One Month. Thirty days. Not even 25 days in office. Yet, I am a changed person, looking at the new me every time I look into the mirror. A new me in a million small things, that have made such a big difference in my life.

Call it the funniest thing if you may, but the fact remains – I have not learnt anything that I didn’t already know, in this, the last one month. Yet, what I have learnt (technically, re-learnt) is what, I guess, is filling me with the confidence with which I look at the world now, even look myself in the eye in the mirror! And before I proceed further, let me say that the credit of this transformation goes to Anup Kumar Agarwalla, the Founder & Managing Director of Azure Communications, where I am now working.

I remember the day when I had first met him for my interview. He was so warm and unassuming – the brief conversation that we had was so unlike any corporate interview that I had heard about, that I had left thinking that I was not even in the contention, leave alone being selected. However, selected I was and the lessons that followed were like Zen aphorisms – simple, direct, difficult as hell and as I am beginning to understand, guaranteed to lead one to corporate nirvana.

“Don’t do anything if you don’t enjoy doing it” was the first lesson. Now, “enjoying” doing mundane stuff is easier said than done. Try it – down to putting that stupid smile on your face – and you will know just how damn difficult it can be. But hang on, here in Azure, it is much less so, as the very environment is so friendly and the people are always so full of smiles, that it kind of rubs off on you, the enjoying part that it.

I guess, because I am doing things with love; because I’m like they say, “loving it”, that the burger of life (and the finger-chips that accompany it) tastes so good. The bumbling me, stumbling from one disaster to the next is gone, as I have miraculously stopped committing those silly mistakes that used to be “so me”. Gone too are those voices in my mind that used to constantly tell me just how miserable I was, doing whatever I was doing. I guess, when the heart leads one’s efforts, the mind just shuts up and follows.

The second thing that he keeps underscoring is the need to be honest and transparent upfront. We don’t spin yarns to justify our shortcomings, owning up when, if at all, we fail. Now, I have always been the timid sort and I guess, hiding behind white lies was a kind of a defence mechanism that was part of my evolutionary process. But guess what? Even I don’t twist the truth these days. Well, certainly not to the extent that I used to and surprise – the fallout is never as catastrophic as I would have otherwise imagined. Besides, it is easier. Much, much easier when you tell the truth – you don’t have to remember your last stated version!

Besides, Anup (the “Master” we call him) has this peculiar way of looking into your eyes and smiling every time one tries to pull a fast one off – it’s as though he can see through the subterfuge. He doesn’t say anything – just looks at you and smiles and believe me, it is enough to give all of us in the agency the creeps. Why only all of us? I have seen that happen to clients, when he, just “knows” and smiles with his air of indifference, an indulgent “chalo nadaan ho, dubara mat karna” type of tolerance.

The third Law of Anup Sir, beats even its more famous namesake by Newton. “Always put the interest of the client before everything, even your own” he says. And as everyone else in the agency puts it, we are here because of the clients and are honour bound to live up to the trust that they have reposed on us. Being creative, turning in brilliant stuff, being cost effective and maintaining deadlines is not an option – they are the rules of the game.

Looks easy? They are. Especially in a team effort, where the captain leads from the front and by example. The great thing about Anup Kumar Agarwalla is that he practices what he preaches. He (and everyone else in his agency) lives by example, doing every little thing that they say, for, their pronouncements stem from deep-rooted beliefs as opposed to being pithy statements that are aimed to impress.

I was like the sky. Yes, my expanse was vast. Yes, the possibilities were endless, all encompassing. But I was overcast. I was always covered by ominous clouds of self-doubt, of insecurity, of even a twinge of loathing. One month in Azure and … my sky is shining in all the bight shades of Azure.

Thank you Master!

For More Information:

www.azurecom.in    

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The awareness campaign is aimed at empowering mothers, mothers-to-be, and their families

New Delhi, August 16, 2017: Royal Philips, a global leader in healthcare technology, has recently rolled out an awareness campaign aimed to empower mothers, expecting mothers, and their families in India. Launched under the Philips Avent brand, the campaign promotes the importance of breastfeeding, address societal barriers, while also introducing         solutions to prolong breastfeeding as much as possible.

As a part of the campaign, Philips Avent supports breast feeding for babies as long as possible, has rolled out a digital film that focuses on the bond between a mother and child and how mothers can empower themselves to ensure that their babies get the best nutrition in form of their mothers milk at this critical time in their life. It highlights how new mothers can strike a balance between their personal and commitments without comprising on the nutrition of their young ones through modern healthcare solutions for assisted breastfeeding.

