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Category: SIDDHARTHA MUKHERJEE

  • The time to form one and create cohesion between service providers and takers, ensure standardisation and nurture organic growth for the Indian PR and Corporate Communications Industry, writes Siddhartha Mukherjee

    Siddhartha Mukherjee: India needs a Central Association of Corporate Communicators!

    By Siddhartha Mukherjee

     

    I would love to hear the reasons why our Indian PR and Corporate Communications Industry still does not have a central, neutral and well-epresented association/body of service takers – Corporate Communicators of India Inc.

     

    Notwithstanding whatever the reasons or excuses which did exist in the past, I feel, now is the right time to form one and create cohesion between service providers and takers, ensure standardisation and nurture organic growth for the Indian PR and Corporate Communications Industry.

     

    Here are some quick thoughts on how this would benefit the PR & CorpComm Industry:

    1. Gives a structure and shape to what the DEMAND is: For around the last three decades, the industry has largely seen the SUPPLY side. During this period, the PR agency firms have offered what they thought would be the right fit and mix of solutions India’s Corporate Communicators would need. However, I am not sure if the service takers would give a confident thumbs-up to all that they have been supplied with! Creating a central and neutral Corporate Communications Association (CCA) would converge and charter all the requirements of India’s Corporate Communications fraternity. Basis this, PR Agency Associations can decide on creating the blue print for their representatives.

     

    2. PR Agencies get to work on the SUPPLY Blue Print: The PR Agency Industry has often faced operational hurdles. However, if DEMAND charter becomes clear, courtesy the central CCA, a lot of operational hurdles should be ironed out:

    a. The types of service offerings a PR Agency firm should try and specialize in

    b. The Quality of Talent Pool the PR Agency needs to nurture

    c. What the yardsticks of a satisfactory service delivery should be

    d. The ethics, do’s and don’ts of service delivery

    e. If not a rate card, but some estimation of costs or fee structure that the Clients should be charged for specific service

    f. A centralised PR Evaluation, Measurement & Audit system

     

    3. Share, Learn, Raise the Benchmark!:  I do know that many Corporate Communicators across the client corridors are actually doing some amazing brand building work – both for their Internal and External stakeholders. It is not just media relations. Not only are their media relations being scientifically crafted, they are creating brands and also providing very scientific sustenance to it week on week, month on month, across markets. However, the learnings, if at all there are, are relegated to a very few. A central CCA type of initiative will enable a wider audience to educate, share and raise Industry’s benchmark.

     

    4. Current pattern of Industry Awards and Acknowledgements will see an Improvement: We have quite a few awards and acknowledgements. I guess more will get created. However, I feel the real authenticity of such Awards and Acknowledgements will come if it gets created and mentored by the Service takers – CCA! Self gratification has not helped the PR Agency Industry much!

     

    5. PR & Corporate Communications Profession will get a nudge in the HR Industry: Do people or the industry outside ours know that PR and Corporate Communications Industry is a very formal, recognised and attractive job sector to work for? Do campuses across India acknowledge this? Do faculties look at Corporate Communicators to interact with? Do Management and Communication Institutes consult our Industry on the type of course curriculum they should inculcate? India’s central Corporate Communication Association can help bring a method, identification and direction for all these questions?

     

    A central Corporate Communication Association (CCA) is a concept. What we call it is secondary. The important point is that it should be done fast. It should be inclusive and should follow the thumb rule of For the Industry, Of the Industry and By the Industry. It will work wonders for us. Many things will get ironed out ones the DEMAND side is taken care of and centralised. However the question is, which corridor of Corporate Communicators acknowledges this and makes the first move!

     

    Siddhartha Mukherjee is a senior PR industry professional and currently Senior Vice President, Eikona – Earned Media Planning, Audit and Advisory. The views expressed here are his own.

     

     

  • The reality remains that for the world outside, PR is still not a very friendly and constructive term with a a lot of negativity aligned to it, writes Siddhartha Mukherjee

    Siddhartha Mukherjee: Should PR be renamed?

