Progressive Punjab Investors Summit: CM Sukhbir Badal hires American firm Apco

NEW DELHI: Punjab government has taken a leaf out of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s book by hiring American firm Apco that had earlier promoted the biennial Vibrant Gujarat Summit. Apco, chosen as the communication partner for the Progressive Punjab Investors Summit on December 9-10, will promote the state as a global investment destination until the end of 2015.

“Apco has been hired for a two year campaign to promote Punjab as an investment destination,” said Karan A Singh, principal secretary in Punjab’s department of industries and commerce.

The campaign for the upcoming summit will be similar to Apco’s campaign for Vibrant Gujarat Summit, said the communication and business strategy firm’s senior director Tushar Panchal. “This campaign will just be on the lines of “Vibrant Gujrat” and go on till 2015.

The achievements of Punjab government will be highlighted and, next year, the campaign will go global,” said Panchal. It will be more of a management exercise and the firm will just support what the government does, Panchal said, adding that Sukhbir Badal had been very proactive as he visited Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore to woo potential investors.

The decision to hire Apco reflects the ruling Akali Dal’s admiration for Modi, an observer said. Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal had in January said, “Narendra Modi is a good leader. He has done remarkable development work.”

Earlier, his father and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had described Modi as “the greatest leader of the country”.

Apco had earlier come under fire for allegedly projecting Modi as a larger-than-life figure. The firm, had, however, clarified that it did not work to promote the Gujarat chief minister and its contract with the state government was limited to promoting the summit. “We do not work for chief minister Modi and we do not speak for him,” Margery Kraus, founder and CEO of Apco Worldwide had told ET Magazine.