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PRCAI Initiative | New Delhi Friday, July 26, 2013 | Pages: 16

Despite recent concerns about a widening trade deficit and the pace of economic reform, there is no doubt that India has the potential to develop into one of the world’s most dynamic markets-major overseas multinationals continue to recognize the opportunity presented by a population of more than $1.2 billion, and Indian companies continue to demonstrate the ability to competeon a global stage.

The opportunity for public relations in India is equally exciting. The industry has a rich heritage here, the quality of the best campaigns we have seen from India over the years compares with any in the world, and the industry’s leadership here is committed to raising standards of professionalism-which is why, when we were approached by the Public Relations Consultants Association of India to partner on the Indian SABRE Awards, we accepted with enthusiasm.

Think outsidearbitrary lines says David Gallagher, President, ICCO page 13

India suffers from bargain pricing!The work we are recognizing tonight-all of those campaigns nominated for our first Indian SABRE Awards-demonstrates that our enthusiasm was not misplaced. There is plenty of great work being done in this market, by multinational clients and Indian clients, global agencies and local independent firms.

The major challenge facing the consultancy business in this market is that much of that great work continues to be delivered at bargain prices-a reflection of the fact that many clients in this market do not yet appreciate that value that PR can add to their brands and to their corporate reputations.

That value is undeniable. Public relations is uniquely well placed to deliver credibility, authenticity, dialogue and engagement-attributes that underpin successful communications more than ever in the social media age. At a time when

Paul HolmesEditor, The Holmes Report

reputations are more fragile than ever because of increased scrutiny and the ability of citizens to advocate for the brands they love-or to undermine brands that fail to deliver on their promise.

We hope that the SABRE Awards-recognized internationally for celebrating the highest standard of creativity, professionalism, integrity and effectiveness-can play a small role in educating the marketing and executive community in India about the kind of returns an investment in good PR can deliver.

We would like to thank our partners at the PRCAI, our judges, and all of you for supporting this first Indian SABRE Awards competition. We would like to congratulate all of our SABRE finalists. And we look forward to building on the success of this first SABRE dinner in India to showcase the very best that the industry here has to offer

Time to be acknowledged

There is every reason why we should pat ourselves on our backs and allow others to acknowledge us. We are currently an industry of now and the future, with the potential of occupying a critical position in the space of communications. We have it all - the ability to create messages and narratives, identify stakeholders, engage and converse with them and ultimately establish a chain of carriers of what we want to say. We respond. We listen. And most importantly we don’t buy or sell. We get people to buy into our messages, concepts and thoughts, thus creating a word-of-mouth buzz that is more powerful than any other means of outreach.

In the Indian context, we are up against a more diverse European Union, layered with over 22 languages, a force of over 40000 dailies and over 125 television news channels, and people who treasure their right to expression like it were oxygen. Of these people, over 137.million

are online on social networks speaking their minds.

We reach out to these people, find ways of engaging with them, converse with the media and respond when needed. We are on our toes all the time, quietly chipping away, making an impact, a difference. Connecting with emotions and consciousness of the publics that matter. And no one realizes the power we have, the relevance we provide and the change we can bring for any entity or to society.

We do all of this at costs that actually defy the value generation models in the West or how other verticals of marketing are valued even here in India. Even though we sign confidentiality agreements that underline our proximity to business, unlike advertisers, event managers and creators, only occasionally do we match the costs of lawyers or other consultants. Therefore, we could safely assume that we generate a lot more value and genuine assessments of ROI would show that.

However, this should not be a reason not to grow our business or increase profit margins that are so crucial for re-investment into talent, infrastructure and research. We need more research that helps us showcase what we do and the impact we

make as PR practitioners. We also need to go back to the earlier role of PR that gave us enough strength to be seen as central to marketing, image and reputation and integral to any entity or business.

Public relations - the two words when defined cannot and could not have meant anything less than building relations with stakeholders that influence businesses and other entities and their reputation. This meant, very simply, not just the media or the individual on a social network, or pressure groups, politicians, governments, employees or talent etc. It encompassed all of them and more.

Today, perhaps, we are sitting at a time and place where we have a lot more to do and a greater role to play, that gives us that chance to change references points on what PR is. And many of us have already started the journey, but have never had that opportunity to share the greatness of our work with the world outside of our space.

By the nature of who we are, we have always waited for third parties to spread the word and talk about us. But we need to do this for ourselves and a platform such as the SABRE Awards is just one of those critical spaces to articulate some of our best work.

Hesitation to do so only limits our definition and the potential to grow our business at a better pace. Even if we are the back-room players in the outreach space, we should never forget that even playback singers do live performances! It is time to move from the greenroom to the stage.

So yes, we have every reason to pat ourselves and get acknowledged and celebrate what we do and who we are

Sharif DRangnekar President, PRCAI

IndiaBulletinPR 2013

Issued on occasion of SABRE Awards India by PRCAI

Flat margins, growth to continuePRCAI’s latest report

page 05

Today, perhaps, we are sitting at a time and place where we have a lot more to do and a greater role to play, that gives us that chance to change references points on what PR is.

The SPeAKeRSTONIGHT page 07

PRCAI Initiative | New Delhi

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Successful women will be faced with the choice of either not having children or “trading down” to find a father for their children.

For many years the idea of feminism and equality have been largely synonymous. Indeed Wikipedia defines a feminist as someone one who “advocates or supports the rights and equality of women”.

In an excellent recent article, Spectator Editor Fraser Nelson suggested that this concept is coming apart. He opined that with the success of young women at all levels of education and in the workplace, we may be seeing a long term trend where the ‘British economy will become feminised and utterly transformed’. As well as outperforming boys in at school, girls are now the majority of University graduates and women in the 22-30 age- bracket are paid more than their male equivalents.

