In a bid to leverage the combined clout of the group, the Tatas have decided to outsource public relations services to one company, Vaishnavi Corporate Communications.
In the process, over the next few months, group companies will be terminating their existing contracts with other public relations outfits and signing on with Vaishnavi.
Vaishnavi will be handling public relations for 12 Tata group companies including Tata Sons, Tata Industries, TCS, Tata Engineering, Tata Finance, Tata Steel and Tata Tea. "This appointment will add considerable value in the area of corporate communications which we feel is extremely important in the increasingly competitive global business environment," Tata Sons chairman Ratan Tata said, in a statement the Tatas sent to Business Standard in response to questions faxed earlier.
"We're doing this with a positive angle. We've done large restructuring, exited many businesses, done internal restructuring. Now we're taking initiatives in the area of the Tata brand," a top Tata group functionary said.
"So far, each company had outsourced its PR to a different agency. Several Tata companies like Tata Chemicals, Tata Power and Tata Tea don't have a PR person. We said we can demand a much higher degree of quality if we outsource to one agency," the source said, adding: "Our communications strategy hasn't changed. Nor will we be saving money. We're just trying to be more effective. We're leveraging the scale offered by the Tata group."
This is the second instance of top Tata group companies coming together for a "business process outsourcing". Earlier in the year, the group appointed Media Edge as an agency on record to act as the sole media buying agent for group companies. "After Hindustan Lever, we're probably the second largest spender on advertising," the Tata functionary said, adding that the group expected to save money by giving the entire media buying business to Media Edge.
Vaishnavi has been promoted by Nira Radia, who is also the chief executive of the company. Radia is also the managing director of Crownmart International India Pvt Ltd which had applied to the government to operate a domestic airline but withdrew its application a few months ago. Radia is also known to have advised the Tatas in their proposed foray into the aviation sector.
The idea to concentrate the public relations of group companies in one agency was floated by the Tata brass some six months ago. Vaishnavi has already started work on the accounts. It handled the communication of the second quarter results of both Tata Tea and Tata Finance, announced last week.
The Tata group's corporate affairs department will continue to handle the promotion of the Tata brand, website, intranet, internal communications, the in-house magazines -- only media relations will in future be handled by Vaishnavi.
