‘Your next orbit is a thinking partner—curious, agile, and deeply invested in outcomes’

“Success is the outcome of fresh thinking, bold ideas, and fearless ambition to make an impact.” 

The IPRCCA special series is about celebrating the achievements and journey of our 15th edition’s award winners. Today, we go behind the scenes of the Young Consultancy of the Year winner journey and discuss their inspiring rise starting from its vision, mission, ethos, standout work, and what makes them a fearless, fresh, and future-ready agency.

Today, we celebrate ‘Your Next Orbit’, the winner of the Young Consultancy of the Year at the 15th edition of e4m IPRCCA 2024. The young, emerging firm is a brainchild of Mehraj Dube, Founder & Managing Partner, Your Next Orbit and a seasoned media and communications professional with 20+ years of experience in marketing and editorial leadership with best of newsrooms and corporate environments. With just a few years under its belt, this fearless, fast-moving agency has redefined what it means to be young and thriving in an industry dominated by legacy players. 

Excerpts:

What does winning ‘Young Consultancy of the Year’ at e4m IPRCCA 2024 mean to you and your team at this stage in your journey?

Winning the ‘Young Consultancy of the Year’ award at the prestigious 15th edition of e4m IPRCCA 2024 is a deeply meaningful milestone for all of us at Your Next Orbit. It’s more than just a trophy on the shelf—it’s a validation of a dream that was bold, ambitious, and at times uncertain. As a young consultancy navigating a landscape dominated by legacy firms, this recognition serves as a powerful reminder that new voices and fresh perspectives have a place and purpose in today’s PR ecosystem.

For our team, this award is both a celebration and a catalyst. It affirms the late nights, the risky pivots, the commitment to storytelling with integrity, and the audacity to challenge conventional norms. More importantly, it’s a recognition of our clients’ trust in our ideas, and our team’s relentless spirit to deliver impact beyond impressions and coverage.

What was your inspiration behind starting ‘Your Next Orbit’ and what gap were you aiming to fill?

Having spent years across media, policy, and strategic communications, I observed a widening gap between what brands say and what stakeholders feel. I saw how traditional PR, in many cases, had become formulaic focused more on volume than value. Your Next Orbit was born from a desire to disrupt that pattern.

The inspiration was two-fold: First, to create a new-age consultancy that doesn’t just “manage” narratives but builds them—strategically, ethically, and impactfully. Second, to act as a bridge between boardroom goals and real-world sentiments, especially in a time when reputation is shaped in milliseconds across multiple platforms.

We wanted to bring more purpose into PR—moving beyond product launches and press notes, and into reputation engineering, issues advocacy, and stakeholder alignment. Our aim is to be not just a service provider, but a thinking partner—curious, agile, and deeply invested in outcomes.

What were some key challenges you faced in building and scaling a young consultancy in a competitive industry, and how did you overcome them?

When you're building something new, challenges are not exceptions—they’re constants.  In an industry where tenure is often mistaken for talent, it is tough convincing larger clients to take a bet on a younger firm. We didn’t have decades of legacy behind us—but what we did have was a clear point of view, industry depth, and a razor-sharp focus on outcomes.

Lastly, scaling operations while maintaining quality was an ongoing challenge. We implemented strong internal systems, invested in training, and stayed selective about the mandates we took on. Growth at any cost was never our goal; sustainable impact was.

 Being a young firm, how is your agency supporting the next generation of communicators to support India's future?

Supporting the next generation of communicators is not a side project—it’s central to our philosophy. India is undergoing a communications revolution, and young professionals today have both the burden and the blessing of shaping its direction.

At Your Next Orbit, we actively mentor young talent through structured internship programs, industry-academia collaborations, and leadership exposure early in their careers. We don’t believe in limiting young professionals to back-end work; we encourage them to be part of strategy meetings, client interactions, and even business development.

We’ve also partnered with institutions and forums to conduct workshops and masterclasses on modern-day reputation management, digital advocacy, and ethical storytelling—skills that tomorrow’s communicators desperately need but aren’t always taught.

Our focus is to equip them not just with tools, but with judgment—so they can build reputations not just for brands, but for the profession itself.

What does the future of PR look like to you, and how do you envision the next phase of growth for your consultancy?

The future of PR is going to be shaped by convergence—of data and emotion, tech and touch, media and movements. We’re moving into an era where authenticity will be the most valued currency, and brands will be expected to not just say things, but stand for things.

PR will no longer be just about securing visibility; it will be about enabling trust. And in that future, firms that can fuse creativity with conscience, and speed with strategy, will lead the way.

As for Your Next Orbit, our next phase is about depth and scale. We’re investing heavily in intelligence-led reputation strategy, deep analytics, and issue-based advocacy. We’re also looking to expand our global footprint by partnering with like-minded boutique firms across emerging markets.

But at the heart of it all, we will continue to remain rooted in what brought us here: purposeful communication, bold thinking, and a deep respect for the power of narratives to shape societies.