It is reasonable to assume that these young women might wish to settle down and have children with men their intellectual and social equals, but if this trajectory continues there will not be enough suitable men to go round. Successful women will be faced with the choice of either not having children or “trading down” to find a father for their children. This raises the interesting prospect of the equality debate going the other way.

As women increasingly outperform men, is feminism becoming irrelevant?Guest blog post by Sally Costerton,Founder of Sally Costerton Advisory Limited

Throughout my 25 years in the PR industry, women have always greatly outnumbered men in all levels below the Boardroom where the relationship is almost completely inverted.

The industry is typically almost entirely a graduate profession and remains a very popular choice with high performing graduates. When I ran H&K we had hundreds of highly qualified applicants for our graduate entry scheme often with two or more degrees, several languages and various exotic hobbies to hire from. And all that for 18 grand a year. So our industry should be a leading indicator of the trend Nelson is identifying.

Rather depressingly, over my quarter century the paltry amount of senior women seems to have barely shifted. We have hardly been standard bearers for the equality agenda - let alone a feminist one. Maybe these women could afford not to return to work after having children. Or perhaps their husbands were not prepared to face the perceived stigma of being the primary child carer. My experience (primary bread winner, flexible supportive husband) was rare ten years ago when we decided to

role reverse. It felt like a difficult choice for us both. Now society seems much less judgemental, and I am happy to see far more couples making this choice

Credit: As appeared on the website of ICCOPR

Friday, July 26, 2013 | Volume 1

Page 03


Page 01

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4. Does traditional media continue to be an important part of target media mix?

6. Do you integrate social media as part of your PR campaign?

7. Key Business Challenges for balance of the year – in the descending order of gravity, top being the most grave.

8. Do you see the hinterland (tier II & tier III cities) becoming an important area of growth in terms of business?

9. New or existing services seen growing in the current financial – in the descending order of growth, top being with the highest growth potential

10. Do you have a specialised team that ideates or is responsible for creativity?

PRCAI TReNDSRePORT 2013

Indian leaders from the public relations industry continue to be positive about the growth of the industry despite a slowing economy and the higher cost of doing business.

A survey conducted by the Public Relations Consultancies Association of India (PRCAI) involving as many as 54 top level executives including CEOs, President and Chairman’s of PR firms in the country, suggests that growth could be in the region of 11-20 per cent.

The concern, however, is margins. Profit margins would be flat indicating the growing cost of running a consultancy which could be the impact of inflation that has troubled the Indian economy for several years.

Flat margins,growth to continue

1. In your opinion the overall business outlook for our industry is?

The survey has interesting insights on creativity, social media and the role of traditional media. Traditional media continues to dominate and plays a significant role in the communication strategies adopted by consultancies. This does not mean social media is irrelevant. It is a growing segment of the offerings from all the consultancies.

Creativity too is significant but the approach differs from consultancy to consultancy. Some had dedicated teams and others have attempted to inculcate brainstorming into the DNA of everyone. Still, there are agencies that do things differently. “We have a think pad, a night out where we focus on one or two of our clients and let ourselves go beyond the limits. This happens over great food and drinks and a slightly bohemian environment,” said one agency CEO

2. Revenue growth expected to be achieved by firms this year in comparison to the Financial Year ended 2012-13?

5. Has social media emerged as a focus area?

3. You expect the net profit margins for the current year to –


Page 05

Rohit Sharma, India Biz News

THe SABRe

AwARdsINDIA

2013

5:45-6:15 pm Registration

July 26, 2013 Phoenix Hall -

Pullman Gurgaon Central Hotel

‘Every Word Counts – Measured Communications’In today’s world with a growing digital space, empowered individuals and institutions coupled with an underlining freedom of expression, the world of communication is a lot more loaded with views, opinions and information. This just adds up with over 40000 dailies, 22 registered languages and increasing connectivity with smartphones providing multiple platforms for messaging.

What does this mean to communicators? How do you break through the noise levels? What is the attention span of a stakeholder? Are we getting the message across? These and many questions stare at public relations professionals and communicators. It is only insight and instinct that seems to find its way to successful solutions.

6:15-7:00 pm Session I It is image and reputation? Or Business impact and Sales? Or recruitment and retention? What is the measure?

Moderator: Mini Menon- Executive Editor, Bloomberg TV India

Panelists: Aseem Sood – CEO, Impact Research Atul Ahluwalia – Managing Director, Weber Shandwick, India Carson Dalton – Head Corporate Communications, Facebook India Don Anderson - Sr. Vice President, Fleishman Hillard Meenu Handa –Director Corporate Communications, Amazon India

* This session is in partnership with Bloomberg TV and is going to be recorded live therefore entry during the session is going to be restricted and reopened only after the session is over.

7:00-7:30 pm Session II Brevity and Simplicity

Moderator: Senjam Raj Sekhar – Director, Corporate Communications, Vedanta

Panelists: Minakshi Seth – Communications Head – South Asia at IFC/ World Bank Group Paul Holmes – Editor, The Holmes Report & CEO The Holmes Group Paroma Roy Chowdhury, Director and Country Head Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, Google India Pvt.Ltd. Shubhomoy Sengupta – Digital Brand Consultant

7:30-8:00 pm Session III Turf War

Moderator: Arun Sudhaman – Partner and Managing Editor, The Holmes Group

Panelists: M A Parthasarathy - Chief Client Officer, Mindshare India Nitin Mantri - CEO, Avian Media Roma Balwani – Chief Group Communications Officer, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. Santosh Desai – MD & CEO, Future Brands India Ltd.

