Tagged: Webchutney RSS

  • Gaurav Mishra 11:11 pm on December 24, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Brand Equity, , , , Saket Vaidya, , Webchutney   

    WebChutney is India’s Best Digital Agency: A Story in Three Tweets 

    Welcome to Gauravonomics Blog! Subscribe to my feed now and you'll never miss a single post!

    Rajiv Dingra reports that Brand Equity’s Ad Agency Reckoner has ranked Webchutney as the #1 digital agency in India.

    I heard the news a few days back. Here’s the story in three tweets from my friends Sidharth Rao (the founder of WebChutney) and Saket Vaidya (perhaps one of WebChutney’s top ten most prized employees) –

    @Webchutney: Webchutney declared India’s No. 1 digital agency by Economic Times/Brand Equity. http://tinyurl.com/beq2008aar

    @SidharthRao: Number 1 (but we knew that)… Grinning like a mothafuckng winner!

    @Vulturo: So what if we don’t have internet, but we are still India’s No 1 digital agency: Economic Times/Brand Equity.

     

  • Gaurav Mishra 11:04 am on March 10, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Cognizant, Collaborative Tools, , CXO Blogging, , Employee Blogging, , , Joji Gill, K Ananth Krishnan, Mahesh Murthy, Microsoft India, Pinstorm, Santhosh D’Souza, , , Sukumar Rajagopal, Sun, TCS, Webchutney   

    My Interview with Indian Daily Hindustan Times on Corporate Blogging 

    Quick Summary: I was quoted yesterday in Indian daily Hindustan Times’ article on how Indian corporates are embracing blogging and social networking as collaborative tools.

    - X – X – X –

    Hindustan Times' Article on Corporate Blogging

    Hindustan Times' Article on Corporate Blogging

    I was quoted yesterday in Indian daily Hindustan Times’ article on how Indian corporates are embracing blogging and social networking as collaborative tools –

    Some, like Gaurav Mishra, the Indica brand head, use their personal brand – created over years of blogging – to promote the brand they work for. “My blog benefits because my real-life experience gives credibility to my posts, and my offline avatar benefits because my online presence makes it possible to meet and build an impression on people who wouldn’t have known of me otherwise.” Lately, Mishra has promoted a new ad campaign for his brand on his blog and Facebook account.

    A serious concern for employers could be what their employees say publicly on such sites. Says Mishra, “I ensure that my entire web presence is squeaky clean so that even if I put it on my resume, it can hold up to close scrutiny.”

    The article also quotes Webchutney CEO Sidharth Rao, TCS VP & CTO K Ananth Krishnan, Cognizant CKO Sukumar Rajagopal, Sun CTO Santhosh D’Souza, Microsoft India HR Director Joji Gill, and Pinstorm CEO Mahesh Murthy.

    The article covers the entire enterprise 2.0 spectrum including CXO blogging, internal enterprise blogs, employee blogging policy, and the use of blogs and social networks as collaborative tools in the enterprise.

    Here is the complete text of the article –

    Corporates promote blogs as office tools

    Neha Tara Mehta, Hindustan Times
    New Delhi, March 09, 2008

    Social networking sites like Orkut and Facebook and blogs are part of your personal life, right? If you are lucky and these sites aren’t blocked at work, you probably manage to steal a few minutes at work to access them, while pretending to be hard at work. But if you work for a select few companies that see such sites as vital office communication tools, then social networking online could all be in a day’s work. The benefits? The emergence of a whole new, democratic work culture.

    Take interactive agency Webchutney’s Mustafa Syed, a marketing analyst and project manager. He follows 40-odd colleagues on Twitter, a microblogging service accessible from cellphones and PCs, among other social networking tools like Facebook to stay in touch with people across three locations – some of whom he has never met. “Work flows smoother with such informal tools. Everyone in the company is on G-chat, so there is no initial awkwardness communicating with people you have never met.” Employees can chat online with the CEO as well, taking up problems and discussing ideas. “A lot of bureaucracy doesn’t exist then,” he says.

    When Webchutney CEO Sidharth Rao recently went to Bangalore to make a customer pitch, he was microblogging about the presentation live to employees in Mumbai and Delhi. “People who have worked on the presentation but aren’t making it themselves would want to know what’s happening,” he says. New-age communication tools also help track employee dynamics. “These sites give me a first-hand chance to assess where the teams are — what’s playing up their mood or bringing them down.”