    By Siddhartha Mukherjee

     

    he world outside our Public Relations and Corporate Communications ondustry is much larger, wider and deeper! Not only that, it is this industry outside that is the bread provider for us professionals. However, for this world outside, the term ‘PR’ is still a strange, funny and frivolous term. Even today, despite all the good brand-building work we have done for clients and the respectability we have tried to bring to this profession, for this external world, with every utterance of this term, it continues to bring words and feelings to the fore such as – wine and dine, fix, spin, hide, twist, jugaad, plug, etc.  Are there any more such words or connect that come to you mind? Try it out!

     

    Despite all the self-gratification initiatives we keep undertaking for ourselves within our PR & Corporate Communications industry, the reality remains that for the world outside, PR is still not a very friendly and constructive term. There is still a lot of negativity aligned to it. This was one of the basic things I had mentioned when I first coined and campaigned for “PR needs PR” (by the way, it’s good to see this tagline getting used and quoted by other individuals and industry forums).

     

    Is the current Industry to be blamed for this reality? Absolutely not! It is purely a matter of our past. It is a matter of legacy that we have inherited… what our erstwhile industry captains, corporate communication chiefs and PR agencies did in the past. In fact, the reality is that despite all the hard and good work done by this current generation of professionals, the Industry at large is still finding it difficult to erase the old, negative association of this word.

     

    The thought or idea of renaming PR came up because so far, we, as an Industry, have not really done anything substantial to recreate the imagery of PR Tool and the Industry for the outside world. The core industry requirement of PR needs PR has been an abysmal failure. Whatever little we have done has been very inward looking and myopic. That is precisely the reason why, for decades now, client investments have been slow, quality talent inflow has been slower.

     

    Is renaming PR a better alternative? Probably, probably not! The only advantage of renaming it is that we can shed off the historic baggage that the term PR has been carrying for decades on its shoulders! For our Industry’s engine to chug along smoothly, its elementary wherewithal has to be addressed and kept intact.

     

    While we are expected to preach image management to our clients, what are we doing to our own Brand’s image?

     

    Siddhartha Mukherjee is a senior PR industry professional and currently Senior Vice President, Eikona – Earned Media Planning, Audit and Advisory. The views expressed here are his own.

     

  • The problem is that the time allocated towards teaching PR and the relevance of the course content being taught need to be examined on priority, writes Siddhartha Mukherjee

    Siddhartha Mukherjee: PR course curriculum needs an immediate revamp!

    By Siddhartha Mukherjee

     

    While PR needs PR has been my cry out to one and all in the industry for years now, “Catch them Young” could be a great fortification towards this movement. Budding campus students, our industry’s future, carry a phenomenal potential to change the face of what the Industry doles out to its service takers and how it is perceived by the external world. However, a basic problem continues to plague majority of the education institutes and universities. The problem is that the time allocated towards teaching PR and the relevance of the course content being taught need to be examined on priority!

     

    I am not sure what the satisfaction level of recruiters – across corporates and PR firms – are about the quality of candidates. For sure, it is not a 10 on 10 or even a 9 or 8 on 10. The reason for this is that the course curriculum needs to be revamped or overhauled.

     

    The reason for poor satisfaction levels of recruiters about candidates could be permutation of the following:

    a)       Weightage of Time allocated towards teaching PR in the overall curriculum is abysmal

    b)       Course content, topics and the books are either archaic or have no relevance to India

    c)       Getting on-ground feel of the industry through interactions with Industry seniors/professional is very rare or not holistic

    d)       While I have met amazing, very up to date faculty in some, but by and large, faculty in many of the campuses still need to wake up and smell the coffee. What they teach and how they teach will need an immediate revamp

     

