Genesis Burson-Marsteller Wins Big At the PR Asia Awards 2018July 19, 2018

Bags the coveted South Asia PR Campaign of the Year Award for its campaign for Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation

Hong Kong, June 15, 2018: Genesis Burson-Marsteller, a leading public relations and public affairs
consultancy that delivers integrated communications services to some of the best global and Indian
companies, proved its commitment towards pushing boundaries by winning seven awards at the
prestigious PR Asia Awards 2018 held in Hong Kong on June 13. Genesis Burson-Marsteller, which is
now part of Burson Cohn & Wolfe, formed by the February 2018 merger of Burson-Marsteller and
Cohn & Wolfe, also won the coveted South Asia PR Campaign of the Year for its campaign for the
Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC).

Genesis Burson-Marsteller’s award-winning campaigns include:

• ‘Mumbai Life Line 3- Connecting the Unconnected’ for MMRC won the illustrious Gold in the South Asia PR Campaign of the Year and the Silver Award in the Issues and Reputation Management category
• ‘Mumbai Khadde Mein’ (Mumbai In A Pothole) for Red FM won the Gold Award in the Public Education category
• Making India the Global Food Hub for World Food India won the Silver Award in the Public Sector category
• ‘Cartons Le Aao, Classroom Banao’ (Bring Cartons To Make A Classroom) for Tetra Pak won the Silver Award in the Corporate Social Responsibility and Bronze Award in the Environmental categories
• ‘Aaj Likhenge Kal’ (Writing A New Future) for Zee TV won the Bronze Award in the Corporate Branding category

Apart from the winning entries, the consultancy was also shortlisted for the South Asia Agency of the Year, and its work on:

• ‘Aaj Likhenge Kal’ (Writing A New Future) for Zee TV in the Arts, Entertainment & Media category
• Making India the Global Food Hub for World Food India in the Media Relations category
• ‘Mumbai Khadde Mein’ (Mumbai In A Pothole) for Red FM in the Arts and Entertainment & Media categories
• Not Every Super Hero Wears A Cape for Cartoon Network in the Public Education and South Asia PR Campaign of the Year categories
• Unboxing the EcoSport for Ford in the Brand Development (Product) and Best Use of Broadcast/Video categories

Congratulating the team on the win, Ms. Ashwini Bhide, Managing Director, MMRCL, said, “We are delighted to have won one of the most prestigious awards in Asia. #MumbaiLifeLine3 was conceptualised to manage Mumbai’s traffic congestion issues and reduce the carbon footprint of the dream city of India. By introducing this campaign, we not only reached out to 5 million hearts of Mumbai but also managed to find a balance between sentiments and rationale. We truly believe, once commissioned, Mumbai Metro Line 3 will be the greenest mass rapid transit system focused on offering a better tomorrow.”

Elated at the win, Rajat Uppal, National Marketing Head, 93.5 RED FM, said, “As a radio station, we have always strived to support causes which directly affect citizens and provoke mindsets with a social message. We strongly believe in the fact that radio is a powerful medium to reach out to the masses. Thus playing an important role in bringing about a change. Through ‘Mumbai Khadde Mein’ we are proud to say that we successfully created an impact in the city of Mumbai. Being known as a bold and provocative entertainer, we firmly believe that this initiative was indeed Bajaate Raho. This campaign was backed entirely by PR and to win this award is an honour.”

Jaideep Gokhale, Marketing Communications Director, Region South Asia, East Asia & Oceania at Tetra Pak, said, “We are delighted to have won one of the most coveted awards in Asia, and that too in two categories. For us, Cartons Le Aao, Classroom Banao wasn’t a marketing campaign. It was an extension of 15 years of our work to build the used carton recycling ecosystem from ground zero. It helped us move closer to bringing about a behavioural change leading to more carton collection, repurposed into school desks to build better learning environment for lesser privileged children. And we are very happy that our efforts have been recognised at the PRWeek Asia Awards. Genesis Burson-Marsteller has been an integral part of this journey, and it has been a great experience partnering with them. We would like to thank the jury for recognising our initiative and also congratulate all the other winners for their efforts.”

Prathyusha Agarwal, Chief Marketing Officer, ZEEL, said, “Zee TV’s fresh articulation of its core brand philosophy – Aaj Likhenge Kal inspired our viewers, the great Indian middle class to draw from their inner strength and take charge of their destinies to achieve the extraordinary found an instant connect with India. The extensive integrated campaign we rolled out to communicate this philosophy was strong viewer understanding and insight-led. We are glad that not only did this deliver brand impact and reach but touched hearts with memorable creatives that will linger on in the public mind-space for years to come. We are humbled and happy that Aaj Likhenge Kal’s PR campaign has been the highest delivering campaign in the Hindi general entertainment channels space. Overall, this initiative which cut across functional boundaries has also helped us revive and strengthen Zee TV’s bond with the audience across the country through both content and communication. The positive growth on all brand perception parameters – Top of mind recall, spontaneous awareness, consideration and most preferred channel scores (Source: Kantar Milwardbrown Study – Sept. – Oct. 17) and channel’s resurrection and consistency in maintaining leadership position amongst Hindi entertainment channels post the brand refresh stands testimony to the campaign’s success .”

Prema Sagar, Vice Chair, Burson-Marsteller, Asia Pacific & Principal/Founder, Genesis Burson-Marsteller said, “Consistent focus on creating integrated, idea-driven and result-oriented campaigns and a firm-wide commitment towards pushing boundaries has really proved to be the winning mantra for us. But more than that, it is the trust and the partnership with share with our clients that these awards bear testimony to. Our wins at the PR Asia Awards recognise the passion and hard work put in by the teams bear fruit.”

The PR Asia Awards are unique in their efforts to shine a spotlight on communicators and agencies and their work in the Asia-Pacific region as they define cutting-edge thinking and drive the public relations and communications industry forward. The Genesis Burson-Marsteller wins at PR Asia come on the back of its success last month at the PRWeek Global Awards wins in the Healthcare category and Best Campaign – Asia-Pacific for the Back to Work campaign for Medela.