MAM
Cohn & Wolfe expands India ops; buys majority stake in Six Degrees PR
MUMBAI: WPP’s Cohn & Wolfe is looking at expanding its India operations and has agreed to acquire a majority stake in full-service public relations agency Six Degrees PR and its content and integrated marketing subsidiary Alphabet Consulting, with offices in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.
With this, Cohn & Wolfe’s existing business will become part of Cohn & Wolfe Six Degrees.
Six Degress PR co-founders Rishi Seth and Zacharia James will become Group CEOs, leading the Cohn & Wolfe Six Degrees team of 70 professionals across Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. The duo will report to Cohn & Wolfe CEO Donna Imperato.
Additionally, Six Degrees CEO Karan Punia will become CEO of the new company, reporting to Seth and James.
Part of an aggressive growth plan in the region, the deal builds on Cohn & Wolfe’s Mumbai and Delhi offering and solidifies the agency’s Asia-Pacific presence by growing its footprint in the region to 11 offices.
Founded in 2009, Six Degrees is known for its consulting approach, counseling C-Suite clients on challenges across the communications spectrum. Six Degrees has extensive public relations, public affairs, crisis management and digital media experience and delivers content and integrated marketing campaigns through subsidiary Alphabet Consulting.
“India is a strategic priority for Cohn & Wolfe, and Six Degrees has the entrepreneurial culture, seasoned talent and drive to succeed that will help us capitalize on the tremendous opportunity for growth here. The agency’s presence in Bangalore, the country’s technology hub, and their work in technology, finance and corporate complements the Cohn & Wolfe India team’s extensive lifestyle and consumer experience,” said Imperato.
“We believe that Cohn & Wolfe is the best partner for the culture, passion and energy of Six Degrees and Alphabet Consulting. We are excited to start this new journey to make a bigger play for growth through integrated marketing services,” added Seth.
“Our measure of success is having built a reputation for being amongst the most respected PR firms in India. Alignment to a global agency with a strong people orientation and methodologies is the next logical step in our journey. We believe Cohn & Wolfe will provide us the required impetus to build on our success, stay relevant to our people’s aspirations and become a global partner to our clients with a full service offering,” said James.
Cohn & Wolfe, which opened offices in Delhi and Mumbai in 2012, represents clients across a range of industries and is particularly known for its leading travel and tourism practice. Cohn & Wolfe India doubled revenues in 2014 with key clients including Austrian Airlines, Cleartrip, Lufthansa Passenger Airlines, RCI, Ruckus Wireless, Swiss International Air Lines and Wyndham Hotel Group.
Six Degrees’ current clients include companies such as Amadeus, Cushman & Wakefield, Dalmia Bharat Group, Hughes, Ingersoll Rand and Nokia.
MAM
Gurpreet Singh named President of DishTV Alumni Network
Former Dish TV executive to lead community building and collaboration.
MUMBAI: Back to the dish, but this time it’s about connections, not channels Gurpreet Singh is returning to familiar territory with a new mandate that swaps subscribers for relationships. Singh has been appointed President of the DishTV Alumni Network, a move aimed at strengthening ties among former employees and building a more engaged professional community around the Dish TV ecosystem. The initiative reflects a growing trend among large organisations to formalise alumni networks as platforms for collaboration, mentorship and business opportunities.
The appointment draws on Singh’s deep-rooted history with Dish TV, where he held multiple leadership roles over nearly a decade. As National Business Head between June 2019 and September 2020, he oversaw profit and loss as well as operations, managing revenues of Rs 6,000 crore and leading a team of around 1,250 employees across the country. His tenure included working alongside two regional business heads and 16 circle heads, underscoring the scale of operations he handled.
Prior to that, Singh served as Executive Vice President and National Head for Sales and Revenue from 2016 to 2019, and earlier as Senior Vice President and National Head for Sales and Revenue. He also briefly led international operations as Country Head for Sri Lanka, further expanding his exposure across markets.
His broader career spans leadership roles across telecom and consumer businesses, including a stint as Chief Operating Officer at Bharti Airtel’s Malawi operations, senior leadership roles at Reliance Communications, and earlier positions at Hindustan Sanitaryware and Kodak India, where he spent over a decade.
In his new role, Singh is expected to focus on reconnecting former employees, fostering collaboration, and building a structured alumni ecosystem that leverages shared experience and industry networks. As companies increasingly recognise the long-term value of their extended workforce, the DishTV Alumni Network appears set to turn nostalgia into a strategic asset, one connection at a time.