    Some key/basic attributes a “Futuristic” Recruiter of the PR Industry will look forward to in a candidate:
    1. Has complete knowledge about Brands and its Communication Techniques
    2. Understands Media, its changing technologies and its influence on Publishers and Users
    3. Understands the dynamics of Content and Advertising Management
    4. Is comfortable with the world and the subject of Journalism
    5. Is a Numbers Person: Values the importance of Research, Measurement and Audit
    6. Understand PR’s role in the overall context of Integrated Marketing Communications, Media Planning and Buying
    7. Has basic soft skills like: Writing, Oratory and Presentation Skills
    8. Understands Business Management and its components
    9. Can evaluate Brands in context to Social, Cultural, Political and Economic matrix
    10. Has a great archive of examples and understanding of brands built and sustained through PR and other Tools

     

    What can be done for education institutes and universities to replace the existing course curriculum with that which is concurrent to today and the future:

    1. At this stage, Education Institutes and Universities are in their comfort zone, unaware of the harm they are inflicting on the student’s future and the industry at large. To pull them out, our PR Industry Body should conduct road shows orienting the Academia of the changes needed both in Time allocation and the course content.

     

    2. However, before that, our Industry Body will need to put together a certified template of prescribed course curriculum all Institutes and Universities need to transition to.

     

    Talent will make the industry grow. However, the content and importance we feed into the student during the campus days will decide on which direction our Industry will head to and at what speed.

     

    “PR needs PR” will get a major impetus if academia and ionstitutes are addressed with the need to change!

     

    Siddhartha Mukherjee is a senior PR industry professional and currently Senior Vice President, Eikona – Earned Media Planning, Audit and Advisory. The views expressed here are his own.

     

  • With retainers hitting rockbottom, the talent being hired is directly hampering quality of work, giving PR a bad name, writes Amith Prabhu

    Amith Prabhu: Is the future really bleak?

    By Amith Prabhu

     

    In a recent survey of journalists, conducted by Skribe, respondents cited the following:

    1. Frequently being targeted with irrelevant pitches

    2. Lack of knowledge about beats and right contacts

    3. Poor understanding of editorial and content strategies

    4. Cold calls – speculative calls to connect with no research and background checks

    5. Mass emails of press information without proper context

     

    This is going to increase as a problem in the days and weeks ahead. At last count, I had a list of 125 PR firms. These firms had more than three people including the owner, at least a two-city presence, a website and seemed legitimate and not just fly by night operators. On an average, every month a PR professional who thinks he or she is smart is moving out from established consultancies and from other domains including from media outlets to start a PR shop.

     

    Three things are happening. Retainers are hitting rockbottom as these newbie entrepreneurs in their quest to survive are working at a low fee. In the process, the talent they are hiring is coming from anywhere and everywhere which is directly hampering quality of work. Most importantly the business of Public Relations is getting a bad name than it already has in certain quarters.

     

    How are we going to fix each of these?

    1. Frequently being targeted with irrelevant pitches – This will not change for a long time and there does not seem to be a fix in place other than solid training and accreditation.

    2. Lack of knowledge about beats and right contacts – This seems to be a perennial problem and a solution does not seem to be in sight.

    3. Poor understanding of editorial and content strategies – This is the most disastrous of all. Half-baked consultants masquerade as know-it-all superhumans

    4. Cold calls – speculative calls to connect with no research and background checks – This is an age-old issue which can never be fixed

    5. Mass emails of press information without proper context – Enough said

     

    So, the bottomline is we will have to live with this larger problem. A few firms will get this right and are trying to fix this by hiring and training better professionals. But most are not including some of the big names. All this spells bad news as the future is far from bright until we shake it up sooner than later.

     

  • The industry will evolve, grow and get acknowledged by our customers only and only if we do not confuse PR Monitoring with PR Measurement, Audit and Research, writes Siddhartha Mukherjee

    Siddhartha Mukherjee: PR Measurement & Monitoring are two different worlds: Which one have you chosen?

    By Siddhartha Mukherjee

     

    While many in the PR industry are still yet to adopt the discipline of numbers, research and analysis in their day to day course of things, as for the ones who do, there is a clear demarcation among them. On one side, are those who believe in generating and torturing quantitative and qualitative numbers for their planning, benchmarking, evaluation and audit purposes. On the other, are those who do not enjoy numbers beyond some top line, self gratifying data and charts which actually mean nothing to PR and Corp Comm’s internal customers within the organisation.

