Tag: Amith Prabhu

By Amith Prabhu

 

Last weekend I encountered a unique situation on social media. A suggestion I made on Twitter was misconstrued by the officebearer of the organization in question. Instead of taking it in the right spirit and offering to make amends in the future for the betterment of the profession he started vociferously defending an omission.

 

My biggest strength is my humility. I unleashed it fully after realising the allegations and counter allegations were going nowhere so I chose to apologise and let go. I not only apologised on Twitter, on text and on email but also made attempts to call the person and also offer to meet in the following week for hardly any fault of mine.

 

Two quick learnings from the above. As Public Relations professionals we advise clients not to take a spat in public but sometimes we forget this advice we give out so often. But humility and quick thinking are essential ingredients in our profession and I chose to apply these in good measure.

 

Anyway, all is well that ends well. We met on Friday for lunch and decided to focus on the future and leave behind the past. The purpose of mentioning this incident in this column is because every situation has some learning in it.

 

How we apply this learning in our personal and professional lives is of paramount importance. Well, on a different note I have begun to believe that PR should no longer stand for Public Relations but the ‘R’ should stand for Reputation. I will write about Public Reputation in the future and try and explore the various facets of this concept.

 

Public Reputation is about a holistic approach to building, managing and enhancing the reputation of a product or corporate brand. It is bringing in creativity, digital marketing, consumer outreach, media relations and event management under one bouquet to strengthen relationships and offer experiences. Advocacy plays a bog role in all this and Public Reputation is built. As I move to a new philosophy of looking at PR, I would like to sum up what PUBLIC RELATIONS is all about in a way that captures its true essence.

 

Publicity Campaigns

Unique Stunts

Big Ideas

Leading Communications

Intelligent Conversations

Creative Solutions

Reputation Management

Ethical Approaches

Leveraging Relationships

Agenda Setting

Tactical Support

Igniting Thoughts

Opening Avenues

Nurturing Stakeholders

Supporting Causes

 

By Amith Prabhu

 

I spent a day on the campus of a leading communication school this past week interacting with first and second year students. Something that is an annual feature on my calendar. The institute also happens to be my alma mater. Students here invest or spend a million rupees over two years to get a master’s degree – this amount is ten times more than what my batch mates and I shelled out a decade ago.

 

The students hope to graduate and get job offers at an annual package that is close to what they pay as their fees in the first year and this is where a major mismatch happens. Half the fee is Rupees 5 lakh and starting salaries at most PR firms are not even remotely close. They range between Rs 2.5 to 3.5 lakh. This leads to students wanting to pursue corporate jobs which promise better entry level salaries but not the kind of learning one would get at a PR firm. To add to this wound, I’m told some firms discriminate between institutes and choose to pay students from one institute a premium over the other, which is an unfair practice, if there is truth in it.

 

The reason PR firms cannot pay fairly higher salaries to freshers is because the retainers have not risen in the last ten years the way the fees have skyrocketed. Hence there is a major disconnect between college fees, starting salaries and retainers. How does one fix this constant problem?

 

To add insult to injury, there are the undergraduate courses which compete for the same jobs and same internships. Can PRCAI step in to work closely with the communication management institutes offering two year programmes to offer them opportunities that are better I terms of number of quality jobs at a better pay?

 

Because if this problem is not addressed we will continue to pay peanuts and get monkeys.

 

Our profession will continue to remain mediocre. And no amount of tall talk can salvage the situation. There is a school of thought that feels a master’s degree in communications is not a prerequisite for a career in Public Relations but that idea is not based on a solid foundation.

 

The communication institutes need to unite and relook at their fees. One can’t hope to recover huge infrastructure costs in five years instead of ten and put the onus of paying back huge investments indirectly on PR firms through greater starting salaries than they already are. A vicious cycle is being created which does not seem breakable in the short to medium term.

 

The salaries, retainers and college fees need to be interlinked and three sets of stakeholders need to sit across the table and find a solution. Clients need to realise that if they want to get the best team working on their business from a PR firm, the PR firm needs to hire the best talent available. This can only happen when retainers go up.

