Pete Pedersen, EVP & Chair - Global Technology Practice, Edelman
For any company that is getting into social media anew is scary because you lose control. For companies that are used to having a didactic, top down method of communication, the idea of having rank and file employees freely blogging and tweeting their opinion is frankly terrifying. Our approach is first to understand what the guidelines are and set the parameters. These don’t have to be prescriptive rules that run into hundreds of pages, but common sense things.
For any company that is getting into social media anew is scary because you lose control. For companies that are used to having a didactic, top down method of communication, the idea of having rank and file employees freely blogging and tweeting their opinion is frankly terrifying. Our approach is first to understand what the guidelines are and set the parameters. These don’t have to be prescriptive rules that run into hundreds of pages, but common sense things.Pete Pedersen, a 20-year PR industry veteran, currently helms Edelman’s global technology practice, serving clients including Microsoft, Symantec, HP, Adobe, Samsung, Juniper Networks, Motorola, RIM and countless other blue chip technology innovators worldwide. Additionally, Pedersen leads the firm’s Data Security and Privacy group, helping clients navigate the increasing complexity at the intersection of cloud, mobility, and social networking.
In conversation with exchange4media’s Shanta Saikia, Pedersen speaks about how social media is shaping companies’ communications strategies, issues regarding privacy and security and more... Q. How do you view the market scenario in India – in terms of the PR market as well as the technology landscape? The two are related in many ways as technology continues to be such a major part of the economy here that it obviously has impacted the PR industry not only in terms of size and growth and scale, but also in terms of the skill sets that are required. I think what we have seen notably since the last time I was here two years ago is some real sophistication in the application of social media and digital to our technology clients and we are seeing much savvier clients in terms of their perception of what PR is and how it can drive their business. Clients are looking at us to help them engage with a broad set of stakeholders, in addition to doing more traditional media relations work.
Q. How much change have you witnessed, especially in clients’ mindsets, when it comes to PR strategies? I think there are three big, macro changes. First is the use of social media. Every client we talk to is asking us how they can use all the great elements of social media to drive their business and technology, to drive their enterprise business, to help them reach customers in new ways, to maintain relationships and to forge new relationships.
Second big macro change as it pertains to technology is the desire for tech companies to talk to people outside of the tech industry, where the audience is not so sophisticated to understand the bits and bytes. In such cases, clients look to us to manage those interactions and help with the translation. How does a company that makes something that’s very technical have a lucid conversation with somebody who doesn’t understand technology? They turn to us to help them do that.
Thirdly, in terms of the caliber of PR talent that we see in the market, that’s really changed as well. As PR has risen to become a more important discipline in the overall marketing mix, clients are now looking at us to not just transact with the media, but also counsel them in their business. One of the things that we are doing in Edelman is closely focused on privacy and security. We’ve taken a deep dive into understanding what drives privacy and security both from a regulatory perspective and stakeholder perspective that has nothing to do with media relations and everything to do with being true counselors to our clients in a very different way than what it was even 18 months ago.
Q. There is some kind of a clash over here. When you are on social media, you have to react very fast because you don’t know what the conversations are going on, and at the same time you also have to be very transparent. Being transparent, on the one hand, and maintaining privacy on the other – how do you maintain a balance here? For any company that is getting into social media anew is scary because you lose control. For companies that are used to having a didactic, top down method of communication, the idea of having rank and file employees freely blogging and tweeting their opinion is frankly terrifying. Our approach is first to understand what the guidelines are and set the parameters. These don’t have to be prescriptive rules that run into hundreds of pages, but common sense things like don’t disclose things that are company confidential, don’t say anything disparaging about the company or about employees in the company, and so on.
Second step is to train the people and empower them so that they understand that Facebook isn’t an advertising platform, but an engagement platform; that your Twitter handle, if you are tweeting from your work place, is really not a place to just post product announcements, you have to add value to the conversation and the community in which you are participating.
Finally, there is integration. There is nothing more dangerous than a social media programme that lives by itself. It has to be well and fully integrated into the traditional PR operations and the marketing folks who might drive the website and so forth. The companies that focus on content more than anything else and then work with their agencies to figure out to deliver that content to other channels are the ones that have got it right.