     

    The former represents the progressive class of our industry who believe in PR measurement, audit and serious research. The latter are those who are either aloof or do not want to acknowledge the importance of one very basic key question – Why do we do PR for a brand? This company of professionals normally and only use the nomenclature of PR Monitoring.

     

    The industry will evolve, grow and get acknowledged by our customers only and only if we adopt PR Measurement, Audit and Research and not confusing it with PR Monitoring. It will help if the PR industry body, captains representing the PR Agency community and influential corporate communications heads get together and drill this realisation into the various corridors. PR Measurement is strategic, PR Monitoring is tactical.

     

    Unfortunately, today, a majority of our Industry is majorly fixated with PR Monitoring but not the measurement bit. The reason is that clients and their PR firms are still not clear as to what the actual objective behind doing PR can or should be. Sadly, for most in the industry, the following is still felt as the reason or objective for doing PR:

    a) My competition is doing it, so should I!

    b) Feels good to see our name on paper – makes us look good in front of family members/friends

    c) To keep negative stories at bay

    d) To justify its existence through Ad Equivalent Value

     

    …there could be more such reasons.

    Precisely why, our Industry has largely demanded PR Monitoring and not strategic services like Measurement, Audit and Research.

     

    Some traits that indicate that the Brand Custodian comes from the world of PR Monitoring:

    1. Instead of working with neutral PR auditor, depends on his/her PR Agency to evaluate the quality and quality of work done by them

     

    2. Daily/Instant News Clips Updates (especially negative news) is one of the key expectations from the PR Monitoring service

     

    3. Advertising Value Equivalent (AVEs) form a key unit of measurement to evaluate success or failure of the PR machinery

     

    4. Share of Voice & Rankings are the full and final litmus tests for PR success

     

    5. Corporate Communications machinery does not set targets for itself or give one to its PR Agency

     

    6. Proactive PR happens largely during “product launch” month

     

    7. Corporate Communications desk is not directly or indirectly aligned with the Organization’s central research desk

     

    8. CxO expectation from Corporate Communications/PR is only media relations and to get editorial coverage on the company, important faces of management and control negative stories

     

    9. Fixation for increasing count of articles by getting coverage in any media title irrespective of the relevance of the title

     

    10. By looking at the quality and media plan of coverage, we find that there is no sync with the basic but serious question of “Why are we doing PR”.

     

    Siddhartha Mukherjee is a senior PR industry professional and currently Senior Vice President, Eikona – Earned Media Planning, Audit and Advisory. The views expressed here are his own.

     

     

  • Barring a few genuine cases, a majority of today's industry professionals consider journalists simply as a "means" and not a "customer", writes Siddhartha Mukherjee

    Siddhartha Mukherjee: Media Relations is dead! Long Live The…

    By Siddhartha Mukherjee

     

    Till the time the corporatisation of media does not become a complete reality, which hopefully is a long way to go, media or journalist relations will continue to hold prime importance towards a brand’s perception management within the editorial news and views segment.

     

    However, when compared with how our generation maintained relations with journalists, what is followed by today’s generation of PR professionals is as good as dead! Barring a few genuine cases, a majority of today’s industry professionals consider journalists simply as a “means” and not a “customer”. As a result, there is no interest or willingness to know or understand this “means” beyond the elementary details such as name, publication, designation, beat and the contact details. Treating this person as a customer would have made a world of difference.

     

    I remember that my generation (and my seniors) always believed in executing media relations with the maximum possible personal touch – a basic example being that of meeting journalists personally. On an average day, more than 50% of our work time would get devoted to visiting/meeting the journalist personally and having a two way conversation/discussion.

     

    Today, however, this personal touch is missing. Emails, Whatsapp, phone calls, and more importantly, lack of personal meetings has eroded a PR professional’s ability to have a fruitful, holistic discussion about the ecosystem that the client brand survives in. Conversation is largely one way. The journalist does not have a reason or urgency to meet the PR professional.

