MxMIndia

Tag: Ketchum Sampark

  • Every year the PRCI looks at eminent professionals from the PR discipline in India and selects the chosen ones for inclusion in the Hall of Fame

    PRCI inducts NS Rajan in the Hall of Fame

    By A Correspondent

     

    NS Rajan, the public relations evangelist inIndia, has been inducted in the Hall of Fame by PRCI at the recently concluded Global PR Conclave 2012.

     

    Every year the Public Relations Council of India (PRCI) looks at eminent professionals from the public relations discipline inIndiaand selects the chosen ones for inclusion in the Hall of Fame.

     

    NSR, as he is fondly called, has been nurturing and re-defining the public relations industry inIndiawith his strong belief in consulting and advisory approach at a time when the industry didn’t have these words in its dictionary. Grit, passion and innovation are the three cornerstones of NSR’s illustrious career spanning over two decades.

     

    “I dedicate this recognition to each of my colleagues, past and present, who have contributed to make what Ketchum Sampark is today,” said NSR, Managing Director – Ketchum Sampark.

     

    A postgraduate in Business Management, NSR is widely credited for bringing in ethics, moral values and a sense of pride to the public relations industry inIndia. NSR started his career with the Associated Cement Companies (ACC), followed by Essar Group where he headed its Corporate Communications Team. He successfully guided all communications related to Essar Group’s metamorphosis into one ofIndia’s largest industrial houses with interests in steel, oil, shipping and telecom – including helping the group raise several billion dollars from the capital markets.

     

    Under his stewardship Sampark, started in 1994, has developed and executed distinctive, high-impact global communications campaigns for several global and Indian brands like DSP Merrill Lynch, ICICI Prudential, Fitch Ratings, ICICI Venture, Bajaj Auto, Tech Mahindra, Hutch Vodafone, ABB, Exide, Lafarge and others.

     

    H K Dua, Member of Parliament and former Editor-in-Chief of Times of India, K Subramanyam, Director General of Police,Maharashtra, Dr. N. Prabhu Dev, Vice-Chancellor of Karnataka University, and CV Prasad, CEO, Gradatim, Chennai, M B Jayaram, Executive Director KPCL and Chairman Emeritus PRCI and Mr. ND Rajpal, President, PRCI graced the occasion.

     

     

    In 2011, Ketchum Inc. a leading global communications firm acquired a majority stake in Sampark PR Pvt. Ltd. after a four long year preferred partner relationship. The joint alliance Ketchum Sampark Pvt. Ltd., part of the Omnicom Group significantly expands Ketchum’s presence inSouth Asia, complementing Ketchum’s strong network in the Asia-Pacific region.

     

    Public Relations Council ofIndia(PRCI) is a national body of Public Relations, Corporate Communications, Advertising and Media Practitioners, Event Managers and also academicians. Established in 2004 PRCI strives to enrich the professional development of media practitioners and provides networking opportunities to further the course of the profession.

     

  • PR also lacks enough qualified people, says Ketchum Sampark's N S Rajan in a refreshingly frank interview with MXM, on life post-acquisition and mid-slowdown.

    PR must look up to advertising: N S Rajan

    By Johnson Napier

     

    With foreign players taking a keen liking to India, the PR industry is poised for a quantum leap. Not the one to miss out on the race, Ketchum Sampark is doing everything right to stay on track and be counted as a contender worth the deal. In conversation with Johnson Napier of MxM India, N S Rajan, Managing Director of Ketchum Sampark outlines his agency’s plans to be counted amongst the best and why quality, and not numbers, will be the differentiator in the race to win and retain more clients. Excerpts:

     

    Q: It’s been some 7-8 months since the much-hyped tie-up with Ketchum. How would you analyze your journey post the acquisition?

    There has been no change as such at the ground level but yes, processes have changed, reporting has changed – it is now more in terms of financial and MIS reporting and not so much in operations. Also, what probably has changed and helped us is the access to information, access to best practices, access to case studies… so it is a win-win situation for us while we continue to work the way we are.

     

    Q: Could you elaborate on your choice of shortlisting Ketchum as your foreign partner?

    We have been working with Ketchum for more than three years now so this tie-up is actually a formalization of our relationship. We have been very comfortable with the cultural match. I think philosophically, Ketchum and Sampark have always had the same focus in terms of client deliveries, choice of clients, etc so there were a lot of similarities between us.

     

    Q: Come to think of it, the venture looks like Omnicom’s reply to making its presence felt in India – just the way Publicis did with Hanmer. Your thoughts?

