Kestone Manages End-to-End Execution of the Debut Edition of Dell Designathon

by  EVENTFAQS Bureau Marketing | November 2, 2017 | News

Kestone Dell India

With the intent to encourage and enable generation of ideas for a better future, Dell EMC announced a 24-hour design challenge, Dell Designathon – Powered by Dell Precision. Through the initiative ten shortlisted teams in the cities of Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad brought to life their designs of a unique product or solution that can create a positive impact on the world in 2030 on Dell Precision Workstations with pre-loaded design software. The event was organised in Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Bengaluru and received a total of 102 participants across these cities.  

Dell Designation was a multi-level contest. First, the participants submitted short abstracts of their unique idea which were scrutinized by the jury and 10 teams were shortlisted for each city. These 10 teams were invited on site to create a 2D or 3D design of their idea on Dell Precision workstations using Adobe and Siemens design software. At the end of 24 hours, the teams presented their design in the form of a one-minute film or pdf document. While adjudging the winners, the jury focused on the concept and its originality, its relevance to the theme, translation of idea to design, the feasibility of the design and of course, the presentation skills of the team.

Based on the brief, Kestone did end to end conceptualizing, planning and execution of this first of its kind property for Dell in India - right from the theme, format of the event, bringing in endorsement and support from associations to putting together the right jury from the design fraternity to reflect the seriousness of the property and the rigour of selection. Kestone was also responsible for online and offline promotion and marketing of the event to generate registrations from organizations. Over 200 registrations resulted in around 80 abstracts being received from which 10 teams were selected per city.

Kestone also handled the demand generation, brand marketing and attracting the participants from primarily three industries - media & entertainment, manufacturing and architecture and construction along with one or two entries from design institutes. Kestone approached the India Design Council and Association of Designers in India and both of them supported the concept to ensure the best future design may win. ADI provided the panel of jury.

Talking about the execution, Indu Kannan, Associate Vice President, Kestone IMS remarked, “The brief from the client was just one word – Designathon and the objective was to highlight how Dell Precision workstations are meant for designers, with better parameters of speed, time and graphics score as compared to other brands. Our task started from giving form to this idea, working out the details, brainstorming with industry experts for hours to identify loopholes to finally create the framework and structure of the property. We also had to ensure that all stakeholders – Dell and our ISV partners – derived value from the event.”

She added, “We spent over 16 months right from planning to the execution stage. It required a great deal of commitment and conviction on our part to stick with the idea till the right opportunity presented itself in the guise of Dell EMC Forum. Overall our ultimate motto was to ensure that Designathon as a property delivered on its promise of amplifying brand recall for Precision, providing hands-on experience to users and creating a property for Dell that can be made global.”

Charlie Malkachen – Marketing Manager, Client Solutions Group, Dell EMC quoted, “Kestone has been supporting many crucial events for us but Designathon is a unique property for us and our first ever design challenge in India. And we timed it around our two-decade completion of Dell Precision laptops and wish to expand our reach to Indian customers with a unique appeal and theme. Kestone became our extended partner than just an event company and conceptualized, planned and executed the entire property from scratch helping us create a property to look up to every year that embodies the product while giving the designing fraternity a platform to reckon with.”