 

Until such time this happens, there will be sulking faces all around. Public Relations firms will not be able to attract better talent who come at a price. The face of the business will not change.

 

By Amith Prabhu

 

There is one instance every four to six months when I use this space to promote an event close to my heart. I do it because this is not a commercial venture and MxMIndia is a founding online media partner. This column will give readers an overview of the upcoming summit, which is India’s only offsite, weekend conference for the fraternity.

 

This year we have divided the summit into two parts. The conference on afternoon of Day 1 and morning of Day 2 which is the main event and a workshop segment on the evening of Day 2 and morning of Day 3. While over 250 professionals are expected for the summit, only about 50 are expected to pay an additional sum and attend the workshop, which is being organised in partnership with The Communique, a company that focuses on training for PR and communications professionals.

 

The opening afternoon will have a keynote address and a special address along with two high profile sessions. The first of two keynotes will be by the mother of cause-related marketing in America, Carol Cone who is the global chair of the Business+Social Purpose practice at Edelman. This is followed by a session where we bring together four individuals who founded four of India’s big firms. They include Prema Sagar of Genesis BM, N S Rajan of Sampark Ketchum, Sunil Gautam of the erstwhile Hanmer & Partners which is now MSLGroup India and Madan Bahal of Adfactors. The other high profile session will have three veterans who run the Asia operations of some of the large firms. They are Viv Lines of H+K Strategies, Jon Hughes of Golin and Bob Pickard of Huntsworth. A fourth chairperson is likely to confirm shortly. This is followed by a perspective from Europe by Yanina Dubeykovskaya who runs an independent event in Davos called the World Communications Forum.

 

This then moves on to the regular feature of a few felicitations and a Friday evening of entertainment over cocktails and conversations, followed by dinner.

 

Saturday morning starts early with a panel of and by millenials from both in-house and consultancy backgrounds. This is followed by either a panel of corporate responsibility chiefs or a special address by an international speaker. Bonin Bough of Mondelez and Jimmy Soni of Huffington Post have tentatively indicated their interest to be present for this session. The second keynote will be by Paul Holmes who needs no introduction. The ultimate session is MINDFIRE 2468 where 10 firms are invited to present a campaign along with their client in not more than 8 minutes, using no more than 6 slides, with not more than 4 bullet points per slide and will have to be presented by 2 individuals from the client and consultancy side.

 

Once this concludes, attendees break for lunch followed by which those who wish to see the Taj Mahal may do so, the others are free to return to their next destination. The workshops commence at 3 pm with journalist Charles Assisi leading a segment on Creative Writing Skills and on the following day a session on Leadership Skills by executive coach Advait Diskhit. These sessions will be of four hours duration each. And one can register directly for these at http://www.thecommunique.co.in/workshops/

 

This seems like a slicker, smarter and super summit in more ways than one. More information is available at www.praxis2014.in This completes the journey to PR heavy zones from Pondicherry in the south to Lavasa in the west to Agra on the north. Since the response from the East is lukewarm, in all likelihood the summit will move to the South in 2015. Where and when will evolve from feedback and conversations.

 

By Amith Prabhu

 

I’m no spokesperson for any PR firm as some may want to believe. I’m a big believer though that PR firms must practice what they preach. Several PR firms advise their clients to participate in the Great Place To Work (GPTW) Survey and get listed as one.

 

It was heartening to see that Edelman India was featured in the survey last year and MSL Group India was featured in the same this year. I wish an increasing number of PR firms participate in the same and do the right things to feature in that prestigious list. This column is about the three things that make a workplace great according to the survey organisers and you may add to this list.

 

Every firm can ensure they get these basics in place and thereafter all it takes is to apply to be a GPTW. I’m hoping there are at least three firms that feature in next year’s list. So what are the three things that a company needs to get right? The three that GPTW mentions on their website are –

 

a) Trust the people they work for

b) Have Pride in what they do; and

c) Enjoy the people they work with

 

Let’s analyse what goes into each of these three. I have had the fortune of being associated with both the firms that have made it to this list. With Edelman, having spent two years in their Chicago office and with MSL Group first as a client in 2009 and currently as a consultant on special projects.