    Offices such as Webchutney stand in sharp contrast to many – where social networking online is looked upon as ‘cyberslacking’. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), too, is trying to leverage social networking technologies for collaborations and knowledge creation within its 110,000 employee-strong organisation. “Social networking is a hugely popular with a very significant employee base. No company can afford to ignore it,” says K Ananth Krishnan, vice president and Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

    TCS employees are part of 1,500 company-oriented communities on social networking sites. Many also blog actively on the public platform. Part of the “highly connected and open culture” at TCS is ‘My Site’ — a website for every employee, embedded with social networking tools. Then, there’s ‘Idea Storm’ — a site on which everybody is invited to comment on a theme. “We got 20,000 ideas out of a dialogue in five days,” says Krishnan. There’s also a CTO blog – accessed by 85 per cent of the company in the last three months and ‘Just Ask’, a community where anyone can put forward a question and have it answered.

    At Cognizant, newsletters and other types of internal communication have already migrated to the blogging platform. “Blogs are an excellent mechanism for collecting feedback, expanding networks and knowledge sharing across a global employee base,” says Sukumar Rajagopal, Chief Knowledge Officer, Cognizant.

    Employee blogging is central to Sun Microsystems’ marketing communications strategy, with top boss Jonathan Schwartz believing that employee blogs have “authenticated the Sun brand as much as or more than a billion dollar ad campaign could have done.”

    Schwartz’s own posts neither overhype Sun products, nor over-slay competitors. Employees write about mundane problems like product delays, and invite readers to submit bug reports and suggestions. Says Ananth Shrinivas, 24, a Sun engineer whose posts are among the most widely read ones on technology, “Blogging is a way for employees who aren’t related to a particular product or policy, to write about their valid concerns.” His postings on a public blog go with the disclaimer, “My writings do not express the views of my employer cat, dog or girlfriend.” Santhosh D’Souza, the Sun chief technologist, uses his blog as an extension of himself — to write about what’s new in Sun technologies for potential customers.

    Some, like Gaurav Mishra, the Indica brand head, use their personal brand – created over years of blogging – to promote the brand they work for. “My blog benefits because my real-life experience gives credibility to my posts, and my offline avatar benefits because my online presence makes it possible to meet and build an impression on people who wouldn’t have known of me otherwise.” Lately, Mishra has promoted a new ad campaign for his brand on his blog and Facebook account.

    A serious concern for employers could be what their employees say publicly on such sites. Says Mishra, “I ensure that my entire web presence is squeaky clean so that even if I put it on my resume, it can hold up to close scrutiny.” Says Krishnan of TCS, “If there is criticism of the company online, it’s a person’s opinion, and we take it constructively,” he says. “Blogging or any other new media of communication shouldn’t override an employee’s common sense, ” says Joseph George, engineering manager, Sun India Engineering Centre.

    Microsoft doesn’t review, edit, censor or endorse individual posts, says Joji Gill, director HR, Microsoft India. It’s such freedom that inspires employees to blog responsibly and tap into unstructured knowledge networks online, says Abhishek Kant, a Microsoft community programme manager and one of the founders of the Delhi Bloggers Association. “If the company is willing to take such a risk, I will also write responsibly.”

    Mahesh Murthy, CEO of Pinstorm, a search engine-driven marketing company, had to introduce a blogging policy in 2006 after he found two employees engaged in an online duel. The company now guides clients on the “power of positive blogging.” Says cyberlaw expert Pavan Duggal, “Companies should have a blogging policy in place, saying that employees shall neither disclose anything confidential nor post any defamatory or libelous content. Violating this policy should have serious consequences for the employee.”

     

    • resume wizard 2:38 am on September 29, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      test

    • seemastore 5:59 am on November 4, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      What kind of policy Mahesh Murthy have after meeting and luring various girls from differnt cities and molesting them in his super cars?
      What is the policy of Mahesh Murthy for raping and dumping girls because he has a neither married and nor divorced live in relationship with a non virgin lady Manisha Lakhe and he has been frustrating other ladies to consent him because they are non virgins?
      What is the policy of Mahesh Murthy regarding sending honey, sweetie messages and smss, to play and let the girl to suicide reluctunt to maintain her modesty and work?
      What is the policy of Mahesh Murthy to change the ethical standards of the society and blackmail women to bring up illegitimate child of his and instead of making this world to go to moon, let that travel backward when monkeys never used to marry like other species and live on the trees?
      When everybody has right to question him on various policies, let me to ask him.

