Supriyo Gupta, Vice President, Rediffusion-DY&R
We run with the news. We run for the mindspace, for our clients.
We run with the news. We run for the mindspace, for our clients.365 Days a year, at least three of Rediffusion Public Relations' clients are present in at least ten of the top 20 media in the country. "Mostly on the front pages," claims Rediffusion with confidence.
And Supriyo Gupta, Vice-President, Rediffusion-DY&R and Head Rediffusion Public Relations, has much to explain. How?
A former journalist, Supriyo has worked with a number of publications, he joined public relations to supplement his learning's with real life marketing experience.
Rediffusion PR has worked for Amway, AirTel, Touchtel, Zee Networks, Playwin, SKF bearings, United Breweries, McDowell, Cavinkare, Maruti, Sail, Gillette, Braun, Oral B, Dell Computers in shaping their communication for substantial periods.
In a conversation with exchange4media's Nikhil Gupta, Supriyo talks about the concept of 'News brand', importance of media relations and the future of PR in India.
Q. What are the core values and ethics of Rediffusion? The core ethics and values of Rediffusion are very simple, its integrity, its honesty, its self -respect. We believe that we have a set of talented people, we respect ourselves, we respect our customers, we respect our clients, we respect the media and we work with them.
Q. Has the PR industry in India reached a stage where it can replace advertising? No, not really, but what will happen is more efficient use of the non-advertising marketing spend.
Q. Is the role of PR going to remain majorly in media relations? What are the other roles PR is going to play increasingly in the coming years? We feel that the role of PR is going to remain in media relations. In media relations there are essentially few things, one fundamentally- the information. The best PR Company works both from the company to the environment and from the environment to the company. That role is going to get enhanced.
Then over a period of time the media becomes increasingly discerning about the information it uses, because of the ease with which it can access the competing information. Also, our role comes under a larger marketing role, in the sense that you are dealing in a form of credible space.
The best PR is that PR which happens at the street level, you go out and ask the people what they think about of Company A, and they say, 'Acchi Company Hai.' That is not reference to a newspaper he has read, he has imprinted in his mind a picture, which has emerged from a combination of impulses. Those could be from media, from non-media, it could be your friend; it could be your relative.
Q. What is the Unique selling proposition of Rediffusion-DY&R? The USP of Rediffusion is first; we have an excellent appreciation of our client. We try and understand business; we try to get into the dynamics of the business. For us, it's not merely a communication exercise. The second USP is that we have good comprehension of the environment. Therefore I can look at my clients business, understand its dynamics, understand his environment and then able to counsel him on possible anticipated directions and able to deliver the message far better. Three sixty-five days in a year, Rediffusion clients are in the newspapers. You look, in the past we handled Maruti, right from their very difficult phase, at a point of time when the competition was coming in. You look at SAIL, when it was going through its modernization phase. We work virtually in tandem with media, as we are working with clients that make news everyday. We run with the news, we run for the mind space, which a typical audience is willing to give to us, rather than a mind space, that I have to hammer in. And that's really our third USP. At the end, in overall sense the proposition tends to be great thinking and superb execution.
Q. When you go out and pitch to potential clients, how do you differentiate yourself? First thing that works for us is that we have a superb set off clients, second thing that works for us, is that we think differently. At a given point of time, if you look at the solutions that we present, they are rooted in reality, while showing an appreciation of environment of the client. And the proposition of the client evolves every two months, so, we try and evolve the value that we add to our client. In the process we try to make sure that anybody in our agency should not feel that they are doing the same thing over and over again. We feel he should be on a continuous growth path of learning, because if you don't have that then after a point of time, this most exciting profession ends up becoming fairly dull.
Q. What is the concept of 'News brand' that you talk about? When we talk about a 'News brand,' really it's not unlike a customer brand. At any given point a news organization is going through about 1000 pieces of news items. It ends up making a choice, based on his perception on how important the company or the brand or the news brand is. You might have a really well known company, which is investing 1 crore, a slightly less known company investing 20 crores, and a very little known company investing 100 crores. They might be of equal standing, integrity. But the more well known company is on the front page, a slightly less known company is placed somewhere in the companies page. And the third company is put into the snippets. So, the degree is to really start working on the, what is the news brand that works best for the company. Does it needs to be high profile, because he has got stake holders in decision making to whom he needs to constantly talk to. Does he have consumers, to who needs to constantly talk to? Once we have defined the making of a news brand then we built it up accordingly. Therefore our news brand concept flows largely from the appreciation of how you built in a value for a media organization.
Q. How does PR competes with other below the line marketing activities? Very well, today we are doing a fair number of things, which are below the line. Suppose we decide that for some consumer goods company, which is selling perfumes, one key consistent messaging that you need to do is in the area of gifting. Now there are two aspects in which I go about addressing them. First and foremost would be that I look at every gifting occasion, that exists. Therefore, I will look at Valentine's day, I will look at birthday, engagement, marriage. I will surround him in areas where he is most likely to go for gifting. So, if he goes to an Archie's Shop, to look for gifts. So, when he goes out on a Valentines Day I have surrounded him with communication impulses. PR is about communication that surrounds the person.
Q. What are the future roles of PR in India? For say 5 years? I think three big trends will happen. One is that PR today is defined in very narrow terms. I see the way in which PR Practitioners address their task. In the future, a PR professional may not content with saying that I will address these many publications, a PR professional would go out and say I will address this market and I will give back to you this kind of visibility and exposure in this market. Secondly I see a greater degree of accountability coming, as of now the accountability happens in fairly absurd terms. We will probably see greater degree in terms of pre and post research. Third, I see a far greater degree of professionalism happening. Fundamentally today in Public Relations we are coming up with a generation, who is understanding the business from many dimensions.
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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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