New Delhi: Sequoia and India Quotient-backed staff attendance & payroll management start-up, PagarBook today announced their partnership with leading Indian integrated marketing business impact consultancy, One Source. Involving reputation management counsel across corporate and consumer stakeholders, the mandate will cover corporate communication, investor relations, consumer outreach and content marketing on PESO platforms for PagarBook.
PagarBook recently raised USD 15 million in funding led by Sequoia Capital, a round that also saw participation from India Quotient. The seven-month old start-up was also in the news last month for signing on Akshay Kumar as their brand ambassador, and launched a national brand campaign – PagarBook Lagao, Business Badhao – with him and veteran actor Kulbhushan Kharbanda. The brand has already reached a user base of 5 million, and has launched its User Interface in 13 different languages.
For One Source, the mandate will be spearheaded by lead counsel on the account, Sri Kalyani Nippani, supported by the national team.
Speaking of the partnership, Siva Prasad, Senior Vice President – Marketing & Sales, PagarBook said, “At PagarBook, we wanted a partner who understood that marketing in the new normal needs to be a revenue centre, not a by-the-book cost centre. We found in One Source someone who understands the marketing space, as well as we do the SME space. I still remember their lead asking me during the first call – if we don’t drive up PagarBook’s revenues, how do we come back asking for YoY retainer hikes?”
Sharing his thoughts, Kishor Barua, Principal Consultant & Country Lead – Corporate Communication, One Source added, “We’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again. Our business growth depends on growing our clients’ business. The time of tweeting out earned stories and calling it digital is past. Integrated marketing is a sunrise sector in India, and we are honoured by the fact that PagarBook has seen value in a consulting approach, rather than an agency approach. We intend to honour that faith”.