Dipanjan Chakraborty. Director Health & Wellness, Personal Health Philips India, added, “Nutrition, for a baby, is the highest priority and a mother’s milk provides the best nutrition for a child. At Philips Avent, we believe that a healthy start is a healthy future, and therefore leave no stone unturned to ensure that mothers and their families get the support they need to breastfeed their baby as long as possible.”

Pulp Strategy Communications, the creative agency for the campaign Ambika Sharma, Founder & Managing Director, Pulp Strategy Communications, said, “The healthcare solution in sight is full of potential and addresses an actual need.  It provides for the opportunity to be differently creative and bring out the nuances of a little spoken about subject to start conversations across the country.”

According to World Health Organisation, a child must be exclusively breastfed for 6 months, with continued breastfeeding supplemented by the desired complementary food for up to two years of age. This can also be extended further as per the discretion of the mother. Philips Avent will be looking to initiate conversations on the importance of breastfeeding and the various solutions available to address societal barriers and to help prolong breastfeeding durations through the ongoing campaign.

About Pulp Strategy

Pulp Strategy Communications is a multi-award- winning full service agency in the realm of Tech-enabled, digital & Interactive marketing with a comprehensive range of integrated solutions that combine brand strategy, creativity, consumer insight, design, and technology to deliver superior engagement and experience driven products.

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Amongst non-conventional B2B channels, Twitter steers ahead of Facebook (25.3%)
and Instagram (18%) by garnering the approval of 47% marketers

New Delhi, 18 July, 2017: 75% of marketers chose Instagram as their most preferred channel for sharing image-based content, while Twitter and Facebook garnered brand approval ratings of 63% and 56% respectively for the same. Twitter, on the other hand, leads the charts when it comes to B2B marketing, garnering 47% marketer acceptance in the non-conventional B2B channel distribution. These insights are amongst several interesting marketing facts and figures released by Pulp Strategy – a multi-award-winning full service agency in the realm of experiential, digital, and interactive marketing – in its ‘The Future of Content 2017 – Chartbuster Trends in Content Marketing’ report.

The Pulp Strategy report also mapped several other interesting trends for marketers. User-generated content was found to enjoy greater approval with social media users, with 76% of users surveyed considering it more trustworthy than brand-generated content. Image-based content generated the highest engagement for marketers online, clocking about 55% of the overall engagement, followed by clickable links at 24% and videos at 12%. LinkedIn had the highest number of links shared by users, garnering 76% of the overall engagement volume.

What was even more ground-breaking, however, was the fact that more businesses are now proactively adopting unconventional approaches, apart from emails and LinkedIn, for B2B engagement. For B2B initiatives, Facebook and Twitter mainly involved brand promotions and testimonial content. Pulp Strategy based the survey on an extensive analysis of more than 7.5 million posts across various platforms, which also highlighted an increased interest in B2B content marketing over the past six months.

Ambika Sharma, Founder & Managing Director, Pulp Strategy said, “While it is already hailed as the king of marketing, content continues to gain more prominence and has become one of the major influencers in the overall customer decision making process. Today, marketers can experiment with a range of content types, marketing channels, and strategies to generate quantifiable results for their business. The Content Marketing Report 2017 discloses some very insightful aspects of marketing which will help marketers and businesses in positioning themselves more optimally.”

The survey also observed personalization, user-generated content, and interactive media to be the key drivers in the content market space. The assessment made by the survey even disclosed in-depth insights such as how a split of body text with engaging images inclines the users to finish reading the whole content. The report on content marketing also included a range of industry examples and marketing endeavours undertaken by a variety of top-rated international brands.

About Pulp Strategy

Pulp Strategy Communications is a multi-award- winning full service agency in the realm of Tech enabled, digital & Interactive marketing with a comprehensive range of integrated solutions that combine brand strategy, creativity, consumer insight, design, and technology to deliver superior engagement and experience driven products.

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Globally enables Diabetacare to launch one of world’s first remote diabetes treatments

Mumbai, July 27, 2015: Vodafone Business Services (VBS), the enterprise arm of Vodafone India, has collaborated with Diabetacare to launch dCare Smart, a device that helps people manage diabetes better.

An industry first, dCare Smart, is a GSM SIM enabled wireless glucometer that empowers people to proactively monitor their blood sugar levels which is powered by Vodafone’s Machine to Machine (M2M) embedded cellular technology.  The device transmits blood sugar results to a secure Diabetacare server, where they are constantly monitored by Diabetes Specialist Clinicians at the Diabetacare`s Diabetes Management Centre (DMC). In case of any abnormal blood glucose readings, both the patient and kin receive an alert/call with expert advice from the DMC immediately.

dCare Smart is powered by Vodafone’s Machine to Machine (M2M) embedded cellular technology. It is paired with the back-end clinical servers which connect directly to the electronic medical record system, wherein access is given to patients and their caregivers to keep them informed and better manage the condition.

