Elevate Sri Lanka: Bringing Global Brand Thinking to the Local Stage
On the 11th and 12th of March, The Faculty of Brands brought one of the world's most respected brand strategists to Sri Lanka for two intensive days of learning that left its mark on the country's marketing and creative community.
Elevate Sri Lanka, a collaboration between The Faculty of Brands and The Alternative School, was led by Teodora Migdalovici, founder of The Alternative School's Creative MBA programme. With over two decades of international experience advising some of the world's most recognised brands including Coca-Cola, Google, Unilever and Vodafone, Tedi brought to Sri Lanka a framework built around one shared ambition, to help local talent compete confidently on a global stage without losing its cultural identity.
Held at Hilton Colombo Residence, the two day programme brought together brand managers, agency creatives and senior marketing professionals for an experience that went well beyond a conventional workshop. Across sessions on how to build award winning work, the power of culturally rooted ideas, kindful brands and how legacy brands can stay relevant to younger generations, participants were challenged to think differently about the work they do every day.
The response from participants captured the impact of the two days. Asela de Silva, Executive Creative Director at DC Group, described Tedi as "a life strategist" who "broke the wall between brands and normal life." Ikram Mohideen, Chief Strategy Officer at Shift Integrated, spoke of three key takeaways, inspiration, direction and the idea that winning an award is not a goal in itself but a process of elevating your country. Venuri Udawatta, Senior Manager of Branding and Communications at Union Assurance, noted that the content was highly relatable, not only for marketers, but for any brand builder.
Elevate Sri Lanka marked the beginning of an ongoing partnership between The Faculty of Brands and The Alternative School, bringing international expertise to Sri Lanka’s marketing and creative community on a continuing basis.