MxMIndia

Tag: Nikhil Dey

  • Dey will focus on shaping the firm’s employee experience and strengthening existing client relationships

    Nikhil Dey joins Weber Shandwick as Vice Chair. Valerie Pinto to stay as India CEO

    By A Correspondent [updated on March 22]

     

    Nikhil Dey

    Weber Shandwick has announced the appointment of Nikhil Dey as Vice Chair of the firm’s India operations. Dey will focus on shaping the firm’s employee experience, strengthening existing client relationships and creating opportunities for global clients in India.

    Dey, who joined the organisation late last month, will be part of the firm’s India leadership board, working with senior leadership across the Asia Pacific region – including Valerie Pinto, CEO of Weber Shandwick India – to build synergies and service outcomes.

    We asked a spokesperson at Weber Shandwick on what the reporting of Dey and Pinto will be – whether they will be at the same level or will Dey report to Pinto or vice versa. The response we received was in line with what sources in the industry told us — that both will report to the APAC leadership and for the now there will be a joint leadership of India operations. Weber Shandwick did revert to MxM – albeit two days after publication of this report. The response: “Valerie is CEO Weber Shandwick India. Nikhil is Vice Chair, India. Operating within a matrix structure, both Valerie and Nikhil are part of the firm’s India leadership board and report into Baxter Jolly, CEO, Asia Pacific. They will work with senior leadership across the Asia Pacific region to build synergies and service outcomes for Weber Shandwick teams in New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru.”

    “With Nikhil’s depth of knowledge and experience, we aim to significantly grow our talent base, revenue streams and continue to lead with a client-first approach to deliver stronger and higher value to our clients,” said Baxter Jolly, CEO of Weber Shandwick Asia Pacific. “We are also tremendously proud of our achievements in India under Valerie’s leadership and are extremely bullish on our potential in the India market. We believe this combination of strengths will be unbeatable in the market and will enable us to grow significantly in India.”

    Commented Pinto: “Building Weber Shandwick as a strong employer brand with a work environment that attracts the best talent to our profession is an integral part of our growth strategy in India. Our people are an essential part of the firm, and creativity is the foundation of everything we do. Nikhil, with his unmatched knowledge and expertise will help us further build our culture of creativity and collaboration. Along with this, he will help the agency to continue to provide our clients with unique solutions and a forward-thinking approach to their communications challenges.”

     

    MxMView: It’s good to see two seasoned professionals at the helm at Weber Shandwick India. However, joint leadership amongst professionals doesn’t work too well in the short or long run. While one can dream up a countless designations, there’s got to be a clear Big Boss. And clear accountability.

     

     

  • We kick off our lookbacks at 2016 with an article by Nikhil Dey, President, Genesis Burson-Marsteller

    #LookBack2016: The Year Pollsters and Pundits Got It Wrong

    By Nikhil Dey

     

    Across the world, and in India, events took place this year that no one saw coming. In the case of global events, like Brexit and the Donald Trump win, the unexpectedness was in how the chips would fall. In the case of India, when the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on November 8 at 8 pm, suddenly announced that the currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denominations would no longer be accepted as legal tenders from midnight, the entire country—citizens, businesses, public services—were disrupted. And not one ‘economist’ had predicted that something like this could happen.

    On the corporate front, if, at the beginning of the year, someone told you that this year one of the most respected corporate institutions in India (and the world, I dare say) would grapple with adrastic leadership change, you wouldn’t have believed them. Another instance where things took an unexpected turn was when a campaign with the seemingly laudable aim to make the internet more accessible to the under-served faced instead a vehement ‘Save the Internet’ campaign.

    What does this mean to us as communicators? There are some clear takeaways.

    Ear to the ground

    Peter Drucker said, “The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said.”Communicators typically spend a lot of time developing the messaging that will go out, but we don’t put in the same investment and rigour towards building an orchestrated effort into bringing information in. We don’t listen enough. Yes, from time to time, HR may do an employee survey or public relations may do a media perception study, but do we really have an understanding of the overall sentiment around the organisation? When we do, we can formulate messaging that effectively addresses the sentiment. As the custodian of the image of the company, a communicator’s preoccupation should be to have a regular pulse on the perception of the company among the various stakeholders. And not just in the old-fashioned way. We have technology to support us in this. The concept of inhouse newsrooms—both in agencies as well as corporate organisations—has brought real-time monitoring as well as analysis to everyone’s fingertips. All we need then is to figure out how everything adds up and what is the implication for the company.