     

    No wonder then, in most of the PR firms that I know of, the health of the PR firm’s relationship with journalists is managed and guided by seasoned professionals who belong to the old (our) school of thought.

     

    If journalists are today’s (and tomorrow’s) potential brand builders, one can’t afford to perceive them as “means”. Before we try to share or convey our story, we need to understand our customer’s (journalist) story. Here, speaking to a journalist approach needs to shift to discussing with a journalist. This needs patience, knowledge, and more importantly, a belief in the discipline of personalized media relations.

     

    I see no harm if, only in this case, PR firms go back in time and take a leaf or two of learnings on media relations skills and pass it on to today’s generation.

     

  • The PR Agency, the Client and its Neutral Research, Planning & Audit Agency are meeting to celebrate the Client’s Annual PR Plan success story, writes Siddhartha Mukerjee

    Siddhartha Mukherjee: Good see client, PR agency & auditor getting together

    By Siddhartha Mukherjee

     

    The PR Agency, the Client and its Neutral Research, Planning & Audit Agency are meeting to celebrate the Client’s Annual PR Plan success story. (Psst…This is actually happening today!)

     

    For those from the old and conservative school, it is a sham and wastage of time. For those with a progressive or futuristic thought process, it is a bullish trend setter and who would want to know more. For me, additionally, things have just got started…and yes, it is a sign of good times to come!

     

    An ideal client is one who encourages use of Research, Planning, Benchmarking and Auditing at every step. An ideal agency is one who uses the right Research, Planning and Benchmarking initiatives to ideate and implement the on-going or annual PR Calendar. An ideal PR Research, Planning and Auditing service provider is one who understands the Client’s communication objectives and proactively provides i) The right sets of credible data and perspectives ii) Validates the PR Plan well before it is implemented.

     

    When does it all converge into a success story? When, after all the hard work and contributions by each of the three stakeholders through the year, the Client’s PR monthly and annual initiatives hit the targeted score on the neutral PR Auditor’s report card!

     

    This is the sign of good times to come. To me, this, albeit small, is a significant trendsetting initiative. Reasons:

     

    1. Indicates realisation and acceptance of the role of Neutral PR Research, Planning & Audit service within the Client-PR Agency relationship. I always believe that a neutral service’s core job is to strengthen the relationship between the Client and its PR Agency.

     

    2. Indicates that the In-house Communication Team is working towards scientific data driven monthly plans and targets.

     

    3. PR Agency accepting the world of data, research and neutral audit work comes as a breath of fresh of air!

     

    4. PR as a tool becomes more valuable and strategic to the internal customers of PR/Corporate Communications machinery – the CXOs!

     

    5. This will not only set the trend of cohesive work culture among the three stakeholders – PR Agency, The Client and its Neutral PR Research & Audit service but also keep personal egos at bay to enjoy common client victories together with humility!

  • The PR Industry, which is working hard to claim custodianship of Corporate and Product Brand Reputation, can use the approach of Pre-mortem to showcase its effectiveness to the CXOs, the actual consumers of their service, writes Siddhartha Mukherjee

    Siddhartha Mukherjee: PR Communication Management needs the Science of Pre-mortem

    By Siddhartha Mukherjee

     

    Pre-mortem, the opposite of Post-mortem, is an approach in which a management team imagines that a project or organisation has failed, and then works backward to determine what potentially could lead to the failure of the project or organisation.

     

    The Public Relations Industry, which is working hard to claim custodianship of Corporate and Product Brand Reputation, can use this approach of Pre-mortem to showcase its effectiveness to the CXOs, the actual consumers of the service.

     

    If you look at a typical average monthly PR Plan that the Client-Agency work on, it smacks of:

    a) Absence of any thought process of the desired end result

    b) No detailing of past trends and scenarios

    c) Prevalence of Tactics over Strategy

    d) More importantly, no detailing of how to achieve what the plan proposes

     

    As a double whammy, a common disease that still plagues most of the Corporates even now is the lack of clarity on “Why do we do or need PR”

     

    The final nail in the coffin comes at the stage of doing a post-mortem of our communications initiative through monitoring, measurement and audit. However, this becomes an absolute waste of time given that the PR planning phase has been unkempt.