8:00-8:15 pm Keynote Address by Aditya Ghosh – Chief Executive Officer, Indigo Airlines 8:15-8:45 pm Cocktails

8:45-8:55 pm An address by Paul Holmes, Editor, The Holmes Report & CEO The Holmes Group

8:55 pm onwards SABRE Awards India 2013 Presentation 10:30 pm Dinner


Page 06

The SPeAKeRS TONIGHT


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Aditya Ghosh, 37, holds a bachelor’s degree (with honors) in History and Law from Delhi University. As the President and Executive Director of IndiGo, Mr. Ghosh has the overall managerial and operations responsibility of IndiGo.

Mr. Ghosh joined The Indigo on May 30, 2007. Mr. Ghosh is also a key member of the Executive Committee of the InterGlobe Group which is the body that is responsible for the management of the Group’s businesses which spans a wide range of activities while staying true to the core competency of the travel domain. Mr. Ghosh plays an instrumental role in the management of the Group’s

Aditya GhoshPresident and Executive Director – IndiGoMember of Executive Committee, InterGlobe GroupCore member of IndiGo’s inception and management team.

affairs and advising on and formulating growth strategies of the InterGlobe Group.

He is a member of the Executive Council of the Federation of Indian Airlines as well as the CASAC (Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Council) of the Government of India.

In the last three and a half years of his tenure Mr. Ghosh has taken IndiGo from 18 aircraft fleet with 2000 employees serving 17 domestic destinations to 67 aircraft, 7206 employees flying to 33 domestic and international destinations with 422 daily flights. During his tenure, IndiGo has multiplied its revenues five times. IndiGo turned profitable in the 2008-2009 and has remained India’s most profitable airline ever since

Atul Ahluwalia joined Weber Shandwick when the Delhi office was established in 1994. With his astute focus on client business outcomes and strong leadership, Atul rose to become the head for North & East India operations and then president of the firm.

As managing director of Weber Shandwick India, Atul has been instrumental in the rise of the firm to become the most awarded PR consultancy in India, with accolades including being named Indian Consultancy of the Year

Atul AhluwaliaManaging Director, India

by The Holmes Report, a United Nations Grand Prize for PR Excellence and numerous distinctions at the Asia Pacific SABRE Awards, IPRA Golden World Awards, Campaign’s Asia Pacific PR Awards, and the International Business Awards (Stevies). The firm was also behind campaigns that have received three silverCannes PR Lions.

Atul’s core strengths built up over 22 years in the industry include corporate and industry-related strategic counseling, media and crisis management and CSR initiatives

Aseem Sood is a technology enthusiast. He loves to evaluate and apply technology solutions to solve business problems. He believes that companies offering news analysis services can help PR professionals demostrate the importance/ attention that communication, as a function, deserves in the corporate bardroom.

Aseem is currently the Chief Executive Officer at Impact Research & Measurement Pvt. Ltd. He is also a Director at

Aseem SoodChief Operating Officer and Director, Impact Research & Measurement Pvt. Ltd.

The International Association of Measurement and Evaluation of Communication, UK (AMEC). He also plays the role of Vice President in the Executive Committee of International Association - FIBEP.

Prior to Impact, Aseem worked with McKinsey & Co. as an analyst. At McKinsey he worked with clients in Europe, US and China, helping them improve their operations’ effectivesness in the domain of purchasing and supply management

Arun Sudhaman is partner and managing editor of the Holmes Report, the global PR industry’s most authoritative and credible source of information and analysis.

In this role Arun oversees the Holmes Report’s global content offering, including its analysis and insight into public relations and communications trends and issues. Since joining the Holmes Report in 2010, Arun has led

Arun SudhamanPartner and Managing Editor, Holmes Group

a comprehensive relaunch of the title’s content platform, including its digital presence and new products such as the Influence 100, Global Rankings and Creative Index.

He brings to the position more than a decade’s experience as a journalist and digital content specialist, most of which has been spent covering the global PR, marketing and communications industries

Carson Dalton at Facebook India focusies on public relations and public affairs.

Till most recently he was with BT as the head of corporate communications for the Asia Pacific region from Singapore. Ever since joining BT in April 2007, he has held appointments as a Senior Press Officer at the London Newsroom and as Head of corporate communications for the Indian sub-continent. It was in this role he was recognised by Campaign

Carson Dalton Head of Communications, Facebook India

Magazine as the ‘Young PR Professional of the Year’ at the 2008 Asia-Pacific PR Awards in Hong Kong.

Prior to BT, Carson established the Public Relations function at Idea Cellular, one of the largest mobile services operator in India and had a stint at Genesis Burson-Marstellar. He holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing & Finance from the Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies in Pune


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Minakshi Seth is Head of Communications for IFC South Asia. Minakshi joined IFC in 2006 and is responsible for strategic and developmental communications, brand management, external and internal communications, reputation management and crisis communications. Having worked across media, manufacturing, consulting, financial services sectors and development institutions for more than

Minakshi SethHead of Communications, IFC South Asia

20 years, Minakshi works across Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives and India.

In 2011, she was also asked to co-lead IFC South Asia’s Womens Network that focuses on the gender mainstreaming agenda and maximizing the leadership potential of women through customized learning, development, and other specialized initiatives

As Senior Vice President and Director of Regional Strategic Digital Integration for Asia Pacific, Don Anderson is responsible for leading strategic engagements across multiple work streams and business lines for the firm, with a focus on solutions with the power to shift market dynamics, transform client business and generate significant long-term value for the firm’s client roster.