Q. Does Edelman have any such process in place where you train in-house personnel or take people from outside and then you induct them into it? Three or four years ago we realised that our own employees didn’t necessarily all have the skills they needed in social media. We had some young guys – the ‘millennials’ – who came up as digital natives and knew how to use all the platforms, but our mid-level managers and senior guys were woefully ill-equipped to deal with what we saw as a tidal wave coming. So, internally we started something called the Social Media Belt System, sort of like a karate or martial arts belt system. Here’s a module on Facebook and if you did that module then you’ve got your belt and we move on to the next module. Thus, we trained all 3,700 employees on the belt system, which was two years ago. Training is an ongoing process and as people come on board, they get the training as well. Soon clients got wind of our training system and started asking us to create a version suited for their companies. We said yes, and of course it has become a nice line of business for us!
Q. Edelman had done a study on ‘Privacy and Security’ some time back. Could you share some of the key insights that the study reveals? The first big takeaway for me is the idea that security and privacy can no longer be relegated to the background. It’s become a reputation issue for companies more than anything else – we’ve seen data breaches, we’ve seen instances of privacy practices gone awry and these companies are finding that it has a profound impact on how their stakeholders trust them, how the regulators look at them and so on. So, if you think about the traditional places within a corporation where privacy and security lived, it was either with the IT guys or with the lawyers. Our whole point is now the communication guys need to be part of that group that works on privacy and security.
The second big takeaway is the gap between how the millennials or the younger generation think about privacy is much smaller than what we thought. There is this idea that millennials are kind of freewheeling and are very happy to offer information about themselves in exchange for better experience and that the older generation is less willing to do that, but that gap is actually quite small. It takes on a different form and certainly there is a level of understanding that perhaps is different across generations, but generally we found a lot of consistency rather than inconsistency.
Third thing that surprised us is when thinking about specific purchases how much consumers are starting to take into consideration how secure a product is or how a company articulates the privacy policies and how they protect your data. Those become key considerations in terms of intent and loyalty. On the flip side of that, we found that consumers are getting quite punitive if their trust is broken and they are taking action. They are choosing other products or brands or shopping in different places, they are posting on Facebook and telling their friends about data breach. Certainly the media are starting to tune in to these issues and write about them even more. Companies need to pay attention to all this and make their communication sharper.
Q. How much is the privacy issue impacting the e-commerce side of the business, because any data breach there is a huge thing as people are transacting online? How can a communications consultancy help allay fears of data breaches and build the trust factor? There are two macro issues that drive the conversations when it comes to privacy – one is collection of information and the second is use of information. If either of these two things happen in a way that the consumer is either unaware of or is uncomfortable with, that’s where the problem starts. As a communications professional, I solve that problem by being very transparent and speaking in clear lay man’s terms.
In terms of intent, I think the companies need to pay attention to not just how data is being used today, but how data may be used in the future. And every time an engineer or product group has access to data and decides to do something different than perhaps what the original intent was, that’s when companies get themselves into trouble.
Our research shows that when consumers don’t have a clear understanding of how companies are collecting their data and what they intend to do with it, that’s when trust is broken.
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Surabhi Patodia of Ola joins Practo as Head of Communications
Patodia served over three years at Ola as Senior Manager, Corporate Communications & PR
Surabhi Patodia, former Senior Manager, Corporate Communications & PR at Ola has joined healthcare platform Practo as Head of Communications.
Patodia started her career in Communications with Adfactors PR, where she helped companies going to IPO with their communication plans. She then went on to be a part of Text100, India's premier Technology PR agency, where she worked with brands like Lenovo, Tata Power Solar, to name a few. She joined Ola in 2016, and was instrumental in building a strong narrative for the brand, across India and International markets.
Patodia holds PG Diploma in Public Relations & Corporate Communications from the Xavier’s Institute of Mass Communications, Mumbai and Bachelors in Business Administration from BIT, Mesra.
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ShareIndiGo appoints Chhavi Leekha as Director, Corporate Communications & Brand Reputation
Prior to this role, Leekha worked with Nokia India as Head of Marketing and Communications
IndiGo airlines, part of InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, has appointed Chhavi Leekha as Director Corporate Communications and Brand Reputation. Prior to this role, she worked with Nokia India as Head of Marketing and Communications. Her role included setting the direction and leading Nokia's marketing strategy, demand generations, brand strategy, event management, advertising, external/internal communications, corporate affairs &CSR.
Leekha has also worked with Uber India as Consulting Director of Communications and also served a stint at Spice Global as Group President, Brand and Corporate Communications.
Leekha has completed her MBA from the prestigious Narsee Monjee Institue of Management Studies and BA from Shri Ram College of Commerce.
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Aditya Birla Group appoints Sandeep Gurumurthi as Head of Corporate Comm. and Brand
Gurumurthi who was part of the core team that launched ET NOW stepped down from his role as Managing Editor in August 2018
Aditya Birla Group has appointed former ET Now Managing Editor Sandeep Gurumurthi as Head of Corporate Communications and Brand.
