By A Correspondent

- Veena Gidwani
Northpoint Centre of Learning has has announced a programme for business managers titled  ‘Unleashing the Power of PR to Build Brand Equity’ in association with Veena Gidwani Associates. This has been created by veteran PR professional and former CEO of Madison PR Veena Gidwani to help business managers optimize the outcomes of PR for their brands through a holistic approach that integrates channels and messages that help drive brand and corporate reputation.
The program has been designed for business executives with responsibility for corporate image building and integrated marketing communications. It is specifically targeted at senior and middle management professionals in marketing ,sales, external relations/ corporate communications, Account Directors and Managers in PR Consultancies & Advertising Agencies, Promoters/senior executives of small- and medium-sized businesses.
Through a combination of case studies, best practice examples and teamwork, Veena Gidwani and industry experts like Ajay Kakar (Aditya Birla Financial Services), Shweta Shukla (P&G), K Ramakrishnan (Cafe Coffee Day), Anuradha Sengupta (formerly with CNBC-TV18) and several others will share their insights for winning with consumers and building brands through PR.
Announcing the programme, Prem Mehta Chairman, Northpoint said,”Though brand marketers have begun to taste the gains from planned PR, its real value as a marketing tool has yet to be appreciated fully. It is emerging as an essential communication medium, and when handled professionally, PR adds credibility to the message because it is not seen as manufacturer speak.”

- Sam Balsara
Speaking about the importance of this effort, Sam Balsara CMD, Madison World said, “Brands who are spending crores of rupees in advertising are under utilizing the power of PR. This is a big mistake. PR can greatly strengthen an expensive mediaplan and thus help improve ROI of the overall campaign. I am glad Veena is running the Executive Development Programme at Northpoint on Power of PR. It should greatly help practising industry professionals to extract more from their marketing budgets.”
Sharing the rationale for the programme, Veena Gidwani said,”My experience of over 17 years in managing PR agencies, interacting with client/corporate teams, made me realise that a large number of Marketing/Sales Managers and Account Managers, underutilize PR as they do not fully understand the power and dynamics of PR. This program has been created to meet this need. I am delighted that we have eminent industry experts on our faculty panel.”
For details: www.northpointindia.com or contact Nitasha Gupta on +91 22-24212241, +91 9594992588.