DON ANDeRSONSenior Vice President, Director, Regional Strategic Digital Integration Fleishmanhillard Asia Pacific

Mr. Anderson has more than two decades of media and digital experience, including 13 years’ overseeing digital sales, marketing and communications for leading publishers in Hong Kong and Singapore. Mr. Anderson began his career in journalism, having graduated from the Toronto-based Ryerson University journalism program in 1991, before moving on to senior reporter and editor roles with the Westmount Publishing chain of community newspapers in Western Canada, while providing submissions for the Toronto Star and other national dailies

Mini MenonExecutive Editor, Bloomberg TV India

Mini Menon is Executive Editor of Bloomberg TV India where she leads the news and features programming. She has led the coverage of financial and corporate news with award-winning documentaries and cutting-edge shows, including a popular mini-series, Inside India’s Best Known Companies, with India’s top CEOs and businessmen.

Over the last fifteen years, Mini has reported on political and business news and has been awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Award for Excellence as a young achiever and the Zee Astitva Award for Journalism. In 2009, she was adjudged the Best Business News Anchor by the Indian Broadcasting Federation. In 2013, Mini was recognized as one of the ten most influential women in Indian media, marketing and advertising by Impact magazine

Meenu HandaI has been part of the PR and communication industry in India for the over 22 years playing the role of a trusted adviser, business leader and an Industry thought leader. She regularly speaks at both local & global industry fora on crisis communications, public affairs and measurement. She is an alumni of the prestigious St.Stephen’s College, Delhi.

The Corporate Affairs Forum under the aegis of World CSR congress held in Mumbai in Feb 2013 conferred on her the Corporate Affairs Leadership Award. In 2012, she was recognized as the Corporate Communications professional by exchange4media.

Meenu handaDirector Corporate Communications, Amazon India

Currently heading corporate communications for Amazon in India. Prior to this she was with Microsoft India for 7.5 yrs leading their internal, external communications & citizenship strategy. Through these years it was recognized as a Top MNC, Most Respected company and an Employer of choice by several recognized bodies. Was a member of the India leadership team and on the global PR council. was awarded the Chairman’s award for excellence in 2010. Also headed the Diversity and Inclusion charter for Microsoft India’s Sales and marketing group

Maps graduated in Mechanical Engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS), Pilani, India. He did his port-graduation in management from the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata (IIM-C)

After a couple of years selling IT solutions at IBM, Maps moved to advertising and spent a decade with JWT India, traversing client management and strategic planning roles, and leading the Ford business. He subsequently moved to JWT Bangkok as Regional Account Lead on Ford for Asia-pac & Africa.

M A Parthasarathy Chief Client Officer, Mindshare India

Maps joined Mindshare India in 2009, as head of Business Planning. He moved to his current (& newly minted) role in January 2012. As CCO, Maps heads the Client Leadership function for Mindshare India, across 13 client clusters. In addition, he also manages the Delhi office, leading the engagement with clients like Pepsi, GSK, Ford, Lufthansa, Yum & American Express.

As a closet copywriter and erstwhile strategic planner, Maps loves to ideate & pop “what if” questions at the slightest provocation

Nitin Mantri is the CEO and Business Partner at Avian Media. In his current role, he is leading the company’s overall growth strategy, international relations / affiliations and marketing of the firm. Under his leadership, the firm has consistently grown in its network and clientele.

Nitin has over 17 years of experience in strategising, planning and implementing global PR campaigns,

Nitin MantriCEO and Business Partner, Avian Media, India

having worked across sectors with technology/ telecommunications, management consultancy, consumer and corporate clients. Prior to Avian, Nitin was Director at Pleon (now Ketchum), a leading PR agency in Europe and part of the Omnicom group. At Pleon, Nitin was responsible was heading the corporate and technology B2B practices with direct responsibility of Pleon’s key accounts - IBM, Nortel, COLT Telecom, Hughes Network Systems and Infosys

Paroma Roy Chowdhury is the Director & Country Head, Corporate Communications & Public Affairs of Google India, and is responsible for all media, industry and community outreach in India. She is also part of the India management Group, a cross-functional apex body that drives Google’s strategy and operations in India. She joined Google in November 2008. Her career includes leadership roles at Airtel, GE Capital and Hewlett-Packard.

Prior to Google, Paroma was the Vice President Communications at Airtel, responsible for external and

Paroma Roy ChowdhuryDirector and Country Head, Corporate Communications & Public Affairs,Google India Pvt. Ltd.

internal communications for Airtel’s all three business units in India- Mobility, Broadband and Enterprise.

Before joining Airtel, Paroma was the Director, Communications, for HP’s Global e-Business operations, spanning 10 countries. And before HP, she was the Vice-president Communications for GE Capital, which later became Genpact. She has been part of the start-up team of Indian School of Business, Hyderabad. She has also been an editor and reporter in Business Today, The Economic Times and Business Standard

Paul Holmes has spent more than 25 years writing about public relations. He currently serves as chief executive of The Holmes Group.

Founded in 2000, The Holmes Group produces several products, all designed to share news, analysis and commentary of the global public relations industry. The group’s activities include:• The Holmes Report, a weekly e-newsletter providing news of the global public relations business;• Agency Report Cards, which feature profiles of 500 of the leading public relations firms in the Americas, Asia-Pacific and EMEA regions;

Paul holmesChief Executive, The Holmes Group

• The Influence 100, an annual listing of the most influential in-house communicators in the world;• The SABRE Awards, the world’s largest PR awards competition, recognizing the best public relations programs in the world;•The Global Public Relations Summit, an annual conference that brings together industry leaders from around the world to debate and discuss the most challenging issues of the day; and• www.holmesreport.com, a website that brings together all of the above.

Holmes plays a leadership role in all of those activities, serving as editor of The Holmes Report and the Report Cards; chairman of the judges of the SABRE Awards; and chair of the Global Summit

Roma Balwani was recently elevated to Chief Group Communications Officer at Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., one of India’s leading business houses. She has also received several prestigious communication related accolades in the course of her career.