Nick Gliddon, Director – Vodafone Business Services says, “Vodafone is renowned globally for being a leader in M2M solutions and is driving the Internet of Things (IoT) by connecting machines, devices and objects to the internet, turning them into ‘intelligent’ assets that communicate with the world around them globally for more than 20 years. Leveraging our global expertise, we are the first telecom service provider to offer the M2M service platform in the Indian market today. Vodafone’s M2M Solution for Diabetacare allows data to be securely uploaded to a central server and is then accessed remotely by multiple parties. This Diabetacare deployment is a reflection of our strong, successful and differentiated approach to M2M in India. There is a huge opportunity in this country and we have the capability to maintain over 10 billion SIMs in our platform. We are confident of growing this business further, especially in segments like healthcare.”

Sharing his views on the initiative and launch of dCare Smart, Dr. Sanjiv Agarwal, Founder & Managing Director, Diabetacare said, “We looked at alternatives but, for me, Vodafone’s M2M solution is ahead of the game. Beyond the technology, Vodafone was able to demonstrate a real problem-solving attitude. Vodafone’s global M2M solutions will help Diabetacare fulfil its plans to ramp up deployments to 100,000 users across multiple locations. Diabetacare is a mainstream proposition and the service is priced to make it affordable. Vodafone’s scale and global coverage means the business needs just one supplier, fully managed from a single platform.  It means Diabetacare is ready to respond quickly to growth opportunities worldwide.”

Diabetes is fast gaining the status of a potential epidemic in India with more than 62 million diabetic individuals currently diagnosed with the disease. In 2000, India (31.7 million) topped the world with the highest number of people with diabetes. It is predicted that by 2030 diabetes may afflict up to 79.4 million individuals in India. According to experts the prevalence of diabetes is predicted to double globally from 171 million in 2000 to 366 million in 2030 with a maximum increase in India.

Vodafone Business Services

Vodafone Business Services (VBS), the enterprise arm of Vodafone India provides Voice and Data solutions across mobility and wireline platforms. Today with more than six million mobility corporate customers, VBS is amongst the top leaders in this segment in the country. It is currently providing both mobile and wireline services to global and national businesses equipped with a robust and superior network infrastructure and a 24×7 NOC.

With the advantage of global expertise and experience and the knowledge of Indian markets, is run through the following verticals – Vodafone Global Enterprise (VGE), National Corporate (NC), Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) and the recently created vertical for Government customers. VBS which is the number one mobility service provider by market share is transitioning in to a strategic partner to Indian enterprises providing total communications solutions. It specifically addresses the connectivity, Machine-to-Machine (M2M), cloud and converged communications needs of its customers in India. Vodafone India is well poised to significantly expand the Government’s capacity to deliver benefits and outcomes for citizens, governments and businesses. It endeavours to be a steadfast partner in the Government’s efforts towards Digital India.

Through a dedicated team of Account Managers and Service Managers and applying a consultative selling approach, Vodafone Business Services offers a varied range of products and services such as Machine to Machine Solutions, Wireline Data Solutions (MPLS-VPN, Internet Leased Lines, domestic and international Leased Circuits), Office Wireline Voice (E1-DID), Toll Free Services, Conferencing and Collaboration, Application Mobility and Mobile Email & Connectivity Solutions to help enterprises (big and small) to enhance their productivity and efficiency.

VBS was recently awarded the ‘Best Enterprise Mobility Service Provider Award by Frost & Sullivan for fifth year in a row (2011-15). It was also awarded ‘Telecom Leadership Award 2014’ for Customer Service by Voice & Data and the CIO Choice awards for enterprise mobility and leased lines.

About Diabetacare

Diabetacare is a leading diabetes service provider embarking upon innovation and market building, combining technology with medical science to benefit millions suffering with diabetes. An initiative of medical leaders from United Kingdom & India combining expertise in Diabetes, eHealthcare & business, the Diabetacare connected service bridges gaps in current diabetes management in a manner that is efficient, effective, affordable and available to patients round the clock.

Diabetacare offers personalised Diabetes care and support through its team of qualified, trained and experienced healthcare professionals using its proprietary state of the art remote monitoring service with easily accessible Diabetacare centres across India. The model entails a Physician Led care supported by Diabetes Specialist Nurses (some specialising as Foot Care Specialist) & Diabetes Educators utilising state of the art technology to improve patient compliance and outcomes.

Diabetacare has developed a robust Training programme to Train Diabetes Specialist nurses and Diabetes Educators providing them with PG Certificate in Diabetes Nursing / Educator in partnership with a UK University.

