MxMIndia

Category: PR ETC

  • I hope each of us will be embrace it with passion and make it our individual war cry and code, writes Amith Prabhu on a manifesto for communications professionals

    Amith Prabhu: The Pirate’s Manifesto

    By Amith Prabhu

     

    Thanks to Tushar Panchal, a fellow traveler in the profession I discovered this fascinating manifesto on an interesting website last weekend. I thought it was worth dedicating an entire column to this cause. And letting the wider world know of this endeavor.

     

    The manifesto starts with a war cry – “It is time to declare a war. A war on the empty message”. I reproduce from www.pirate.pr.co below:

    This is a call to arms for all communication professionals against messaging sans-substance. Against the lame PR we are requested to perform. To oppose spin-doctoring and to loathe spamming. We be no lazy ones that send masses of meaningless buzz words. We stand against the fake bullshit that corporations ask us to swallow hook, line and sinker.

     

    We be heading back to the core. Back to communicating with a purpose and messaging with meaning. Back to hustling honestly to be heard through the noise. We will listen to customers, have a conversation. To be ourselves, to let our passions drive our communication and to take no hostages. Yet have the spine to admit when we be wrong. We care about our craft and will defend it to the death. That’s what our pirate hearts beat for: the truth behind the message. We be going back to real communication, to PR driven by a purpose.

     

    It then goes on to share eight steps to a meaningful message which it creatively calls the Code of Conduct for Pirates. A) Have a Purpose B) Make a Plan C) Focus on Resonance D) catch the Current E) Be Real F) Cover all Bases G) Start a Conversation and H) Collaborate

     

    I found this one of the coolest thing for PR professionals in a long time. I hope each of us will be embrace it with passion and make it our individual war cry and code. The world of PR would be a better place.

     

  • The Sudheendra Kulkarni episode and the launch of Piyush Pandey’s memoirs are events from last week that that Public Relations is about common sense, clear purpose and creating stories, comments Amith Prabhu

    Amith Prabhu: Public Relations learnings from the week that was

    By Amith Prabhu

     

    Two stories that have a direct connection to Public Relations. Both from Mumbai and both from last week. It goes to show that Public Relations is about common sense, clear purpose and creating stories.

     

    No one would have missed online images and the same being displayed on news television and newspapers the next day of a man in black. Sudheendra Kulkarni was smeared with black paint by protesting Shiv Sena activists before the book launch he was organising of the former Pakistan foreign minister. He used the incident to his advantage by calling a press conference and remaining in the same way without cleaning the muck on his face.

     

    He knew that there was merit in going in front of cameras and making a point. The book may not have sold more copies but people who did not know Sudheendra Kulkarni and Kasuri’s book were aware of both. The Shiv Sena helped the book get undue publicity.

     

    Talking of books, I was in Mumbai for the book launch of Pandeymonium which has Anant Rangaswami as its curator. The book was released by Amitabh Bachchan in the presence of over a thousand guests including Sachin Tendulkar. I watched in admiration as the hour-long programme progressed.

     

    Admiration for how an ordinary man called Piyush Pandey became an institution over the last 30 years and has used it to the advantage of the profession of advertising. The Public Relations machinery that has created a demi-God status of this Advertising Guru is certainly well thought out. There is so much to learn from Piyush and the book is a great read for those in Public Relations because ultimately both crafts tell stories and build brands.

     

    Both these gentlemen who are subject of my column can teach Public Relations professionals a lot of lessons. Three that stand out are:

    a) Timing is everything – if Piyush wrote the book five years ago or five years later, it may not have made as big an impact as it is doing a year after he helped in the marketing of Narendra Modi. Similarly, had Sudheendra cleaned himself up there would have been no media output of the magnitude we saw?

     

    b) Storytelling is key – Pandey’s book is full of stories told in a simple and interesting way. Kulkarni also told a story through the image, a story of intolerance that is gripping the country.