In 2013 she was felicitated and received the received the Strategic Communication Leadership Award at the Corporate Affairs Forum, Mumbai. She has recently been included in the eminent Jury for the SABRE Awards, India. In 2013 the Mahindra Group, under her leadership, won

ROMA BALWANIGroup Head Communications, Mahindra Group

the Champion of Champions Award from the Public Relations Council of India (PRCI).

In 2012, she was included in the Global Influence 100, a listing of the 100 Most Important In-House Communicators in the world, brought out by the renowned Holmes Global Report for the second year in a row. She was also the first Indian PR professional to receive the prestigious SABRE Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement 2012, in the inaugural year of this global award being instituted for individuals who have demostrated a stellar performance in their role during the year


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Santosh Desai is the Managing Director & CEO of Future Brands Ltd, a branding services company in the business of creating, managing and offering consultancy services in the brand and consumer space. He worked in advertising for 22 years where his last assignment was as the President of McCann Erickson.

A post graduate from IIM Ahmedabad, his interest

Santosh DesaiManaging Director & CEO, Future Brands Ltd.

lies in studying the evolving nature of consumer culture in India.

Author of best seller “Mother Pious Lady –Making sense of everyday India”, Santosh is also a regular columnist with TOI and a commentator on societal & cultural trends, popular culture, brands and marketing

Senjam Raj Sekhar has been named among the 100 most influential corporate communicators in the world by Holmes Report. Senjam Raj Sekhar has over 16 years experience of communicating and building brand & Corporate reputations across South Asia, UK and Africa. He is the first person from India to speak at the Annual IPRA Summit, London, organized by International Public Relations Industry in 2011.

He is LLB from the Faculty of Law, Delhi University.He specialises in the Emerging market communications, corporate reputation, crisis and issues management, M&A communications, corporate

Senjam Raj Sekhar Director, Group Corporate Communications, Vedanta

brand building, public affairs, consumer PR.

Presently he is the Director-Group Communications of Vedanta, overseeing Global Communications for Vedanta, a diversified mining and mineral group with operations in India, Australia, Ireland, Zambia, South Africa and Namibia. The flagship company Vedanta Resources Plc is London Stock Exchange listed FTSE Company.

He has been Sr.VP and Head Group Corporate Communications of Bharti Enterprises and has also worked for Samsung Electronics, Genesis Burson Marsteller and Weber Shandwick

Sharif has more than 20 years experience in the extensive fields of journalism, public relations and publishing, Sharif has amassed expertise in a variety of disciplines of the communication industry. Adjudged as the ‘PR Professional of the Year’ at the India PR & Corporate Communications Awards 2013, he currently serves as the President of PRCAI and is a board member of ICCO.

He has previously spent two terms on the international board of PROI looking after the Asia Pacific region. In his varied yet related career, Sharif has worked with

Sharif D. RangnekarPresident, PRCAI

Penguin Books India, The Economic Times and The Pioneer. His interest in knowledge and content has kept his interest in writing alive.

Sharif has often commented on the industry, trends, best practices, the power of PR and the economy in general. His articles have been printed in publications and platforms such as The Times of India, Hindustan Times, Business Standard, Mint Wall Street Journal, The Hindu Business Line, www.indiabiznews.com, www.exchange4media.com, Brunch, Pitch and earlier the think-tank journal – Far Eastern Economic Review. He is also the editor of the widely appreciated and bestselling book ‘Realising Brand India’

Shivraj Parshad has nearly two decades of experience in journalism, broadcasting, communications and training.

Beginning his career with India’s première media house New Delhi Television (NDTV) in 1995, he helped transform the company’s profile from being a mere software and content provider to a competitive global broadcaster. During his tenure he has covered landmark events like 9/11, Iraq War, Indo US Nuclear Deal among others. He has also interviewed global leaders like Kofi Annan, Vladimir Putin, Benazir Bhutto, Mahenda Rajpakse and Jack Straw.

Shivraj ParshadSecretary, PRCAI

Shivraj joined The PRactice in 2008 as head of the Delhi office, where he was instrumental in driving the technology and consumer divisions. He currently owns the training and digital content mandate which requires him to draw on his rich experience in music, theatre, public speaking and broadcasting.

He has conducted trainings and facilitated events for clients such as WHO, UNICEF, Infosys, Mahyco, MSN, Oracle, McAfee and created successful digital campaigns for clients like the Khemka Foundation’s Social Entrepreneurship Award 2008, Infosys Science Prize etc


Page 10

Nikhil Dey serves at the helm of the Genesis Burson-Marsteller Public Relations team, bringing over 15 years experience in both the agency and corporate side of communications.

Nikhil’s previous experience includes his time as Vice President, Corporate Communication for Fiat India Pvt. Ltd. Prior to this, Nikhil was heading northern India operations for a prominent public relations firm.

Nikhil DeyVice President, PRCAI

Nikhil joined Genesis Burson-Marsteller in 2004 when he stepped in as leader of the northern and eastern markets. Throughout his tenure, he has grown and developed a team that includes some of the best emerging talent in the country. As President, Nikhil oversees a diverse staff of communications professionals across seven key markets. He works closely with client leaders to formulate targeted communications strategies, message development as well as providing crisis counsel and training

Currently a brand consultant in the digital space for Tata Tea, Times Group, Lava International, GPI, Zee News, WWF, etc.

He also conducts social media workshops for brands across India and the region including some with Facebook as associate. He has worked with advertising agencies such as O&M, Leo Burnett, JWT and Contract Advertising

Shubhomoy SenguptaDigital Brand Consultant

FOR US, THE ESSENCE OF COMMUNICATION IS ABOUT CREATING IMPACT THAT CHANGES POSITIVELY THE WORLD AROUND US.