 

There are many firms who do a lot of things right but then do not muster the courage to participate in this survey. They say people join companies but leave their managers or because of their managers. This most often happens because of the arrogance with which the leadership operates leading to mistrust and a disgruntled employee base.

 

Working on a set of blue chip clients enables professionals to not only learn more and do more but also take pride in what they do. A firm that has great brands as clients ends up doing great work. This in turn gets into the portfolio of employees as things accomplished.

 

Lastly, right hiring and managing attrition well leads to a good work atmosphere. If the environment we wok in sets a positive tone, it leads us to bring out the best in us. This in turn has the potential to create happy minds and hearts which all leads to a great work place.

 

I think building trust, instilling pride and making the experience of working enjoyable is not a difficult ask, it is neither easy. It needs consistent leadership, a great product or service that one can offer customers or clients and the right hiring of a good mix of people. PR firms can certainly get this formula right. Hope this becomes a trend and we see more PR firms in the list because then we can tell our clients more confidently how to be on that list as well.

 

By Amith Prabhu

 

My column last week was blank to express dissatisfaction that no Indian PR firm won a lion and that no PR firm won the Grand Prix. Some friends wrote to me stating that a PR firm had indeed won the Grand Prix and I told them that I had done my research before stating publicly that no PR firm had won the Grand Prix.

 

First, some background from publicly available information. Only two firms based in India decided to send four and two entries respectively for four campaigns. Madison sent one entry in three categories and one in one. Perfect Relations sent one entry each in two categories. All the other 32 entries from India were from ad agencies. Some of them won Lions. I keep saying that PR firms are used by ad agencies to publicise their work, similarly PR firms should use ad agencies to package their work better.

 

Coming to the second point. It is unfortunate that the Grand Prix went to an events/content agency based in LA called Creative Artists Agency. In India they have are better known as CAA/Kwan and run by Anirban Blah. A new rule demands that the entity that enters the award should name the PR firm that worked on the campaign. However, the Scarecrow campaign was out and out a creative campaign by Moonbot Studio and CAA.

 

The world’s largest independent PR firm was fortunate to be present at the awards ceremony and claimed that the Grand Prix for PR was finally in PR land. Edelman was lucky that CAA who entered in this category gave it due credit. Many campaigns did not mention the name of the PR firm because creative agencies do not want to share the limelight. Edelman was luckier that folks from CAA or Moonbot Studio were not present to accept the award and they got to claim the trophy as their own.

 

For more context, the Chipotle Scarecrow was created by film makers Brandon Oldenburg and Limbert Fabian. CAA stepped in and worked with them as the main force, but the messaging came from Chipotle. The production was done by Moonbot Studios. All this for an app, which was a game accompanied by the video.

 

The PR firm came into the picture to help support earned media initiatives. Solely promoted through PR, starting with a USA Today exclusive and earned social media, the Scarecrow generated over 7 million views. I lived in the USA when this campaign was launched and personally, it did not make an impact on me though I love Chipotle. This column is not to belittle the PR firm. I have worked there. I have the highest respect for the company. But somewhere it does not feel that the Grand Prix has come to PR land yet. In fact Fleishman claimed that they were the first to win a Grand Prix for PR a couple of years ago. Even that is incorrect as the submission was by their sister company TBWA.

 

Firstly, the PR firm did not conceptualize the campaign, they only amplified an existing initiative. Secondly, they entered several of their campaigns from offices in Shanghai and London and New York but this was not a campaign they entered and lastly, because for a student of PR there is nothing to learn from this campaign that was done uniquely or differently.

 

This column is to wish Edelman which is the largest single firm in revenue better luck in 2015. May a campaign win next year, which is conceptualized and submitted as an entry by a PR firm. I hope that firm is Edelman because having worked in one of its largest offices I am convinced they have the potential. And then we can all say with pride the Grand Prix has truly come to PR land.

 

It is weird that no one has written about this. I choose to because the question remains; as to whose Cannes Lion is it anyway?

