Category: PR

By Siddhartha Mukherjee

 

My first contribution to this column began with an article titled ‘Advertising owes a lot to Public Relations’. Ever since, while many reiterations of this fact have come and gone, the latest example is that of Goafest.

One of the main TO DOs almost every industry event needs to manage are the 2 ‘Es’ – Egos and Expectations – of various stakeholders. Further, while every event has its own logical reason for not being able to score full marks on the above, Public Relations inevitably comes to the rescue – before, during and post the event.

Goafest, the biggest carnival of the Indian advertising industry, yet again, has banked on Public Relations to manage footfalls into the event.

Though in spurts: Key Messages, Frequency, News Formats, Multipliers etc. have been visible about Goafest PR during the last few weeks. A welcome addition would be the visual element. Footfalls into events can be managed to a great extent by visuals. Visuals can go a long way towards managing the two Es.

The Goafest brand communication case study should be great assertion to the advertising professionals that Public Relations is not a supplementary but complementary Brand Building Tool! As for the PR industry professionals, it is a moment to be proud of!

The question is that why is the Indian PR Industry not doing PR on this? Industry’s quintessential requirement and my years old desire of “PR needs PR” can yet again get addressed through this wonderful talk point.

The PR Industry body/ies should not let the hardwork put forth by a team working on Goafest PR go in vain.

Some quick ways in which the hard work going into Goafest PR should be leveraged are:

1. The PR Industry body should talk about it

2. The Education Institutes should get to know about this

3. TAC (The Advertising Club) & AAAI can issue a letter of appreciation which further can be leveraged through PR

4. The Goafest website should have a dedicated section on a collage of news spread being garnered for the event. All that I could notice was a collection of mailer ads in the “Media” section.

5. A simple survey can be implemented where delegates are asked if they got to know about Goafest or decided to come attend the event basis mailers/ads or through news can be a good re-iteration of what really works.

While the PR Industry ends up salvaging India’s advertising carnival almost every year a few tweaks can make even the advertising industry captains realise that PR, more than just advertising, can make an event a winner.

 

By Siddhartha Mukherjee

 

Do we have case studies where the CorpComm functions of organisations are not being treated as cost but revenue centres? Most probably, none!

For decades now, not just in India but the world over, CorpComm functions have continued to be treated as a cost centre. No wonder, they come as one of the favorites when it comes to cost-cutting or cost control management.  Interestingly, marcomm manages to stay away from the pruning activity!(Have we wondered why?)

Historically, and even now, not much has progressed on this front. Attempts to justify CorpComm’spresence and value in the organisationhas been through the age old archaic modes of advertising value, thickness of news clippings folder, gratifying the bosses (CXOs) by getting them featured in newspapers and TV channels continue to be age-old arsenals used for justifying the existence of the CorpCommfunction.

Here are some thoughts that can improve the state of affairs and bring CorpComm closer to being a revenue function:

 

1. Clearly defining the role of CorpComm/PR within an Organisation:

Especially at the time of interviewing, the CorpComm candidate should be clearly briefed that his or her role within the organisation is not that of satisfying egos but to help in the smooth running of the business.

Very simply put, a CorpComm role should be incharge of creating and maintaing recall (thought leadership), engagement and conversion for each stakeholder of the organisation he or she is working in.

 

2. Performance should be appraised by not just one but across CXOs:

Instead of CorpComm reporting to the CMO, the function should be reporting to the CEO. Further, performance should be appraised by CMO, HR Head, CFO, Head of CSR & Sustainability, etc., and finally by the CEO after taking everyone’s feedback (weightage) into account.

 

3. Should be made part of Business Planning and Execution:

For CorpComm to function and perform, getting to understand the day-to-day or periodic understandings of the changing ground dynamics across marketing, human resource, finance, manufacturing, sustainability, etc, is key. Only then will the CorpComm chair be able to sense the strong points that can be leveraged vs the weak points that may be prospective crisistirggers.

Being copied in regular MIS reports and internal dashboards can make a world of difference in making CorpComm work towards specific business objectives.

 

4. Should be given access to all Primary and Secondary Data Sets and Research:

Data is a very basic but one of the most crucial weapons to justify self or business growth.For CorpComm, data can be bigger than GOD! CorpComm, in a way, is the central console for all stakeholder management. Hence, the chair should be made part of the research desk. Usage of data and cross pollination of various data sets can ensure than CorpComm talks the internal customer’s language!

 

5. Budget allocation & Performance incentive can be linked with Brand and Sales numbers:

A new way of incentivising the CorpComm function can be to link the Budget Allocation to brand recall and disposition scores. Further, link performance incentives to sales query fugures. Agreed, this may sound outlandish at the moment but this is the only way to get CorpComm and Public Relations function aligned back into Corporate MIS.

A start is needed and that too right away! If case studies can break the ice or change the archaic thinking process, that will make things easier. Or else, some samaritan will have to stand tall and lead the way!

 

By Siddhartha Mukherjee

 

Share of Voice and Launch campaigns are synonymous. While arrangements to execute a brand launch can be quite tiring, it is an elixir for happiness amongst all PR Agency and CorpComm professionals. The reason is they know that Launch PR will pull up their Share of Voice and Ranking for the specific evaluation month.