Gurumurthi who was part of the core team that launched ET Now stepped down from his role as Managing Editor in August 2018.
He was associated with the channel since inception and besides anchoring breaking news and other special shows, he hosted ET Now's flagship debate show India Development Debate weeknights at 9 pm.
Gurumurthi began his career with national broadcaster DD News, and prior to joining ET Now, he was associated with CNBC TV18,
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Yaap appoints Deepak Singh as Chief Creative Officer
Singh is one of the most awarded creative talents in the country and has won over 1000 national and international awards
Rainmaker Ventures-backed Yaap, the digital advertising agency has appointed Deepak Singh as their Chief Creative Officer. Deepak will be based in the Mumbai office and will oversee all creative functions across the Yaap network in Mumbai, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Shillong, Dubai, Singapore & Jakarta. He will report directly to the Board of Directors at Yaap.
Singh is one of the most awarded creative talents in the country and has won over 1000 national and international awards at Cannes, One Show, LIA, New York Festival, Goafest, Adfest, Spikes Asia, Young Guns and more. He has also been on the jury of some of these prestigious festivals and led creative teams across agencies including Leo Burnett, Grey Worldwide, McCann Erickson, DDB Mudra, TBWA, Dentsu and The Social Street.
For the past 3 consecutive years, Singh has led a young team from The Social Street, which has gone on to give an exhilarating performance. He has been instrumental in securing the Creative Agency of the year title for the agency, several times during 2018.
Commenting on his new role, he added, “Saying yes to Yaap was actually not a very tough decision to make for me. Right from the time we first met, Atul had a clear picture of why he wanted to hire me. I am glad he has chalked out a much bigger role for me. Being a young and vibrant company with expertise in Digital Content, Design and Influencer Marketing, Yaap I believe will be a great learning experience for me. I’m raring to go “
Atul Hegde, co-founder Rainmaker Ventures added “Deepak is a welcome addition to the array of Partners we have at Yaap, which has a unique non CEO model, our aim as investors, is to ensure that we are able to attract the best & brightest of talent into the senior management pool at Yap. Within a short span of fewer than 3 Years, Yaap has grown into 70+ people across 7 offices in South East Asia, India & the Middle East and it was the right time for us to bring in a Senior Creative talent. I wish Deepak all the very best and I’m sure he will be a great asset to Yaap. “
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Leo Burnett India promotes Rakesh Hinduja to COO, West
He has been leading the operations of Leo Burnett’s head office in Mumbai as the Executive Director and Branch Head
Leo Burnett has announced the promotion of Rakesh Hinduja to Chief Operating Officer, West. He will continue to report to Dheeraj Sinha, Managing Director, India and Chief Strategy Officer, South Asia and Rajdeepak Das, Managing Director, India and Chief Creative Officer, South Asia.
Hinduja has been leading the operations of Leo Burnett’s head office in Mumbai as the Executive Director and Branch Head.
Speaking about the elevation, Dheeraj Sinha said, “Rakesh is the perfect role model for the new-age agency we are building. His leadership on all the three parameters of People, Product and Profit has been stellar. Under his watch, we have consistently seen spectacular work that has won our brands market-share, and glory at platforms such as Cannes Lions, Spikes and Effies. He has delivered high-quality growth for the Mumbai office, leading the teams to win a new business almost every two weeks. The momentum and buzz at Leo Burnett Mumbai are palpable. Rakesh has been an amazing team player, helping push the Publicis Groupe’s Power of One agenda. Leo Burnett Mumbai’s contribution to our services such as Prodigious has helped Prodigious to become the number one ‘agency production house’ in the country within a span of two years. More than anything else, Rakesh has a never-say-die attitude and he always plays the game with a sense of camaraderie that we really value at Leo Burnett.”
In his new role, Hinduja will drive the Power of One agenda for Leo Burnett in the West. He will help build cross-platform solutions for our clients using our services in Entertainment (Publicis Entertainment), Content (Content Factory), Experiential (Arc Worldwide), Production (Prodigious), Digital (Indigo Consulting and Digitas) and Media (Zenith Optimedia, Ecosys and Beehive). He will lead all the functions of Leo Burnett Mumbai to create world-class work, build a high growth business and create a culture where people come to do the best work of their lifetime.
Commenting on Rakesh’s promotion, Rajdeepak Das said, “Rakesh is always there, backing great creative work and making integrated thinking happen for our clients. He has been an essential part of the journey to get where we are today. This elevation is much-deserved and will take all of us to greater heights.”