     

    c) Building an image and then using it to stand up for something – in Piyush Pandey’s case he has brought greater respect to the profession. In Sudheendra Kulkarni’s case he gave free speech a new meaning by going ahead with the launch.

     

    Amith Prabhu is a PR practitioner-turned-trainer based in Gurgaon.  He also heads a recently set up school for PR and corporate communications education and skill development. PR, etc appears every Monday on MxMIndia. The views expressed here are his own.

     

  • Amith Prabhu on how one can apply the three elements of newness, sweetness and togetherness to our lives as Public Relations professionals

    Amith Prabhu: What can our Festivals teach us?

    By Amith Prabhu

     

    We are at the fag end of the year. It is festival time. We are in the week between two of the most celebrated festivals. There are holidays galore. What do these festivals teach those of us in Public Relations? Dassera is the festival where the triumph of good over evil is celebrated and Diwali is the celebration of victory of light over darkness.

     

    They almost signify the same thing and are usually celebrated a few days apart. The logistics aside there are few things that stand out in these festivals. First, newness – new clothes, newly done up houses, new start to the calendar and new reasons to get together. Second, is an exchange of sweets to mark celebration and third is coming together of families and friends to have a good time.

     

    How do we apply these three elements of newness, sweetness and togetherness to our lives as Public Relations professionals? Newness is about innovation. About bringing freshness into the things we do for the organisations and brands we work on. Sweetness is in how we make our work stand out to bring a smile to the end consumer – our clients’ customer and Togetherness is about how we use our various networks to deliver the best thinking to the product and service we ideate on.

     

    There are a few young professionals who are trying to do this all the time. Before the year end I will try and feature 15 of them. If you think you are one of them or know someone who constantly tries to innovate, stand out and bring people together please let me know.

     

    The question that I keep asking is that why are there very few among us who innovate, or stick our neck out or do things to make a difference to our profession? Is there a lack of encouragement? Is there an inherent absence of inertia? Or is it just lack of interest and desire to the new like we would do during the festival time? Why cannot we carry the festival spirit to our professional world?

     

    I have interacted with more public relations professionals in 2015 than I have in the previous years. I have met with people across multiple organisations and across all levels. I still can’t think of more than a handful who write a regular blog on the profession. I cannot think of more than two who are outstanding public speakers. I cannot think of more than the usual pioneers who can be role models beyond the four walls of their organisation. I don’t think there is dearth of talent. I feel it is just the absence of a spirit to go out there and showcase the newness, the sweetness and the togetherness beyond that rare annual occasion.

     

    I hope this Diwali marks a period of fresh thinking and renewed vigour for the professional community in the country. And we hope to see that in a couple of Cannes Lions coming home for the PR category next year. Until then, enjoy the celebrations and watch what you eat.

     

  • Honest communications is at the forefront of good public relations, writes Amith Prabhu

    Amith Prabhu: Why brands get it wrong?

    Amith Prabhu

    By Amith Prabhu

     

    I would not like this column to focus on brands that create problems. But I will break that rule to write about three brands that I have personally felt slighted by and share what I think they can do to get their Public Relations act together. Moreover, there is learning for other brands from these stories that can help them stay guarded.

     

    The brands that generally create disappointment among consumers are service brands. Generally, banks, airlines, hotels and the like. I’m going to write about three brands, what they did and what they could have done. I will also write about two brands that have gone out of the way to make amends and earned the respect of their customers.

     

    First, is an airline company for which I have had great respect because of the way the brand has been built in the last decade, for its impeccable service and for its overall brand imagery. I accumulated several thousand points by choosing this airline 8 out 14 times I flew from India to the US or vice versa. However, when it came to redeeming my miles for reward flights the airline played games to avoid giving me what was my right because of what they claimed was an error at their end. The error still shows. The airline has lost a loyal customer in the process.

