Empowering the journey of budding marketers with exclusive opportunities to create and strengthen their brands, Sri Lanka’s leading private sector bank HNB PLC, supported the recently concluded SLIM Brand Week 2023 as the official banking partner.
Organised by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM), the three-day symposium explored the future of brands, commerce and emerging technologies with international marketers and offered comprehensive insights into the nuances of marketing and branding in a globally challenging and changing era.
“SLIM Brand week is an opportunity for us to support the Sri Lankan marketing fraternity by empowering them to enhance their capabilities with insights from successful brand ambassadors and strategists. Given the competitive nature of the industry, we are grateful to have had the opportunity to extend an invitation to select members of our school savings unit to be a part of this unique experience,” HNB Head of Marketing Upul Adikari said.
The exclusive line of international speakers included Ogilvy & Mathers Vice Chairman Rory Sutherland, Sonam Wangchuck, who inspired the 03 idiot’s movie and Deloitte India Director Moumita Sarker, Twinery – Femtech CEO Maria Pilar alongside a host of local speakers.
The special segment organized for school students had an exciting line up of local speakers such as musicians Bathiya & Santhush, over speaking on the brand building for the youth, alongside Ideator, Entrepreneur and Cyclist Yasas Hewage who shared his experiences on crafting a brand marketing mindset in the new age. Moreover, SLIM supported the marketing ambitions of selected students at the session by granting full scholarships for their educational programmes.
The symposium was a content-rich forum where a diverse pool of international and local speakers congregated to share knowledge and break boundaries to create successful branding strategies through data and insight-driven approaches. Participants were privy to fresh content and discussions on the hottest topics in the marketing and branding arena.
“The event was a stepping stone to network, share experiences and band together to achieve collective and individual goals in the marketing industry effectively. We thank HNB for their invaluable support as the Official Banking Partner. With their keen interest and support, we were able to strengthen our bond with industry stakeholders further,” SLIM Brand Week 2023 Project Chairman Asanka Perera said.
Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing is the national body for marketing in Sri Lanka. Its workshops and training programs are conducted by industry experts and significantly improve the employees’ overall productivity by enhancing skills to meet organisations’ present and future needs.
With 256 customer centres, HNB is one of Sri Lanka’s largest, most technologically innovative private banks. Consolidating its legacy in sustainability, good governance and corporate excellence, HNB was crowned the Best Corporate Citizen for 2022 at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Best Corporate Citizen Awards. The bank further secured four additional accolades, including being among the Top 10 Best Corporate Citizens and taking home the Governance category and Sustainability Champion for the Finance sector titles.
Similarly, HNB was ranked among the World Top 1,000 Banks list compiled by the prestigious UK-based Banker Magazine for the sixth consecutive year in 2022, in addition to being crowned the Best Retail Bank in Sri Lanka for the 12th occasion at the prestigious International Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards 2022 hosted by the Asian Banker Magazine.