Saurabh Gupta achieves Young Communications Entrepreneur Award

Company Brief

New Delhi, February 02, 2009

Saurabh Gupta was unanimously selected as the India winner of the Young Communications Entrepreneur (YXE) award.

Judges’ citation:

The creativity and uniqueness of his product definitely has global appeal while still being deeply rooted in Indian tradition. The collaborative approach he initiates while working with different partners both at an individual and corporate level showcases his tremendous potential to scale up his business in the future.

Saurabh is the Co-founder Phonethics Mobile Media (P) Ltd.

Phonethics implements storytelling strategies for brands and helps build digital communities around specific interests. Primary features of the communications solution include short form digital content, social media networks, viral content (nudge networking) and characters (visual alphabets). Phonethics aspires to be at the forefront of developing communication using new media platforms and tools for the hugely divergent and vibrant Indian market. His primary role is to help people re-imagine their story, understand the audience and help deliver the final manifestation on devices/platforms/networks where it can be most easily accessed by the audience. He is an ideator, creator and a creative catalyst and loves to work with technologies and creative practices that amplify the reach of communication.

Saurabh will get the opportunity to travel to UK in March 2009 on a tailored visit programme including meetings with leaders of the communications sector and key exciting communications entrepreneurs from the UK industry, as well as visits to exhibitions and events. He will attend the events organised by D&AD and compete with national finalists from Central South Asia region, Ghana, Indonesia, Kuwait, Latvia, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, Slovenia, South Caucasus for the International Young Creative Entrepreneur title and financial award of £7500 to work on a project which builds the relationship between the winning country and the UK. The award aims to position the UK as the nexus for cultural, creative and commercial exchange. Importantly, he will gain an insight into the mechanics of the sector in a developed economy and enhance his understanding of the market.

Arvind Agrawal, Principal Shareholder and CEO of Atherstone Investor Communications Limited (AICL) received the runners up award.

Judges’ citation:

Arvind’s excellent communications skills while presenting AICL’s palate of services offered to enhance stakeholder-centric communication requirements clearly portrayed his ability to be a leader in the sector.

AICL is a full-service communications consultancy working closely with organisations to help engage effectively with present and prospective investors. They assist in the identification of positioning strategies and key messages to derive optimal valuations and enhance investor goodwill. They deploy domain knowledge, financial expertise, investment insights and communication skills along with design capabilities and production bandwidth to create an all-encompassing and unique communications offering. AICL’s core products and services include the research, content, design and production of annual and interim reporting tools, the creation of specific presentations and collaterals for fund raising and analyst interaction events and the training of management in interfacing with the financial media and other focus groups. These solutions are delivered across media - print, interactive, web and audio-visual - by a twenty member team from three locations.

The other finalists included Shahna Garg, Creative Director DBar Inc., Manish Vij, Co-founder Quasar Media Pvt. Ltd, Parmesh Shahani, Editorial Director Verve, Vivek Bhargava, Managing Director Communicate2 and Anand Mahesh, Managing Partner Mavcomm Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

The Young Communications Entrepreneur award is part of the British Council’s International Young Creative Entrepreneur (IYCE) Awards Programme which aims to develop a powerful professional network between entrepreneurs in India and the UK to inspire and facilitate the sharing of best practices, build skills, professional development, provide access to markets, mentoring and resources to increase business opportunities. The other awards included in this programme are Fashion, Publishing, Screen, Design, Music, Interactive, Visual Arts and Performing Arts.

For further information, please contact:

British Council

Tanima Maniktala

Tel: 011 23711401

Email: Tanima.Maniktala@in.britishcouncil.org