NEW DELHI: PR consultancy Hanmer & Partners Communications Private Limited has recently bagged the account of LG Care. The public relations account was allotted to Hanmer following a pitching process, which included credential presentation followed by one on strategic inputs.
Hanmer managing director Sunil Gautam attributed the win to a detailed research and analytical approach in shaping the branding and communication strategy, and action of plan for the client.

 
On the win, Gautam, said, “The time lapse between the credential presentation and the final pitch was very short. Once we got information on the expectations of the client vis-?-vis the PR Objectives and servicing requirements, we formed national think tank.”
The core team, headed by Gautam, also included director – strategy Shekhar Ghosh, vice-president Jaideep Shergill, core servicing team from Chennai and four senior consultants, all of whom had previous agency experience of servicing an FMCG account, formulated an all-India communication plan.

Considering paucity of time between the credential and final presentation, the team shared the workload for the secondary research plan. The key areas covered during the industry and environmental scanning included business strategy and performance analysis, perception audit, consumer-related initiatives such as trends, behaviour and spending pattern, and media relations among others.

On the research, Gautam said, “The research output was not only exhaustive and informative it also helped mould the communication plan. The strategy was again broken down into key components that would synergize with the overall strategy. The secondary was also done specific to each product category in which the client intended to enter the Indian market with.”

The strategic communication objectives were classified into corporate and brand communication objectives so as to enable the company to capitalize on the LG brand awareness that already existed in the mind of the consumer while trying to extend the brand image into each category that the company intended to enter into as it was planning to adopt an umbrella branding strategy.

The secondary research also indicated key reputation indicators in terms of certain aspects, traits of the company that could be communicated easily and would be considered the pillars on which the company’s business philosophy, says Gautam.

Apart from communication plan and an activity framework, the Hanmer team also drafted a plan based on the company’s umbrella branding strategy as to how the messaging and key reputation indicators will integrate itself into the overall communication objectives and business objectives of the company.