Birla Opus Paints Appoints Burson as Strategic Communication Partner in India
Birla Opus Paints, a brand under the Aditya Birla Group’s Grasim Industries, has chosen Burson, a global leader in communications, founded with the goal of generating value for clients through reputation, as its strategic communications partner in India. The agency will be in charge of creating and carrying out a thorough communications plan to position Birla Opus Paints as a major force in the Indian paint market.
Burson will be responsible comprehensive communication strategy
Burson India will collaborate with the Birla Opus Paints brand team to strengthen the brand’s positioning and reaffirm its dedication to sustainability, innovation, and high quality. Burson India will make use of its vast network and experience to help Birla Opus Paints establish a strong brand identity, improve its reputation, encourage thought leadership, and increase audience engagement. It will also draw attention to its affiliation with the esteemed Aditya Birla Group.
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Here’s what they said
Inderpreet Singh, Head, Marketing, Birla Opus Paints, said,
“We are delighted to partner with Burson India. The team’s proven expertise in brand building, reputation management and strategic communication aligns with our vision to establish Birla Opus Paints as a formidable player in the industry. We are looking forward to partnering with Burson to create engaging and powerful stories.”
Deepshikha Dharmaraj, CEO, Burson Group India said,
“At Burson India, we reinvent how reputation creates competitive advantage for our clients, enabling them to lead today and into the future. Our legacy is built on providing creative and innovative solutions that drive value for our clients and we are thrilled to partner with Birla Opus Paints which shares the same values of innovation and quality. The brand’s commitment to expanding the decorative paint market perfectly aligns with our expertise in launching new brands and establishing market leadership. We are confident that our experience in reputation management and brand communications will help establish Birla Opus Paints as a household name and a trusted brand in India.”
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Burson, the newly formed global communications agency officially launches
Burson, the newly formed global communications agency formed by the merger of BCW and Hill & Knowlton, was officially launched on June 13th. The new company is positioned to grow into one of the biggest in the sector and offer a cutting-edge method of reputation management in the fast-paced world of today. Burson’s ability to provide innovative and persuasive solutions for establishing reputational capital is demonstrated by the brand identity and new client and talent offerings that were unveiled today. On July 1, the merger will be completed.
WPP officially launches Burson
In an effort to streamline operations, Burson has made several appointments to global leadership positions and implemented strategic layoffs during the last five months. Along with new programs, products, and a brand identity, the agency has unveiled its innovative approach to reputation management. Burson created a brand-new framework and consulting process to evaluate and oversee client work based on four major pillars: stakeholder beliefs, company actions, communications, and social narratives. The Burson Innovative Portfolio, a collection of goods that use AI technology to solve clients’ problems, provides support for this work.
At Burson India, Deepshikha Dharmaraj will serve as CEO.
New visual and brand identity
Burson unveiled its new visual identity and value proposition through all global channels, showcasing its cutting-edge strategy for reimagining the construction and defense of reputation in the fast-paced world of today. Burson has unveiled a number of products and initiatives to enable its counselors and creators to address clients’ problems in a variety of industries and markets in order to implement this new positioning. Inspired by the ability of light to shed light on situations and highlight opportunities, the company’s new visual identity reaffirms its dedication to providing clients with creative and audacious counseling as well as advisory solutions.
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Specialist agencies under Burson
Throughout the Burson Group, a streamlined suite of agencies with scale across the most transformative industries of today, led by the flagship full-service Burson brand, Burson employs its proprietary approach to reputation. Among them are:
- Axicom is an earned-first global communications agency for tech brands and brands with a tech story.
- Burson Buchanan, which recently rebranded from Buchanan Communications, is a financial communications and capital markets advisory firm.
- Hill & Knowlton is a full-service global firm that has been a successful partner for business and brand transformation, offering solutions for corporate affairs, marketing, and strategic communication.
- GCI Health is a full-service global healthcare agency driven by people.
Burson Innovation Portfolio
The Burson Innovation Portfolio, a collection of artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled tools that, when combined with human intelligence, enable faster, better insights, precise audience targeting, and culturally relevant creative, forms the basis of this work. These solutions, which are essential parts of WPP Open’s AI-powered marketing operating system, PR Studio, comprise five suites that cater to a range of customer needs:
- The Sonar Suite, which uses social narrative intelligence to predict and assess risk.
- The Decipher Suite, which forecasts the effects of both aggressive and defensive messaging, the significance of regional and global themes, and the emergence of new cultural trends.
- The Creators’ Suite, which identifies online information supply and demand as well as narrative white space to produce audience-specific content at scale.
- The Fount Suite uses an aggregated view of the data over a campaign’s lifetime to measure and optimize performance, and the Specialists’ Suite trains Burson’s AI tools on particular industry sectors.
Along with launching its new learning academy, Burson is also focusing on client leadership and skill development to guarantee that teams are trained on a consistent, global, “one Burson” approach and are exceptionally well-versed in counseling clients both now and in the future.
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The Burson Academy offers curricula under four pillars:
- Craft of Reputation Management, with a focus on writing, media relations, issues management, and creative.