    Who are your ‘foe-weather’ friends?

    When things are going your way, everyone wants to associate with you. But one of the most critical things you need when the tide is against you is people who can stand by you—whether that is clients, employees, the government or any other stakeholders. Cultivating a network of such ‘foe-weather’ friends should be a top priority during peace time. Because when the trust on you is low, you need champions to advocate your cause.

    More of the same doesn’t work

    The idea behind demonetisation was to target black money (illegally accumulated wealth). Even though the jury is still out on whether it will have the desired effect, the point to note is that the move was risky. It’s important to be bold and take risks. How many of us are doing that—for ourselves, our organizations or our clients? The fact is, as communicators, our job today is much more complex than ever before. A recently released study by Arthur W Page Society, titled The New CCO: Transforming Enterprises In A Changing World, says that the Chief Communication Officer today has to deal with competitors coming in with disruptive business models, multiple avenues of stakeholder engagement, empowered stakeholders and demographic, regulatory and socio-political conditions. As people who support and counsel the CCO, we have to be much more alert, armed with bold and impactful ideas, and have the capability and tools to execute any plan, no matter how big or small.

    Connecting the dots

    When you have the intelligence and a sense of the ground sentiment, you have the potential allies in place, and the organisation has a will to take risk and do things disruptively, the communicator then has to bring it all together to build a coherent and impactful advocacy campaign for the company or the brand. If there is one role we must step up to the plate and play, it is to be that dot connector.

    The year 2017 will bring with it a whole new set of challenges. Some we know—the continued ups and downs of demonetisation, the impact of GST, the beginnings of the implications, if any, of Trump presidency on Indian industry and people. But a lot of challenges, like in any year, won’t be expected. So the biggest takeaway from the big unexpected events of this year is this—stay alert, stay prepared, stay agile.

    Nikhil Dey is President – Public Relations & Public Affairs at Genesis Burson-Marsteller

     

  • Nikhil Dey will continue to play a key role overseeing the firm’s client growth strategy in addition to scaling up the recently launched Centres of Expertise

    Genesis Burson-Marsteller announces leadership appointments for 2016

    By A Correspondent

     

    Genesis Burson-Marsteller has announced senior leadership appointments, which will be effective from January 1, 2016.

     

    Nikhil Dey is now President, Public Relations & Public Affairs. He will continue to play a key role overseeing the firm’s client growth strategy in addition to scaling up the recently launched Centres of Expertise and will now also focus on mentoring the public affairs business.

     

    Atul Sharma has been promoted as Chief Operating Officer and will now be a part of the India Management Team at Genesis Burson-Marsteller. Having spent over twelve years at Genesis Burson-Marsteller, Atul has counseled diverse businesses, Indian and multinational, on corporate reputation and brand reputation programmes. In his new role, Atul will focus on improving the operational excellence of the firm while continuing to serve as India Practice Chair, Telecom & Technology.

     

    Vandana Sandhir, currently India Practice Chair, Corporate & Financial, is moving to a new leadership role in the WPP network after ten years with the firm. Sanjay Arora, who has been with the firm for over six years, will take on the India Practice Chair role from Vandana. With a total of sixteen years of experience, Sanjay has led corporate reputation management campaigns for many of the firm’s Fortune 500 companies. As the India Practice Chair, Sanjay will be responsible for ensuring business growth of the Corporate & Financial business in line with the firm’s strategy, providing leadership and guidance to the teams to ensure high quality of service delivery and customer satisfaction.

     

    Former journalist Ajit Sahi, who joined the firm last year as Director, Thought Leadership will now take on the mandate of Public Affair. With nearly three decades of in-depth and extensive experience in journalism, ranging from being an investigative reporter to heading newsrooms at TV news stations, newsmagazines, news agencies and newspapers, Ajit brings with him a thorough understanding of the Indian and international political environment. This experience is crucial as the requirements of clients pertaining to government relations, advocacy and stakeholder outreach continue to grow with the maturing of the regulatory and compliance environment in India.

