A conversation with PR guru Deirdre Breakenridge on all things PR

In a way, 2012 has been a watershed year for Public Relations and Social Media in India. With 2 major conferences held in the same year, the profession couldn’t have asked for a better PR boost for itself. The world danced to the tunes of Psy in true Gangnam style, including India’s biggest superstar from Bollywood. The country engaged in heated debates on article 66A of the Indian IT Act. Even for the naysayers, Social Media emerged as a stark reality, that promised to redefine the paradigms of human interaction and brand engagement. The opening up of FDI in Retail revived the Lobbying vs PR debate. The profession hit front pages of business newspapers in the backdrop of one of India’s most high-profile state elections. It all happened in 2012. But that’s just the tip of a massive PR iceberg.

 We, at Text100 India, caught up with (virtually, ofcourse) PR guru Deirdre Breakenridge to provide an international perspective on the year gone by and crystal gaze into the communications trends to watch out for in 2013. Deirdre is a veteran with over 20+ years in the communications industry and is the author of four acclaimed Financial Times books – “Putting the Public Back in Public Relations,” “PR 2.0, New Media, New Tools, New Audiences,” “The New PR Toolkit” and “Cyberbranding: Brand Building in the Digital Economy.” She recently made her maiden visit to India as the Key Note Speaker at #PRAXIS2012 in Pondicherry.

 You may be a Marketer, a Corp Comm officer, a PR consultant in an agency, a Social media enthusiast, a businessman or a PR/Mass communications student… Read on to get a perspective on the future of the Public Relations and its marriage with Digital and Social Media.

Deirdre Breakenridge

How was your experience at PRAXIS 2012? Did you find any commonalities with similar events abroad in terms of themes, content, participation, etc.?

PRAXIS 2012 was an amazing experience for me, as it was my first trip to India. I met so many incredible professionals and found myself definitely wanting to spend more time seeing and experiencing India, during my very short visit.  With respect to PR and commonalities with similar events abroad, the same types of vocal concerns about measurement are expressed worldwide. Whether it’s in India or in the U.S., PR professionals know that they are accountable and, although the Barcelona Principles are in place, there are still so many questions about the value of PR, business outcomes and how to show that ROI to executives.  I also find that regardless of the country, PR professionals are eager to participate in events to learn about the integration of social media into their communications programs. However, they find out quickly that the degree of challenges vary across the globe, both in the internal and external environments.

What are your views on the state of Public Relations in India and its growth?  

India will experience a great deal of growth in the area of PR and social media, as the Internet and technology continue to become more essential to businesses.  We have already seen heavy usage of social media participation on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. PR professionals in India will be required to expand their knowledge, skills and communications practices as consumers and business come to rely more on social media communities to deliver communications and to engage with the public. Although PR doesn’t own social media, because it is proliferating worldwide, we need to be able to breakdown the communication opportunities for our brands, and also be able to counsel and measure results.  During the keynote Q&A, the moderator, Anant Rangaswami stated that, similar to what happened in India with TV (going from a few channels to many), the same will happen with social media.  India must be ready.

What according to you were some of the defining trends in PR and Digital / Social media in 2012? What trends do you foresee in 2013 and beyond?

In 2012, we got a taste of new practices, learning more about social media and how to engage on collaborative platforms, developing content for social media channels and learning the importance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). We also grew our knowledge in areas including video, multimedia and web analytics.  This year also proved important for PR and mobile communications as well.  At times, we saw ownership issues over social media; who owns social media? Is it marketing or PR. We learned that it’s a shared responsibility that doesn’t solely live in the communications department anymore.  In 2013 and beyond, we will see the silos between marketing and PR breakdown even more. In addition, PR professionals will be working more closely with other departments including customer service, IT, Legal, HR, etc., as a result of social media. Moving forward, content marketing will become increasingly important, as we embrace how PR content is no longer restricted to news releases, white papers and customer testimonials.  As a result, PR professionals will learn to write for different channels including Twitter and Facebook and our content will be more interactive by nature.

Many PR agencies continue to focus on media relations as their primary deliverable. At the conference you spoke about a “Hybrid Professional”; what according to you are essential qualities for being a communication professional of the future? Or simply put, Professional2.0 !

PR people are learning that media relations is one part of our role.  We will continue to rely on credible third party endorsements whether it’s through the media, bloggers or our customers.  However, the Hybrid PR 2.0 professional understands this new approach; there is no more mass or broadcast messaging in web communities. Our approach has changed from top down messaging to a bottom up approach that includes listening closely to conversations and involving your audience much more in the brand communication. Through direct social media engagement (a peer-to-peer approach), brands are becoming meaningful resources by answering questions, solving problems, helping in purchase decisions and providing valuable information and resources to stay “top of mind” with their stakeholders.

‘Putting public back into public relations’ – that’s the title of one of your books. Is this relevant only to Western economies or do the principles apply to countries like India too?

The thought process behind Putting the Public Back in Public Relations is to involve any public in brand communication, and is meant for every economy. Today, consumers are driving and controlling their own communications. They rely much more closely on their peers (who are trusted influencers) so much more than media, government or corporations.  Consumers are also deciding where, when and how they want to consume their news and information. With so much power in the age of public conversations, it’s best for a brand to become a part of these conversations; to breakdown the corporate walls and show the human side of the company. People want to talk to people and as this type of communication is proliferating through social media, brands that don’t put the people first will not capture the trust, loyalty and advocacy from today’s media savvy consumers.

Any final words to PR consultants / Corp comm. professionals /Marketers reading this interview?

