Offering Specialised Services
The inspiration for Jajabor Brand Consultancy came from the love of storytelling. From a young age, Upasna Dash (founder and chief executive) enjoyed the art of listening and sharing stories, stating, “You could be sitting anywhere in the world and just by reading these stories your mind could get shaped and new ideas can come in.”
After travelling the world and gaining work experience with companies such as Google, Coca Cola, Nokia and many startups, Dash began Jajabor Brand Consultancy with almost no capital or business plan. Beginning in 2017, Jajabor Brand Consultancy works extensively in public relations and specialises in brand strategy and content strategy.
Today, Jajabor Brand Consultancy describe themselves as a ‘strategic collective’, specializing in custom storytelling. “We empower brands to bring their phenomenal stories to their customers across platforms that matter. We operate and converse in an influential ecosystem of VCs, investors, entrepreneurs and media helping build synergies that are impactful and compliment business goals. We deliver impactful communication for brands across the spectrum,” says Dash.
The name Jajabor comes from the eponymous Assamese song by Bhupen Hazarika. The song, a favourite of Dash’s grandfather, speaks of a person travelling the world, only to realise at the end of the journey that one does not need to physically travel to experience a new place. Just by listening to a song or story, one can travel with the power of imagination. Jajabor follows the same philosophy, Dash even adding that, “As long as human beings love listening to stories and telling stories, I think we will be around.”
Future of the PR Sector: While Public Relations is a competitive industry, Dash does not believe they are in competition with other companies, but with themselves. “We actually don’t consider ourselves a PR firm, we consider ourselves an extension of every business that we work with.” Predicting that with technology, the medium of expression may change, however, the user behaviour will not. Technology will also play a big role in scaling things up, but the more technology enters the industry, the more people will seek authentic interaction and experiences.
“Brands and customers want to have authentic conversations in a world where you are saddled by hyper information.” The work is highly outcome driven, focusing on tangible impact, so it is important to not get caught up in the busy work, but to remain focused on the end goal.
With storytelling being the driving philosophy of Jajabor, Dash believes in hiring people who bring diversity and can empower each other. With technology at the forefront, it is important to have people who are passionate, driven and can bring something new to the table. Dash adds, “Even though we are a PR firm, we have lawyers, policymakers, artists, engineers and anybody who is fascinated with storytelling can be part of our team.”
There is no recognition for PR personnel, with most of the work having behind the scenes. Dash, therefore, believes in building a great culture at Jajabor Brand Consultancy and looks for people who can add value to the culture and work together to tell the stories of the brands they work with.