     

    Next, is a hotel booking aggregator. I used the site to book 300 rooms couple of months ago. However, they messed up in their algorithms and oversold couple of properties forcing me to cancel some rooms leading to a loss of close to a lakh of rupees. They finally attempted to make amends by compensating me with one tenth of my losses and therefore letting me give them another chance.

     

    Lastly, a Gurgaon-based builder sold me an apartment with the euphoria that was not called for. However, a 20 month delay in handing over possession has literally been made to seem like nothing at all. In all these three instances lack of honest communication has been the cause of disappointment more than the monetary loss incurred. I am choosing not to name the brands as the intent is not to shame them but to share instances of how brands as larges at the airline or the builder do not give importance to communication to set right part of the damage they have done.

     

    On the other hand three brands that stand out for correcting mistakes at their end need to be saluted. The first is Disney and its Beauty and the Beast which got cancelled last Sunday due to a technical problem. The organisers not only assured ticket holders that their money would be refunded but offered to play the musical free of cost for them the following Sunday. Highly admirable.

     

    Uber on the other hand trusts its customers. Everytime a driver has inadvertently overcharged me or committed a fault of cancelling a ride Uber has taken steps of communicating with me that they will pull up the driver. Yes! Uber drivers sometimes ask that the toll be paid despite the brand offering cashless experience and then the toll gets charged on the account. Something the brands has refunded duly on being intimated.

     

    The difference between the first set of three brands and the second set of two is honest communication. It may not be a coincidence that the first set of three are Asian and the second set of two are American. All in all brands and their handlers in India need to learn that the power of public relations lies in honest communications.

     

  • Everything is not about learning at work, writes Amith Prabhu. From time to time one needs to take time off to learn with different people and from different people

    Amith Prabhu: A quest for higher education in Communications

    By Amith Prabhu

     

    What connects the following three communications professionals – Samir Kapur of Adfactors, Lavanya Wadgaonkar of Nissan Motors and Mukund Rajan of Tata Group? They are the three communications professionals in India that I know of, who hold a PhD degree and have Dr prefixed to their name.

     

    It makes one feel proud that in a community that is barely about 3000 people strong there are three who are Phds. What stops other communications professionals from pursuing higher studies and researching on a topic within the field ranging from mergers and acquisitions, employee engagement, ethics, corporate governance, community relations, crisis management and the like?

     

    Well, I can speak from experience that I chose to invest an entire month’s salary to spend on a short programme in marketing strategy at Harvard while I worked in the United States. Many other colleagues did that. But here in India that is not common. Earlier, the opportunities were few but now that opportunities have increased people do not avail them.

     

    I’m part of several Whatsapp groups that comprise the community of PR professionals. Barring one, which is definitely interesting most are shallow ponds of intellectual mockery. It is painful to read the discourse taking place on some of these. And what is even more alarming is there is no visible sight of anything being done to solve this problem which will plague the community in the near future.

     

    Even free education or deep discounted education has no takers at the highest levels, at times. Everything is not about learning at work. From time to time one needs to take time off to learn with different people and from different people. My column is about a hope I have. A hope that in the next five to seven years we will have at least 30 PhDs in India working in communications.

     

    This is not impossible. With new age universities emerging the possibility of pursuing higher education is optimum. Let’s consider taking up the pursuit of a doctorate seriously and aim to add renewed vigour to our profession.

     

  • The entertainment destination is grand and opulent but misses out on the small touches where Public Relations can come in, writes Amith Prabhu

    Amith Prabhu: The Kingdom of Dreams experience lacks good Public Relations

    By Amith Prabhu

     

    This column is about five things organisations can do build a reputation by focusing on the small things. A visit or life in Gurgaon is incomplete if one has not been to Kingdom of Dreams and watched one of its two shows or at least hung out at Culture Gully, its interesting food court with a difference. The entertainment destination is grand and opulent but misses out on the small touches where Public Relations can come in.