    I think this is something like a process of evolution. We have been working with them for 3-4 years, and it just happened that the timing is now. It did take time for us to tie the knot as there had to be a comfort level on both sides. We probably got into a JV at the opportune time as the media is opening up and India remains a good market for bringing a foreign partner where we are able to service global clients in India and also open up our offices and network for Indian clients wanting to go abroad.

     

    Q: On the growth perspective, how would you analyse the year 2011 for your agency?

    I think we have done well. We have grown by 25 per cent and this has come on the back of 30 per cent growth that we recorded last year. Also, we signed on a lot of good clients. This apart, we just recently announced Ketchum Sampark Digital and also set up specialised verticals in healthcare and infrastructure. We believe this tie-up will take us to the next orbit in terms of skill-sets, information flow, etc. More importantly, what we have learnt from this venture is best practices. We have to understand that the market dynamics are changing and people are looking for specialised services in each of the areas. I think there is a lot of comfort at the client level if you are able to bring in value in each of the domains. That’s because clients are also looking at core focus, specialisation, skill levels, agency background, etc. So to that extent healthcare and infrastructure remains our focus areas because a huge growth is predicted in these areas. Another important area for us is crisis communications; we believe a separate vertical would be good to go with for crisis.

     

    As for our agency, we are divided into four verticals – brand, corporate, technology and financial services. Healthcare and infrastructure would continue to be separate verticals but could probably be clubbed under corporate. This apart, sports is another area that is huge for us. We have handled some very big marquee properties across India ranging from cricket, golf, football, etc. So that would continue to remain a focus area for us. We also engage in organising festivals like the Jaipur Literary Festival which witnessed the gathering of more than 400 authors and many media professionals from around the world.

     

    Q: How according to you will digital change the way PR functions, say, in a few months from now?

    According to me, the game changer in 2012 for the PR industry will be digital, as its significance and importance will be largely felt. The traditional way of communicating today will probably go direct-to-consumer with the help of digital. Also, with digital, there is a lot of opportunity for content, for social media, for gathering traffic to your site, to build conversations around content and also monitor them, etc. With Ketchum being one of the global leaders in digital I think we have a huge advantage in terms of assimilating knowledge much faster, so we will be able to scale up very quickly.

     

    Q: You’ve mentioned a growth rate of 25 percent plus; does that translate to occupying a fair market share as well?

    While we figure amongst the top 5-6 agencies in India, our emphasis has always been on quality. We would probably be happy if we were perceived as an agency known for its quality. I may not be the No 1 in terms of size, but I certainly will be No 1 in terms of quality. We would love to earn the respect, trust and long-term partnership from our clients. Also, we would like our employees to be happy. If in the process of doing all this we improve our ranking, we’ll be happy with that.

     

    Q: Despite the low-warning signs, how are you warming up to the current economic situation being tagged as ‘tough’?

    While on the slowdown, let me tell you that during the 2008-09 recession, when most agencies lost business, we were the only agency that grew that year – even if the growth was single digit. So there will always be some amount of hardship so long as clients believe that you will be able to deliver value to them. In our experience, our clients have retained us during the tough times as well. The challenge for any business is to see through the bad phase and that is possible when you are focused on quality, people and such attributes. But if you are chasing to be the No 1 player then there are chances of you losing out.

     

    Q: Do you plan to scale up operations across other centres in India?

    We are currently present in seven cities and we do have aspirations to roll each of the practices in each of the regions. We just hired a senior person to handle our office in the South so we are taking all steps necessary to grow all our offices. Also, we have an SBU concept where we encourage and handhold all our businesses to be profitable and contribute to the growth. So that process is happening. Finally at the end of the day, it is important for each SBU to contribute to the overall growth of the agency.

     

    Q: Where the industry is concerned, what can be done to make it more organised than the state it is in now?

    I think it should begin with individual agencies taking the onus and coming on a common platform to address the woes of the industry. It is important for the PR industry to look up to the advertising industry which, despite having its share of problems, is much more organised. Today, one is not even sure what is the exact size of the industry. If you put the top 10 PR agencies together I think they would be estimated to be around Rs 300-400 crore whereas the unorganised industry would be around Rs 150-200 crore. So the total industry size could be anywhere between Rs 500-600 crore. Also, the problem is compounded by the fact that compared to other markets, our fees are a little lower. Our fees are 30-40 percent lower than even that of China. There are too many players in India leading to the fees being compromised. But having said that there are clients who are willing to pay a premium if they are convinced about the quality of the service being offered.

