Concept PR bags Agency Excellence Award at Global Communication meet

·         Agency chosen amid stiff competition from among PR biggies, says GCA organizer

·         Union Law Minister Sadanand Gowda presents award at

Bangalore

·         200 delegates, including 20 from abroad, attend the meet

BENGALURU/MUMBAI: Amid stiff competition from among several big PR consultancies, Concept PR has been chosen for the prestigious Agency Excellence award at the 9^th Global Communication Association’s (GCA) conference at Bengaluru over the week-end. Concept PR was the sole agency to be awarded at the conference.

Union Minister for Law and Justice Mr D. V. Sadananda Gowda presented the A P Chowdappa Memorial Award for Excellence in Communication in Agency Sector at the two-day GCA Conference that concluded on January 09, 2015, and attended by about 200 delegates from across the world, including 20 from five continents.

Mr. Gowda said credibility and honesty in the field of communication can go a long way in improving various facilities and public utilities in the country.

Union Law and Justice Minister Sadananda Gowda presenting the
Agency Excellence Award to Concept PR

Announcing the GCA award, Mr. Krishna B Mariyanka, Conference Curator and Organising Secretary, said: “We are overwhelmed by the response for the Conference as well as the awards from among several small and big agencies. We have chosen Concept Public Relations looking the Agency’s overall excellent performance in Corporate Communication, Crisis Communication, Investor Relations, Social Media and Digital Commmunication, Sports and Events Communication.”

 “A well deserved award, indeed,” Mr. Mariyanka, who was also on the six-member jury,  said and noted: “We are also happy to note that Concept PR played a stellar role in making corporates understand the role of media functioning which helps in defining their communication strategies much more effectively,”.

Acknowledging the award, B N Kumar (BNK), Executive Director of Concept PR, said: “I would like to dedicate the award to Team Concept, pan-India. We thank all our clients for giving us an opportunity to work with them and achieve their communication goals.”

BNK, who was also a speaker at the global meet, said he gained immensely from the deliberations as experts from across communication fields shared their experiences and views.

BNK and Asish Jalan with the trophy

"It is a tribute to the tremendous support and understanding shown by all our clients and the excellent team work put up by Team Concept from across. Well thought out strategy, coupled with deliverables has been the hallmark of our success. This award will motivate all of us to strive hard and reach greater heights," said Ashish Jalan, CEO and Director, Concept PR.

This is the third time that Concept PR has won the Agency of the Year Award, having received accolades at Global Communication Conclaves hosted by the Public Relations Council of India (PRCI) in 2007 and 2011.

The 2015 Bengaluru GCA conference focused on ‘Breaking Barriers: Creating new communication horizons’.

“At a time when communication is assuming stronger meaning and deeper significance, together with the opening up of new frontiers across the spectrum of social media, the Bengaluru conference assumed added importance. The two-day meet brought in a fresh wave of thought  which will a go a long way in ensuring that PR practitioners stay connected with the ever changing communication dynamics,” Mr. Mariyanka said.

This year’s GCA awards were instituted in memory of Public Relations doyen A P Chowdappa, late Corporate Communication head at HMT which ruled the wrist watch market with its base line – Time Keepers to The Nation.

The other awardees and their categories were: Veteran journalist K Satyanarayana (Media), Prof Asha Paul of IIM Ahmedabad (Academics), Akshay Heblikar of Ecowatch (NGO), and Seema Ahuja of Biocon (Corporate PR).

Established in 2007, CGA provides an eclectic international platform for corporate executives, communication specialists, policy makers, academicians, bureaucrats, political leaders, PR practitioners and co-related industry professionals to generate new ideas for growth.  CGA held its past conferences in China, Oman, India, Malaysia, Poland, Zambia, Canada and Russia. This was the second time that Bengaluru hosted the meet. 

Salute to a brave Indian soldier

Not many paid attention when Naik Husan Lal attained martyrdom on 23 May 2010, while on overseas duty in Congo. The news item was not more than 10 lines then. He was part of the Indian Peacekeeping Battalion, which he joined in Feb 10. Born in 1981, in a well to do joint family, Husan did his schooling from Karnal (Haryana),after which he chose to join the Army. Husan volunteered for Special Forces (SF) immediately on joining the Army and was posted to J&K. A linguist by nature, he knew Urdu and Pashto languages and topped all Army courses of instruction. Being an all rounder, he was selected for the Pentathlon event at the World Military Games, held in 2007. Eventually, destiny brought him to Congo, with a team of Para SF, as part of an Infantry Battalion Group.

On that fateful day,he was on a routine ‘Area domination vehicle mounted patrol’, on a road which was surrounded by heavily wooded hills.The patrol observed a FARDC (Congolese Army) foot patrol approaching from the opposite direction. Suddenly, all hell broke loose when the foot patrol came under ambush laid by rebel groups. Naik Husan Lal, who was in the lead vehicle, instinctively jumped out to assess the situation. Caught in the thick fire fight and at the same time exercising utmost caution, not to injure civilians by his own fire, he went ahead to help the Congolese patrol. A stray bullet fired by the rebels hit him in the lower back. While being airlifted to the hospital at Goma after first aid, he succumbed to his injuries. Paradoxically, there were no casualties to the Congolese patrol, due to Husan’s speedy reaction.

Here was a soldier who did not bother about his safety and reached out to help men from another friendly country. Survived by his parents, wife and a two year old son, his actions did him proud and also to the country. He is the 10th Indian peacekeeper to be killed, under enemy fire in the UN Mission in Congo (MONUC) since 1999, trying to bring peace & stability in Eastern Congo. (PIB)

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Pearls of PR wisdom

Heard in a leading PR-AD agency - questions being asked:
1. Where ia Manipal?
2. Where is Udupi?
3. In which launguage is Malayala Manorama printed.

Hold, this is ultimate...

How far is Madras from Chennai.

I have deliberately raised this issues to point out appalling levels
of general knowledge among some of young PR professionals. I have
heard young journos and PR professionals asking me " What was
Emergency?". But this chat beats all levels of innocence!!

Read, my friends read. Today you have the advantage not Google. Our
generation had to read and read GK books.

I request all professionals to ponder over problems like this and work
on improving the knowledge levels. We cant for sure achieve India
20:20 goals with this kind of low knowledge level youngsters turning
professionals