Talking about his promotion, Rakesh Hinduja said, “I am happy with my journey at Leo Burnett – a new-age, solution-providing ‘Wave 3’ agency. I’m proud of the brave we have work done and I am hungry for more. Hereon, there are a lot of exciting things to do and in quick time. I want to take a critical pause here to thank all our clients and the Burnetters for their belief in me.”
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Publicis India appoints Neeraj Bassi as Managing Partner & Chief Strategy Officer
Along with Srija Chatterjee and Bobby Pawar, Bassi will help in fostering collaboration and delivering on the Power of One synergy across the Groupe
Publicis India has announced the appointment of Neeraj Bassi as Managing Partner & Chief Strategy Officer. Neeraj will work from the agency’s New Delhi office. Along with Srija Chatterjee and Bobby Pawar, Neeraj will help in fostering collaboration and delivering on the Power of One synergy across the Groupe.
With over two decades of professional experience, Neeraj has worked with some of the world’s most renowned brands including Coca-Cola, Asian Paints, Cadbury, BMW, KFC, Adidas, Samsung, British Airways, WeChat, Voltas, Audi, HSBC, Max Life and Tata Singapore Airlines – Vistara among others.
He joins Publicis after a brief stint as an independent Consultant where he provided strategic guidance and brand solutions for multiple clients across various categories. Neeraj has worked with some of the top market research networks such as TNS, IMRB, and NFO and led the Strategic Planning function in advertising agencies including Cheil, Ogilvy, JWT, McCann in India and abroad. Neeraj has also won multiple awards across reputed award festivals that recognise effectiveness such as Effies (India & APAC), AMES, WARC, etc.
Announcing the new appointment and welcoming Neeraj aboard, Saurabh Varma, CEO, Publicis Communications, South Asia said: “In Neeraj, we found a partner with a shared vision of driving a deeper level of integration within the Groupe by leveraging the Power of One model. Neeraj’s vast experience and media neutral planning approach will help clients in building a holistic brand experience which will aim to create one-to-one consumer engagement, at scale. I look forward to working with Neeraj and wish him the best of luck.”
Welcoming Neeraj to the Publicis family, Srija Chatterjee, Managing Director - Publicis Worldwide, India said: “Neeraj joins at a time when the Groupe is implementing a profound transformation which puts our clients front and centre of everything that we do. His wealth of experience of working across diverse sectors and with cross-functional teams will help build a narrative around our clients’ business and marketing transformation that connects data, content and technology in an omnichannel world. I’m excited to welcome Neeraj to the Publicis Groupe family, and we look forward to him riding the next strategic wave at the agency.”
Bobby Pawar, MD & CCO - Publicis Worldwide, India added: “I’ve always believed great work is born out of a strong partnership between strategy, creative and clients. Neeraj Bassi has a history of creating strategic platforms that killer ideas can springboard from. His cross-platform approach to planning will also be a huge asset to our march towards the future of creativity. It also helps that he is fun to be around. I can chat with him for hours; the chemistry is very important when you are going to be more or less living out of each other’s metaphorical pockets.”
Commenting on his appointment, and his plans for the agency, Neeraj Bassi said: “I am really excited to be part of Publicis India and looking forward to partnering Bobby and Srija to create stellar work that stands out in the market. Working with clients as an independent consultant has given me insight on the primary concerns of CXOs and how communication can help resolve them. Clients today need an omnichannel approach to planning that focuses on identifying and solving their business problems holistically, rather than getting trapped in a discipline-specific approach. I am fascinated by the way all Groupe companies have come together at Publicis to create Power of One, and I look forward to wielding this power to build successful campaigns for our clients.”
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Airbnb appoints Google's Aristotle Balogh as Chief Technology Officer
Balogh formerly served as Vice President of Engineering, Application Storage, Indexing and Serving at Google
Airbnb has announced the appointment of Aristotle Balogh as Chief Technology Officer, according to media reports.
Balogh is expected to begin his tenure with Airbnb in November and will head the engineering and data science teams. He will also be in charge of infrastructure, information security and IT, as well as engineering for payments and community support.
Balogh formerly served as Vice President of Engineering, Application Storage, Indexing and Serving at Google, where he was instrumental in developing the infrastructure and data platforms of Google Search. He also worked as Chief Technology Officer at Yahoo and VeriSign.
According to reports, the company is expected to file for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) next year and Balogh's appointment comes at a time when Airbnb is still without a Chief Financial Officer after Laurence Tosi stepped down from the role earlier this year.
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