Founder and CEO -Gecko Worldwide
Gecko Worldwide bridges the gap between Online and Offline with ‘Out of the Box’ thinking
Richard Branson once said, "If you spot an opportunity and are really excited by it, throw yourself into it with everything you've got." Such a compelling quote stirred entrepreneurial spirit in Keyur Barad as soon as he realized that 'People' are his forte.
He is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Gecko Worldwide, a leading boutique communications firm that leverages PR, social media, activations and design efficiently and innovatively to empower brands reach diverse range of audiences.
Gecko's exclusive portfolio encompasses service offerings in Brand activations, Visual Designing, Strategic Brand Management, Public Relations, Social Media Marketing, Web Solutions, Strategic partnerships and much more.
A large number of clients spanning SMEs to corporate giants from diversified industry verticals including Automobile, Beauty and Personal Care, Consumer goods,Entertainment, Fashion and Lifestyle, Financial services, Food and Beverage, Healthcare and wellness, Luxury, Education, Sports, Technology, Travel and Tourism secure spots in Gecko's rich clientele.
Keyur Barad was already associated with his family business of Architectural glass and he looked after manufacturing, marketing and distribution for the company.
His belief "creating influence through goodwill"contributed largely in developing strong networking skills that helped him setup marketing and distribution for four states in a very less time and enable growth for business.
Unconscious about his passion, Keyur had never thought of founding a PR services company until he met a client, who pointed out to him his exceptional networking skills. In a chat with The CEO Magazine, Keyur shares, "The client was extremely happy with my service.
He acknowledged himself that he has never come across somebody with such a caliber; somebody, who always keeps customer first at every point of time.
He complimented me that I am a people's person. His honest feedback came to me as an awakening about what I actually wanted to do. I had no idea what PR was all about; what I knew was that I wanted to do it!" The client, who later turned out to be President of a global giant looked at the learner in Keyur and offered to mentor him through the initial phase of the company.
This series of events led to the setting up of 'Gecko Worldwide' on 1st September 2010. The company is named after Geckos or tropical lizards, the only reptiles on earth that can actually communicate with each other and possess amazing capabilities in adapting to changing environments; as both these things connect to PR.
Speaking of the term 'worldwide', Keyur adds, "I added worldwide to the name because that is the future and that is what we want to become. Have a global presence".
Gecko Worldwide initially started as a Public Relations firm and later diversified into Social media services within a year of its inception. The firmexpanded the scope of its services having developed in-house teams for graphic design and brand management.
After seven years, Gecko today stands as a prominent entity in marketing communications landscape in India. The peerless capabilities of its services have enabled it to etch its presence as the only one stop destination for all business communication requirements in the market while giving a boutique experience to its clients.
Being a home to competent, trained and highly skilled professionals, the firm boasts expertise in identifying audience engaging platforms for the client's brand and enabling information dissemination through various channels catering to both, internal and external stakeholders.
Speaking of the factors that give Gecko's services an edge over the others, Keyur briefs, "At Gecko Worldwide, we help our clients understand the market and help delve deep into consumer insights. We enable brands to tell their story through content that educates, is reliable and is valuable to the consumer.
Our endeavor is to overwhelm the client beyond his/her own expectations. Our team is young, vibrant and persuasively innovative and we have placed all our bets on 'Out of the box' thinking. We offer our ideas based on the client's needs and come up with customized solutions for the same. We believe in the idea of responsibility."
Proven expertise in designing high end and VIP media drives, launches and stalls
Proficiency in identifying the most suitable social media platforms and tweaking content as per platform character
Company culture that focuses on flexibility, innovation & creativity giving an edge of uniqueness to its services
Continual drive for achieving excellence
Renowned for achieving maximum footprint in the national and regional press, TV and radio shows, avenues of news media and consumer as well as trade magazines
A comprehensive range of Print, TV, Web& Social Media solutions under one roof
Since its establishment, Gecko has followed a growth path that is entirely organic. As revealed by Keyur, the company has been profitable from the very first project and earned decent profits with increasing number of clients onboard.
However, the firm had to face major hurdles in the second and third years of its journey which severely impacted its growth. Keyur briefs, "These two years were worst as I had a hundred prospects in hand but I could not turn one of them into client even after rigorous efforts.
I knew that something was going wrong and every failure was a learning; I kept trying and with one new client, everything changed. The whole game had turned upside down for us.". Since then, Gecko has been climbing the ladder of success consistently.
Some of its achievements can be marked as the major milestones in the company's journey. The major ones include ; spearheading PR services for the Jewellery industry having worked with some of the most renowned jewellers in the country including P N Gadgil Jewellers, Being Human Jewellery,Anmol, A S Motiwala, ORO and many others.
The firm also supported FMCG companies like West coast fine foods, Yupaa Group of Companies etc during this time.,The firm works closely with the Times of India group supporting them on events like The Times Literary Carnival, Times Women's Drive, Times Green Ganesha, ET Retail Awards, ET Telecom Awards, Managing four successive editions of the Mumbai International Motor Show etc The firm has serviced more than 70 plus brands in the last seven years having recently completed their first international stint, managing a press conference for a jewellery brand in New Jersey, USA in early 2017.
Gecko's plans for the near future involves a strong focus on creating a larger pool of talent and clientele in the India market. The next three year plans are also dedicated to occupying a partner footprint across major cities in the world like Hong kong, Singapore, Sydney and San Francisco, adding to the existing partner base in Dubai, London and New York.
In line with its vision, the company is doing all the groundwork for creating more depth in existing verticals as well as expanding its service portfolio. The company envisages helping Indian companies springboard to global markets using communication as the key resource.
Also, it intends to extend the hands of support to international brands and companies coming into the Indian market and help them navigate the media space to help achieve their communication objectives.
Have faith in yourself and jump in the deep end of the pool. It is okay if you are good at certain aspects of business and have next to zero expertise in certain areas. Being in business teaches you everything. All it takes is hard work and patience.
It is possible to build a company organically even if you don't have the necessary finances at the beginning. The reason to become an entrepreneur should be to create value on the table, for customers, for stake holders, for colleagues and for peers and not merely focus on "VALUATIONS".
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