Shiv Reddy, CEO, Corporate Voice | Weber Shandwick
Our distinctiveness lies in linking what we do to the business outcome desired by our clients. In most cases, PR campaigns we undertake are about influencing a brand choice. These brands could be corporate brands, product brands, process brands, or people brands. It could appear clichéd to say that we think global and act local. There is not only truth in this, but also an acute business need, given the growing expanse of globalisation.
Our distinctiveness lies in linking what we do to the business outcome desired by our clients. In most cases, PR campaigns we undertake are about influencing a brand choice. These brands could be corporate brands, product brands, process brands, or people brands. It could appear clichéd to say that we think global and act local. There is not only truth in this, but also an acute business need, given the growing expanse of globalisation.Shiv Reddy has over 24 years’ experience in the communications business. A product of Rishi Valley School, he graduated in Electrical Engineering from BITS, Pilani. In 1980 Shiv joined the MAA Group (Corporate Voice | Weber Shandwick is a part of this group) as an Account Executive. Shiv was soon promoted as Manager of the Hyderabad office, where some of his clients included Hyderabad Allwyn, the Nagarjuna Group and HMT. Following this he was appointed General Manager of Odyssey, another MAA Group company, specializing in video productions and television programming. Shiv then moved to Corporate Voice PR and has been instrumental in growing Corporate Voice | Weber Shandwick into one of India’s leading PR consultancies across Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore markets. Some of Corporate Voice Shandwick India clients include Oracle India, McDonald’s, Electrolux, Hero Honda, MasterCard, Hindustan Levers, KLM Northwest Airlines among others. In an interview with Vinod Behl of exchange4media, Shiv talks about the communications business, the strategic approach of Corporate Voice, and how the PR industry should grow in the emerging scenario. Excerpts: Q. If your agency were put in such a situation, how would you have tackled it?
The basics of crisis management remain unchanged. You have to bring the truth out, and let people see it. Actions speak louder than words, hence demonstration is critical. This applies to Reliance as well.
We handle crisis situations for many of our clients regularly, and in many cases nobody comes to know of what happened when. In crisis situations, the reputation capital that has been aggregated over years, comes to your rescue. Hence we advise our clients to invest in it. A lot of emphasis is laid on creating robust systems for crisis avoidance and preparing the system for eventualities. Weber Shandwick is credited with managing the American Airlines crisis of 9/11.
Q. What are the challenges and opportunities for PR agencies today?
Now more and more people are realising the need for professional PR agencies. If you want to be a leader, you would need to do everything a leader does. Consultancies like ours have an excellent view of what is working for whom. Our clients benefit from this bridging of knowledge.
In terms of challenges, it is a vast industry, with scope to provide specialist services. We have to certainly grow in that direction.
Q. Did your agency do any other equally exciting and challenging PR campaign recently?
A lot of work that we do for various clients is never made public, given the sensitivities involved. Every campaign we do has a distinct challenge, only the magnitude differs. Excitement for us lies in trying to meet this challenge. There are several issues that companies, institutions, governments, brands need to address through various forms of communication. These could be done through the most apparent and visible channels like advertising or the more subtle ones like public relations, events, marketing promotions and so on and so forth. Public relations is not always as clearly and distinctly visible to a neutral observer. But if you were part of the target audience, you would have been exposed to the underlying messages, which would have a bearing on your thought process, even though you are not able to decipher them consciously. A good PR campaign would have ideally changed your behaviour, but if not, at least broadly make you reconsider your opinion, attitude and existing behaviour.
Q. How distinct or different is your approach in doing campaigns vis-à-vis other PR agencies?
We have a very tangible approach where we clearly work towards achieving a certain outcome. The punch line for Weber Shandwick worldwide is ‘The power to influence outcomes’. Our distinctiveness lies in linking what we do to the business outcome desired by our clients.
In most cases, PR campaigns we undertake are about influencing a brand choice. These brands could be corporate brands, product brands, process brands, or people brands.
At Corporate Voice|Weber Shandwick, we have the advantage of being part of the world’s largest multinational consultancy that provides us the collective experience of several markets and the practices of several corporates. It could appear clichéd to say that we think global and act local. There is not only truth in this, but also an acute business need, given the growing expanse of globalisation.