My advice for 2013 is to take the best of traditional communications forward; our ethics, critical thinking and great communications skills serve as a guide to best practices. However, be open to new types of engagement with people through social media, by embracing and experimenting with what is new and often unfamiliar. You will always need to be 10 steps ahead of your companies, yet on the same page with consumers, to understand their preferences and to better serve their needs. Media models are shifting and changing. Regardless, we have to learn to work closely with journalists, whether they are more “traditional” or these journalists are also bloggers. We also have to help our brands learn to build closer and more human relationships with new influencers as well as their customers. Technology will continue to change and so will the media.  As a result, our roles and responsibilities will expand too. This is our greatest opportunity to be strategic in all types of communication and raise the profile of PR in the eyes of our executives and in the eyes of the public.

You can follow Deirdre on Twitter @dbreakenridge

Papa Don’t PReach it right?

An interesting PR battle is being baked in the US with Papa John’s Pizza. Though the crisis is not of a monumental scale a la BP after the oil rig disaster, this one has the potential, if not addressed, to do real damage to the brand and company in the long run. Why? Because public opinion is rife against Papa John’s and it has even caused the stock to take a downward slide in the market.

This post will look at Papa John’s positioning/messaging before, during and after the recently concluded, US Presidential elections, a bitterly fought ballot with accusations, innuendos and low brow tactics employed by both the campaigns to malign each other. Lot of PR lessons to be learnt, if one is so inclined.

Before I delve into the PR bit, here is a short brief on the topic: One of the most polarizing issues during the elections was the Affordable Care Act (ACA), more popularly referred to as Obamacare, a sort of universal health coverage which Obama was successful in getting passed during his first term. Mitt Romney and the Republicans were dead set against the ACA as it makes it mandatory for a) Every organization to provide health coverage to all full time employees and b) Individuals have to purchase coverage from the market.

Healthcare costs are sky rocketing in the US and it is believed that it will get even more expensive in the days to come. Many Presidents tried to bring about legislation to rein in costs (Clinton did too) but never succeeded. Anyway, moving on.

As you can imagine, multiple organizations opposed the legislation and aligned themselves with Mitt Romney who promised to scrap or at the very least, overhaul the ACA.

PR part of it: For those who are not familiar, Papa John’s is a pizza delivery chain, built on a franchise model, as Pizza Hut and Domino’s. It is a well known and loved brand in the US, and has a global presence. PR before the elections centered on how “Papa John’s has the best pizzas because they only use the best ingredients.” John Schnatter is the CEO.

During the elections, John, and by extension Papa John’s, were vociferous in their opposition to the ACA, noting that forcing employers to provide health care coverage for all FULL TIME employees (i.e., those who work 35 hours or more per week) will:

• Put the squeeze on small to medium enterprises (a typical Papa John franchisee) – therefore there were implied threats that the pizza chain would either reduce the hours of employees to make them part time workers or lay off hundreds of them
• Increase the final cost to consumers (12-15 cents per pizza!). Otherwise, Papa John would incur a loss to the business to the tune of $8 million per year

Stories were a plenty in the blogosphere, SM platforms and in mainline press debating Papa John’s position. A Forbes reporter investigated the price increase claims and published that as opposed to 12-14 cents, providing health care would only increase pizza cost by up to 5 cents.  Even Jon Stewart of Comedy Central got in the act. That kind of gives you a flavor of the craziness around the topic. Here is a sample if you want to read more about it. Be sure to check out the video:

• CBS, Aug 8, 2012 – Papa John’s Founder To Raise Price Of Pizza Due To ‘Obamacare’
• The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Aug 14, 2012 – It’s Not Delivery, It’s D’Economies of Scale
• Forbes, Nov 2012 – Breaking Down Centi-Millionaire ‘Papa’ John Schnatter’s Obamacare Math

Now that the election is over, and there is no hope of repealing ACA, Papa John’s finds itself in a tough spot. All those election time messages of “giving healthcare to all will lead to business closures” have ensured a lifetime of negative publicity for organizations loudest (more examples – Applebee’s, Denny’s) in their protest against ACA. There have been calls to boycott Papa John’s pizza, and a number of franchisees have seen sales decline as a result.

What does one do in such an instance?

Schnatter decided to write an article clarifying his position on Obamacare. The article went up on Huffington Post, one of the most widely read news blog sites in the US. In the article (The Real Scoop on Papa John’s and Obamacare, Nov 20, 2012), John argues that he was misunderstood and all that hullabaloo was a result of words taken out of context from a speech he was giving at a Florida school. The article is earnest, and clearly lays out his position:

• He is not against Obamacare
• Papa John’s will not lay off employees or reduce work hours to circumvent the employee policy
  • Cleverly noted is that it was the position that he thought would be taken by Papa John franchisees over which he has no control

Reading the article, it is clear that a PR mastermind is at work, clarifying and subtly deflecting all criticism directed at the company and the CEO. Taken at face value, the letter is a good move and I believe people will react to it positively. It is always a good idea, in my opinion, to address concerns directly and transparently when crises strikes. It cuts down on rumors and helps the organization take back control of the message. A status update on Facebook read “Nice to see a primary source going on the record. : )”

More discerning readers however will have a lot of questions to do with timing (why did Schnatter take 2 months to correct the negative stories) and his disingenuous response to the comments attributed to him.

It is too early to tell what the fallout will be. Early reactions to the article are not positive. Comments on Huffington Post are overwhelmingly against Schnatter and call his integrity into question with a random one thrown here and there acknowledging his stand. Reaction on Twitter too seems modest, nothing much to write about. A comment on Facebook said the article seemed “backpedally” which is to be expected.