     

    The immediate advantages that Pre-mortem will bring to the PR Communications machinery will be as follows:

    a) It will force us to set tangible and intangible desired targets or scenarios

    :: The flipside of this is that it will help us ideate on “What if we fail to achieve the desired targets”?

    :: What could be the reasons for failure one, two, three …and so on

    b) It will help us work backwards and build the various possible blocks of media plan

    c) It will help us set targets/benchmarks

    d) This will help individuals, desks and groups be accountable towards specific KRAs and KPIs

    e) This act of Pre-mortem or backward planning will ensue excitement within the CXO desk

    f) PR and Corporate Communication desk will get further boost of status internally within the Organisation

     

    What will ensure that Pre-mortem gets inculcated as a habit and works successfully day on day, month on month?

    a) Corporate Communications team will have to first convince its internal customers (CXOs) of the benefits Pre-mortem will accrue for the Organisation. Only then will CXOs find a reason to involve and consult Corporate Communications in their business and communications planning exercise.

    b) Corporate Communications desk will have to help their internal team members and more importantly, their agencies to transform their way of thinking from reactive to proactive. Pre-mortem is all about being proactive.

    c) The Training and Orientation facilities – both for Corporate Communications team and its Agency – will have to undergo a strategic facelift. For example, revisiting monthly and annual PR Planning will mean a sea change of approach and detailing.

    d) The KRAs, KPIs and appraisal system will need revision.

     

    Advertising industry, in a way, has long imbibed on the science of Pre-mortem. No wonder, looking at the size and stature of the Industry, it needs no argument to prove the effectiveness of Pre-mortem. Public Relations Industry has every reason to take it up quickly and prove its worth because of two reasons – a) effectiveness of conventional advertising in declining b) there is enough science readily available to implement the culture of Pre-mortem within team members.

     

  • Prominent corporates are standing up to create internal platforms towards acknowledging their entire PR machinery, writes Siddhartha Mukherjee

    Siddhartha Mukherjee: Corporates acknowledging PR machinery internally through awards!

    By Siddhartha Mukherjee

     

    Are these spurts? Blips? Well, actually, to use the cliché, something is better than nothing! Against a backdrop of years of complete darkness, select but prominent corporates are standing up to create internal platforms towards acknowledging their entire PR machinery comes as a much-awaited surprise and needed thrust.

     

    Businesses represented by their marketing and communications team, communications  agencies and external/neutral measurement, research and audit teams line up and present to a select jury (from external and internal environment) some of the finest pieces of PR communication work they conceptualised, executed and helped the brand leverage during the last one year.

     

    I am sure this will go viral… and is much-needed too! More and more corporates should latch on to this. It is a different thing  though that when internal customers/top management is wanting to acknowledge its own PR machinery, the industry’s current format of external awards suddenly take a backseat.

     

    For the moment, let me share some quick thoughts that I have gathered from these hand full of corporate initiatives that I have been part of either as an external auditor or jury member.

     

    1. First things first – kudos to the Organisations and more importantly, its corporate communications teams for being able to convince the management to have an internal platform that will acknowledge the entire PR machinery. It is a great re-iteration of my very old but much-needed claim of PR needing PR!

     

    2. This is a great trigger that could spread like wildfire across the industry. If tackled well, the sky is the limit for PR/Corporate Communications machinery! More so, the function secures a seat in the boardroom discussions.

     

    3. The standard of PR work/campaigns being conceptualised, planned out, executed and analysed has come a very long way! Ah, it is such a wonderful and relieving experience to see young budding teams presenting articulate and scientific case studies. This was not seen earlier.

     

    4. Great news for PR agencies to have got a wonderful opportunity to expose themsevles to corridors beyond corporate communications within their client organisations. Great opportunity for them to change their own imagery from media relations to brand builders.

     

    5. If this spreads like wildfire, with more and more corporates starting the process of PR acknowledgement by its internal customers and stakeholders, the current lineup of external/industry awards, and more importantly, its formats will need a whirlwind of change to maintain their relevance.