Q. Do you think the expectations of media from PR have changed over the years?
Yes, they have. Today media looks at support from PR agencies more positively to maximise their own efficiency. They are willing to work with us to provide them the right kind of background information and facilitate one-on-one interactions to fill the information gaps. Yet there may be certain support that PR agencies may not be able to provide.
Q. Talking about the present state of PR industry in India, how do you look at it from the point of view of a professional practitioner and strategy thinker?
Many professional practitioners and strategy thinkers have put PR ahead of the other disciplines, and gone on record to state this. Look at Al Ries and Laura Ries who are proponents of PR. In fact, when it comes to promoting themselves as brands, professionals and thought leaders resort only to PR. Those who rely on other disciplines and go for blatant publicity have a poorer perception.
PR is growing its role in the corporate mix in India. Clients are looking through the services of the agencies asking for greater value addition, beyond the mechanics of executing campaigns. They come to us for help in developing messages that have a wider appeal, targeting these messages and, finally, ensuring that they are actually getting received leading to change in behaviour.
This industry is also beginning to recognise the complexities of this business. Therefore, there is a greater need for people with strategic mindsets who understand human behaviour and its true nuances. Media is also growing rapidly, becoming more and more segmented and focused. There is specific media for specific constituencies, specific media for finance, for IT, healthcare and so on.
Q. How do you look at the role of PR vis-à-vis advertising?
They are and have always been complementary. What PR can deliver, advertising cannot and vice versa. Really speaking, PR is a good precursor to advertising because it fills the environment, creates a mind space and therefore facilitates the penetration of advertising. One can never replace the other.
Q. What about the growing trend of advertorials and paid editorials?
The truth is that the moment the reader sees an advertorial, by virtue of its visual format and the way the copy is written, he knows it is it is an advertorial which is trying to look like an editorial! Any discerning reader will see the difference. Soon the word spreads around about the media and columns which accept paid content, leading to erosion of credibility.
However, having said that, advertorials have a role to play. If you want to disseminate a large body of information, you may not just do with a story. You need an advertorial for it. However, a reader can differentiate between the two.
Q. What really made your WHO ORS campaign a winner?
The WHO ORS campaign has been able to break new grounds in the way people view PR. This campaign did not overtly rely on the traditional editorial media approach. Instead, we looked at our target constituencies, which were the mothers of infants and young children, and analysed their media consumption habits. Then we went on to find partners who could help disseminate our messages. These were media houses and channels, celebrities, business houses and above all the medical fraternity. We chose partners in a way so that it would be a meaningful association for them – the target constituencies and us. A blend of all the communication exercises undertaken for the campaign delivered results, which speaks for itself. As of September 2004, the total ORS market in North India (campaign states) had grown by nine per cent and the WHO ORS segment had grown by 18 per cent in comparison to the same period last year.
Q. How competitive is the industry today?
India is still evolving as a PR market. The US is of course the original developer of the science of public relations. There are clients who are now evolved, and need specific service levels. They are willing to pay the price for it, and consultancies that have built capabilities to meet such needs hardly have much of a competition. However, in an evolving and a growing market like India, more and more new entrants are coming in all the time. These entrants are eager to break in, making the industry very competitive at the entry level.
Q. What is the role of PR agencies in crisis management? How do you view the latest Reliance crisis from this point of view?
If we listen to doctors and follow preventive healthcare practices, our chances of staying healthy will go up. The same logic applies to crisis communications. The biggest role a PR consultant can play is in advising and devising preventive strategies, and preparing the system to withstand a crisis situation. PR is the only communication discipline which is helpful in a crisis situation. You cannot do much otherwise.
The issue of Reliance is of two warring brothers. They happen to be India’s biggest industrialists, creating the current media attention. Differences and disputes happen in most Indian families. The wise will loose interest in this development soon.
Q. Finally, what is the roadmap for Indian PR agencies in general and your agency in particular?
PR consultancies have a tremendous opportunity to grow up the value chain. The next logical step is to further strengthen vertical specific specialist competencies, and then grow the consulting strengths. The big opportunity is to emerge as management consultancies of the communications business. No one understands the interplay between public issues and communication better than us, so we are best suited to do the integration.
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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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