What we can expect to see more from Papa John’s is how they are all about valuing and taking care of employees. Interesting times ahead.

What do you think? Will Papa John’s succeed, or do you think they will come out stronger than ever before?

Authored by Zibi Jamal from @Text100India (Bangalore) – a communications consultant par excellence that enviously embodies all positives of her sun sign – magnetism, wit, intelligence and compassion. 

…and the “Digital Student of the Year” goes to – #TEXTRAVAGANZA !

Text100 can you fix our SM?
Text100: YES WE CAN
Twitter, Wikipedia and Facebook too
Pinterest and Quora join the crew
Youtube and Blogs are so much fun
Working together, Text100 gets the job done…

Yes, with some poetic license I rejigged the “Bob The Builder” title song, but I don’t think there is any other song which can summarise The Textravaganza any better.

Since Karan Johar’s Student of the Year is releasing today, let me take this opportunity to narrate it in the same KJo style.

Text100 India introducing in its own grand style ‘Textravaganza: The Competition of Life’ for the Digital Student of the Year (DSOTY)
Directed by: Award winning duo Sunayna Malik / Pooja Parikh
Produced by: Raj Rathi Dollars & Rupees Inc.
Lead Actors:       DashingDavid Lian
Smashing Anne Costello
Crashing Ashish Arora (in some alphabetical order)

Day 1, Scene 1:
41 sleepy Texties from Mumbai arrive at Mumbai airport. In the flight, the ever so charming Mr. Ashish Arora tried to keep the spirits of mumbaiites high but alas, waking up at 2:30 am had made some grumpy and others exhilarated (the goody-two-shoes ones)! Finally they arrive at The Clarks Amer, Jaipur wherein true Karan Johar isshtyle, they are greeted with Aarti thali and teeka! Enter – the pretty – Anne Costello and and the heart-throb – David Lian. Ashish weighs his opponent – David, afterall Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge! Lo behold – horror of horrors – when roomkeys are given out – Ashish and David are assigned the same room…. (Voice over of some people over emoting horrific expressions)

Day 1, Scene 2:
Meet and Greet with the rest of Texties – Lunch Time Filler – Some laughter and lame introduction jokes!

Day 1, Scene 3:
Presenting the best SM presentations. Six presentations to be filmed, to show that the movie isn’t all fluff and phaff but incredible depth. Also fit in a flash mob on ‘Oppan Gangnam Style’. After a lot of blah, bluh, bleh the winners are announced. While all the girls are hoping the ever so charming Abhilash wins the ‘competition of skills’ but the combined super prayers of boys make the gorgeous Delhi team of Sonali Bagchi, Hot Bhawna Sharma Ningthoujam Swati and Abhilasha winners, and the first runners up being danseuse par excellence Sharmita Mandal and team of Sharmita, Pallavi and  Sanjeevitha.

Day 1, Scene 4:
Text100 Spoof Awards. These awards were bestowed on the most ‘hardworking and spirited’ Texties – Spammie of the year, Foodie OTY, Chamki Chameli OTY, among others. Each nominee had struggled a lot through the year to be mentioned in the coveted list. And this wasn’t all, everyone has to dance and drink and just be their own selves – Drunk! Ashish was a compere par excellence but stealing his focus was: David’s charming ‘plug the bulb’ moves AND Ketan and Aleem’s Nagin dance and who can forget the HERO of this event – Alcohol!!! Alcohol helped all the tired and the thirsty travellers in focusing on their future!

Day 2, Scene 1:
Cut to Breakfast scene- Camera pans towards a lot of dispirin infused glasses of water and red eyed crowd. Anne and David enter breezily and greet everyone with morning salutations. Ashish on the other hand is croaking and tries to play a puppeteer with Geetaj as his aide.. Don’t even think that Geetaj does what Ashish commands him to… Geetaj has a mind of his own and is very well able to convey his dialogues without any help!

Day 2, Scene 2:
Smaller groups of people are taken to different conference rooms / living rooms (they are all grand, keeping up with KJo tradition). Sessions on Social Media and how practitioners can replicate the best practices with their clients are discussed. Interesting discussions to help the enterprise client, the end consumer client, making events eventful and a session on SM press releases are filmed. It is also ensured the camera focuses on people yawning and catching a wink during sessions immediately preceding lunch are also filmed!

Day 2, scene 3:
The global Exc1te awards India portion is relayed. These awards are given to students who have actually passed their exams with flying colours and win a whopping 1500$ prize. The rest of the students are left gaping and salivating at the amount post INR conversion! Also enter Ramu the Elephant who was invited just for a photo-opp (subtitles – No animals were hurt during the shooting of this film. Who knows if they were hurt but out motto is just to keep PETA , Ketaki, Disha, Anne, Avantika and Hardik happy)

Day 2, scene 4:
People immediately exit to practice for the song and dance show scheduled to happen later at night!
Day 2, Scene 5:
Finally some Skin Show. Girls in their skimpiest formal best and guys in their boring colourless suits! And like a KJo blockbuster needs serious drama, this scene is all about serious excellence awards for those students who’ve delivered their best performances. And post that the real show – skits and dance. The greatest battle of BIG B (Batman) vs KaJo (Joshy from Karnataka) vs God (Rajinikanth) ensues. No prizes for guessing who wins!

