Genesis Burson-Marsteller drives off with Uber India PR mandate

 28th April 2017    PR News 
 Paarul Chand

After a multi-agency pitch, Uber India has picked Genesis Burson-Marsteller as its' communication partner. This is expected to be an annual, retainer based contract, with Genesis Burson-Marsteller handling the full PR mandate for the car hailing firm.

Genesis Burson-Marsteller is understood to have been hired after an extensive pitching process across offices in multiple markets in India, in keeping with Uber's focus on developing Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets in India.

The Genesis BM team is expected to work closely with the India communications team which is understood to have led the search for its' new consultancy. In the past, Uber India has had its' challenges maintaining PR leads in India. In 2015, Chavvi Leekha stayed as head PR for less than 3 months. The company then did not have a PR lead till Mahapatra took charge in July 2016, who quit six months later to join Nissan India. At that time, Amy Kunrojpanya, Uber APAC's director of public policy and communications took over as interim head of PR for Uber India. 

Uber faces some of the same PR challenges in India as it does globally. While, the product is extremely popular and has helped make rides in Tier 1 Indian cities very easy, it faces opposition from both taxi unions and its own drivers who are demanding higher compensation.

Genesis Burson-Marsteller also won the Nestlé India mandate last year, making Uber India another big ticket win for the firm.