 

By Amith Prabhu                                                                     As a mark of dissatisfaction that only six entries went from two PR firms in India and that no PR firm in India or abroad won the Grand Prix this column remains blank today.

 

 

However, the quiz is available to win yourself a book of your choice worth upto Rs 500 from amazon or flipkart – Who began his career in PR working on clients such as Quaker Oats and ContiCommodity in the late 70s? Type your answer in the comments section here with #MxMprQuiz

 

By Amith Prabhu

 

India has had a representative on every Cannes Lion PR jury ever since the category was introduced in 2009. For the record, Prema Sagar, Nandita Lakshmanan, Veena Gidwani, Sunil Gautam, Dilip Cherian and Radhika Shapoorjee. Interestingly, three of the six jury members have had their roots in one PR firm, which also happens to be my alma mater.

 

This column is not about them but about all of us – the public in Public Relations and how Indian PR firms has never won a single Lion in the five years of the category’s existence. What eludes us from the Lion and what can we do to make the Lion a possibility. I wrote about this last year and you can read the same here – http://www.mxmindia.com/2013/06/amith-prabhu-why-cant-our-pr-firms-win-pr-lions-at-cannes/

 

As this column gets published on the June 16, the shortlist for the PR Lions will be out and a day later on June 17, the winners will be announced. I will be delighted if an Indian firm wins a Lion in this category but I will not be surprised if it does not. I do not even have data that tells me how many Indian firms participated.

 

Is the PR Lion a big deal? I have always believed they are not but for those winning it say they certainly make a big difference. Then why this column you may ask – because it is the season of awards and it is important to remind ourselves that we need to bring out quality work that stands out.

 

Well, while the Lions get announced during the week and India had its Elephants last week through the Kyoorius Awards I am thinking of launching India’s first weekly PR quiz that will be part of this column and give away a PoRcupine in the form of a book to one winner every week. The answer may be written in the comment section here or tweeted as a tag to me @amithpr with hashtag #MxMprQuiz

 

The first question – In Spring 1982, Mark and Tom met a guy called Steve, who worked at a little American company creating programming languages for computers. Steve wanted Mark and Tom’s help to grow the business, so he introduced them to two of his colleagues. What PR firm was born out of this? Answer to win a book on PR worth upto Rs 500 of your choice from Amazon or Flipkart.

 

By Amith Prabhu

 

It’s June and that time of the year when in some companies appraisals are completed and in some appraisals are just beginning. This is also the time when people are actively looking out for greener pastures because they feel it is time to move on or because they are disgruntled at a nominal hike or are feeling the raw deal is not worthwhile. But most importantly this is the time HR is under immense stress because transitions are taking place.

 

But this column is to let HR folks in PR firms realize that they need to act as enablers rather than play an obstructive role. They need to strike a balance between the junior most person and their handlers. While HR is not a role that needs to be charitable, it certainly needs to be friendly and honest, which in my opinion is not any longer in PR firms.

 

Let me elaborate further with two examples and I will obviously use fictitious names of people and firms. Let’s take for instance Raju from Gadkari Public Relations – a reputed firm got a great offer from a rival company, Banerjee Public Relations. Now he has the right to freedom to move on but it would be unethical for him to try and take his team along. Whether or not he does that he has resigned at his existing organization and they have got a whiff of things to come so decide to ask Raju to go on leave until the end of their notice period and at the same time spread a rumour that Raju has been sacked, which is unfair to his reputation and in the long term not a good thing for the HR team’s reputation as well.

 

In another example, let’s take Rani who has just resigned from Omar Public Relations and is serving her notice period. The HR team in her office and the management begins to treat her badly by giving her the cold shoulder and taunting her. What HR does not realize that Rani will grow in her career and end up as a client someday and give Omar Public Relations a tough time and this has happened time and again.

 

One can go on and on about unsavory stories from the world of Public Relations talent management and have a solid collection of real life stories where HR has ruined its own reputation and that of the firm. Well, I hope HR wakes up and gets it act together by asking employee engagement professionals, CSR specialists and corporate reputation experts how to repair the damage they have done. May be, it’s time to do some PR for HR.