Day 2, Scene 6:
Cut to room 701- all rogue students of the year playing LOUD music, screaming, xxxing, xxxing, … (sorry , yet to receive Censor Board Certificate).  No item songs now! Just numbers such as Koi Kahe from DCH!

Day 2, Scene 7:

Enter the drunk bawa when people are ready to hit the bed.. Ensuring no one goes to sleep and get more drunk from his very own stock of Grey Goose and the best of the shots! Finally people retire to bed at 9am! (In the loo next morning all held their stomachs singing “Kuchh Kuchh Hota Hai God)

Day 3, Scene 1:
2% people arrive for breakfast.. 5% go out to shop at the picturesque Jaipur bazaar (close shots of the lehriya sarees and bandhani dupattas with silver jewellery). Pan shot to the rest of 93% red eyed drunkards who are scurrying here and there to throw-up their early morning drinks!!

And the end!

 

Credit Roll…
Everyone must be thinking what the end of the love triangle be.. Not that anyone saw any sparks.. This is a U/A movie dude… But since this is a KJo movie, Anne goes to her real hero – Wilson!

Yes, yes you are bored of this long blog… But what the heck his movies last for almost four hours and you sit through them and rarely complain!

Also I have used KJo and Student of the Year keywords many times so this blog also throws up on google search ! See the trainings were extremely useful! Muahaha!

(Authored by Ketaki Manikeri from @Text100India (Mumbai )- the coolest Konkani media queen to have walked the PR universe, and a self-confessed massive-foot-in-the-mouth victim.

Empathy is an essential ingredient of the “Art of Client Management”

Dictionary.com defines “empathy” as “the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another.” As prolific as its usage may be in sociological & philosophical discourses, my personal experience suggests that it merits more rampant application in corporate circles. And it’s relevance in the “volatile” field of public relations & communications cannot be overstated. This post is dedicated to all those PR pros who can’t seem to decode their clients’ “recalcitrant” behaviour.

The answer lies in… Empathy!

If you thought being a client was about throwing orders at your agency and enjoying a ‘comfortable life’ yourself, think again.  Curious about what ‘life as a client’ could entail, I decided to venture out to the other side of the fence and consciously decided to get back to the agency fold.

So, here’s my two cents worth of suggestion on how perceiving your client contact in a different light can make you build a solid relationship with them. At the risk of sounding like a “thought leader”,  here are some “Tips to strengthen the Art of Client Management” in PR & Communications.

Never drop the ball - You could pride yourself on great relationship skills with your client, you may accompany her shopping once a month (an ex-colleague actually did that), send them a great bunch of flowers with a warm hand-written note, but that can never be more important to you than the delivery on his/her account. In fact, consistent delivery is the only foundation of a relationship. Like we propagate to our clients that a story sells on merit and not on a relationship with a journalist, the same principle applies to a successful engagement with a client. SMART ALEC says: Like in cricket, it’s all about that perfectly pitched “delivery”.

I’m smarter and I know it- Sitting in the ivory tower of arrogance, PR professionals tend to underestimate their client’s knowledge levels. So you may be more “intelligent” (the two are different and we must learn to differentiate), but the fact remains that your client always has better exposure to the business than you do. The very fact that they manage a larger portfolio, deal with the top management, sit in on sales meetings, interact with business partners etc. makes them better exposed to their business than we are and can ever be, ‘googling’ about their business.  So the next time, you deliver a verdict “He has no clue about what he’s talking about”, credit him/her with some sense. SMART ALEC says: There are no free lunches, all are doing their job.

It’s been a hard day’s night and I’ve been working like a dog – It’s about the choices you make. We made a choice to be cooped up in an agency that has great working vibe, chatty people and a casual work atmosphere. The client decided to work in an office where he sits next to the MD’s cabin, where he’d get reprimanded first thing in the morning, for not being part of a competition story and consequently not being able to manage the agency well! Get the drift? All said and done, a client’s life is as challenging and differently so, than ours. Be sensitive towards that and you’ll be able to handle the ‘10:05 am-why-are- we-not-a-part-of –this- story-type-of-client-calls’ with a lot more empathy and maturity. SMART ALEC says: Grass is not greener on your client’s side.

Never falter on your deadline commitment- The harsh reality about being part of a corporate communications set-up is that you’re’ always “dependent” on your agency for getting the job done. While this may seem like an obvious statement, you realise how much you take it for granted when your agency doesn’t give you a desired document by the stated deadline and your boss has called you umpteen times to follow-up for it. The worst part- you can’t even step in and help them out because you already have 20 other tasks at hand. SMART ALEC says: Watch Salman Khan’s “Wanted” 

Lastly, the big impact is in the little detailing. Some questions you should ask yourself to check your score on the client servicing quotient-

• Do you change the subject line of a continuous exchange of mails?
• Do you send a media opportunity in a mail that is so comprehensive and well positioned that the corp comm. person wouldn’t have to additionally convince any of its spokespeople to participate in the story, apart from just sending that mail?
• Instead of disturbing the client 10 times a day, do you make a note of all pending items and do a quick run-through with him/her first thing in the morning?
• Do you send documents an hour before the stated deadline and consistently surprise your clients with your promptness

These things seem trivial and commonsensical, but it’s all about applying it on a daily basis that can bring about a dramatic turnaround in agency-client relationship. Public Relations is really about commonsense elevated to a status of a profession. And the art of client management is one of them.

Authored by Disha Hoskote – an award winning communications athlete @Text100India (Mumbai), who has mastered the art of running complex client engagements and running diverse teams. 

@Text100India pledges to make a difference

Only in heaven will we see how much we owe to the poor for helping us to love God better because of them.