Like the time we put the first smokeless firewood stove in the home of Anita* in Madhubani... reducing smoke that she inhales as she cooks..

…Or the time we put a young student engineer behind the controls of a fighter aircraft... thereby involving ordinary people in matters of defence…

…not to mention how we are helping farmers access global markets. Or global companies access local markets.

As the world changes, we put a little bit of

“torque” in the turning forces of history.

GREAT THINKING. SUPERB EXECUTION

- Publicly-owned MNC firms up six percent- Independent PR firms up 8.6 percent- PR agency industry worth almost $11bn, employs more than 75,000 people

The global public relations industry continued to grow by around eight percent last year—the third consecutive year at approximately the same level—with independent firms continuing to outperform the large, holding company-owned agencies.

The independent firms submitting to our annual survey—conducted this year in conjunction with ICCO, the International Communications Consultancy Organisation—grew by about 8.6 percent on average. The five largest holding companies (WPP, Omnicom, Interpublic, Publicis and Havas) grew by an average of six percent.

That meant overall industry growth for the year of just under 7.9 percent. That’s around the same level as the overall industry growth in 2011 (7.9 percent) and in 2010 (8.1 percent).

It is also notable that the numbers for the publicly-traded firms included a number of acquisitions: organic growth for those agencies was just 3.3 percent.

As a result of those changes, the market share of globally reported revenue—slightly more than $9.5 billion—held by the five giant holding companies, which was around 50 percent two years ago, has now declined to around 45 percent. The share of the overall global

Global PR industry up 8% in 2012By Paul Holmes


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PR industry revenue—now estimated by The Holmes Report at close to $11 billion based on the vast number of smaller firms that do not provide revenue figures—is now well under 40 percent.

“These numbers have to cast serious doubt on the idea that the clients believe bigger is better, and on the notion that the PR industry is consolidating,” says Paul Holmes, editor-in-chief of The Holmes Report. “The reality is that the growth of the industry around the world is currently being driven by independents, most of them smaller or medium sized firms.”

One worrying trend, however, saw a decline in revenue per capita for those firms reporting both fee income and headcount to an average of around $142,000, compared to $151,000 last year. Based on its research, the Holmes Report estimates that the global PR agency industry employes more than 75,000 people, up from 66,000 last year.

“This decline could be a result of greater participation by firms in developing markets, where revenues per head tend to be lower,” says Holmes. “But it could also be that firms are responding to increasing price pressure by over-servicing.”

The Global Rankings mark the first phase of the World PR Report, conducted in conjunction with ICCO, which will also include the results of a definitive survey of attitudes and trends among PR agencies worldwide

This report first appeared on www.holmesreport.com


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Making it simpler

Understanding of public policy is rarely as complicated and layered as in India.

With over 30 regional governments, at least 50 political parties in the arena, a free media with 40,000 dailies hitting the stands,150 television news channels,137 million internet users, the voices and interests are always complex. A system that is larger than the population of some nations, over 1000 spoken languages and dialects intermingled with social classes and religious groups, the complexities and challenges only add up.

At DT A, we use insight, on-ground knowledge and over three decades of our experience to provide you with counsel, strategies and solutions that will help you realize the potential of doing business in this fascinating Nation.

Your India Advisor

Think outsidearbitrary linesIt is customary in industry publications to discuss issues of common concern – the rising power of procurement, the threat of other marketing disciplines and questions about where growth will come from and which industries to specialize in. It’s easy to define our common interests by our common challenges, and there is of course tremendous value in finding common ground through national associations and bodies like ICCO.

But I’m by nature an optimist, and I’d prefer to focus on the reasons we have to celebrate our business and to discuss how we can continue to develop our industry in a way that benefits our people, our clients and our own personal aspirations.

I believe that PR industry is developing in the right direction in both global and local sphere – with more international consultancies than ever before, and new tools to develop content that is uniquely relevant to local audiences. And I welcome the transformations that stem from the recent advances in the digital sphere – because digital needs content, and we are the best people to deliver it.

PR industry is developing in the right direction in both global and local sphere – with more international consultancies than ever before, and new tools to develop content that is uniquely relevant to local audiences.


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On top of that the agencies themselves have identified the importance of research and development, and are heavily investing in the new technologies, data and behavioural science.

I applaud the commitment that many agencies have demonstrated towards resolving the Evaluation puzzle. Advertising Value Equivalency is not an adequate measure of the work that we produce, and I am glad that under my Presidency ICCO has produced the definitive “PR Professionals Guide to Evaluation” in collaboration with AMEC and the PRCA, as a first step in highlighting international best practices of evaluation.

This year I had the privilege and honour of serving as President of the PR Lions jury at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, and was struck by the quality of entries from around the world. Even if it is traditionally perceived as a purely advertising turf, this year more PR agencies won in Cannes than ever before. I hope to see more agencies entering their best, boldest and most ambitious campaigns for PR Lions, SABREs, and other national and international awards in the future, because serious competitions like this are more than beauty contests for great campaigns; they inspire new and ever higher standards of excellence and professionalism in communications – a crucial ingredient for growth, stability and development.

One of the observations I made in Cannes was that some of the best work came from close collaborations between PR and advertising experts. And though I am not disputing that the PR industry should and can successfully compete with other communications industries, I would urge agencies to occasionally think outside the arbitrary lines of our profession, and foster collaboration with advertising and marketing communities, especially if it means better campaigns, innovative strategies and happy clients


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Authenticity is The power of true. Authentic communications are inspired by true insights that persuade, influence, convince.

fleishman.co.in

True authenticity.