Diabetacare combines technology and healthcare in innovative ways to bring better treatment outcomes. Our 24×7 Diabetes Management Service helps people with diabetes monitor their blood glucose levels remotely using our connected blood glucose monitoring device (dCare Smart). The glucose test results from dCare Smart are uploaded automatically to our Diabetes EMR System (DxNET) where they are constantly monitored by our experts. Our state-of-the-art mobile applications Diabeta App for people with diabetes and InTouch App for physicians are fully integrated to DxNET and are accessible from anywhere anytime. Our full clinic practice tool (Diabetasense), capable of performing 50+ diagnostic tests required for the treatment and management of diabetes and related complications, augments our services enabling us to provide personalised care in a comfortable setting.

About Vodafone India

Vodafone India is a fully owned subsidiary of Vodafone Group Plc., which is one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies. Making its entry into India in 2007, Vodafone today has built an ever growing, robust business in highly price sensitive and competitive market. Serving over 185 million customers, Vodafone provides innovative, customer friendly and differentiated products and services through a wide scale distribution and exclusive retail footprint – backed up with a modern, technologically advanced network for both voice and data.

Vodafone India provides customers with a new currency in the form of M-Pesa, the world renowned mobile wallet and money transfer service. Vodafone M-Pesa is an innovative, safe and secure mobile wallet that enables complete suite of services like money transfer, bill payments, and recharge on the move from the mobile. It caters to all segments of the society, from the unbanked to the under banked and to the net-savvy and evolved customers. Today, with a pan-India distribution of over 90,000 agents and more than 3 million customers, Vodafone M-Pesa is the largest banking correspondent in the country and is playing a vital role in enabling financial inclusion and m-commerce.

A value based organization; Vodafone is committed to achieving the highest standards of Health, Safety and Well-being for its employees and business partners. As a responsible corporate, Vodafone India has been working with several partners from the social sector to address some of India’s most pressing challenges over the years. Sustainability for us is an ongoing journey as we firmly believe that what is good for the society is good for business.  The Vodafone Foundation too is actively engaged in CSR by harnessing the potential of mobile services and technology to maximise impact within communities, especially in the domains of m-Women, m-Agriculture, m-Education and Disaster Relief.

About Vodafone Group Plc.

Vodafone is one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies and provides a range of services including voice, messaging, data and fixed communications. Vodafone has mobile operations in 26 countries, partners with mobile networks in 55 more, and fixed broadband operations in 17 markets. As of 30^th June 2015, Vodafone has over 449 million mobile customers and over 12 million fixed broadband customers.

For more information, please visit www.vodafone.com

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New Delhi, March 2, 2015: – Pulp Strategy Communications, a multi-award-winning full service agency in the realm of experiential, digital & interactive marketing won three awards in a row at the Youth Marketing Awards 2015 by Global Youth Marketing Forum. The event was held at Taj Land’s End, Mumbai on 13^th February. The Global Youth Marketing Forum is the largest rendezvous of Youth Experts, Marketing Professionals, Cool Hunters & Brand Specialists. The awards were won for Best Social Media Integrated Campaign, Social Media Campaign of the Year and Best Integrated Campaign.

Ambika Sharma, Founder & Managing Director, Pulp Strategy Communications commented, “We are a young agency and recognition of work is a powerful motivator which strengthens our resolve to work harder and smarter for our clients” The agency has been awarded in three different categories; the first category being the “Best Social media integrated campaign”, “Social media campaign of the year” and the “Best integrated campaign”.

The Global Youth Marketing Forum is a platform for several youth obsessed brands coming from across the globe. Fashion, Music, Technology, Sports Lifestyle brands are present at this event and offer a chance to get into the heads of today’s increasingly hyperactive and complex youth and have brands resonate with today’s youth culture and psyche.

The metals at the Global Youth marketing forum come close on the heels of the prestigious win Marketing at the 29th MAA Worldwide GLOBE Awards in which Pulp Strategy bagged a GOLD, in the category of Best Long Term Loyalty & Relationship, and was the only agency in India to have won a Metal this year.

About Pulp Strategy Communications

Pulp Strategy Communications is a multi award-winning, full service communications agency in the realm of Tech enabled, digital and Interactive marketing. Amongst India’s leading integrated marketing agency, whose forte lies in the seamless convergence of consumer engagement offline and online with a comprehensive range of integrated solutions that combine strategy, creative development, consumer insight, engagement, design and technology to deliver measurable results for brands. With Services which Include Digital media services, Retail experience design, Technology and Development, Brand Activation, creative and content-based expertise.

Founded in 2011 and Led by a highly experienced management team, Pulp Strategy has lent its creative expertise to leading and globally reputed brands like Nokia, Renault, Philips, Microsoft, Yahoo, Dabur and Hyundai, among others. It has established its name as India’s Youngest and most awarded agency with 65 global and national recognitions.

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