                                                                                                                        - Mother Teresa

Powerful words by one of the world’s greatest and loved humanitarians. Humanity – a virtue in today’s stressful times. Often forgotten… at times helplessly overlooked. With 340 million people in India living in severe poverty, the opportunity to make a real difference stares us in the face – every single day.  Every time I see a poor person begging or underprivileged children scrambling at a dustbin outside a restaurant in hope of some leftover food, I realize how lucky I am and feel grateful to God for giving me such a blessed life.  At the risk of sounding philosophical, and even idealistic, life shouldn’t merely be about survival, but about upliftment of less fortunate souls.

At an individual level, one can make a difference with simple measures like

1. Ensuring there is no child labor in your neighborhood.
2. Volunteering for a nearby NGO.
3. Spreading some cheer by visiting an orphanage or an old age home

However, we must practice what we PReach (pun intended). Life of a public relations / communications consultant can be a tad busy (euphemism personified). Therefore, as part of Text100 India’s HR team, we took on the onus to give ourselves (120 odd Texties across offices) an opportunity to spread some goodness and cheer.  We’ve tied up GOONJ, a respected NGO committed to making a difference to lives of the ignored and lesser fortunate.

Text100 India CSR teaser

At Goonj, they try to map the needs of different villages in India and according to the respective need, they prepare the required material at their processing units. Most of them are clothes, fabrics, books etc but you would be surprised to know that they also recycle stapled pins, reels/tapes of cassettes etc.!

In line with GOONJ’s efforts, Text100 India will undertake a national “Donation Drive” from July 17 – August 17, 2012 across our offices in Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai and Chennai. We’ve been conscious of getting the context right. It’s not about donating anything that’s useless, but something that would be useful for our brothers and sisters.

We are all committed towards making a difference to the society we live in, and have given ourselves this wonderful opportunity to do something in that direction – Come Let’s Make a Difference and make this drive a huge success!

Authored by Ritika Naithani – a people specialist, a human resource engineer and a key influence in ensuring that Text100 India continues to shine as one of India’s coolest places to work at.

Musings of a ‘PRed’ animal

After seeing a lot of earth-shattering, tiding through the lurking apocalypse, floods of ‘anti-corruption’ sentiments, going crazy over the ‘rise of human being into a god’ (Yeah, I have been reading a lot about the Melhuan dude!), I finally decided to get back to business- I decided to come back to the real ‘digital’ ocean, thanks to the ‘blogathon’ initiated for Texties in India.

With 2 eventful years under my PR belt, I thought the timing was just right – to spill some PR ‘gyan’.

While I was at it, I decided not to do that! As a PR consultant, you tend to hear a lot of “HOW” to do things, (Amazingly, I work with a client, whose entire organizational philosophy is based on doing things- ‘HOW’!), therefore I wasn’t sure writing a blog, giving “tips” to my peers, seniors and the “experienced lot” on “how to execute a campaign”, “how to create media databases”, “how to write a ‘win-win’ press release”, “how to pitch a story to the media”, et al??- Nah! How boring!

To cut the long story short, instead I decided to share my personal experiences that have moulded me from an amateur college going kid to a smart professional who understands the “tricks” of the trade (feels good ! J). While, I have on purpose “refrained” from citing any particular experiences, I will try and share my understandings from it.

 

1. 1.       The realization- “PR NEEDS PR”: From Day 1 of your job, the irony would be evident. The awesome intellectual debate – are we the sexy “communications consultants”, or should we persist with the plain jane “public relations executive” tag. Then comes the immortal debate of defining the PR profession. Apart from industry peers, no one will know what you are doing in your cubicle all day around. Believe me- Not even client, media or your own family!

Moral of the story: Most of the times, reaching a consensus with your peers and seniors on the definition of your own work could be a challenging  ask.

 

1. 2.       In PR, just like Life- There are NO rules: The most important learning that I have derived out of my varied interactions with industry experts, clients, peers, superiors is that in PR- there are NO rules!  Yes, there is no one way in which you interact with people, no specific way to deal with  snobbish media (Not all of them are! J), and demanding clients. Slowly, I also realized that there was no particular way in which you “pitch” a story to the journalist.

Moral of the story: There are guidelines & precedents, but no specific rules ! Key to flourish in PR is to ‘try’, ‘learn’, sometimes push our way, and sometimes backtrack from our natural course. Eventually, we all end up getting it “right”. And if we don’t?? Then we try again, till we get it right! J

1. 3.       Media knowledge is not everything: It’s a common belief harbored by newbies and beginners in the profession that having sound media intelligence is enough to survive the rainy season of PR. Having “media champs” or getting coverage in the “coveted business publications”, at the most may earn you the “love of your client” and “envious glares” by peers. But if you want to earn “respect for yourself” and want to be looked upon as an “asset to your organization, client as well as the media”, then it is necessary to treat them as your “personal relationships”.  Dealing with people with care and nurturing them with respect is the trick!

Moral of the story:  Relationships- be it media, client or internal within the organizations are made over a period of time. Therefore don’t worry if in case you are ever pressed by a question- “How good are you at communicating with media or client?”