Why CCOs shouldn’t be afraid of the dark

Much is often made of the changing skills required of corporate communication directors, not least by Paul Holmes in his provocative post on whether the CCO is an endangered species.

That analysis focused, in particular, on the inexorable integration between marketing and communication – fuelled by a social media environment that often renders meaningless the distinction between classic corporate silos.

Unsurprisingly, that post sparked plenty of itself, and via a poll that Tata Consultancy Services comms director Abhinav Kumar is running on his blog.

An useful addendum comes by way of a Cohn & Wolfe post on the ‘era of full disclosure’. Andrew Escott and Geoff Beattie examine why companies must embrace a culture of transparency, noting the impact of recent media revelations about the US Government and NHS. As the authors write:

Whatever you think may be secret, it isn’t. No matter how private they may seem, emails, internal memos and even telephone calls must be treated as if they are already in the public domain.

And later:

This is the end of confidentiality, giving rise to a new era of full disclosure, and it has serious implications for major private and public sector organisations. The conclusion we have drawn is that there needs to be a complete overhaul in the way corporates manage the issue of

By Arun Sudhaman

disclosure, in order to minimise the business risks arising from electronic data leaking to the outside world in one way or another.

In the recent HBO series House of Cards, a gubernatorial candidate is subjected to a fearsome interrogation by one of his campaign operatives. The subtext is simple: unless the campaign knows everything about a candidate’s shady past, they simply cannot plan for potential future crises.

Corporations would undoubtedly benefit from the same level of internal scrutiny. Yet, I wonder how many are ready to undergo this type of rigorous cross-examination. The risk, of course, is that the (presumably metaphorical) ‘bodies’ will be uncovered by someone outside the organization, to devastating effect. It is why Escott and Beattie argue that the ‘corporate affairs’ department should be taking the lead on this:

Within every corporate affairs team, there should be a reputation risk manager, whose job is to burrow into the darkest corners of his or her organisation, looking for the answers to the critical question: What will happen if this enters the public domain?

I couldn’t agree more. For political campaigns, I imagine this type of forensic investigation is commonplace. It needs to be for corporate communicators too

This first appeared as a blog post on www.holmesreport.com


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In Cannes, it sometimes pays not to dig too deep with your questions. Where exactly did that award-winning ad run? Do the results for the latest celebrated campaign stand up to real scrutiny? Is that creative director really only 35 years old?

For at least one group of people at the annual festival, though, blissful ignorance is no longer an option. Senior marketers are now being asked to make an endless stream of decisions in the knowledge that their brand-building efforts will be dissected, analysed, criticised and - yes - perhaps even praised, by a digitally-fuelled crowd of instant pundits and participants.

This is the reality of the conversation economy, where organizations are finding that the one-way communication model is not only dead, but that people have the power to rapidly shift the terrain upon which a major marketing campaign may have been built. It is a shift that calls for a more participatory approach to brand building, where critics do not just have a voice - they may actually play a role in defining, sharing and developing your campaign.

Why Marketers Must Look Beyond ‘Brand ego’

In Realtime era For many marketers, these changes mean an overhaul of the traditional long-term, obsessively crafted campaign plan, instead calling for a more ‘realtime’ approach to communication - one that draws as much upon editorial savvy as it once relied upon big-budget theatrics. For many brands, meanwhile, the shift carries a much bigger element of risk, in an environment where a marketing message cannot be controlled and criticism of a company can spread like wildfire.

This is the spectre that overhangs all of the conversations about marketing at Cannes: the loss of control and the difficulties posed by a messy, chaotic social media environment where trust and advocacy must be earned. To explore these trends in greater detail, the Holmes Report joined forces with its creativity partner Ketchum to convene a special panel during the festival titled ‘Creativity in the Conversation Economy, attended by an audience of senior marketing and PR professionals.

As Ketchum CEO Rob Flaherty put it, “the most valuable media in the world is the only kind you can’t buy. It’s

The panel- Rob Flaherty, CEO, Ketchum- Tom Scott, director of global brand and innovation, - Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation- Kelly Vanasse, vice president of communications, Procter & Gamble Global Business Units

Moderated by: Arun Sudhaman, managing editor, Holmes Report Loss of control: the 80:20 rule

Not before time, the idea that an organization can control its brand is inexorably losing steam. For marketers, however, this shift means they must rethink the traditional creative approach to their campaigns. P&G’s ‘Secret Mean Stinks’ effort is a good example of this trend, crowdsourcing much of the activity in a bid to boost awareness of bullying among teenage girls. As Vanasse pointed out, this type of thinking is not necessarily easy for an organization that is “used to being in control.”

Vanasse: It’s hard to change habits. We’re used to being in control. But what our brand builders are realizing is that when you cede control or let go, you get great stuff. The majority of [Mean Stinks] was user-generated content. It’s much more powerful than anything we could craft, package and send out. In terms of what it does to the expectation of creativity and what we need, everything starts with a story. So we need great storytellers. We need platforms like Mean Stinks versus just campaigns. We need people at our agencies and in-house who know what to do with that creatively, who know how to get the story started that will then lead to user-generated content, that will allow the girls, in this case, to take over the community. We think about the 80:20 rule - 80 percent of the time we give it up to them and that allows us to go in and do a little brand messaging about 20 percent of the time.

Scott: I am not in the business of building the Foundation’s brand for the brand’s sake. It is merely if it is a tool that helps us have conversations with the audiences we want to have conversations with. It’s all storytelling. We have access to the most amazing stories in the world. We are not telling them well. If we can find that mix between rational and emotional on the creative side, we can save more lives and do more things.

