Infosys holds pitches for PR mandate, Adfactors PR doesn’t take part post TCS, Tata win

 5th March 2018    PR News 
 Paarul Chand

India's leading IT giant and the country's second largest exporter of IT services, Infosys, held a round of pitches for its' PR account over the Holi weekend.

PR firms presented from 26th February to 2nd March, 2018. According to a copy of the RFP obtained by PRmoment India, PR firms have been invited to, "Submit a proposal for its Public Relations services in India and Key International Markets (which include U.S., UK, Germany, France and ANZ). The model of engagement will be a monthly retainer and will be executed through an annual contract starting March 15, 2018. If interested, please confirm your participation and the markets for which you are pitching i.e. India or Key International Markets or both, by email to the RFP Coordinator by February 7, 2018. Agencies participating in this process will also need to sign and share the confidentiality agreement included in the annexure in their response. As part of the selection process, shortlisted agencies will be required to make a presentation articulating their proposal at the Infosys Headquarters in Bangalore between February 26 – March 2, 2018."

Reliable sources told PRmoment India that Adfactors PR did not take part in the process.

With Adfactors PR winning the account of Infosys rival TCS and several other Tata Group companies in January this year, Infosys and Adfactors PR parted ways in February  due to the conflict of interest between Infosys and TCS.  Infosys then sent out the RFP inviting pitches. Adfactors PR was the firm's agency during the open spat between Vishal SIkka, former CEO and MD and founder N.R. Narayana Murthy. This, finally led to Sikka's exit from Infosys and was eventually replaced by Salil Parekh.

Before Adfactors, The PRactice had handled the account. Sources confirmed that 'The PRactice' is not pitching either. 

Among the PR challenges that will face the incoming PR firm is an uncertain US market, Infosys's largest market, with an increasing protectionist President Trump.