     

  • The PR industry's shape-up will need Shake-Ups, Gobbles and Mergers! While it has been organic, the growth has been shapeless, writes Siddhartha Mukherjee

    Siddhartha Mukherjee: It is time for Shake-Ups, Gobbles & Mergers!

    By Siddhartha Mukherjee

     

    Time is ripe for the Indian PR Industry to undergo a Saagar Manthan! No doubt, kudos to the industry captains and their senior management for going all out towards organic growth. The last five years have witnessed amazing individual and collective initiatives by PR Firms in areas such as Talent Upgradation, Width & Depth of Service Deliveries, Technology Advancements, Content Creation & Management, Reputation Management, Accessibility, etc. However, what will now help is the last mile inorganic nudge that will give a final shape to our Industry!

     

    The PR industry’s shape-up will need Shake-Ups, Gobbles and Mergers! While it has been organic, the growth has been shapeless.

     

    It is time that our industry starts consolidating both width- and depth-wise. It is time for number of service providers offering specific categories of services get cleaned up or pruned. It is time that ‘Haves’ get separated from the ‘Have-nots’. This is possible only through Mergers & Acquisitions or Buy-outs.

     

    Unless that is done, ARPUs will hesitate to cross years of unimpressive thresholds.

     

    The picture that is emerging is making it amply clear that PR Industry is clearly getting segmented under the broad categories of:

    i) Holistic Corporate Brand Reputation Managers

    ii) Media Relations Agencies with permutations of specialties such as Crisis Management, Communications Training, Digital initiatives, Advertising, Events, Internal Communications, Events etc.

    iii) Basic media relations agencies

    iv) Stringers or Boutique Agencies

     

    In fact, bits of what we speak here have already started happening in the market place. More so, it should not surprise us if the frequency of news talking about such shake ups rise in frequency!

     

    Interestingly, talking of it, the Indian PR industry has already started the shake-up through a guerilla approach. Agencies have started making unconventional moves! Though in retrospect, they make perfect sense. Acquisition of Content Creations firms, Digital Agencies, Advertising firms, and other such surprise business moves are adding on to the Industry shake up!

     

    Our PR industry needs disruption to get on to the next generation of growth! Inorganic route through Mergers & Acquisitions has a lot of merit.

     

  • When morning newspapers and TV channels started featuring Kaka and his girlfriend, that was the sign that PR was on its way to successfully launch FIFA into the hearts of Indians, writes Siddhartha Mukherjee

    Siddhartha Mukherjee: PR playing cupid for Sports TV Channels and Associations!

    By Siddhartha Mukherjee

     

    Remember FIFA 2006? Indians were swept off their feet! Our TV viewing behaviour underwent a drastic change. A predominantly cricketing nation gave the ongoing India-West Indies cricket series telecast a miss to soak into the encore of FIFA. Despite late night telecasts, TV viewership numbers of FIFA soared while that of cricket choked.

     

    We were reading more about international football stars than those from the world of cricket. When morning newspapers and TV channels started featuring Kaka and his girlfriend, that was the sign that PR had cracked the case and was on its way to successfully launch FIFA into the hearts of Indian men, women and children. What more could a TV Telecast partner have asked for!

     

    Cut to the current year, 2016. Cricket, Football, Kabaddi, Basketball, Badminton, Tennis, and many other sporting forms are all fighting to strike a chord with the Indian TV viewer. Advertisements and promotions are expensive and therefore forces limitations with PR communication frequency, spread, formats and messaging combinations. Here is where Public Relations comes to the rescue!

     

    Why does Public Relations score over other Communication tools:

    :: Allows a leisure spread PR exposure for Pre-During-Post event: Consumption or Footfalls into Sporting events on TV or in stadiums means giving consumers the time to decide and a reason for engagement. While creation of emotion is key, the event brand’s exposure or OTS (Opportunity to see) should be maximum or as much in advance as possible. PR allows the Sports TV Telecaster to spread the PR Plan weeks or months prior to the start of the event. A sound build up will lead into a sound foot fall starting the day of the event. Reflecting back on FIFA 2006, the pre-PR buzz (buzz created before the start of the event was 4 times more than that of the India-West Indies cricket series.