 

1. 4.       You can’t control outcomes: In PR, there is nothing right or wrong.  Sometimes, the media will want to get in touch with your client. Sometime, the client will want to touch base with the media directly, without keeping you in loop.  There will be at least one such time, when you will be faced with such instances. So what do you do?? Chill! Do not fret! It’s just a normal process of moving up the professional ladder. At times, you might realize that even after planning and executing a great “event” or achieving publicity for your clients in the premier media houses, or ensuring that the media gets the “required” information on time, people still turn out to be upset. Eventually, the learning dawns- one-off incidents like this will not really matter; will definitely not impact your “presence” in the long run. In fact, there is a complete universe of clients and media and peers, who will recognize you for your patience, hard work and sincerity. 

Moral of the story: The ultimate goal is to get the client the “deserving visibility, due credit for its performance and recognition of “delivering value” by core stakeholders- instead of worrying- what if the media calls my client directly and leaves me redundant.

Most important of all- As a PR consultant, you eventually come to realize that there are no two ways! You either love your job- or you don’t! People who don’t quit eventually! But people who navigate the early days of this struggle, blossom into ‘brand custodians’ -who advise and act as “consultants” to their clients. They are the ones whom the media turns out to respect and admire! At times, “such brand custodians” leave a deep imprint on people’s hearts creating life-lasting friendships and passionate bonds.

 

Drop a line to me, if you can relate, agree, disagree to the post or have experiences to share ….J

 

Authored by Deepika Gumaste  –  a communications firebrand @ Text100 Global Communications (Mumbai), who has  not spared anyone from her persistent awesomeness & melodramatic articulations. Follow her @Dips_88

 

 

Image source: recruiterpoet.com

Ek Hai Tiger: Marketing lessons from Salman Khan

Philip Kotler, the great marketing genius, would have probably cringed on reading the title of my write up. Never in his wildest intellectual horizons, would he have anticipated a blog post that preaches marketing sermons from a Bollywood celeb. Alas!   Only if the world knew better.

Salman Khan – the marketing genius!

Love him or hate him, but you just can’t ignore him. Welcome to the world of Salman Khan, a 5 year old’s heartthrob, dream man for 16 year old young girl and a super entertainer for an 80 year old nanny across the globe. Behind the disguise of a non-chalant superstar, is a marketing genius’ brain that helps to retain the title of a powerful super-brand. Salman Khan’s film career started with a modest movie called “Biwi ho to aisi” but he soon became a superstar by delivering the 80s biggest hit “Maine Pyar Kiya”, a rebellious yet blissful love story that engraved his name in the book of Bollywood history. Since then, there has been no looking back for the ‘brat of the industry’ as he is now fondly called.

Salman Khan – The Dabangg Marketing Brain
Going by trusted industry estimates, Salman Khan is worth almost, $500 Million currently and is considered to be the one of the founding fathers of the coveted ‘100cr. Club’ in Bollywood. With burgeoning interests gains from movies & endorsements, film production and self owned charity brand “Being Human”, Salman’s valuations are bound to go up.

From a Business Management and PR perspective, in my opinion, these are the three things that Salman Khan has done right. It runs in his blood as his father is an esteemed writer in the bollywood circle, having delivered an all time hit ‘Sholay’.

Audience, Tussi Great Ho: One thing that Salman gets right spot-on every time is ‘Audience understanding’ and that is a result of his experience, audience connect and his ability to understand the expectations of his TG. He has masterfully leveraged his mass appeal that goes beyond the elite metro cities to the commoners of tier II and III cities. Most of the actors today segment their audiences in a certain age bracket, but Salman has understood that his target audiences cover 5 yr old to  80 yr old band. He chooses roles that help him cement his post and appeal to the aspirations of this class of people, this is one of the reasons, if you look at the movies off late from Dabanng to Bodyguard, all of them factored in on this image of Salman. This is one field where Salman has gone right every time as audience mapping is the key to long term success. From a ‘chocolate boy’ image to a guy with soft looks and tuff physique, Salman’s audience/fan following has ONLY grown over the years.

Be flexible, not Patthar ke Fool: Salman leaves no stone unturned in reaching out to his target audience. A true marketer will not choose conventional methods of selling/marketing, but will create a platform to make themselves irresistible to the audience. Once the attention of target audience has been captured, he uses the right channels to reach out to them and mostly he has been successful . By far his biggest asset is his susceptibility as a human being and he plays it to the best of his advantage. Ironically, majority of stars interpret this as a weakness and refrain from revealing their human side to their fans. Salman’s simplicity, carefree nature and colloquial  speech, makes it easier for him to sell what he wants to sell to his audience.  Similar to CEO of Audi or Jaguar coming down to their exclusive outlets and selling their cars. I think audience connect and approach through which you market or sell the product is what we need to learn from Salman.

Nothing Chori Chori Chupke Chupke: I want to draw a very interesting theory here from what I have learned from Salman’s positioning, and how we can leverage it in our business environment. His positioning is of that of a highly enthusiastic yet misunderstood individual. Salman is one the most hated yet loved superstars in the country. Whatever he does makes headlines and he is not afraid to speak his heart. I think if we are bold enough to speak what we feel, we will win half the battles naturally, because this is something that most of his target audiences instantly relate to. Most young men in that age have three things in common, they are go-getters, they are edgy and they usually end up rubbing people the wrong side and be misunderstood. So in conclusion, what we can learn from Salman is to identify the right and relevant target market and customise the offerings accordingly. Do not be afraid to speak your heart, something that this superstar does the best.

To summarize, I must say that most corporates customise their approach as per different people, but Salman is just the same with his entire set of audiences, and this is what  makes him the strongest brand in Bollywood.

Authored by Amit Verma – a livewire PR guru & trouble shooter @ Text 100 (Delhi) who has not only modelled his awesome career on the above “Sallu principles”, but also sculpted his six-pack body like his idol’s.   

