India’s Most Admirable Brands: The Brands That Have Moved Beyond Marketing

The era of mere marketing is over. The brands that are able to tell a story – thrive. India’s most admirable brand is the celebration of brand stories for companies that are driving innovation, making an impact and creating an image.

Seth Godin has rightly said, “Marketing is no longer about the stuff you make but about the stories you tell.”

Telling an authentic Brand Story is the only way companies can reach their customers, share their message across, and stand out in this noisy world.

“Limelight is a special television programming by The Brand Story with an aim to provide an ideal platform to every brand and leader and ensure the most exclusive, interesting and effective storyboard for their achievements over the years. The Brand Story recently released its brand-new episode of Limelight featuring India’s Most Admirable Brands 2019 on NDTV Profit.

The episode showcases four brands that have been the frontrunners in their industry and the torchbearers for innovation and impact for other industry players.

With a mix of eclectic and handpicked brands in segments ranging from the FMCG to Fashion and Art Education, and BFSI to mobility technology, the brands featured and felicitated as India’s Most Admirable Brands are Apis India Limited (FMCG), IndiaFirst Life Insurance (BFSI), Schindler India Private Limited (Elevator and Mobility Technology), and Vogue Institute of Art and Design (Education and Training).

Apis India started in 1924, is a professionally managed FMCG brand that has grown robustly to become the leader in the field of organized Honey trade in India. With state of the art processing and packaging units spread over 7 acres in the heart of Northern India, Roorkee, Apis India also boasts a world-class quality testing lab to meet international standards of Quality.

Apis India’s product offerings include Honey and its value-added range, jams, preserves, tea, pickles and premium dates, macaroni and hummus.

Under the able leadership of Mr. Amit Anand, MD & Mr. Pankaj Mishra, CEO, Apis has grown from being a honey retailer to a renowned FMCG brand in India, with a wide distribution network of over 2.4 lac retail outlets including supermarkets & ecommerce store like MORE, D-Mart, Amazon, Flipkart, Big Basket and Milk Basket.

As shared by Mr. Amit Anand, MD – Apis India Ltd., and the third generation of the founding family at company helm; Apis India draws its strength from an unwavering focus on product innovation like industry-first blended honey variants like lychee honey, sitopaladi honey and relentless drive towards people development practices rooted in compassionate leadership and culture of listening.

IndiaFirst Life Insurance was started with the goal of making insurance easily available to every Indian household keeping in mind the customer-first policy in all its business activities India First Life Insurance has come a long way since its inception in 2009. With founding partners like Bank of Baroda, Andhra Bank (now, Union Bank of India), IndiaFirst Life is also backed by investments from Carmel Point Investment Ltd. (Mauritius). With 31 need-based products, IndiaFirst Life has become one of the fastest-growing insurance companies in the country, with a 5-year CAGR of 40%. Though being the latest entrant in the BFSI sector, IndiaFirst Life has consistently emerged as one of India’s Best Places to Work in the BFSI sector.

With the company vision ‘Securing life Creating Value’ Ms. R. M. Vishakha, MD, & CEO & Mr. Rushabh Gandhi, Deputy Chief Executive Officer are proud of their Customer-first focus, and an organization-wide culture of people and technological innovation.

In words of Ms. Vishakha RM, MD & CEO, IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company Limited, “As an organization, our endeavour has always been to do what is right by the customer. IndiaFirst Life has embraced diversity and is fuelled by innovation. As active proponents of digitalised and automated processes, we have far surpassed our goals of tech-based interventions for optimal cost and operational efficiencies. During this unparallel journey of placing our ‘CustomerFirst’, to be recognized as India’s Most Admirable Brand is truly a validation of our effort and commitment.”

