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Tag: Nikhil Khanna

  • Chase will remain a separate consultancy owned by Avian WE and will retain its name

    Avian Media merges with WE; new entity to be called Avian WE

    By A Correspondent

     

    It’s a story that we were looking to report many months ago. Global independent PR major WE Communications (WE) has announced a strategic investment in Avian Media, a leading PR agency and its sister public affairs consultancy, Chase. WE Communications India will merge with Avian and will now be called Avian WE. Chase will remain a separate consultancy owned by Avian WE and will retain its name.

     

    “By joining forces with Avian Media, another like-minded independent, we can continue to put our clients at the center of everything we do,” said Melissa Waggener Zorkin, CEO of WE Communications. “Our investment immediately extends the client capabilities we offer and creates opportunities for future services expansion, supercharging our regional and global network.”

     

    Founded in 2004 by Executive Chairman Nikhil Khanna, Avian Media currently numbers more than 150 employees with offices in Mumbai, Delhi (where it is headquartered), Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune. Khanna, working with Co-Managing Partner and now Group CEO of Avian WE India, Nitin Mantri, together built Avian Media into the second largest independent communication consultancy in the country. Avian WE clients in India include Airbnb, Airbus, Bloomberg, Dell, MasterCard, Qualcomm, Sony and TripAdvisor.

     

    Said Khanna: “We are excited about this partnership. Both entities share a common entrepreneurial culture and a philosophy of working in partnership with our clients to build long-term relationships, and a culture that places great emphasis on our people. I am very excited about what we can achieve together.”

     

    Added Mantri: “The merger between Avian into WE represents a huge opportunity for us to accelerate our expansion into new sectors and markets within the region. With the increased scale of the combined business, we can deepen our specialist capabilities, particularly in the areas of our power sectors Technology, Health, and Consumer and provide our team with greater development opportunities.”

     

    In addition to expanding its regional and global footprint, WE is also growing its signature intellectual capital, Brands in Motion, to include India. Brands in Motion examines the movement of sectors and brands inspired by, or driven by, technology.

     

    “WE is focused on becoming the leading, independent mid-sized global network in the industry. With last year’s addition of Red Bridge in China and WATATAWA in Singapore, combined with our investment in Avian Media and Chase in India, we are in a great position to serve multi-market clients better than we ever have,” said Alan VanderMolen, WE President of International. “These additions to our family are yet another example of WE aggressively expanding our global network in order to service a growing, global client base.”

  • The ICCO Global PR Awards benchmark the finest excellence in PR, and is globally recognised by 33 PR trade associations across the world

    Nitin Mantri & Avian Media conferred top honours at ICCO Global Awards 2015

    By A Correspondent

     

    Nitin Mantri

    Avian Media has clinched the ‘Independent Consultancy of the Year (APAC)’ title at the ICCO Global Awards 2015 in London on November 26. The company’s CEO, Nitin Mantri, who is also the President of the Public Relations Consultants Association of India (PRCAI), was adjudged Global PR Leader of the Year Award for displaying great leadership and achieving excellent results in moving the industry forward in one of the most challenging markets in the world. Mantri is the first Indian to have won this award.

     

    Nitin Mantri, CEO, Avian Media, said: “We are a homegrown, independent agency and we are proud of our heritage. This gives us the freedom and nimbleness to deliver result-oriented campaigns for our clients. Hence, it is a matter of great honour to win the ‘Independent Consultancy of the Year’ award. This has been a milestone year for us. We have won the ‘Indian Consultancy of the Year’ Award at the 2015 Sabre Awards in September, and now these prestigious awards on a global platform like ICCO, reiterate our belief that Avian Media is on the right path. We owe our success to our hard-working team of employees, our partners who support us, and our clients who trust and encourage us to scale greater heights. These awards will further motivate us to achieve our goal to become ‘The Most Trusted Advocacy Firm in India’.”

     

    Nikhil Khanna, Managing Director, Avian Media, said: “There is no doubt that Nitin is an outstanding professional, but I have always maintained that he should first be viewed as a remarkable leader. His novel approach to PR has set the roadmap for Avian Media’s success. And, the results – two agency of the year awards in the span of two months – are here to see. Nitin has not only charted Avian’s growth, but has been a leader for the profession. As President of the PRCAI, he has championed the cause of PR both at home and at global platforms. I cannot think of a more suitable Global PR Leader of the Year. I am extremely proud and happy for both my agency and its CEO.”

     

    The ICCO Global PR Awards benchmark the finest excellence in PR, and is globally recognised by 33 PR trade associations across the world. This is an internationally recognised awards programme purely based on effectiveness, measurement, results and impact for the global PR industry.