Lifestyle / Anita Chatterjee Of A-Game Public Relations Shares Her Secrets On Building A Brilliant Brand Awareness Strategy

Anita Chatterjee Of A-Game Public Relations Shares Her Secrets On Building A Brilliant Brand Awareness Strategy

Lifestyle Mar 25, 2019

by Devika Goberdhan | Features Editor - Fashion

Founder and CEO of A-Game Public Relations Anita Chatterjee shares with us her secrets on building a brilliant brand awareness strategy, the value of storytelling and the importance of women supporting women especially in the male-dominated tech sector.

Who Is Anita Chatterjee?

Chatterjee is a seasoned veteran in the PR industry, having bravely launched her very successful business in 2015. And it seems that this path was destined for her, as she’d always been unconsciously drawn to the PR industry in some way. As a child in Naperville, Illinois, just outside of Chicago, she would put her hand up in school to take the lead on “promoting organizations, events and people I believed in.” As a result, Chatterjee went on to attain her undergraduate degree in Public Relations and a Master’s degree in Public Relations and Corporate Communications from Georgetown University.

Anita Chatterjee Of A-Game Public Relations Shares Her Secrets On Building A Brilliant Brand Awareness Strategy: Anita Chatterjee. Photo Credit: www.twitter.com/anitachatterbox

Her advice to those who are struggling with following their hearts versus expectations that stigmas can cause is simple: “I encourage others to do what they love, not what others want them to love. If they’re great at it — and most people excel when they love what they’re doing — they’ll be able to make a career of it.”

Prior to 2015, Chatterjee had been working her way up in the industry but had not given much thought to establishing her own public relations firm. While exploring the option of partnership with a firm Chatterjee had been working with, she decided to decline the offer on the advice of her mentor, Anjula Acharia (a partner at a venture capital firm, Trinity Venture, an angel investor, and is a celebrity manager, specifically for Priyanka Chopra). Instead, Chatterjee recalls that her mentor, “a champion of several iconic female entrepreneurs, encouraged me to start my own business.” Chatterjee admits that while it was “a little scary to walk away from the security and reliable income of a job, I knew what kind of firm I wanted to be a part of, and since it didn’t already exist, I needed to create it myself!”

Taking The Entrepreneurial Leap

Alas, A-Game Public Relations was born!

Based in New York, A-Game Public Relations boasts a global presence including in India. Chatterjee has not sought to limit the reach of her business as she feels it is less important to focus on the where, and more crucial to pay attention to what you are trying to accomplish. Chatterjee notes that “No matter where you live, if you are making a difference in the world, there will be opportunities to make an impact—even if that involves collaborating with people across different industries and walks of life.”

A-Game PR, works with established and new venture capitalists, notable personalities, business owners, tech companies. A-Game PR propels its clients by building their brands. Chatterjee explains that her firm works with clients to “share their stories, communicate their messages, and expand their platforms into new markets and industries through both strategic partnerships and creative, effective, and high-impact placements.”

The tech space has been of special interest to her and her firm. “The tech sector has been too challenging for women for far too long,” Chatterjee explains. As such, supporting “trailblazing women in tech,” has been crucial for her firm, with a roster of clients including Payal Kadakia-Pujji, founder and chairman of ClassPass; venture capitalists like Acharia and Patricia Nakache as well as Angela Sutherland and Evelyn Rusli, the co-founders of Yumi, a food delivery service that provides healthy and organic meals for young children.

Anita Chatterjee Of A-Game Public Relations Shares Her Secrets On Building A Brilliant Brand Awareness Strategy: L-R: Evelyn Rusli and Angela Sutherland, the co-founders of Yumi, are creating some very young foodies with their meal delivery service. Photo Credit: www.fashionmamas.com

Chatterjee has landed press for her clients in notable publications such as Forbes, Fortune, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. Helping noted Shark Tank star Rohan Oza [her first client, who was introduced to her by Acharia] become a guest shark on the hit TV show Shark Tank. As well as helming creative partnerships, such as getting the Grammy award-winning musical artist NE-YO involved with Holberton School (the school features intense programs that trains future software engineers and provides hands-on experience) and getting TV personality Crystal Smith involved with meal delivery company Gobble.

