My Best Pitch - May08

Who was the client?
ICICI Bank.

What was the brief?
To manage and optimize  publicity for ICICI Bank in conjunction with the World Economic Forum on East Asia 2007 held in June, with the prime objective of fostering ICICI Bank's global leadership and communicating its expansion plans for India and APAC. ICICI Bank MD and CEO K.V. Kamath was among the top global business leaders invited to co-chair last year's meeting.

What was memorable about the pitch?
In view of Kamath's busy schedule, target media outlets had to be handpicked to deliver key messages in the most effective and efficient manner.

How did you pull off the event/process?
Influential regional media outlets were targeted. The list was further filtered down to include only international wire agencies and regional broadcast media.

Who was there?
Reuters, Bloomberg News, Dow Jones Newswires, Associated Press, CNBC Asia and Bloomberg Television.

How did you create the buzz?
Kamath's leadership and how he has been instrumental in steering the Bank's strategic vision was the main draw.

What feedback did you get?
We exceeded the client's expectations in terms of message delivery and media impact despite the short lead time given.

What were the success metrics?
Key messages delivery, selection of target media outlets, and effectiveness of reaching defined target audience

What were the results?
Media coverage in Reuters, Dow Jones Newswires, Bloomberg News and Associated Press were picked up and snowballed by local, regional and international newspapers, as well as online media outlets across the globe, which compounded the media impact further.

Is there anything else you could have done better?
No. We exceeded the client's expectations by meeting the objectives and delivering the results - all within a short turnaround time of less than two weeks.

Tony Tan

Senior Account Manager

Manning Selvage & Lee Worldwide Communications (MS&L)