MAM
Hill+Knowlton Strategies announces strategic partnership with Impact Research & Measurement
Mumbai, September 26th, 2018: Global leading public relations firm, Hill+Knowlton Strategies, announces a strategic partnership with specialist news monitoring and analysis services company – Impact Research & Measurement to deliver world-class media research and monitoring services for the India market.
This strategic partnership will benefit both firms. As a part of this partnership, client servicing teams at Hill+Knowlton Strategies will get better media analytics tools and research to deliver data-driven integrated communication campaigns. Not only will Impact service all of H+K Strategies’ current clients, Impact will also be the preferred partner for media analytics requirements of all future clients signed up by H+K Strategies. Effective October 1, 2018, The Resource Center (TRC), will cease to offer media monitoring and analysis services to clients. All team members of TRC which was an internal division of H+K Strategies have already been offered new roles at Impact.
Speaking about the partnership, Kavita Rao, President & CEO – Hill+Knowlton Strategies- India, says, “Data and analytics is an important part of all communication campaigns. This partnership enables H+K Strategies and its clients access to advanced tools, analyses & insights to help run communication campaigns better. With our teams having a strong understanding of our clients’ requirements and Impact offering the best-in-class tools based on latest technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, this partnership will enable us to offer better business outcomes for our clients. We are thrilled to partner with Impact Research & Measurement to provide our clients a truly integrated and enhanced level of service.”
Aseem Sood, CEO, Impact Research & Measurement Pvt. Ltd. and Director, Association for Measurement & Evaluation of Communication (AMEC), says, “Clients are no longer interested in just understanding how they did in the past. They want to use data and analysis to understand what could be done better and differently to achieve better success in the future. They also want to make sense of news and trends in a faster and better way. Impact has always been a pioneer – with several firsts in the news monitoring and analysis business industry. We were the first to introduce same-day multi-city monitoring, online repository, real-time dashboards and a mobile app. We are continuing to improve our services and features with investments in news technologies (AI and machine learning). Given the volume of noise out there, it becomes very important to scope the need and use the right charts and visuals to present research results. And this needs to be done in a way that relates to the client’s communication objectives as closely as possible. Our partnership with Hill+Knowlton Strategies will enable them to deliver impactful campaigns for their clients.”
H+K Strategies’ clients will get access to:
- Impact’s news monitoring network which covers several local Indian languages in 50 cities across the country.
- A Mobile APP to access news and analysis, on the go. The APP is available for both, Android & iOS.
- A 24×7 Portal. This Portal comes with a facility to extract Coverage Excel sheets and Dossiers on demand.
- Access to a SmartDASH (News Dashboard). This is a News Consumption tool that helps identify Prominent stories, top authors/ news sources that covered maximum news on the company, each of the Competitors or an Industry theme. You also get a live ‘Word Cloud’ on what made headlines the most on a day, journalists/ authors as well Publications that wrote the most on your key issues, all clickable right down to the supporting articles.
MAM
VML India lands two finalist spots at Cairns Hatchlings 2026
The Mumbai agency is back in Australia with two teams, a UN brief and 24 hours to impress
MUMBAI: VML India is heading to Australia again. The Mumbai-based creative agency has secured two finalist spots at the Cairns Hatchlings 2026 competition, one in the Audio category and one in Design, making it the only Indian agency to have reached the finals in both editions of the contest since its launch in 2025.
Four people will make the trip. Senior copywriter Shilpi Dey and senior art director Raj Thakkar will compete in Audio. Art directors Shabbir and Shruti Negi will go head-to-head with the world’s best in Design. The finals take place at the Cairns Convention Centre from 13th May, culminating in an awards ceremony on 15th May.
The work that got them there is worth examining. For the Audio category, Dey and Thakkar tackled a brief for LIVE LIKE MMAD with a campaign called Inner Voice, Interrupted. Using spatial audio techniques, the campaign recreates the overwhelming self-doubt that descends after a long workday, physically panning negative thoughts left and right before cutting the noise entirely to reveal a confident inner voice. Strategically targeted at commuters via Spotify during evening rush hours, the campaign reframes the hours after work as an opportunity for personal growth and charitable action.
For the Design category, Shabbir and Negi worked on a brief for Canteen’s Bandanna Day, a campaign highlighting how cancer pushes teenagers out of their own defining moments. Using a pixelated design language to create stark contrast between a blurred world of isolation and a focused world of connection, the campaign, titled The Flipside of Cancer, shows teenagers fading into the background of birthdays, skateparks and school proms. As a Canteen bandanna appears, the blur flips and the teenager snaps back into sharp focus.
Kalpesh Patankar, group chief creative officer of VML India, made no attempt to disguise his satisfaction. “We are immensely proud to see our teams consistently excel on the Cairns Hatchlings platform since its inception,” he said. “They have masterfully tackled challenging briefs across diverse categories, demonstrating both layered storytelling and a unique creative approach. This exceptional teamwork is truly inspiring.”
Dey and Thakkar, returning to the finals after last year’s run, were candid about the demands of the audio medium. “It’s one of the most demanding mediums, where we only have a few seconds to capture a listener’s world with sound alone, so absolute clarity is essential,” they said. “The true measure of creative work is its ability to create positive change, and our audio submission was made to help those who need it most while encouraging people to silence the inner voices that hold them back.”
Shabbir and Negi, competing in Design for the first time, described the experience as “a completely different beast.” “We see it as an opportunity to showcase our expertise, raise the bar, and challenge ourselves in new ways, while also learning from creative minds from across the globe,” they said.
In Australia, the four finalists will face a live 24-hour brief from the United Nations before presenting in a live pitch session. Twenty-four hours, one brief, one shot. VML India has been here before. It knows exactly what is at stake.
