New Delhi, Delhi, India: WE Communications (WE) today announced a strategic investment in award-winning Indian integrated consultancy, Avian Media, and its sister public affairs consultancy, Chase. WE Communications India will merge with Avian and will now be called Avian WE. Chase will remain a separate consultancy owned by Avian WE and will retain its name.
By joining forces with Avian Media, another like-minded independent, we can continue to put our clients at the center of everything we do,” said Melissa Waggener Zorkin, CEO of WE Communications. “Our investment immediately extends the client capabilities we offer and creates opportunities for future services expansion, supercharging our regional and global network.”
Avian Media Investment
Founded in 2004 by Executive Chairman Nikhil Khanna, Avian Media currently numbers more than 150 employees with offices in Mumbai, Delhi (headquarters), Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune. Khanna, working with Co-Managing Partner and now Group CEO of Avian WE India, Nitin Mantri, together built Avian Media into the second largest independent communication consultancy in the country. They have been supported by a strong management team including Manash Neog and Neha Mehrotra who have been with the firm since its inception. Providing both corporate and brand positioning counsel and public affairs capabilities through its subsidiary Chase, the award-winning consultancy specialises in delivering integrated campaigns to serve both foreign brands and India’s most innovative global and local brands. Avian WE clients in India include Airbnb, Airbus, Bloomberg, Dell, MasterCard, Qualcomm, Sony and TripAdvisor.
“We are excited about this partnership. Both entities share a common entrepreneurial culture and a philosophy of working in partnership with our clients to build long-term relationships, and a culture that places great emphasis on our people. I am very excited about what we can achieve together,” said Khanna.
“The merger between Avian into WE represents a huge opportunity for us to accelerate our expansion into new sectors and markets within the region. With the increased scale of the combined business, we can deepen our specialist capabilities, particularly in the areas of our power sectors Technology, Health, and Consumer and provide our team with greater development opportunities,” added Mantri.
Key senior management in Avian WE includes Manash Neog who continues to lead the public affairs subsidiary Chase, while Neha Mehrotra will now run Avian WE PR nationally. WE veteran Carolyn Camoens will continue as WE’s senior vice president of Southeast Asia based in Mumbai. The combined agency boasts over 160 employees.
In addition to expanding its regional and global footprint, WE is also growing its signature intellectual capital, Brands in Motion, to include India. Brands in Motion examines the movement of sectors and brands inspired by, or driven by, technology.
“WE is focused on becoming the leading, independent mid-sized global network in the industry. With last year’s addition of Red Bridge in China and WATATAWA in Singapore, combined with our investment in Avian Media and Chase in India, we are in a great position to serve multi-market clients better than we ever have,” said Alan VanderMolen, WE President of International. “These additions to our family are yet another example of WE aggressively expanding our global network in order to service a growing, global client base.”
About WE
WE works with some of the most innovative companies on the planet – those focused on delivering the next big thing. For more than 30 years we’ve been movers and opinion shakers, experiencing firsthand how technology can enable brand transformation. Using our Momentum family of services, we partner with clients to set their stories in motion – from insight to impact. Our playground is consumer, health, social innovation and technology. Our fiercely independent mindset allows us the freedom to bring together the best talent, partners and ideas to create powerful, persuasive campaigns. Shiny accolades like Cannes Lions, SABREs, Best APAC Medium Agency and PRWeek Award for Best Use of Social Media/Digital adorn our offices. We’re global, speak 37 languages and we’re not much for standing still. But it’s not about us, it’s about our clients, their customers and setting their brands in motion. Time to move. http://www.we-worldwide.com.
About Avian
Avian Media is one of the top 10 fastest-growing consultancies in the world, according to The Holmes Report 2017. Established in 2004, we have 150 people in six offices (New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune) across India. We also work in 29 Indian states through our affiliates. We provide a comprehensive range of communications services such as public relations; digital and content; corporate social responsibility and advocacy; crisis management, financial communications; and public affairs. For over 13 years, we have focused on building the right kind of company – strong on growth and high on values (knowledgeable, ethical, committed and passionate). We like to keep it simple: focus on clients and people. The rest will follow.
Our strategic thinking and seamless execution of integrated campaigns have attracted top brands around the world, winning us accolades like Sabre golds, the Independent Agency of the Year at ICCO Global Awards, and the Consultancy of the Year – Large at Fulcrum Awards in 2017. In recognition of our people-first culture, we received the Great Place to Work certification in 2017, for the second year in a row. We were also named the Best National Consultancy to Work For in India by The Holmes Report in 2016.
