Seven auto PR firms ace Campaign India’s PR Awards 2022

The 2022 edition of Campaign India’s PR Awards saw public relation (PR) agencies handling media communications for automotive clients ace the coveted awards that are held annually to identify and honour local excellence in the field of communication.

Out of a total of 83 winners at the fourth season of the awards, seven represented public relations and media communications for automotive companies such as Skoda Auto India, MG Motor India, Volvo, Ather Energy, Ford India and Pure EV.

While MSL India bagged the top honours with the ‘Agency of the Year’ trophy for its work in the FMCG and consumer goods space, it also won in two automotive categories – Brand Development (Product) and Media Relations – for its Czech client Skoda Auto India.

MSL India successfully led the carmaker’s new car launch in the midsize sedan segment — the Skoda Slavia — and walked away with a silver award each in both the aforementioned categories with its entry titled — The Car is Back — Skoda Slavia.

MG Motor India’s PR agency Value 360 Communications too received a silver award for successfully executing the consumer launch of the carmaker’s midsize SUV, MG Astor, in October 2021. The agency bagged the honours for its launch campaign titled — The Inception of Future: Launching India’s 1^st SUV with AI inside by MG Motor India.

While Volvo’s construction equipment arm was represented among the other mainstream candidates, its agency Adfactors PR won the silver award for best video storytelling for the campaign – Uncle-Nephew Banter Powers EC200D. The EC200D is a crawler excavator from the Swedish giant, offering 20 tonnes of payload and 167hp of operating power for the mining and infrastructure industries.

Among the other awards ensnared by automotive PR agencies were the ones for crisis and reputational issues management wherein they swiftly jump into action and leverage their expertise and experience to handle tricky situations that could potentially tarnish a brand’s image.

Ford India won a silver for its ‘Committed to Serve’ campaign that was led not by a PR agency but by the carmaker’s corporate communications team from its India headquarters itself just as it made it public on September 9, 2021 plans to gradually exit the Indian market. Ather Energy and Pure EV too saw their PR agencies bag an award each.

Six Degrees BCW that handles media communications for Ather Energy won a bronze in the Automotive and Transportation category for its entry titled — AtherFire — that mitigated the damage to the electric-two-wheeler brand after a maiden fire incident was reported on a scooter in its Chennai facility earlier this year in May.

MediaMantra, on the other hand, won the gold award for managing the crisis on e-two-wheeler brand — Pure EV — which saw a spate of fires being reported on its electric scooters across the country amidst the soaring Indian summer in the first half of this year.

Winners of the PR Awards 2022 were announced in an event held in Mumbai on October 18.