Kochi: Delhi-based PR firm gets national level award

New Delhi, July 31: Kochi-Muziris Biennale, one of the first such contemporary international art event of the country, fetched for its media consultant top honours at the inaugural Indian edition of the prestigious Sabre Awards, 2013.

MD Niche, a fledgling Delhi-based media consultancy company, was conferred The Gold Sabre Award For Excellence In Public Relations (PR) in two categories -- media relations and not-for-profit - for turning the country's first-ever biennale, held in Kerala, into a spectacular media success story.

The much-coveted PR awards, decided by an illustrious jury after long-drawn deliberations, were announced at a glittering function at Pullman Hotel, Gurgaon, near Delhi.

The three-and-a-half-year-old MD Niche, with offices in Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi, won the awards in the face of stiff competition from established PR biggies like Ketchum Sampark, The Practice, Genesis Burson-Marsteller and PR Pundit.

"Gaining local, national and international acceptance was vital to the successful conduct of the Biennale. We are happy that we had the professional PR and media management support of M D-Niche to achieve this," said artist Riyas Komu, the Biennale's co-curator.

The Kochi-Muziris Biennale was the first Indian edition of a biennale event that celebrates contemporary art form around the world by bringing together some of the best artists from India and abroad.

"It is an honour for us to be recognized alongside some of India's best PR and media consultancy firms," said MD Niche CEO S Suresh, a former journalist.

"The Biennale campaign was extremely satisfying for us not just because we managed to successfully meet the PR requirements of a massive project with our limited resources, but more importantly we were able to help promote an event of immense social and cultural significance for our country."

Mr. Suresh said the awards "have bolstered our confidence and ability to perform and compete with the established players in the field. For four months, we generated stories and features for the media - without a day's break. We are happy that the 96-day-event ended in a blaze of glory, creating a hallmark in India's cultural landscape."

MD Niche, which was roped in just three weeks ahead of the Biennale that began on 12/12/12, completely altered the public perception about the pioneering mega show.

With its judging panel that included some of India's biggest names in PR industry, the Sabre Awards are in their ninth year worldwide - and are considered a global benchmark for PR work, attracting more than 2,500 entries across North America, Europe, Middle-East and Africa, besides Asia Pacific.

While this is the inaugural Sabre India award, instituted by New York-based Holmes Group and Public Relations Consultants of India (PRCAI), India is the only country that has Sabre awards of its own, revealed Mr. Paul Holmes, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of the Holmes Report.

OneIndia News