  • Gaurav Mishra 2:08 am on February 25, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Adfactors-PR, , , Blueliner, , , , , Edelman, Genesis-Burson-Marsteller, Hyderabad, ID8Labs, , Infovedics, , Mosoci, , NewMediaGuru, , Online-Reputation-Monitoring, , Quasar-Media, QuasarTalk, , , Redifussion-PR, Screengrab, , Social-Media-Agency, , Social-Media-Outreach, Social-Network-Apps, , , WATConsult, Webchutney, Weber-Shandwick   

    List of Social Media Agencies in India 

    Update: Here’s an updated list of social media agencies in India.

    I have been watching the social media marketing scene in India for a while now, and, suddenly, things seem to be heating up in this space. On the demand side, companies/ brands are showing willingness to engage with social media and, on the supply side, many players are offering, or planning to offer, a variety of social media services.

    The Indian players offering social media marketing services can broadly be divided into three categories –

    - Digital advertising agencies offering social media marketing services with a focus on virals, social network apps, social media campaigns etc.

    - Public relations agencies/ practitioners offering social media services with a focus on online reputation monitoring and social media outreach etc.

    - Prominent bloggers offering, basically, corporate blogging consulting services and workshops.

    Let’s look at the players under each category in some detail.

    Digital Advertising Agencies

    - Webchutney

    Location(s): Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore

    Services: Online reputation monitoring, social media outreach, viral videos, social network apps.

    Known clients: Boston Consulting Group, Airtel, MakeMyTrip, BookMyShow, Tata Motors.

    - Quasar Talk, from Quasar Media, now part of the WPP Group.

    Location(s): Delhi

    Services: Online reputation monitoring, social media outreach.

    Known clients: General Motors.

    - Phonethics

    Location(s): Mumbai

    Services: Viral videos, corporate blogging.

    Known clients: Tata Motors, Sony Entertainment Television, Nokia.

    - Infovedics

    Location(s): NOIDA (Delhi)

    Services: Online reputation monitoring, social media outreach, viral videos, social network apps.

    Known clients: None.

    - Blueliner

    Location(s): Hyderabad (also New York & Dhaka)

    Services: Online reputation monitoring, social media outreach, viral videos, social network apps.

    Known clients: None.

    - ID8Labs

    Location(s): Mumbai (also Philadelphia)

    Services: Social media outreach, viral videos.

    Known clients: None.

    - NewMediaGuru

    Location(s): Delhi (also London & New York)

    Services: Social media outreach, viral videos, social network apps.

    Known clients: None.

    - The Flea

    Location(s): Mumbai

    Services: Viral videos, social media consulting.

    Known clients: Star TV.

    Public Relations Agencies/ Practitioners

    - Rajesh Lalwani’s Blogworks

    Location(s): Delhi

    Services: Social media consulting, online reputation monitoring, social media outreach, workshops.

    Known clients: Fastrack (social media news room, Twitter, Facebook) & Breakthrough.

    Prominent Bloggers

    - Kiruba Shankar

    Location(s): Chennai

    Services: Corporate blogging consulting, workshops.

    Known clients: None.

    - Dina Mehta’s Mosoci.

    Location(s): Mumbai

    Services: Social media consulting, workshops.

    Known clients: None.

    - Rajiv Dingra’s WATConsult.

    Location(s): Mumbai

    Services: Social media consulting, social media outreach, workshops.

    Known clients: Frito Lay, Nokia, HSBC, Mahindra, Rediff, Tribal DDB, ForceIndia.

    Coming Soon

    By the end of 2008, I see the following players entering the market –

    - Nielsen Buzzmetrics is said to be in talks with some Indian multinationals for their online reputation monitoring service.

    - International PR agencies Fleishman Hillard and Edelman are said to have approached Indian multinationals for their online reputation monitoring service via their offices in Mumbai.

    - Zeta Interactive, which owns social media agency Relevant Noise, may start offering these services through their Zustek office in Hyderabad.

    - Advertising agency CreativeLand Asia is also planning to start offering social media outreach services.

    Apart from the five possible entrants that I have identified, I see at least half a dozen other serious players entering the social media marketing scene in India by end of 2008.

    - Update on February 26, 2008:- According to Palin at India PR Blog, several PR agencies — including Weber Shandwick (with Screengrab), 2020 Media, Redifussion PR, Adfactors PR, and Genesis Burson Marsteller — are planning to start their own social media divisions.

    It seems that, by the end of 2008, we’ll have 25-30 serious social media players in the Indian market. That’s amazing, isn’t it?

    I intend to update this list of social media agencies in India on a regular basis. So, if you know any other agencies in India who are focused on online reputation management, social media outreach or viral marketing, do send me an e-mail or leave a comment below.

    Now that we have a firm handle on the list of social media agencies in India, the other thread to pick up, of course, will be Rajesh’s tweet on what is the potential size of the social media business in India.

