce the other work that it has carried out.

The team at Water includes Utpal Barve as senior designer, Harpavan Singh as designer and Rohitash Srivastava as strategist.

Water has been launched nationally from Mumbai. It will be independent of Mudra's roster of clients.

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