Boardroom battle drags on: Now, meet PR teams of Tata Vs Mistry

Both camps have opted to turn to their group resources in their hour of crisis

As the Tata-Mistry boardroom battle lingers on, the two sides have put in place public relations (PR) teams to manage the communication agenda in their hour of crisis. Interestingly, both Tata and Cyrus Mistry are banking on group resources to help steer the ship.

Cyrus Mistry, ousted as Tata Group chairman last week, is counting on Interpublic Group's Linopinion Golin, which works with the Shapoorji Pallonji group, for his communication needs. The Tata camp, on the other hand, has group agencies — Edelman-Rediffusion, Avian Media and Suhel Seth's Counselage — doing the honours.

Given the long-drawn and complex nature of the battle, Mistry may draft one more agency on board. Speculation is rife that it could be the MSL Group, which works with Shapoor Pallonji group company Eureka Forbes.

 

Incidentally, why the appointment of new PR partners gains importance, say experts is because crisis management today demands individual attention as stakeholder, management and regulator activism grows.

During the Maggi crisis last year, Nestle India had a crisis management cell within the firm led by company veteran Sanjay Khajuria. Its agency partner was WPP's Genesis Burson Marstellar.

Shedding its initial reserve and media-shy attitude, Nestle India dived into the crisis when regulator heat began to grow issuing statements and answering all media queries on time.

In Tata's case, it is Debasis Ray, who heads group corporate communications and is driving the effort right now.

While the Shapoorji Pallonji group are relative newcomers to the world of crisis management, given it has had no big controversies dogging it, the Tatas have weathered many a storm in their long history. The biggest was the Nira Radia tapes a few years ago, where questions were raised about corporate governance and how ethical it was for groups to employ lobbyists.

Both Edelman-Rediffusion came on board post the Nira Radia crisis and have helped the Tata group with their communication needs since then. Rediffusion's chairman & managing director Arun Nanda, a close friend of Ratan Tata, is considered an astute mind in the world of advertising and brand communication and with Edelman's support, among the world's largest independent PR agencies, is closely the monitoring the situation right now. So is Suhel Seth, promoter of Counselage, also counted among Tata's good friends, who is advising the interim chairman, persons in the know said.

As far as Linopinion Golin goes, its executive director Ameer Ismail, is an industry veteran, who understands the business of communication all too well, sources said.