Sify Technologies Limited recently completed 20 years on NASDAQ. To commemorate this milestone, Sify has unveiled a Coffee Table Book to narrate its Corporate Story and, interestingly, this book is styled to look like a Tintin comic.
An innovator and disruptor in the field of ICT, Sify is now emerging as one of India's best known evangelists of Digital Transformation.
Why a comic book? Traditionally, the regular communication tools in the B2B industry rely on case studies, electronic mailers, opt-in mailers, event touch points, conferences and the likes. The problem with such units is that all of them are either optional or secured/stopped by firewalls. Hence in recent years, open rates for mailers have fallen to drastic level. The objective of designing this comic book has been to create an unputdownable tool. One that will reminisce the past, be present in its context and display the capabilities for the future.
Let's flip through the pages – The book has been designed by Sify's in-house communication's team and executed in Tintin comic style. The book tells the story of a group of kids who are led by a guide on a trek. The book is a metaphor – the kids for the employees, the milestones for the projects, the trek for the journey and the guide for the leader. Every instance of the story is logical and tied into a problem, which mirrors a business problem, solution or benefit. The emotional maturity of the kids mirrors the balance in a multi-cultural environment like Sify.
The book has been hand-drawn by a team of 4 illustrators and 2 colorists over a period of 6 months. The book has been printed using a special printing process called metallic ironing. The book is already in its second reprint.
M P Vijay Kumar, CFO, Sify Technologies said, "We are pleasantly surprised with the reaction to our Coffee Table Book. Both clients and investors have sought to understand the motive behind the effort. The book has succeeded in attracting attention and provoking questions from both clients and investors. The idea was to stitch a cohesive narrative that tied all client projects into one read-worthy adventure. The challenge was telling the story interestingly and making a long-term impact."
Commenting on the uniqueness of this coffee table book, Praveen Krishna – Head Communications, Sify Technologies said, "By going old school, we were assured of a physical touch point with our audience. We have deliberately made the book larger than the standard A4 format for it to stand out; this itself became a conversation starter. When the stakeholders flip the pages expecting to find client stories, they are pleasantly surprised to see a comic book, where client projects are intelligently sewn into the narrative of the story. Investors typically have a confusing mountain of information to sift from. It is heartening to know that our risk taking on the coffee table book was met with overwhelming approval."