    Also read: Rajesh Lalwani & HH at India PR Blog, Palin at India PR Blog.

     

    • Priya Shah 12:22 pm on February 25, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Now that is a comprehensive list.

      Damm only one person in PR – i guess its not to late for me to jump in :P

      Great going Gaurav.

    • Gaurav 1:17 pm on February 25, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Thanks, Priya, feel free to ping me and ask me to add to the list of agencies/ clients anytime you hear of any new developments. :-)

    • Rajiv Dingra 3:14 pm on February 25, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Gaurav Im not sure how you missed it but our list of clients is listed on our website here -> http://www.watconsult.com/?page_id=11 And that also is a partial list (as many clients are under NDA). As far as I know We are among the largest stand alone social media consulting companies (Both in terms of number of people we employ and revenues) in India you can check all the media buzz about us here -> http://www.watconsult.com/?page_id=8

      Infact we are doing a lot of work with large digital media agencies as well as direct clients. We are soon to announce major developments both on scale and clients. So watch out for us.

      Really appreciate your effort to list the companies though.

    • Gaurav 4:34 pm on February 25, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      @Rajiv: Apologies for the oversight. That’s a really impressive clients list. Have updated the post.

      Will be watching out for your upcoming major announcements. :-)

    • Rajiv Dingra 4:38 pm on February 25, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Thanks gaurav. Will keep you updated.

    • Rajesh 9:56 pm on February 25, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Nice list Gaurav. Thanks.

      It might be interesting to add differentiators to make it even more meaningful.

      Social media can be many things – setting up a blog for someone can be social media , so can be uploading a video on You Tube ;)

      For eg. we deliver strategic advice that’s aligned with business/ marketing needs/ goals of the clients. Deliver insight programmes, drive evangelist programmes etc.

      Social media is just one of the routes for outreach, we combine our learnings in mainstream and social media to drive value for our clients.

      Cheers.

      Rajesh

    • IdeaSmith 2:18 pm on February 26, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      I’m nitpicking but you spelt NIELSEN wrong. :-)

    • Amit Tripathi 10:18 pm on March 12, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Hi Gaurav,

      Excellent content.

      You missed our client list on the website. Please do take the link from here..

      http://www.id8labs.com/clients.asp

      Keep up the good work.

      Do keep in touch.

      Amit

    • Marketing Services 5:31 pm on March 19, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Yeah its true that social media marketing is evolving in the market and many companies are showing their interest in providing social media services, social media marketing is a part of online marketing. With the online marketing many people are boosting up their business

    • Renaissance PR 3:22 pm on March 26, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      We would also like to be included in this list.

      Thx,

    • Rohit Maheshwari 1:46 am on May 8, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      I am impressed, lets catch up.

    • Aniisu 4:41 pm on June 5, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Hi Gaurav,

      Almost all of these agencies and consultants listed are in the PR and external reputation space..

      I am writing to introduce my blog on internal communications and new media from India ( http://www.intraskope.wordpress.com)

      Cheers

      Aniisu

    • Nimesh Shah 12:16 pm on September 29, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Hi Gaurav,

      Would like to introduce Windchimes to you – a social media agency that me and my friend have started. Do visit our site and mention it in your list of SMM agencies of India

    • Harshil Karia 3:44 am on October 23, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Hey Gaurav – would appreciate it if you added us as well!

    • Shveta Singh 2:07 am on November 10, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Hi Gaurav,

      Good work. This list was really required. But there are few more agencies working in this space.
      iStrat Software from Delhi is one such name. I work with them and we have already done some brilliant work in terms of blogging and online reputation management for some well known companies. Do include us when you update your list the next time.

    • Ajinkya 2:57 pm on December 6, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Hi Gaurav,
      I am Ajinkya, a 2nd year student of PGDCM from MICA, Ahmedabad. I am interested in Social media, and towards the same I have pursued relevant project and written paper. The list you put forth here is of tremendous help to me now.
      Being a veteran in this field, could you please guide me towards carving a fruitful career in this field? Specifically speaking, which companies would be ideal for a passionate management graduate to start his career in? which companies are growing and hope to continue their growth in these troubled times?
      Awaiting your response.
      Thanking you,
      Ajinkya

    • Prasanna 8:16 am on December 10, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Hi Gaurav,

      Very impressive list and nice work you have done of putting it together.
      We are a new startup social media agency based in Chennai and I would like our agency Catch5 Studios to be added in the list.
      Thanks in advance.

