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Friday, September 11, 2009
Apco eyes Grey area
Publication: The Times of India, Edition: Ahmedabad, Journalist: Harit Mehta, Page No: 1, Location: Middle-Center, Width(cms): 15, Height(cms): 9
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Apco eyes Grey area
PR Giants In Race To Market Gujarat Globally
Harit Mehta | tnn
Ahmedabad: Gujarat is seeking for­eign expertise to make the Vibrant summit in 2011 a 'Davos in Action'. For the first time, the state government has approached renowned global pub­lic relations and lobbying agencies for hardselling the event world-wide.
Leading players like Ogilvy & Mather, Apco Worldwide, Weber Shandwick along with Grey World­wide, Vaishnavi and Blue Lotus are among the 10 firms in the race for the job. The state government may de­cide on one or two agencies by the end of October.
The Washington-based Apco Worldwide was earlier assigned the task of image make-over for the state and Chief Minister Narendra Modi in
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a global PR firm will have about 14 months to do a good job. The state gov­ernment may spend about Rs 10 crore on the overseas PR drive.
The fourth edition of the summit held in January 2009 fetched invest­ment promises to the tune of $243 bil­lion, which was huge in an economic downturn. About 45 countries partici­pated in the summit this year.
The target countries for the next edition are US, UK, Singapore, Malay­sia, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Ger­many, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Italy, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, UAE, Qatar and Kuwait. "The brief is that Gujarat has to be marketed not just as an ideal investment destination but in terms of human development happening here," said an official working with a PR agency.
the western world. The other company to watch out for, since it has experi­ence of handling jobs for Gujarat gov­ernment, is Grey Worldwide.
"The event will be held on a much bigger scale than previous summits," said a government official, adding that