Spotlight Detail Page

02 Apr

Sushil Bahl
Class of '63

Professor and Chairman Placements & Corporate Relations - Nirma University, Ahmedabad

Sushil Bahl is Professor of Marketing, Advertising, and Communications at the Institute of Management of Nirma University, a well known, and a major contributor to education Ahmedabad. founded the legendary Karsanbhai Patel

He was the School Captain in the year, and an active ACC, Platoon Commander, under our most popular P. T.   teacher Mr. Jal Hodiwala.

His two sons were also Campionites. And one of them is in the USA with a publishing house in Marketing and Designing, plus a semi-professional photographer. The second son is with the MNC ad agency Leo Burnett, in Mumbai, as the Business Head of their Digital Division.

Never been a great brain, but more a doer and performer. And that has been his path in his career with all its ups and down till today. He is not an MBA, but has been teaching MBA students for the past 7 years!

After Campion school he did his BA in Economics and Political Science from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. He was part of social activities of the college’s Social Group, Sangeet Mandal, and a fellow student of some well known names – Vinod Mehra, Ravi Chopra, Protima Bedi, Ashok Mankad, and was a year senior to Shabana Azmi and Sunil Gavaskar.

Besides having a ball of time with these young people then, at a film shoot for a Palmolvie Shave Cream, he tells us he had the joy of bowling out Sunil Gavaskar! Obviously that was not a part of the commercial though!

Professional career, started with the American ad agency in Mumbai, J. Walter Thompson as a Trainee in Client Service. He bagged this job before he got his BA results, and joined the company the day after his exams finished! Thereafter he moved a long way ahead! He has had, so to speak, three careers. Advertising, Public Relations, and now Academics. Ad agencies like JWT, and Lintas. Client companies like Tatas and Mafatlal as head of their PR and advertising. Academics as faculty and director at Indira School of communications, Pune, MET, Mumbai, and Nirma University. He has a about 30years experience. He is widely travelled in India and abroad on work, academics, and personal.

His professional and academic contributions are as wide as the span of his career. He has been the President of the Advertising club of Bombay, the Public Relations Society of India, Association of Business Communicators of India. He has written 4 books on Communications and Public Relations. He has authored a large number of professional comment articles which have been published in business magazines and newspapers. He has his own personal website on his contributions and writings. Today, his philosophy for a good career for the young is that of mind and money going together! You grow when both are right you grow. When one is lacking its time you change and re - look at where you are and where are you going, and move on. Of course, given in this is the heart which must be clean, transparent and ethical, most so today.

Prof. Sushil Bahl is an example of the education at Campion School, and as a role model who is known in the industry as a true and respected professional with some acknowledged contributions in advertising, PR and academics

Sushil is a mature and experienced professional, teacher, author and administrator rolled in one with manifold contributions on his jobs and in the industry/fields he has been involved and associated with. He is a man of word and commitment. He thinks independently and delivers goods as required, or as demanded by the situation. He takes quick decisions and work hard and with speed. A builder of people – delegate and counsel – for individual progress and growth on the job and social areas he is very good at my interpersonal relation having contacts in the industry and corporate world, having worked in the corporate sector for over 25 years.

Presently Director Indira School of Communication, Pune Sushil as head of the academic and administrative functions is responsible for the Institute – a leading B-School in Communication conducting PG and Undergraduate Mass Communication Programmes in Advertising, Public Relations, Journalism and Film and TV production., with its own campus and having 250 students and a faculty strength of 35 in various subjects – visiting and full-time. The institute also has a faculty for Advertising and Public Relations at the 2-year Media and Mass Comm. PG programmes at the Institute. He is also responsible for Placement Activities and Marketing/Promoting the Institute to potential students and potential corporate recruiters. Haven made some new and innovative contributions at the Institute, such as improved syllabus, new faculty and courses, etc.

Prior to this Sushil was a Faculty at Nirma Institute of Management, Ahemedabad for nearly 5 years. He taught courses (30 sessions – 3 credits-- each) on Advertising & Sales Promotion, Managing Corporate Relations, Integrated Marketing Communications, Written Analysis of Case Studies, and Written & Oral Communications at the Full-time and Part-time MBA Programmes, and Business Communication at the Family Business & Entrepreneurship Programme. He was consistently rated at 4 on a 5-point scale by the students in their feedback to the Institute at the end of each course. Sushil has also been actively involved in EDP and MDP Programmes of the Institute round the year. He took up Communications at programmes for manager of IPCL and ONGC. Conceptualised and ran successfully a special Marketing Programme for Station Directors of All India Radio. He has been Chairman, of the Marketing Area of the Institute for the academic year 2002—2003.

Sushil developed two CASE-STUDIES for exclusive use in class at NIM – one on All India Radio, and another on Wockhardt’s VRS scheme at the time of its acquisition of Merind Pharma from the TATA Group. These have also been published in an academic journal CaseFolio of the ICFAI business school, Hyderabad. He has done a case-study on Quality Management in a Textile Group – Mafatlal – and has been published by USP-AGE magazine from Mumbai, and has been used in-class as well.

Sushil took over the EDITORSHIP of the NIM house journal SPARSH, and changed totally the concept and look from the earlier one, being brought out for some time now. He conceptualized and implemented, for the first time at NIM last year, a two day WORKSHOP on MOCK INTERVIEWS & GROUP DISCUSSIONS for the second year students, involving a panel of senior external HR and Marketing practitioners from corporates in Ahmedabad. The workshop was repeated this year.