     

    Q: What is the way forward then?

    I think in the long term a lot of agencies would opt for the consolidation route. What is happening is that companies here are also realising that they need networks that will lead them to get more organised, have access to better offices, skill sets, etc. All this is possible with a larger network. While pop-and-mom stores will continue to exist they too will increasingly take the consolidation route.

     

    Q: Any other attributes that need to be paid greater attention to?

    One attribute I think needs more attention is people. I think we don’t have too many qualified people. Also, the good PR professionals are not adept at running a business – a lacuna that needs to be bridged. This is possible with effective training programmes. We have our own in-house training programmes and we hope to train our colleagues on this front as well. Also, we plan to have a fixed number of hours for training our staff. At the end of the day, being in the services industry skills and people are important attributes that one needs to pay adequate heed to.

  • Ketchum Sampark announces entry into Digital Media with the launch of Ketchum Sampark Digital.

    Ketchum Sampark goes Digital

    By A Correspondent

     

    Ketchum Sampark, the Indian Affiliate of global communications network Ketchum Inc, has announced the launch of its digital media business Ketchum Sampark Digital. Aimed at garnering substantial market share in the emerging digital media business, Ketchum Sampark Digital will offer full-service interactive strategy, web design, video production and multimedia development to help companies tell their stories and build engagement with their audiences on digital media (internet and mobile).

     

    Commenting on the launch of Ketchum Sampark Digital, N S Rajan, Managing Director, Ketchum Sampark said, “The launch of Ketchum Sampark Digital reflects the emerging significance of engaging with consumers through prolific use of digital domains. There has been a distinct shift in usage patterns wherein consumers look beyond email and casual surfing to complete engagement and internet as the media of choice for information. We are initially launching our Digital business with a team of young social media experts and progressively build a bandwidth of skills and digital capabilities including a team of interactive strategists, digital designers and producers.”

     

    According to Jonathan Kopp, Partner & Global Director, Ketchum Digital, “Globally, Ketchum Digital has created innovative digital media solutions for clients including FedEx, Kodak, ConAgra, Absolut amongst many other industry-leading companies. With the launch of Ketchum Sampark Digital India joins other Ketchum Offices and digital experts around the globe in the Ketchum Global Digital Network bringing digital social media solutions from around the world for our clients everywhere.”

     

    As part of its foray into the digital media business, Ketchum Sampark is concluding a detailed study of 200 Indian corporates and nearly 150 brands in the Indian marketplace to track their digital footprint as well as user engagements. The study covers Corporates from across 20 different industries including Aviation, BFSI, Consulting, Diversified Large Indian Corporates, Healthcare & Pharmaceutical, Oil & energy, Software Services and FMCG. The Brands covered in the survey are from across 14 categories including Apparel, Automobile, Media & Entertainment, Personal Care and Retail.

     

    “Our study has tracked engagement of these corporations & brands with their target audiences using social media channels like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn,” said Ajay Sharma, Managing Partner, Ketchum Sampark.


    Key Findings of Ketchum Sampark Digital’s Indian Social Media Engagement Study 2011

     

    > Initial findings indicate that while most Indian companies (82 %) have registered a presence on at least one of the four social media channels that were surveyed, the activity is largely focused around consumer communication for their products and services.

    > LinkedIn seems to be the most preferred channel on social media with 72 % of the companies surveyed having a dedicated page on LinkedIn.
    Though Facebook is the largest social media platform in India with over 38 million followers, it lags behind LinkedIn with only 55% of Indian corporates registering a presence on it.

    > Using video and multimedia to create engagement with consumers, investors, potential employees and other audiences is still not an avenue explored by Indian corporates with barely 6% being Very Active on YouTube.

    > More than 50% of corporates despite opening up a channel or registering a page on social media are Inactive. Some Inactive corporates also tend to use the presence on a channel opportunistically during launches and other significant company initiatives.

    > We feel that with the explosion in social media users this will change in 2012.

    > Out of the 150 brands surveyed, 23% did not have any presence on social media platforms while 30% had a presence on only one channel. Only 22% of brands were present on all three social media platforms.

    > Unlike corporates, Facebook is the clear favourite for brands with 75% of these brands registering a presence on it. YouTube and Twitter followed with 42% and 28% respectively.

     

    79% of brands with a presence on Twitter were Very Active / Active on the platform as compared to 69% on YouTube and 63% on Facebook.