- AI/Innovation, for advancements in data & analytics, AI.
- Burson Innovation Portfolio, and new methods of working.
- Leadership, for career navigation, management, and leadership growth.
Here’s what they said
Corey duBrowa, formerly BCW’s global CEO said,
“Businesses and organizations are operating in a constant state of complexity and uncertainty, marked by rapid advancements in technology, economic volatility, wide-ranging activism, and social and geopolitical turbulence. A strong reputation grounded in action, communicated clearly and creatively, and deployed as capital across stakeholders will enable clients to succeed in this environment. Reputation is a company’s most valuable asset for enhancing perception and growing performance, preference, valuation and return.”
Global Chairman AnnaMaria DeSalva stated,
“In today’s complex operating environment, business leaders are converting pervasive risks into opportunities for innovation and value creation. The Burson Innovation Portfolio, which draws on the technology strengths of our combined agencies and WPP, reflects our promise to combine artificial and human intelligence in ways that help our clients succeed at the intersection of risk, creativity and reinvention. Leading companies are already leveraging these solutions to build and protect reputation in highly material situations. We are committed to both our clients and our employees that Burson will be an engine for their growth and for the enablement of the transformations that the world needs now.”
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MCN, Part of IPG, Bolsters Leadership Team in MENAT; Appoints Lizzie Dewhurst as Chief Communications Officer
Thursday 22nd February 2024, Dubai, UAE: MCN (Middle East Communications Network) – a leading marketing communications group in MENAT, part of the Interpublic Group – has appointed Lizzie Dewhurst as its Chief Communications Officer. The former Head of International Communications & PR at Publicis Groupe joins the leadership team, reporting to Ghassan Harfouche, Group CEO MCN MENAT, and President McCann Worldgroup APAC.
In the newly created role, Lizzie will be responsible for the brand profile, reputation management and marketing of MCN and its portfolio of agencies including McCann Worldgroup, IPG Mediabrands, FP7McCann, MullenLowe, UM, Magna, Initiative, KINESSO, MRM, McCann Health, Momentum, Craft, Weber Shandwick, Commonwealth//McCann, Jack Morton, Octagon and Current Global. MCN has circa 2,000 employees spanning 11 markets in MENAT. Across its strong agency brands, MCN offers integrated marketing solutions that build enduring
brands and business growth for its clients. MCN’s unique and inclusive culture has been recognized by Great Places To Work (GPTW) consecutively for 2023 and 2024.
Lizzie joins MCN from Publicis Groupe where she was responsible for overseeing International corporate communications, media relations, executive profiles for agency and clients, crisis, and reputation management. While building an aligned and consistent brand cross-market for Publicis Groupe, Lizzie was integral to key achievements, including Ad Age’s Holding Company of the Year (2022), Adweek’s International Agency of the Year (2021), the launch of Working with Cancer, which was awarded a Health Grand Prix Lion (2023) and most recently, the launch of the Groupe’s AI strategy. Her leadership in PR for both agency and clients has generated high-profile coverage and helped secure major Cannes award wins for clients including Heineken and Powerade.
Having lived and worked in the US, Europe, and the Middle East, Lizzie draws on international experience, from previous roles where she led communications globally for Publicis Worldwide, Leo Burnett, and Saatchi + Saatchi, and worked within the global communications teams at TBWA\Worldwide and AKQA. Lizzie regularly judges PR Categories for industry award shows and has featured as a university guest lecturer.
Here’s what they said
Ghassan Harfouche, Group CEO IPG/MCN MENAT and President McCann Worldgroup APAC commented,
“As a leading marketing and advertising networks in the region, MCN partners with clients to build enduring brands. Our rich and diverse heritage, combined with future-facing agencies and disciplines, ensures we deliver truly integrated and sustained brand value and growth for clients. I’m happy to welcome Lizzie, who brings broad multinational communications experience across agency, holding company and brands, and know that she will ensure added value for our agencies and clients.”
Lizzie Dewhurst, Chief Communications Officer at MCN, added,
“MCN’s prominent positioning and its strong workplace culture, combined with the significant growth trajectory and diversification of the region gave it an obvious appeal to me. I am excited to be joining a dynamic business in a fast-growing economy and look forward to bringing the company’s story to life, building profile, impact and growth for the business and its clients.”
ABOUT MCN
MCN is a leading advertising and marketing communications agency groups in MENAT, which partners with clients to build enduring brands. MCN’S agencies are global brands, spanning creative, media, digital, PR, brand experience and specialist marketing, within McCann Worldgroup and IPG Mediabrands, including FP7McCann, MullenLowe, UM, Magna, Initiative, KINESSO, MRM, McCann Health, Momentum, Craft, Weber Shandwick, Commonwealth//McCann, Jack Morton, Octagon and Current Global. MCN has circa 2,000 employees across 11 markets. MCN is committed to cultivating an inclusive environment where talents can thrive and flourish. This commitment has led to the company and its agency brands to be recognised as a Great Place to Work consecutively in 2023 and 2024.
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