    • bhanuprakash 1:37 pm on March 14, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      Hi Gaurav,

      Your effort is very much appreciable. But you missed the biggie, I just wanted to add one more company, who has been aggressively into Social Media & Online PR activities, is Hanmer MS&L, recently got acquired by MS&L, one of the leading Digital Agency in the world.

      But your blog is amazing and very informative. Gr8 effort. I am a Digital PR professional from Mumbai and an SEO consultant.

    • Neelesh Salgaonkar 2:50 am on April 1, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      Hi Gaurav,

      That’s an impressive list. It would have nice, if you could have separated the technology companies that are providing analysis solutions on social media from the other companies.

      One such company is ‘Germinait Solutions’ (www.germinait.com) based in Mumbai, where we are building a next-gen technology platform for social media analysis. We have done some brilliant work in Natural language processing area. Please include Germinait Solutions in your list.

      I am eager to know about other companies that are working in similar space.

      Regards,
      Neelesh

    • Sona 3:02 am on April 5, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      Apart from the list of the companies, that have already been mentioned above, another agnecy that is already doing great amount of mindblowing work in this space is OgilvyPR. Their digital works are too well established and have very high expert team catering to all the markets of APAC.I have personally some of their work and of others too in various campaigns. So I feel that digital in India is not lagging far behind

    • Prerna Bhagra 1:58 pm on April 6, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      You missed us out :( Bloggers’ mind
      http://www.bloggersmind.com. Please check our website and do include us in the list next time you update.

      Thanks

    • Chethna KS 11:49 pm on July 23, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      I read your list and you seem to have comprehensive knowledge about social media in India.

      What do you think are the chances of an international social media company surviving in India. I am a student in Miami Ad School and I am working on a project on social media. Any information that you can give me about social media in the India market, the scope, the kind of clients who would be open to it, anything at all, would be of great help.

      looking forward to hearing from you.

      Thanks.

      • bhanu 12:53 pm on July 29, 2009 Permalink | Reply

        @chetna. Well I write on Indian Social Media. You can visit my blog and gain some insights based on my experiences.

    • Siddharth Acharya 12:45 pm on July 29, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      Hey Gaurav nice blog and very good database. But can u suggest any book on Socila media Marketing. This can be very halp full for me. I will really appreciate your suggestion.

      • bhanu 12:52 pm on July 29, 2009 Permalink | Reply

        @siddharth Acharya

        There are many books on Social Media Marketing, the recent one we had in India was Social Media Marketing by Dave Evans. Its a good book. But its quite deep and professional. I suggest you can go to http://www.docstoc.com and scribd.com. and search for books on Social Media. You will find many.

    • Pratibha Rathore 7:10 pm on August 26, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      Hi Gaurav,

      Very comprehensive list. We would like you to add Mercury Communication to your list. We are an integrated Social Media Agency and we have worked with some big clients. We do social media consultancy, monitoring and outreach for clients.
      http://www.merccomm.com/index_files/MercuryCommunicationServices.htm

    • Shank 4:27 pm on September 1, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      http://www.socialcreeper.com Though it’s not a Indian Company, it’s a true social Media Company that guarantees enhanced visibility to your website using social media platforms. You might want to check this, it’s truly interesting.

      Thank you for information, really helpful

    • c_h_u_c_k 1:49 pm on October 6, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      I wonder if it's a little too late for this :-)
      But we at Windchimes Communications (http://www.windchimes.co.in) have been in this field for a while, and have some good clients as well.

      Possible to update now?
      Good blog, Gaurav. Cheers!

    • Jeanne-Elise M. Heydecker 8:06 am on November 26, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      One thing you don't mention is the success rate of these companies, especially when marketing internationally. I find it very difficult to locate staff with enough international experience to say, market to the US using social media. The English is all wrong, their cultural awareness is naive, but their arrogance something to behold! As an American working here, when I've found good staff willing to learn, they've done really well, especially in Kolkata. Here in Delhi, they simply just don't get it. I'm trying to understand what the difference may be.

      Domestically, I've worked with a number of these companies and they've done some really successful campaigns for the Indian market, things that would never have worked overseas. I'd like to be able to offer outsourcing services to American clients, but I don't think the talent is here to do it effectively yet. I think the industry in India is similar to call centers a while back, when they finally realized that they needed to train their staff in cultural awareness and interaction. Only then will India be able to expand their social media marketing business beyond its own borders.

    • Gaurav Mishra 5:58 pm on December 11, 2009 Permalink | Reply

      Jeanne: I agree. Most young Indians do have limited international exposure and Indian English is very different from American English. I think the trick is to recruit well-educated (and costly) employees and charge a premium.

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