Image courtesy: gofitandhealthy.com

PR for PR: Why image management needs an image boost!

“So you work for an Ad Agency?”

“Ahhh! You mean media?”

“Ok so you are into content creation?”

“Event management, right?”

Mostly these are the kind of responses my 2 minute introduction on what I do elicit. So, what exactly is PR? Yes, it involves some bits of all the aspects mentioned above, but its definition, role, scope and impact is much more and beyond. Till date, I have ridiculously failed to enlighten my family on what exactly I do at work, and I am confident that this post will not accomplish this crucial objective… but I shall still try. My biggest grievance against my chosen profession is this feeling of explaining a secret cult practice and then summing it up as the business of communications. Ironical, right? Business of communications struggles to communicate about itself. A $10bn industry goes unknown while putting clients in the limelight. Tsk tsk.

Unveling the Super Powers of PR !

Ms. Radia, a well known figure in the PR industry had a significant contribution in doing PR for the PR industry. I believe, she was one of the first Indians to catapult our profession from the alleys of anonymity to the front pages and magazine covers, although for seemingly all wrong reasons… but what the heck! Now suddenly PR has started being associated with power, lobbying and manipulation. Sadly, most readers of these front pages will never know that PR is not really Corporate Affairs and Lobbying. These are specialised services and, usually, beyond the realm of PR consulting firms in India.

If I looked beyond my clients, and administered a perception mapping survey of my profession, I am very sure it will throw up some very interesting facts… and some of them may read like this:

• 98% respondents were  clueless about what exactly PR professionals do
• 80% believe PR is linked with advertising and events
• 70% understood PR as a glamorous profession where the professionals just need to attend high-profile events in 5 star hotels
• The only PR tool respondents were aware of was Press Release
• 60% believed PR professionals are unethical and unscrupulous

These imaginary stats are basis my numerous interactions with people outside the profession and their “flawed” understanding of our business. Would just like to make yet another attempt to clarify what exactly we do.

What we do?

• Help brands with their internal and external communications strategy
• Craft & execute through-the-line communication campaigns – across traditional, digital and social media
• Manage media queries and map onto relevant opportunities of participation
• Recommend  appropriate media channels and news pegs
• Create content – opinion articles, press releases, pitch notes, Q&A, briefing documents, newsletters etc.
• Organise press conference, media roundtable, edit briefing, media interactions and leverage events
• Track competitor updates and stay abreast with industry developments
• Map on to relevant journalists, share story ideas and get them connected with clients

What we don’t do?

• Act as customer care (Well we do in case there are media requests)
• Offer discounts on products launched by our clients
• Only attend high profile events and enjoy the Page 3 life (may be unless you are into lifestyle PR)
• Crib and rant on unprofessionalism or ignorance of journalists
• Crumble under the unrealistic demands of our clients
• PR for us, our work and our superbly interesting career (Where else do you get to interact with company honchos, senior journalists in the first few years of your career?)

So, we may be the select bunch of anonymous, crazy, mostly hated professionals in a thankless job but trust me this is one of its kind professions with extreme highs and lows. The world may not share our joy of jumping at the sight of an article written by a journalist or an opinion piece written by a spokesperson or the high of a well managed event, we shall rejoice and march ahead in glorifying our nameless profession. Kudos to all the anonymous bravehearts!

In case, you have any queries on PR as a profession or rants, tweet me @LizaSaha

Authored by Liza Saha – a true blue digital communications evangelist and a PR maven @ Text 100 (Delhi), who is committed to giving that sexy makeover to her profession.

 

Image courtesy: toobusythinkingboutcomics.blogspot.com

The Dark side of the ‘Numbers Game’ in PR

“Dude, how was it?? Kitna media aaya? Is your client happy??”

I’m at a loss, when after every conference I’m asked the same set of questions by colleagues. But the inquisition begins during the event itself. Precisely every 10 mins the golden question resurfaces “so what’s the turnout till now”? Very rarely, people are bothered about who exactly was present or if we got the kind of attendance that was right for our announcement.

Let’s take a break. Is it really a competition to get more media attend press conferences, or is it about securing the right top tier media to whom the announcement is relevant?

Press conferences are exciting for everyone, and create a sort of esprit de corps among team members. So a certain amount of anxiety in terms of results is understandable. But since when did press events turn into a numbers race? And why are we always chasing Quantity over Quality? Or have we simply not gotten over the days when there were handful of target publications for any news, and all had to be present to make it a successful event?

But you can’t help it. The entire industry has number demands, including clients as well as agencies that set the expectations. The term ‘press conference’ is visualized by spokespersons, marketing and communication people as a room full of press with photographers and video cameras surrounding the spokesperson. And every company, whether its announcement has PR value or not, wants more media to be present to cover it. (Thanks, but we are seriously not magicians!)

Hey Look, more journos. But wait, are they?

Journalist or Ice cream waffle con-artist?

Generally, everybody is busy trying to justify the “RoI”; therefore may be a belief that a headcount of “100 journos” is the mathematical benchmark.  Yes, 120 media attended the conference, but how much coverage did we secure the next day?  Not even 10 % of the attendance?? Alright, no problem… So who were the journos then? Where did they come from?

Clients (and sometimes agencies) don’t realize that 50% of them are “gate crashers”, aka “fake media”. And they’re one of the beneficiaries of this numbers race.

Here’s something informative for newbies and others who are genuinely unaware about this fact.

