A Birthday to RememberNovember 8, 2020

A Birthday to Remember

Published on November 2, 2020

Prema Sagar

Chairperson, BCW India Group at Genesis BCW and Six Degrees BCW

It’s been 28 years. Twenty-eight years since Genesis BCW (then Genesis PR) came into being. Twenty-eight years since we started a journey with three people and three clients that has now grown into 350+ people and 200+ clients. Several people joined us along the way, and many left us, creating an ever-growing alumni network that includes leaders of other communications firms and corporate organizations in India and abroad.

It all started much before the 28 years we are celebrating. It started when my brother and I were running a printing press. It was called Genesis Printers. We were doing some printing work for THE Park Hotels, led by Priya Paul, when I met someone who gave me a copy of PR guru Frank Jefkins’ book. Around that time, Priya told me about the need to increase the occupancy rate at the hotel. Together we came up with the idea of ‘Going Public at the Park’, where we would call eminent people from across walks of life to come and speak at the event. The presence of these famous people inevitably attracted the media and also gave people a chance to experience THE Park Hotels’ hospitality. Back then, I had no idea that what we were doing was classic public relations. Anyway, I then went to London to study at the Frank Jefkins Institute. And when I came back, I began the journey of Genesis PR.

A lot has obviously changed in these years. And over the years we gave many firsts to the industry: we were the first to use technology in the PR industry, first to start talking about public affairs, first to start the School of Learning and the many divisions and centres of expertise like Digital, Live! Newsroom, Canvas, Step Up and The Outstanding Speakers’ Bureau. For us, whether we were three or 300, learning, evolving and staying curious and creative were always going to be the cornerstones of the organization.

There have also been several learnings from all these years and here are some of them:

Stay creative: In everything you do, try to think differently. But creativity is also about solving a problem.

Stay compassionate: This year has especially taught us why we need compassion and empathy. Whether it is for the community or for each other as individuals, we have to be kind and full of empathy.

Stay collaborative: We do better when we work as a team, so collaborate and work together to create solutions.

As we enter the 29th year, these learnings will become even more important for our teams. Here’s hoping for growth and happiness for everyone.

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