     

    I have been ensured that each of my house guests in the past year and there has been at least one family every quarter gets to watch a show at Nautanki Mahal. While the shows are great, the food is good and the entire experience is larger than life, there are those small things that this place misses out and it could be because of the environment it operates in.

     

    First, the online booking system is a sham. You book in a specific category that is within your budget but at the counter when you collect the tickets the show has been cancelled for absurd reasons and explained in a rude manner. Then tickets for another day are offered in a higher category because the ticket counter associate claims lower categories are not available making the customer believe that these are sold-out. But in reality the lower category tickets are not being sold to push higher category tickets.

     

    For members of the loyalty club programme there are other ordeals to deal with. Often, the card is upgraded to a higher class which in itself is a good thing but the card holder is not informed and he or she gets to know only at the time of a transaction and the entire process of reactivating a card takes at least half an hour, until which time no order can be taken, which means a longer wait to fill the stomach.

     

    Well, these are not just my experiences but those of several others who have gone through them. What can one learn from Public Relations to deal better with these scenarios?

     

    Firstly, transparency. Never fool customers. You can do it once or twice with few or many but not all the time. Secondly, customer is the reason of the existence for any business. Never be rude or arrogant with customers even if they are wrong. Third, a happy customer experience is a guarantee of loyalty. An unhappy experience offered to a customer is a road downhill. Fourth, honest communications is always key to success in the long term. Customers are humans and understand simple explanations. Fifth, never underestimate the power of activism and social media. These are the new ombudsman.

     

  • While I give credit to Anurag Batra for instituting these awards in 2010 and bringing up the 6th edition in style, it was sad to several stalwarts missing, writes Amith Prabhu

    Amith Prabhu: A perspective on PR awards

    By Amith Prabhu

     

    I was part of the audience at the oldest awards for Public Relations in India held at Gurgaon on Saturday night. While I give credit to Anurag Batra for instituting these awards in 2010 and bringing up the 6th edition in style, it was sad to several stalwarts missing. I am not privy to the reason for the absence of at least a dozen senior leaders but they missed an opportunity to inspire younger professionals.

     

    Some PR companies were conspicuous by their complete absence. I’m worried for future generations that there are less than half a dozen opportunities annually for the fraternity to interact with future managers and leaders. I also feel leaders of organisations may have reservations about certain events and therefore keep away.

     

    I’m hoping things get better. We are a unique family of professionals where almost all key players know each other on a first name basis. We need to work towards a better future. This maybe possible by also improving and increasing the awards options. Globally, ICCO has launched awards, there are the Cannes Lions, Sabre has been around for a while and now the global alliance is making inroads into the awards space.

     

    Awards should have a completely independent jury. One which does not participate in the awards. Award functions should be sponsored by entities that do not submit entries. The three divisions should be kept separate – those who submit, those who sponsor and those who judge.

     

    There are over 90 PR firms in three categories – large, medium and small. There are about 20, 30 and 40 firms respectively in each of these categories. Only about 8 to 10 participate. Further, only 10 to 15 attend the awards despite being held in the metros. I wish this changes. There is so much good work done by several of the 90 firms. I hope as time passes we become more inclusive and transparent in rewarding ourselves.

     

    PR, etc is a weekly column written by Amith Prabhu, a communications professional, Dean of communication school SCORE, founder of the Promise Foundation, Praxis and Engage. The views expressed here are his own.

     

  • In the first of a series of round-ups of highlights of the year that has been, Amith Prabhu list – in random order – people who made interesting career moves this year

    Amith Prabhu: 15 interesting moves in 2015

    By Amith Prabhu

     

    This month I kick off a four-part series – one each week, on professionals, books youth in PR and events to highlight fifteen of these as a tribute to 2015. First in the series is a round-up in random order of people who made interesting career moves

     

    a) Senjam Raj – Senjam is a pathbreaker. Few will know that he writes one of the longest running weekly column on a topic close to his and my heart – quizzing. He cut short his two-year sabbatical to take on the role of heading communications at Flipkart. Among the many things he has undertaken is Flipkart Stories.