In addition, Rushabh Gandhi, Deputy CEO, IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company Limited, shared that, “We are thrilled to be recognized as India’s Most Admirable Brand by The Brand Story. The recognition is a testament to the commitment of our organisation to our core philosophy of ‘CustomerFirst’. As a brand, IndiaFirst Life simply decided to, ‘Talk Life, Not death’. Our proposition ‘Because Life is Full of Certainties’, is what sets us apart in a category that plays on uncertainty and fear. This recognition reinforces our belief that we are ‘certainly’ on the right path.”

Vogue Institute Of Art & Design has emerged as an institute known for its unmatched contribution to the field of Art and Design education and training in India, under the able leadership of Dr. M. M. Kariappa, Founder and Chairman. Since its inception in 1996, Vogue has emerged as one of the highly-rated art and design institutes with the highest number of AICTE recognized courses in the region. Situated in the elite apparel hub of Karnataka Government in Bengaluru, Vogue boasts an unparalleled industry exposure for its students and is the first in South India to launch courses like Jewellery Designing, Gemology and Diamond Grading.

Vogue has associations with industry leaders, leading designers, and acclaimed academics, which makes Vogue adopt the best industry practices and offers courses valued by the Industry, and takes credit for bringing in Lectra Software from France to be a part of its computer-aided designing curriculum.

With foreign university collaborations, industry visits, world-class faculty, and highly equipped international standard design laboratories for Textile, Pattern Making, Jewellery Making and Sewing. Vogue has also launched a post-graduation course in business management through DKS Business School to strengthen its reputation as the most preferred school for companies looking for design and managerial talent for the fashion and design industry.

Dr. M. M. Kariappa, Founder and Chairman at Vogue Institute of Art and Design stated, “It gives me immense pleasure in accepting the award from The Brand Story in recognition of our unmatched contribution in the field of design education. While it motivates us, it further strengthens our commitment to the field of design education. We are grateful to The Brand Story for coming forward with this initiative and recognizing our contribution.”

Schindler India Private Limited is synonymous with being a leading global provider of elevators, escalators and urban mobility solutions moving around 1.5 billion people/day. It’s innovative and environmentally-friendly access and transit-management systems make an important contribution to mobility in urban societies. With safe, and user-centric designs, under the leadership of Mr. Ashok Ramachandran (President and CEO), Schindler India has emerged as a most preferred partner for builders and major developers.

What sets Schindler India apart is its relentless focus on technological and service innovation. Some of the industry-first practices that Schindler has pioneered in includes introduction of MRL technology, aesthetically pleasing touch glass control panels, (Internet of Elevators and Escalators) IoT, Robotic installation, sustainable manufacturing practices (use of recyclable materials and solar energy in manufacturing) and the Schindler University (a state of the art training facility in Pune, Chakan) providing the most skilled project manager and engineers to execute elevators & escalators installations in record time while ensuring safety and efficiency at the highest level.

As shared by Mr. Ashok Ramachandran, Schindler draws its strength from its 5-Pillar Value system Safety, Quality, Creating value for customers, Integrity and Commitment to people development. Schindler India is also the first multinational company in the industry to have both the elevator & escalator manufacturing facilities in India. Both the manufacturing facilities along with the Corporate R&D centre are aimed at further advancing and establishing Schindler’s technological and manufacturing capabilities to serve the growing market of India.

Schindler India is a 100% owned subsidiary of Schindler Group. Founded in Switzerland in 1874, the Schindler Group is a leading global provider of elevators, escalators and related services. Its innovative and environmentally-friendly access and transit-management systems make an important contribution to mobility in urban societies. Behind the company’s success are over 60,000 employees in more than 100 countries with service presence across 50 major cities which include our 14 branch offices in the country and is head-quartered in Mumbai

The Brand Story feels privileged to bring forth the stories of the brands that have redefined how image, impact, and innovation can take brands to another level of recognition, customer preference and affiliation. Mr. Abhay Kaushik, Director and Editor-in-Chief shares that the idea behind starting ‘The Brand Story’ was to fill the gap brands face in sharing the stories that define them and makes them unique. Thus, helping brands celebrate their stories by providing them with media and event solutions.