Flaherty: I think we all get the storytelling part. The question is what makes the storytelling really engaging. We see too many client organizations and agencies creating awesome content that they then either need to buy the presence of, or that sits there with a thousand links to it or views. The trick is to know the awesome story you want to tell but then do it in a way that other people care about. What’s going to create relevance? Agencies talk about mobilizing a movement. I think more brands need to find nascent movements and fuel them. Rather than trying to build their own.

the most hard to come by - a person talking to another person and it seems to be the currency that everyone wants to get today.”

“Social media has been like manna from heaven for the PR industry,” added Flaherty while introducing the panel. “Hopefully on a good day we take the skills we learned from many years working through gatekeepers, and having to earn the presence of a message, and we use it within the context of the most powerful channel of all - the human channel, people talking to each other.”

The following article reports the highlights of the discussion, touching upon such issues as the ‘brand ego’, the loss of control, the importance of failure, and how corporate concerns now affect branding efforts.

Scott: If I get another agency come in and pitch me on how they are going to build a movement.

Flaherty: It can be a little bit of elegant organization, as simple as providing the hashtag, or an owned frame for the dialogue to continue. Brand arrogance: “We need to be

more humble” Flaherty raised the concept of the ‘brand ego’ - the traditional urge for brands to conduct huge, set-piece marketing campaigns that are planned down to the tiniest detail, often cloaked in military metaphors that sees consumers targeted and audiences penetrated. The panellists discussed the need to reconcile that mindset, often so beloved of the C-suite, with the need for a more humble attitude that looks to listen and build on everyday stories told by people.

Vanasse: I call it brand arrogance. We need to be humble. We do that by putting the person first. Trying to get away from talking about consumers and talk about people. When you put the person first, you have a much easier time of being humble.Despite being a nonprofit, the Gates Foundation is not immune to these challenges, given Bill Gates’ own stature as a lightning rod for attention and, sometimes, criticism.

Scott: It’s part of what keeps me up most nights. Our objectives are saving lives. It’s different to commercial objectives. The similar thing is around motivation. People have to understand our motivation and why we have chosen the areas that we focus on. We do have three brands.two of which are humans, and the other one has their names in it. One comes with 30 years of equity in a very public sense. These are people that are alive and out there and that’s different from a static thing you can manage.

Flaherty: All of this heavy interest in insights is a good thing. It’s an overused term but the desire to actually dig into something that people care about is terrific. Then, when you bring the paid, earned, shared and owned parts together you find that some of those parts come with more ego than others. Getting them to play nicely with each other in a way that cedes control is incredibly important. Leading with paid is frequently a way to be too intrusive and too brand ego-centric so I think more and more campaigns lead with the earned and shared part.

Vanasse: A lot of it has to do with the vibe and relationships that the internal teams share with each other, and the external agency teams share with each other, and that both

share as one big team. Fail fast, fail often.but recover wellThe risks for brands that are looking to piggyback on the latest movements and memes are fairly obvious. Many brands have found this to their cost, misjudging the public mood and failing spectacularly in their attempts to jump on the news agenda. P&G global brand-building officer Marc Pritchard has said that he wants his marketers to “fail fast, fail often”. This is probably easier said than done, with the panel discussing the difficulties of encouraging an appetite for experimentation when so many people are ready to pounce on their mistakes.

Vanasse: It’s something that we’re hearing more and more.

We are somewhat risk-averse as a company. As a 175-year-old company with so many brands, we have a lot to protect. That said, it’s really about how you recover when you fail, more than anything else. What we’re finding is that, if you recover the right way, you’re actually in a better position sometimes. I think when we share stories like that, it makes people more comfortable with leaning in, and stepping out and taking some more risk. I also say don’t take risks for risk’s sake. We scenario plan through the nth degree, so that when we do take a risk, we have a good idea of what could happen from it. And we make sure we’re well prepared for something happening that we weren’t expecting and we’re ready to recover quickly.

Scott: Our asset, even more than our funding, is our convening power. We’re very much seen as a neutral actor, even though we have points of view on various issues. We take huge risks on our programmatic side - there’s a real culture of innovation and risk-taking and an acceptance that, if these issues were easy to solve, people would have solved them. So we have to try to push the limits of things there. And I think on the communications, side, we too are a little less risk tolerant. I think we can push things a little more.

Flaherty: We have been brought into situations where the client says ‘We have been approached by this comedian to do this work with our brand, should we do it?’ The way we prepare them for that is to not intervene and media train the comedian. It was to stay away but to do all the issues management around it. How do we recover fast if it doesn’t go well? How do we cede control of the brand, let them run with it, but be ready for any kind of backlash?

Corporate vs brandAudience member Karen Van Bergen, CEO of Porter-Novelli, asked the panel how they get the balance right between corporate and brand storytelling. The question was given added piquancy by Flaherty’s subsequent remark that “when a brand gets into trouble, it now moves up to the corporate level a lot faster than it did only a decade ago.”

Scott: We have 26 strategies, it’s like having 26 business units. It has to ladder up to something, so that’s why we came up to this notion of ‘human promise’. If we can get that piece right, every single strategy can fit underneath that. I think that when we go to specific issue storytelling, we narrow our audience quite a bit, so we have to be focused on who we’re talking to and what we ultimately want them to do. It’s kind of an odd calculation.

Vanasse: Obviously, Olympics is a great example of how we were able to develop a company narrative, within which every single one of our brands could live and thrive and come to life in a really meaningful, beautiful way. That was a big strategic decision. We brought the P&G brand out.

Flaherty: The gap between the two does not exist anymore. I think it’s incredibly dangerous when a big company leads only with its brands. When the [corporate] brand is not defined, it will be defined only by the negative

Arun Sudhaman, Editor, The Homes Report

Appeared first on www.holmesreport.com

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