     

    b) Pooja Sabharwal – Pooja moved from Genesis Burson Marsteller after a decade long stint to head communications at PayPal India

     

    c) Varghese Thomas – Varghese had a long career in two of the world’s better known technology brands. First at Cisco and later at BlackBerry. He moved from the latter to head global communications for homegrown TVS Group.

     

    d) Nandini Goswami – After close to three years at GSK Pharma, Nandini moved to Kellogg’s India as its first Director of Communications. A role that was managed by a senior nutritionist until recently.

     

    e) Amit Narayan – This was a prize catch. Edelman India hired Amit Narayan from Singapore Asia where he led external communications for the Vodafone Enterprise Group in Asia Pacific. This was followed by Vinod Moorthy being hired from H+K Startegies to lead the Tata mandate.

     

    f) Kavita Bhaskaran – Abbott India’s former Public Affairs Head moved to Ogilvy PR to fill the vacuum of leading the India unit.

     

    g) Atul Ahluwalia – Long time Weber Shandwick veteran moved on from the firm where he was India Vice Chairman.

     

    h) Poonam Kaul – Poonam spent close to ten years at Nokia India before moving to PepsiCo India as Pradeep Wadhwa takes on a larger regional role.

     

    i) Deepak Jolly – Talking about colas, Deepak moved internally to head a business unit after leading communications and public affairs at Coca-Cola India. This is a rare move. He was replaced by Ishteyaque Amjad who came in from Cargill in Singapore.

     

    j) Shubhamoy Das – Shubhamoy moved on from PayPal India in Chennai to take on the role of Communications Head at Deloitte in Gurgaon.

     

    k) Surajeet Dasgupta – This was the big journalism to consultancy move of the year. Surajeet was a National Corporate Editor at Business Standard where he spent over two decades before joining Ketchum Sampark as COO.

     

    l) Purnima Mohanty – Purnima Sahni Mohanty made the move from Samsung to head communications at DuPont India

     

    m) Sonali Madbhavi – Sonali was country head at Gutenberg Communications before she moved to client Quikr

     

    n) Devashish Dasgupta – Devashish moved from Yum Foods to head Public Affairs at SAB Miller.

     

    o) Zeenat Khan – Zeenat joined Housing Dot com from Apollo Hospitals and has dealt with all the changes at this start-up.

     

    Other notable moves included Paroma Roy Chowdhury from Google to Soft Bank and Chavi Leekha from Uber to Nokia.

     

  • A selection of 15 books that anyone in the business must read

    Amith Prabhu: 15 books to read for PR pros in the year ahead

    By Amith Prabhu

     

    As I was setting up a library at the Indian School of Communications and Reputation I spent considerable time researching the 100 must-have books in a library of a PR professional. We hope to make it the best library for a communicator. I have picked 15 books that anyone in the business must read:

    1. Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work and Think by Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Kenneth Cukier

     

    2. Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator by Ryan Holiday

     

    3. The Art of Seduction by Robert Greene

     

    4. Repositioning by Jack Trout

     

    5. The Father of Spin by Larry Tye

     

    6. Spin Sucks: How the Public Relations Industry Got Such a Bad Name and How You Can Fix It by Gini Dietrich

     

    7. Business and Community: The Story of Corporate Social Responsibility in India by Pushpa Sundar

     

    8. Public Relations in India: New Tasks and Responsibilities by J V Vilanilam

     

    9. Crystallizing Public Opinion by Edward L. Bernays

     

    10. Social Media Explained by Mark Schaefer

     

    11. Reputation Rules by Daniel Diermeier

     

    12. Trust me, PR is Dead by Robert Philips

     

    13. Building Reputational Capital: Strategies for Integrity and Fair Play that Improve the Bottom Line by Kevin Jackson

     