     

    As the firm is strengthening its focus on the Technology domain, it will now have two separate leaders driving Business-to-Consumer (B2C) and Business-to-Business (B2B) Technology domains in 2016. Piyal Banerjee and Shivaram Lakshminarayan have been appointed as the new domain leads.

     

    Piyal will be Managing Partner with a focus on B2C Telecom & Technology Practice, nationally, as it is a fast-growing area. In addition, she also takes on the mantle of Business Leader, Step Up, a unique offering focused towards helping start-ups to take the next leap by narrating their story through creative communication campaigns. With over twelve years of experience, Piyal has brand and corporate communications experience across top Asian markets including India, China, Malaysia and Singapore. She brings strong leadership skills to this new position given her credentials in the Consumer Technology space. Piyal will continue to co-anchor the Corporate & Financial Practice for West.

     

    An old Genesis Burson-Marsteller hand, Shivaram has been with the firm in Bengaluru for over a decade and has served as the technology lead in the southern markets. Shivaram will now be the Head of the B2B vertical of the Telecom & Technology Practice, nationally, given his strong credentials in the IT & ITeS space. In addition, Shivaram is also taking over the stewardship of the Corporate & Financial Practice for South and will be working closely with Sanjay Arora.

     

    Prema Sagar, Vice Chair, Burson-Marsteller, Asia Pacific & Principal/Founder said, “Over the last twelve months, the consultancy has reinvented itself into a new-age communications firm to meet the growing requirements of our clients. As the year draws to a close, I am happy about the great leaps we have taken in 2015 and excited about the opportunities that lie ahead. To support the continuing growth of our firm in 2016, we are promoting our talented and experienced leaders who have demonstrated that they make a difference to our clients business. I am confident that these leaders will further strengthen our India leadership team.”

     

  • The award won the Best Consumer Campaign

    Genesis BM wins ICCO Award for Ashok Univ

    By A Correspondent

     

    Genesis Burson-Marsteller was awarded the World’s Best PR Campaign Consumer at the inaugural 2015 ICCO Global Awards its campaign for Ashoka University, a Haryana-based private university that focuses on liberal arts.

     

    Genesis Burson-Marsteller also made the shortlist in two other categories—World’s Best PR Campaign B2B for its work for GE, and Prema Sagar as the PR Leader of the Year.

     

    Said Nikhil Dey, President, Genesis Burson-Marsteller: “We are delighted to accept this award as recognition of the work done by our teams and our clients. Winning awards at a global level is a special honour and I am extremely proud of the creativity, passion and hard work put in by our teams.”

     

  • Ms Dharmaraj will take charge as Chief Marketing and Growth Initiatives Officer and Ms Rao will be Chief Talent Engagement Officer

    Genesis BM elevates Deepshika Dharmaraj, hires Kavita Rao

    By A Correspondent

     

    Deepshikha Dharmaraj

    Leading PR and communications firm Genesis Burson-Marsteller has announced the appointment of Deepshikha Dharmaraj, in a new leadership role, as Chief Marketing and Growth Initiatives Officer and Kavita Rao, joins the firm as Chief Talent Engagement Officer.

     

    Ms Dharmaraj, who has been with the firm for 19 years, will focus on the agency’s marketing and growth initiatives, and will continue to oversee the Genesis B-M Learning School.

     

    Kavita Rao

    A former Genesis B-M employee, Ms Rao will lead the talent function. She was until recently Global Head of Communications at HSBC Technology & Services.

     

     

     

     

    Prema Sagar

    Speaking on these appointments, Prema Sagar, Principal and Founder, Genesis Burson-Marsteller said, “At Genesis Burson-Marsteller, we are committed to investing in exceptional quality talent and by appointing Deepshikha and Kavita in their new roles, we are strengthening our marketing and talent functions.”

     

     

     

    Nikhil Dey

    Meanwhile, announcing other executive movements in the firm, Nikhil Dey, President, Public Relations added: “Sheena Sharma, Chief Client Studio and Corporate Responsibility Officer, will focus and lead all executive communication trainings for our clients and the firm while she continues to be Mentor South.  Kriti Makhija, Chief Financial and Compliance Officer, ensures the financial health, compliance, governance and IT infrastructure of our business.”