Anita Chatterjee Of A-Game Public Relations Shares Her Secrets On Building A Brilliant Brand Awareness Strategy: One of Chatterjee’s clients, the “Brandfather” himself, Rohan Oza. Photo Credit: www.people.com

On the flipside, entrepreneurship can come with its fair share of challenges, especially as facets like ethnicity and gender intersect. However, instead of thinking of her ‘differences’ (such as being a South Asian woman) as a challenge to the development of her business within the PR space, she’s using it as motivation to blaze a trail for others to make a name for themselves. “It’s my job to see every challenge as a competitive advantage,” Chatterjee explains. “I’ve been able to land many high-profile South Asian clients in the US and India. I see myself as a bridge between cultures, an ability that has served my company and my clients well.”

A-Game Public Relations is able to channel their creativity, which is what ultimately sets them apart from other PR firms. Each client that the firm works with has an engaging story that works to strengthens their brand or cause. And according to Chatterjee it’s all about the art of storytelling. “Journalists get pitched day in and out on similar stories,” She explains. “We’re able to bring creative partnerships and truly out of the box thinking into the mix. I think it’s a breath of fresh air for the journalists, and that’s why we’ve been able to secure the kind of breakout coverage that our clients have come to expect.”

Chatterjee does her best to pay it forward to other women by ensuring that her firm is also actively focused on representing a number of women. “Women should support women however we can, so I’m thrilled to have many incredible female clients.” Chatterjee cites women-led brands in her roster in addition to Class Pass such as noted Indian fashion designer Anita Dongre who has “built an incredible design empire”.

Anita Chatterjee Of A-Game Public Relations Shares Her Secrets On Building A Brilliant Brand Awareness Strategy: Payal Kadakia-Pujji’s co-founded app, ClassPass. Photo Credit: www.usatoday.com

Golden Rules For Entrepreneurs

As an entrepreneur Chatterjee has learned her fair share of lessons and shared two key ones that she wished she’d known earlier:

“Hire an amazing team! At first, I did everything by myself, but surrounding myself with an amazing team of professionals with complementary skills has helped me really scale my business and raise the bar even higher for our clients.”
“Make it a priority to keep your channels vibrant, especially Instagram. If you let them slide, it’s too hard to play catch up. Posting just has to become a regular part of your routine.”

Accolades

Chatterjee’s career thus far, especially with the launch of A-Game Public Relations, has been “exhilarating and fulfilling,” and she’s built a reputable company with an equally remarkable roster of clients. However, aside from propelling her clients, she has also (not surprisingly) been recognized by a number of different publications for her own impressive entrepreneurial efforts.

Most recently, Chatterjee was featured by the Tory Burch Foundation as part of their #EmbraceAmbition campaign. This global campaign is working to challenge the harmful and unfounded stigma surrounding female ambition while encouraging women to #EmbraceAmbition. She was tapped on by the Tory Burch Foundation to talk about how she #EmbracesAmbition, the launch of A-Game PR, and what makes her firm unique.

Chatterjee is featured by the Tory Burch Foundation as a prime example of a fierce woman who embraced her ambitions and built her own business. **Photo Credit:** www.toryburchfoundation.org

Paying It Forward

In addition to working with the Tory Burch Foundation “to expand their network and to get them content and speakers for their various events and campaigns.” Chatterjee is also involved with initiatives and organizations that foster the development of female entrepreneurship including working with “the incredible Forbes Women team to support them with their conferences.”

Chatterjee also participated in the annual tech conference, Web Summit. According to Crunchbase, the Web Summit aims to “connect the technology community with all industries, both old and new.” It’s no surprise that Chatterjee was a part of this since supporting women, especially those involved in the technology industry, is near and dear to her.

What’s Next

A-Game Public Relations has some pretty amazing projects lined up. Chatterjee notes “Ne-Yo has some great partnerships coming up in the tech space that further his mission to bring more diversity into tech, Rohan Oza’s profile continues to grow as a Shark on Shark Tank, Payal Kadakia-Pujji recently was on the Today Show, and we are working with her sharing her message to the world as Class Pass expands internationally. The list goes on, but we are going to continue impacting different industries and ideas through the creative initiatives we execute.”

Main Image Photo Credit: www.twitter.com/anitachatterbox

Devika Goberdhan | Features Editor - Fashion

Author

Devika (@goberdhan.devika) is an MA graduate who specialized in Political Science at York University. Her passion and research throughout her graduate studies pushed her to learn about and unpack hot button issues. Thus, since starting at ANOKHI in 2016, she has written extensively about many challe...

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Anita Chatterjee Of A-Game Public Relations Shares Her Secrets On Building A Brilliant Brand Awareness Strategy

by Devika Goberdhan | Features Editor - Fashion

Devika Goberdhan | Features Editor - Fashion

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