    14. Managing the Professional Service Firm by David Meister

     

    15. New rules of marketing and PR by David Merman Scott

     

  • Fifteen professionals whom I have either had the pleasure to work with or have heard of and are doing some amazing work within the organisation, writes Amith Prabhu

    Amith Prabhu: 15 young professionals who show promise

    By Amith Prabhu

     

    This column is about 15 professionals whom I have either had the pleasure to work with or have heard of and are doing some amazing work within the organisation they work or for the greater good of the larger public relations fraternity. They needed to be called out and I’m taking the liberty to do so. This list is in random order:

    Vivaan Gideon – Vivaan leads communications at VM Ware India in Bangalore and was one of the youngest communications heads of a major tech company in India when he took charge four years ago. He truly belongs to the first family of Indian PR with his wife, sister and brother in law all leading communications at some of the large tech brands.

     

    Bhuvaneshwari Joshi – While Bhuvi, as she is better known currently works at MSLGROUP in Bangalore, her Facebook community Media Movements which on last count had 31000 members. This is possibly the largest online grouping of media and communication professionals and a great service to the community.

     

    Vikram Kharvi – The Mumbai based founder of Vivkypedia, cleverly named after himself also has a day job at Adfactors. He successfully manages the Indian PR Forum, has written a book on PR and is one of the most influential young professionals based in Mumbai inspiring the next generation of Public Relations professionals

     

    Shubashish Bharukha – Delhi-based Shubashish is the man behind Journalist Storyboard which he is building as Media Central – a repository of databases on the media and in-house communications leads. He also runs a boutique PR consultancy, Springhead Communications with some marquee clients.

     

    Aakriti Bhargava – Aakriti is based in Gurgaon and runs an interestingly named PR firm, Boring Brands that works mostly with startups. She is now building a new offering targeted at business owners and communications professionals. Smartly branded Wizikey, this online tool is a great resource for tracking, analyzing and monitoring a keyword.

     

    Sandeep Rao – Sandeep who currently works at Gutenberg curates one of the most insightful and active whatsapp groups which is on its way to becoming an app. It is the one stop place for PR professionals and journalists to exchange insights in real time on media movements, coordinates and information. One Source is a force to reckon with.

     

    Parekhit Bhattacharjee – Parekhit is a member of Genesis BM’s Associate Learning Programme. He has risen through the ranks and leads Step-Up, a firm within the firm that targets startups. He was deputed to spend a few months in Beijing to help BM China set up a similar venture. His twitter following is admirable to say the least.

     

    Ruchica Tomar – Ruchica is the only PR professional in India who has a verified twitter handle. This former journalist is the new India communications lead for Uber. The cab hailing app has many challenges in India in the year ahead. Most challenges are regulatory and communications related in nature. How they will navigate through will be closely watched.

    While I’m not speculating about the age of the eight names mentioned above, the next seven are certainly under 30.

     

    Aniruddha Bhagwat – Aniruddha set up his own firm soon after graduating. He is building the Ideosphere group like a holding company with smaller group companies within. He was named young professional of the year at an awards night last year and works on several interesting mandates.

     

    Tejal Daftary – Tejal is partner at Criss Cross Communications. Another young firm led by young co-founders. After her initial training at Perfect Relations, Tejal set up her own consultancy at age 24 and is an Independent board director for Rodium Realty Limited since 2014. Now, we are talking business.

     

    Akshara Lalwani – Akshara is articulate and savvy. She set-up Communicate India five years ago when she was barely 23 which has grown to be a mid-sized firm in a short span. Her clients include Merck, Mindshare, Disney among others.

     

    Priyanka Bhatt – Priyanka is the lady behind Equations Media. After a stint with Text 100 the entrepreneural bug caught her that led to the setting up of her firm. She is one of the smarter young professionals I have met.