There is a huge number of fake “media” in the industry, across all metros. They’re well connected with tier 2 journalists and typically enter conferences along with them. Earlier when we used to have limited venue options in cities, they used to be found at the receptions of big hotels, standing in a bunch to see if any conference is happening today. You’ll still see them exiting conferences with 2-3 press kits and media gifts falling out of their hands (of the press kits, they don’t know what to do with them). Further, they are so thick skinned, they do not hesitate to ask stupid questions to the spokesperson during the Q & A, just to show their intelligence and with indirect intention of getting noticed among media fraternity. Now adding to the media gamut, a few of them flash visiting cards of news websites. The oldies always give you cards with just ‘PRESS’ or ‘Freelancer’ (no media house) written on their cards.

You can’t easily notice them. There are young girls, middle age women, and even 65 year old uncles Come on guys!! You should have been resident Editors by now. Truth is, some of them work for small companies… and during lunch or free time, they gatecrash these conferences to eat at five-stars and grab media gifts.

At the conference, a Gate Crasher Singh (name changed) will walk up to where the spokespeople and other company reps are and start managing the interviews with the spokespeople!!! (For the media he is PR, for the PR he is media, and for spokespeople he is the PR again). Then he will see if any dignitaries apart from the client are present, and share his card asking them to contact him for PR services.

If you catch him, he will try to bribe you promising to generate as many pieces of coverage on the announcement as many press kits and media gifts you can spare! He’ll also request you to ‘invite’ him next time, and promises to get 10-15 media along.

To tell you the fact, there are lot of PR agencies who fulfill such GC Singh’s requirements, because of “Numbers Pressure”. But at the same time it is insulting to our genuine media colleagues that we’re allowing these imposters to sit with them.

 

Late for a Cause!

Another example I would like to share on the ‘numbers game’ is from my experience on managing brand events with Bollywood celebs. I used to wonder why celebs always arrive at press conferences, late by 2 hours or so. Don’t they respect the brand or the fact that media is waiting for them at the conference?

Then I realized that they actually try to reach the venue at the committed time, but don’t enter the conference room until and unless it is properly filled with media including TV cameras and photographers. Doesn’t matter, if it takes 2 hours… they are ok with it. The media is also “used to it.” They say “No problem! If celebrity is involved, we know its not going to start on time. We will arrive as per our experience.”

So who is delaying the conference – Celeb or Media??

Moral of the story – Numbers are not bad per se, but when chased irrationally, could perpetuate irreversible challenges for the PR industry. The time is now to step back, think and work together as clients and agencies to give PR outcomes the qualitative elevation.

Authored by Sandeep Mosamkar – a plain speaking communications guru @ Text 100 (Mumbai), who has proven how practical thinking in PR can yield high impact media results.  

 

Image source: toonpool.com

PR se pyaar…….…hai ya nahi?

The journey, oh how I thought would be a smooth sail

Lil did I know I would need me peers to bail

The path was trodden with thorns,

It pricked, it pained

Yet what wisdom I gained!

I would like to dedicate this blog to all those lost and confused souls who have entered this industry with a certain set of notions about PR but were probably a tad “disillusioned” with “reality”.

Through this blog, I have tried to capture the journey of my love-hate relationship with PR.

To begin with, my 1^st exposure to PR dates back to my graduation days when:

1)      My course had a vocational subject on PR

2)      I joined the PR committee of my college for promoting festivals

Neither of them covered nor even pointed to the relevance and role played by media. While the academic subject emphasized on ‘ PR=communicating to stake holders’, the college festival activities focused on ‘word of mouth publicity’.

 

PR se pyaar nahi hua

Enter my cousins who were (and are still) doing great in the field of PR. When I looked up to them for guidance, they threw jargons -like media relations, corporate branding, providing strategic consultancies, influencing and shaping conversations etc- at me. “WOW! Media? Branding? This is like advertising”, and so thinking,

PR se pyaar hogaya!

I decided to quit my existing job and start hunting for a job in PR. My happiness knew no bounds when I landed myself in one. However, reality was yet to hit me!

On the job floor, my profile included media monitoring…“TRACKING”, in our parlance. I had expected myself to do a qualitative analysis of the findings of media monitoring and here I was doing the monitoring itself! Mondays turned out to be the most hated days of the week for in addition to Monday blues; I had to track newspapers of 3 days!! Fridays did not appear too refreshing either. While the world rejoiced with “TGIF”, the thought of creating weekly activity / coverage reports made me release dreadful sighs – YGIIF (Y God is it Friday?).

Then there were incessant media calls for press release follow-up and feature tracking which painted an extremely mean picture of journalists

 

PR se pyaar khatam hogaya!

But I learnt that Hindsight is a man’s best friend. When you survive the Monday blues and Friday reds you definitely feel a little empowered, just the way I feel today. Having grown from those tracking and hard-core reporting days, when I look back, I realize that I owe my media intelligence, my ability to keep a track of innumerable activities to those “frightful” days. Ironically, today, I feel incomplete if these tasks are not a part of my day-to-day work life for these activities make the foundation of every PR professional.

This foundation could and will take a while to build and this phase too is bound to face teething problems. But friends, hang in there, don’t let these Mondays and Fridays pull you down. For once this is in place, your dream and all those jargons which you once heard will become a reality. This phase helps in laying the building blocks of your foundation. Build on them, let every fall make you rise tall and soon you’ll also echo my feelings!

PR se fir pyaar hogaya!!

 

Authored by Ashwathi Athilat – a public relations sorceress @ Text 100 (Mumbai), who has cast her spell of awesomeness on all and sundry.

 

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