By Our Staff
Public Relations agencies veterans Bela and N S Rajan have announced their retirement and exit from Ketchum Sampark, an agency they founded in 1994. After a hook-up around 2003 where both agencies chose to work with each other in India, in 2011, Omnicom-owned Ketchum bought majority stake in Sampark.
Post that, the Rajans continued running the agency, as they did before. With this announcement, the Rajans will exit Ketchum Sampark completely. Both Bela and NS Rajan declined to comment, but Ketchum issued a statement, which said:
“After more than 27 years building and leading one of the biggest public relations brands in India, Ketchum Sampark founders NS and Bela Rajan will retire in mid-September.
“As Rajan and Bela transition to retirement, Ketchum Sampark and Fleishman Hillard are establishing a collaborative services model in India that leverages the agencies’ individual strengths to provide clients with broader access to talent and expertise in India’s fast-changing environment.
“While the two agencies will continue to distinctly operate under their individual brands and will continue to service their clients and the marketplace through their respective core services, FleishmanHillard and Ketchum Sampark have created a combined India management committee comprised of seasoned leaders from both brands who will work together in concert to design the next chapter of growth ahead.”
Sampark was set up in 1994 by Bela Rajan, after a successful career in PR where she worked with Consilium, one of the country’s first communications consultancy firms. N S Rajan, on the other hand, moved out as Head of Communications at the Essar Group to join his wife in Sampark as Co-founder and Managing Director. Over the years, Sampark had built an enviable reputation in financial, corporate and crisis communications. Other areas have also grown in the decade and a half, but Rajan is clearly the go-to person for an understanding of how a crisis can be handled.
Rajan is on the Board of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) and is an active participant in their CCC and also the founder and majority stakeholder in SCoRe, the communications school.
What next for the Rajans? A close friend told us that they first plan to spend time with their children and their respective families in North America. There are plans to invest and associate with social sectors and mentor young talent.