     

    Afshaad Kelawala – This man is possibly the youngest branch head of an established PR consultancy. As Mumbai head of PR Pundit Afshaad leads mandates for several of the lifestyle and luxury clients that the firm manages.

     

    Ancita Satija – Ancita is with Cohn & Wolfe Six Degrees and is a former Chartered accountant aspirant who moved to PR. She drives the weekly Social Pow Wow Chat on Twitter. Writes a regular blog – these are hard to come by these days and is a professional to watch out for.

     

    Neha Mohanty – Neha is the Head of PR & Communications for AirAsia in India, where her role includes Brand Building, Media Relations, Publicity, Social Media Marketing, Brand Awareness, Crisis Management and New Business Development. This is truly outstanding.

     

    Jai Kewalramani – Jai makes it to the list for possibly being the only second generation professional (in a long time) of one of the Top 5 firms who has followed in his father’s footsteps at Perfect Relations. It will be interesting to see how the succession planning at this iconic firm pans out.

     

  • In the last year of his yearenders, Amith Prabhu lists 15 key developments in the world of public relations in India and the world

    Amith Prabhu: 15 events in World and Indian PR

    By Amith Prabhu

     

    1. New CEO for MSLGROUP – MSLGROUP became the first of the big five firms to bring in a global CEO from a rival firm in recent times by snapping Fleishman’s Guillaume Herbette, a French man.

     

    2. New CEO for Fleishman – A few weeks later Fleishman announced that Dave Senay was retiring and his successor would be John Saunders who until recently headed the firm’s EMEA region.

     

    3. Stagwell Group created – A new holding company was created by former BM global boss Mark Penn. The LLC is named in memory of 17th Century Maryland landowner, Thomas Stagwell. I’m sure it has its eyes set on India.

     

    4. Cannes PR Lions – The Cannes PR Lions continued in the same old way where an ad agency work got the top spot. Like last year, there was the involvement of the PR firm as well. But there has been no PR Lion Grand Prix that was won by a PR firm on its own.

     

    5. Adfactors PR is a Top 100 firm – Adfactors broke into the Top 100 PR firm list as per The Holmes Report ranking becoming the only South Asian firm to make it to the coveted list. It was a big year of award wins for this 18-year-old company.

     

    6. Prema Sagar is promoted – This was a first. PRema has held the designation of Principal and Founder for 22 years. This year an addituional title of Vice Chair – Asia Pacific got added, thus making her the only Indian who reports directly to the Global CEO of a Top 10 firm.

     

    7. Cohn & Wolfe acquires Six Degrees – One of the smartest of the new age firms in India was acquired by WPP company Cohn & Wolfe. Rishi Seth and Zacharia James will co-lead the new entity.

     

    8. Astrum is launched – Ashwani Singla snapped decade long ties with WPP Group to create his own firm. Astrum is the name of the brightest star. He also runs a separate entity that manages communications for India’s largest conglomerate.

     

    9. Pitchfork Partners is launched – Sunil Gautam and Jaideep Shergill continued their 15-year young partnership by stepping out of the firm they founded and sold to create Pitchfork Partners.

     

    10. Volkswagen fiasco – The Environmental Protection Agency revealed that the German automaker had covertly installed a “defeat device” that switched on during emissions tests, making the vehicles appear low-emission. Can’t get worse.

     

    11. Maggi recall – Nestle India had its worst year ever when food laboratory tests found seven times the legal levels of lead in its flagship brand. All hell broke loose. The rest is history. Maggi is back on the shop shelves now.

     

    12. First global conference on PR in Emerging Economies – Public Relations Society of Kenya hosted the first world conference on PR in emerging economies in Nairobi in November with the support of the Global Alliance.

     

    13. Tiny Indian firms make big waves at SABRES – Two Indian firms Spag Asia and Advantage Media made waves at Miami during the Global Sabres by winning the best new consultancy and a Top 40 campaign award respectively.