However, for me, the true test of the Public Relations industry is in its ability and duty to sustain PR communications during a non-launch period. That is the time when the PR industry’s intellectual capital is put under real test! That is the time when PR industry and CorpComm machinery get an opportunity to prove its mettle and build thought leadership and brand reputation!

Here are some specific thoughts on this:

1. CorpComm is long-term, not Marcomm:

In today’s age of Reputation Economy, Corporate Communication function’s core and most important responsibility is to build thought leadership. More so, this needs to be a continuous, 365 days-a-year process. While product brand launch or Marcommis an important ongoing activity, however, it should not be confused with being the most important KRA of a PR Agency. No wonder, take any industry vertical, sadly, about 85% (sometimes more) of an organisation’s PR coverage comes purely through Marcomm push. Not an encouraging statistic at all.

2. Maintaining interest about the Company, not product, is Intellectually more stimulating:

I have always believed that PR (specifically Media Relations) is one of the best learning grounds of Sales. Sales professionals from other industry sectors can draw a lot of learnings from what our PR executives go through and how they successfully sell a news/story idea to a journalist! However, why not extend this skill set to other pillars of an organisation as well? For example, there is enough to talk and create news exposure on aspects such as Human Resource, Financial Strength, CSR and Sustainability, Vendor Management, IT & Innovation, so and so forth. Of course, this calls for higher intellect of PR professionals both from the agency and the CorpComm desks.

3. CorpComm (Client) will need to specify its expectations from PR Agency:

While CorpComm functions within client organisations are going all out to make PR agencies feel like a part of the extended family, this desk should also be absolutely clear that PR agency’s core mandate is to focus on CorpComm and not only Marcomm. Hence, non-launch phase is more important than the expectations from a launch initiative.

4. PR Agency evaluation should be realistic:

Share of Voice and related ranking scores is key. However, it will make sense if the PR performance is evaluated separately – one during only brand launches and one for the non-launch or sustenance phase. This will be a great test of the PR agency’s intellectual skill set and its claim of being a Partner, Consultancy, et al.

5. Sustenance is a Great Opportunity to convince CXOs of the merits of PR:

What value does PR actually bring on the table? This question has plagued our industry for decades now. Sustenance PR, during the Non-Launch phase, is a true test of what this great tool can actually do to a corporate brand. CXOs – especially the CEO, HR Heads, CFO, CSO, etc., will see value in this effort!

To be fair, there are corporates, though few in number, who genuinely believe in building and sustaining a brand during a non-launch phase. Infact, it is because of this that they have gained accolades and come close to the top management. They have got their PR agencies habituated to think out-of-the-box and sustain corporate and product brands. Launches should be passing but not penultimate milestones of their professional lives.

 

By Siddhartha Mukherjee

 

Happy to have come across an interesting and more realisticconstruct related to Public Relations. It says that the perception management of a corporate brand is dependent 90% on what it does or how it conducts itself and only 10% percent on what it says or communicates. While this comes as a whiff of fresh air, something that I and many others in the industry concur, I worry, however, if PR & corporate communications professionals even have the wherewithal to tackle the 90%.

 

A quick glance across the PR agency and corporate communications industry will reveal the following findings:

1. CEOs, CXOs, in short, the top management of organisations perceive CorpComm desk as a cost centre.
2. In 7 out of 10 (if not more) CorpCommprofessionals’ cases, CXO’s design of KRAs and KPIs is to simply manage the media (journalists).
3. More often than not, across many organisations, Jjournalists are sought after to manage the CorpComm Chair.
4. CorpComm’s basic expertise is “networking”.
5. CorpComm’s KPIs are measured through Advertising Equivalent Value.
6. More often than not, CorpComm reports to the CMO and not the CEO.
7. CorpComm’s involvement in boardroom discussions – actual business planning, functioning and execution of services (experience) across stakeholders – is far from reality.
8. For the team members in the PR agency which is hired to manage the client’s external “perception” – an uphill task, their ignorant (still manage to find it cute)logic of working in PR industry is a hilarious “I like meeting people!”
9. Ability to create a large turnout of journalists at press conference, thickness of the news clippings folder and the ability to kill negative news are largely the ammunitions used to showcase value add and ask for fee hikes.
10. Just after having settled down with the understanding the Print and TV news dynamics, they are now hit with a new wave of digital media…and still figuring out how to manage it.

 

How on earth will the Indian PR and corporate communications professionals actually be ready to manage real brand perceptions in the market place? To be able to go beyond 10%, and manage the 90% comprising experience management, some drastic ground changes need to be done!

1. CXO’s KRAs and KPIs should be linked to a weighted equation of reputation scores and business health scores across sales and marketing, human resource, finance and so on
2. The construct of CorpComm recruitments needs to change. Expected skill sets, design of KRAs and KPIs need to change. In other words, not more than 10% of KRAs and KPIs should focus on journalist and news coverage management.
3. Their participation in business planning and execution should be default and regular
4. SOPs of business – across HR, Finance, Product Development, Marketing, Sales & Post Sales, Sustainability, and more – should be designed in partnership with the CorpComm desk
5. Lastly, CorpComm needs to be considered as a Savings generation (if not Revenues generation) function.

 

While the principle of 90:10 conduct:communication approach is a great one, for it to take shape, ground level changes need to be implemented first.