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Steelbird Brings Its PR In House With Vinay Kumar

Ad Tribe! Bureau2 min read
Vinay Kumar, appointed senior manager for PR and communications at Steelbird Hi-Tech India

Steelbird Hi-Tech India has appointed Vinay Kumar as senior manager for PR and communications. The move is an in-house one, after Kumar spent three and a half years working on the brand from an agency.

  • Role: senior manager, PR and communications, Steelbird Hi-Tech India Limited
  • The remit: media relations, corporate communications, brand positioning and strategic PR, including oversight of communication agencies
  • Experience: more than four years in public relations and strategic communications
  • Specialism: the automotive and mobility sectors
  • Arriving from: Regional Public Relations, a full-service communications consultancy founded in 2009
  • The connection: the account was already Steelbird, worked on from the agency side

Why Hiring Vinay Kumar From The Agency Side Is The Interesting Part

Because it inverts the usual direction. Brands normally hire in-house communications people from other brands and keep agencies at arm's length; taking the consultant who has run the account removes the onboarding entirely, because the relationships, the media list and the brand's own history are already in one head.

It also tells the agency something. Regional Public Relations keeps the account and loses the person who held it, which is the structural risk in any consultancy whose value is concentrated in one relationship manager.

What It Signals About Steelbird

That communications is becoming a function rather than a retainer. A helmet maker lives on safety credibility, regulation and recalls, and all three are stories that break faster than an agency can be briefed.

The role explicitly includes overseeing communication agencies, which is the shape a company takes when it wants a counterparty rather than a supplier.

What Was Said

Rajeev Kapur, managing director of Steelbird Hi-Tech India Limited, said Kumar has been closely associated with the company's communication journey for several years and that his understanding of the brand, the business and the media landscape has grown significantly in that period. Kumar said joining in an in-house capacity is a special opportunity, having worked closely with the brand for three and a half years.

More on the company at steelbirdhelmet.com. More people.

#appointments#Helmet Industry India#PR Appointments
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