     

    14. SCoRe is launched – India’s first school of Public Relations was launched with an angel investor on board. The school describes itself as the world’s smallest start-up. It is set-up in Gurgaon with plans to expand to Mumbai.

     

    15. PRAXIS 2015 is India’s biggest gathering of PR professionals – The fourth edition that took place in Mysore in September is arguably the largest gathering of PR professionals in India with all the Top 20 firms in attendance.

     

    With this, we bid adieu to 2015. See you in 2016 with a list of 16 Indian professionals to watch out for in the year ahead.

     

    Amith Prabhu’s column on PR appears every Monday. The views expressed here are his own. Prabhu is associated with Praxis, SCoRe and was invited to speak at the Nairobi conference

     

  • Amith Prabhu lists the professionals to watch out for in the year ahead.., all achievers in their own right

    Amith Prabhu: 16 people to watch out in 2016 in Indian Public Relations

    By Amith Prabhu

     

    This list has an equal number of men and women in senior leadership roles in no particular order. These are professionals to watch out for in the year ahead. They are achievers in their own right.

     

    a) Sonia Dhawan – Sonia heads communications at Paytm which is making waves for all the right reasons. Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharms is in the news. How they manage 2016 will be interesting.

    b) Farheen Akhtar – As head of Public Relations at Snapdeal, Farheen has to manage the brand and its co-founders who are poster boys. Given the recent controversy around their brand ambassador, it will be a year to watch out.

    c) Anand Subramanian – As one of the younger communications heads, Anand has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders. The business Ola is in is prone to issues – both with consumers and regulatory authorities.

    d) Omgita Awasthi – Omgita’s unique designation as Head of Founders Communications at Inmobi puts her in a unique position at this startup which is one of the few unicorns that is profitable.

    e) Naina Parnaik – The recent troubles at this Unicorn have had a direct impact on Naina with laid off employees making references to her. Having a social media savvy boss at Zomato may be helpful when crisis hits.

    f) Karun Arya – As Uber’s corporate communications head for South Asia. Karun will play an important role as the world’s largest Unicorn makes inroads into more cities in the sub-continent.

    g) Ishteyaque Amjad – Ishteyaque replaces Deepak Jolly who was promoted to a business role at Coca Cola India. Moving from Cargill in Singapore is indeed an interesting transition for this former Indian Army Captain.

    h) Sarah Gideon – Sarah heads communications at IT bellwether Infosys and has managed the communications around the leadership transition in the past year very well. She comes from the first family of Indian Public Relations.

    i) Pradeep Wadhwa – Pradeep moves into a regional role at PepsiCo with a remit that includes several countries. Having spent over five years heading communications for the Indian operation at the cola major he has his role cut out.

    j) Meenu Handa – Meenu moves on from Amazon India to Google India less than three years after she joined the ecommerce major as its first communications head in India. Google India has made a smart choice.

    k) Rachana Panda – The Chief Communication Officer and Citizenship Leader, GE India is a cool designation to have. In this role she is part of the leadership at this conglomerate which has always been bullish on India.

    l) Gayatri Rath – Microsoft India’s Director of Communications and Citizenship has her hands full given the global CEO is of Indian origin and makes frequent trips to India. The brand has a great reputation in India.

    m) Vinod Moorthy – the only consultancy-based professional to feature in this list. Vinod made an interesting transition of 2015 by moving to Rediffusion Edelman as its leader. This unit manages public relations for all Tata companies in India.

    n) Pradeep Rajasekharan – Pradeep is one of the few India based professionals who looks at communications in three continents at Franklin Templeton. His stint at Brunswick London and Dubai certainly adds value to his role.

    o) Anthony Rose – Antony is not in active communications any longer after moving on from Walmart Asia Pacific late last year. He is building an enterprise focused on people and events that seems like a force to reckon with

    p) Subhamoy Das – Subhamoy is one of India’s veteran bloggers with two successful blogs to his credit. This former journalist is back at Deloitte India as head of brand and communications.