     

    :: Allows to experiment with various Messaging or Edit Formats: To engage with a sporting event, emotion is key. For this, one has to experiment and push out various permutations of messaging formats – through one-on-one interviews, columns, Photo captions, contributory articles, news briefs and write ups that have recency, and so on. PR allows this flexibility very well.

     

    :: Localised PR push will fetch Localized pull: The cost parameter restricts the penetration of Ad or Promo led communications deep into the local heartland. PR makes that easy. The localization of exposure and messaging is key that will create interest levels for local consumers – whether on TV or in stadiums.

     

    If you see the PR success scores in terms of what it has done to the ongoing Kabaddi tournament on TV currently, it is quite gratifying:- Increased media ink for Kabaddi as a sport with an average of 30% jump in PR scores per season

    – Number of media titles covering the sport increased by 50%

    – News on the event were not only restricted to the tournament, but also focused on the softer aspects of the Game and Players that got consumers interested to watch the telecast!

     

    PR has started playing cupid for the various Sports Associations and the TV Broadcaster! The ROI it brings for both the stakeholders has been very satisfying. Time will come when PR is no longer looked at as one of the IMC contributors but a pivotal one.

     

    Time to take a bow for all the PR Agencies and the Corporate Communication professionals who are working tirelessly to sustain the momentum of various sporting events round the year!

     

  • Effective PR can go a long way in helping the government manage perceptions in the Valley, writes Siddhartha Mukherjee

    Can PR help the scene in Kashmir?

     

    By Siddhartha Mukherjee

    So, it was one of the days during my Ladakh bike ride tour a few days back. I was sitting in a tea stall on the outskirts of Leh with my co-riders. We met a group of local Kashmiri youths (average age would be 25 years) in that same stall. For some reason, it seemed, they wanted to get into a conversation with us. We didn’t mind it given the long back breaking journey we had just prior. However, the conversation that followed with our supposed friends from the paradise on earth broke our hearts.

     

    Amongst many, one of the  statements made by them was – “In some time to come, ‘Indians’ will need a passport to come our place…”

     

    It got me thinking. First, let us not blame them. With the current state of affairs at the ground level there, their minds are vulnerable to unhealthy influences and negative public relations campaigns from vested corners. The question is why are the media relations initiatives of central and/or local not being able to do the job of educating and informing the local people about not just Kashmir being an integral part of India but more importantly, why it should remain to be so.

     

    The reasons could be a combination of the following:

    1. Is our media push full of news or views? Larger proportions of views filled with facts, right information and perspective is the need of the hour.

    2.  Is the frequency of the News & Views mix high enough? Is someone within the authorities taking care of this in the PR media plan?

    3. Is the state’s local literacy level hindering the consumption of news that is getting published.

    4. Are newspapers readily and regularly getting circulated?

    5. While print news consumption with respect to literacy rates is understandable, what about TV? Penetration of TV sets in the state is relatively lower as compared to others. Is this why communication push through national and local TV News Channels not turning out to be effective across the width and depth of Kashmir’s landscape?

     

    From the public relations point of view, I do not think the existing media relations is effective enough. Moreover, even after review and redeployment, perception management through media coverage alone should not be the only solution. Here, it has to be complemented with one on one or face to face interactions. Our representatives have to initiate face to face, regular dialogues and modulate views through facts, figures and right perspectives. Going by the perceptions of those Kashmiri youths and their perceptions about India, not including themselves as ‘Indians’, it seems very clear that vested dark corners are doing quite effective PR through more of regular, direct one-on-one or face-to-face dialogues.

     

    On another thought, probably, our Indian PR body or association can help our Indian authorities review their existing PR or communications approach and modify it. It will go a long way in helping the Central and the State Government manage perceptions at the grassroot level.

     

    Public Relations, if used well, can help the valley remain a Paradise on Earth!