He has been a mentor and guide to groups of first year and second year students in their “Capstone” field projects and Summer Training projects at companies in Ahmedabad and outside. He has been actively involved in the Admissions, Induction, Placement and Alumni Committees of the Institute. Sushil has over 15 years teaching experience as Visiting Faculty while working at Corporations and Ad Agencies in Mumbai. He has been a regular Faculty on Public Relations and Customer Relations at the Empire Institute of Learning, Mumbai, a joint venture institute with the Cambrian Arts & Technology College, Canada.

For over 12 years Sushil has been a visiting faculty on Advertising, Promotion Management and Communications Skills at the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS), Mumbai. He is a visiting faculty on Advertising and PR at the K C College of Management, Xavier’s Institute of Communications in Mumbai, and Mudra Institute of Communications (MICA), and Ahmedabad Management Association at Ahmedabad. He is also a member of selection panel at JBIMS and MICA. He has been a guide and resource person for year-end thesis and term projects for students at JBIMS.
Professional Qualified Sushil in a 30 years career span of Client Servicing at Ad Agencies, Head of Advertising and Public Relations at Corporations, Teaching at Management Institutes, Authoring of books, and Writing Comment articles in journals and business web-sites. He holds a Diploma in Business Management (DBM) from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management, Mumbai, in 1980. Diploma in Advertising and Marketing from K C College of Management, in 1970. He has participated in a three-week Senior Management Programme (3-Tier) of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahemdabad (IIM-A), in 1991. He has vast experience in Public Relations, Corporate Communications and Advertising in Client organizations and Ad Agencies.

Sushil worked with Wockhardt, Tatas, Hoechst, and Greaves Cotton as Chief of their Public Relations and Advertising functions where he made some pertinent and valuable contributions towards the image and PR activities of each especially Corporate Communications, Media Relations and Internal Communications. He has also worked with advertising Ad Agencies Lintas, Grant Kenyon Ekhardt and J. Walter Thompson in various senior capacities in the Client Servicing function where he was responsible for major accounts/brands like Liril, Lux Supreme, RIN, Surf, Fair & Lovely, Colgate, Britannia, Tata Steel, Philips, Bombay Dyeing, Kodak, and others.

Sushil was attached to J. Walter Thompson Company, London, for six months in 1971 and to Hindustan Lever’s Detergent Marketing Division for two months – going thru their Product Management and field Sales Operations in urban and rural markets. Sushil has made major contributions in the fields of Advertising and PR. He has authored various courses and books. He conceptualised, designed and implemented the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) first ever ADVERTISING MANAGEMENT COURSE (ADMAN) in 1985, and ran it for five years as its Course Director.

He authored a PR MANUAL published by the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAA), for advertising and PR professionals in ad agencies. A book on Pubic Relations titled MAKING PR WORK published by A H Wheeler, New Delhi. Also authored a book on Business Communications titled BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS TODAY published by SAGE Publications, New Delhi, and presently updating the book for a Second Edition to be published shortly. The book has been made into a Web Site and put on the Internet – www.business-comm.com. Also authored is a book on Customer

Relations titled CUSTOMER 1ST for the Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Sushil is also responsible for Paper Presentations and Publications both local and international. He has presented a paper on “Wither Asian PR?” at the annual conference of the Asian Media Information & Communication Centre (AMIC), Singapore, at Jakarta. He presented papers again at AMIC Conferences, at Kuala Lumpur on “Public Relations – Telling the Truth or Servicing the Client?” and at Bangkok on “Communications in a Crisis Situation”

Also presented were two case-studies concerning Indian PR -- one on the Bhopal tragedy, and another on TISCO’s nationalization threat – have been published in two books by foreign authors: ASIAN PR, by Dr. Vincent Lowe from Malaysia Sains University, Penang; and PR IN ACTION, by Frank Jefkins from London along with Dr.Vincent Lowe. A few more of them have been published as monographs brought out by the Public Relations Society of India (PRSI)

Two real life case studies, in the communications area, have also been published by the national business magazine BUSINESS TODAY. One on Colgate Toothpaste Crisis and the other on Datapro Computer Training Institute. A photo-feature on Bhopal 21 years after the gas tragedy has been published in USP-Age magazine from Mumbai. Sushil has also written a large number of comment articles on Advertising, Marketing, Public Relations, Communications and Self-development which have been published in newspapers, business magazines and professional journals -- like ICFAI publications, and also website like ww.exhchange4media.com.

Sushil has received professional recognition and has held various Industry Positions like having been awarded the “Best Advertising Person of the Year” award of Media India and the Tej Group of Publications, New Delhi, in 1990, the “1996 Advertising and PR Manager” award of the Institute of Marketing & Management (IMM), New Delhi, the “Marketing columnist of the Year” award of Media Meet, Mumbai, in 1996.
Sushil is the Past President of The Advertising Club of Bombay – 1990, PRSI Bombay Chapter – 1990-91 and Association of Business communicators of India (ABCI) – 1992-94.

He served as a member of the Executive Council of the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA), and the Bombay Management Association (BMA) for more than 5 years in running where he was responsible for a number of their programmes, including the ISA’ bi-annual All India Advertising Congress, and Editor of BMA’s House Journal. He has been a member of the Council of Education of the India Foundation of PR (IFPR), New Delhi and was member of the Board of Management of the Y B Chavan College of Pharmacy, Aurangabad, representing Wockhardt Ltd. in this Joint Venture between the company and the college.

His extra-curricular activities include been a member of the Rotary Club of Bombay North looking after its PR activities and is a photographer of sorts.