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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.
By Amith Prabhu
This was an election like no other. It was slated to be a watershed and many had accepted a Narendra Modi wave and many hadn’t. I have to admit that I had not. As a Modi baiter I hoped he wouldn’t win and at least not win with the kind of landslide he has.
Leaving politics aside I will focus on what I feel is the biggest winner in this elections which is my favourite subject: Public Relations. This election was fought by those who used Public Relations and those who did not. The result is that those who used it won.
Let’s use at the three principal players and see what they did right or wrong and how they did it. We will start with the new kid on the block: the Aam Aadmi Party. They were an upstart no one had heard of 18 months ago. They messed up their stab at power in Delhi in 49 days but decided to go all out and gain national stature in the Lok Sabha elections. They put most of their eggs in one basket and this is the basket called Varanasi. They played with limited resources but capitalized well on social media mobilizing money and volunteers which has shown them results in the most unlikely of places – Punjab. What they did wrong and went against them, purely in PR terms was to not manage the exit in Delhi well, both in terms of communications and in terms of managing perceptions. But for a startup, three-four seats is a good one. Even BJP did not get more than two seats in 1984 on their debut.
Let’s move to the Congress which got it all wrong and did not read the writing on the wall even as late as 25 weeks ago after the drubbing they received in the Assemble Polls. The fact that most of the union ministers have lost and in some cases come third or fourth should be an eye opener. They should have projected a collective leadership to counter the one man show from the opposition. They should have copied tools and tactics from other campaigns blatantly. They should have worked harder on repairing the tarnished reputation. For people like Ajay Maken, Priya Dutt or Sandeep Diskhit to lose shows that there was a rot deep within that needed to be fixed. The three names I mentioned were the ones who were driving traditional media and social media efforts. And if they themselves could not save their own seats as incumbents, what could one expect from the others.
Let’s save the best for last – the BJP. Except for polarising which is a politically motivated move they did everything else right from the word go. They projected Narendra Modi has a no-nonsense, hardworking mass leader who means business. They assembled a formidable team of professionals to drive a presidential style campaign. They made the right amount of noises because they were in it to win it and nothing else. I am still not a fan of Modi and may never be one for a long time only because I have seen him from close quarters when I worked at APCO and he has streaks of ruthlessness, but when it comes to his marketing acumen and PR savviness one has to give it to him. He used every trick in the book and every tool at his disposal to make everything seem effortless.
Now, all eyes will be on how he delivers on his promises. All I want is that India’s reputation in the eyes of fellow Indians and the entire world is not tarnished by acts of state sponsored or backed violence in the name of class and religion. The rest will follow. It was a well fought election but now turns out it was mostly one sided. I will write a separate blog on the non-PR aspects over the weekend on my personal website because this event is historic. For now, here’s wishing Prime Minister Narendra Modi (yes – I said it, never thought a day like that will come) the very best and hoping India remains strong and intact. He won an historic election but Public Relations won as well.
By Amith Prabhu
I wrote a column soon after the Rahul Gandhi interview three months ago – http://www.mxmindia.com/2014/02/amith-prabhu-what-corporate-spokespersons-can-learn-from-the-historic-rahul-gandhi-interview/ and to be fair I’m writing one in the aftermath of the Narendra Modi interview on Times Now this past week. These are observations that can be used to train corporate spokespersons. However one must realize that Modi has been led a public life for over 40 years and much of his acumen comes from the experiences he has gathered as a CM in the last 14 years.
It is worth watching the interview in order to make sense of this column. Some of the techniques used in the interview were very clever like the man. For example, pretending to be a great listener came across strongly throughout but he gave it away umpteen times by cutting short the interviewer when he found the question uncomfortable.
He showed his animosity towards the interviewer and the TV channel on several occasions. He kept his answers short and ensured he conveyed a sense of bluntness. In instances when he felt cornered he used smart one-liners or asked for explanations from the interviewer in order to proceed. All in all, his mind showed clarity but his body language showed discomfort. But the best part was that he chose not to walk away like he did the previous time he was on an English channel.
Some of the smart things he did were to use talk about some of his actions in a matter of fact manner and earn some brownie points. Two examples of this was when he spoke of sending Sonia Gandhi flowers wishing her a speedy recovery when she was unwell or when he said he has never worked but it is his team that works so hard but he gets the credit that is due to them.
So what are the five key takeaways for dealing with interviews better? Firstly, to control the interview in speech and spirit which he did with aplomb. Secondly, he tackled every question the way he wanted to and put the interviewer in his place at every given opportunity. Thirdly, he called a spade a spade without mincing words because he had told himself he had nothing to lose, Fourthly, he used random actions of the past to come across as a better person than he is and projected himself as larger than life. Lastly, he did not ramble but ensured his responses were blunt and to the point.
By Amith Prabhu
Time and again I get asked about my stint in the US. I have now volunteered to offer to meet young grads on and off campus periodically to share my experiences so that new perspectives are brought into the way we approach the profession in this part of the world. For those who may not be part of the groups I interact with, here are some thought starters!
I wrote about it in one of my initial columns, while abroad – http://www.mxmindia.com/2013/07/amith-prabhu-5-reasons-why-pr-in-us-is-better-than-in-india/ – but now that I am back in India and have visited over 10 offices of various PR firms for sundry meetings and have been talking to friends in the business I realize we need to take our offering to the next level. The key is to help clients to move out from the media relations space to new zones of content, CSR, conferences and consumer outreach. Yes! None of these have been traditionally the forte of PR firms but it is time to change the game.
I am going to touch upon each of these briefly so you can go to clients with new ideas in these spaces. Content has always been king but with the advent of social media, good and relevant content that is easy to grasp is key. Press releases are passé as people take brand news with a pinch of salt as the bluff on paid news has been called.
CSR is the next big thing clients are increasingly latching onto. Not just because it is a good thing to do but because it is now mandated by law. Clients are looking for great ideas to help causes, support the community and create a niche that they can talk about and inspire their customers and staff with. CSR is also a great way to engage employees.
Conferences are being churned out by event managers by the truckload. How many of these are credible? How does one pick out those that are worth partnering with? A smart PR campaign will include some interesting events to innovatively partner with and this is not just about speaking or sponsoring but more. Figuring out what is more is critical to adding value.
Lastly, nothing stops the PR firm to go to a client with an idea that can be executed without mainstream media. Â In today’s age of digital all one needs is a thorough understanding of the challenge and ways to address it. So there you are four ways beyond media to make an impact and more importantly to make PR count.
Amith Prabhu is the co founder of PRAXIS and is currently building a firm exclusively to support the communication needs of Members of Parliament.
By Amith Prabhu
There may never be a book on the PM’s media advisor unless one of them chooses to write a biography. However, the recent book by Sanjaya Baru beckons to be in the spotlight because of how it has been positioned. It is outright a case of sour grapes by an accidental media advisor.
Accidental because the practice of appointing Editors as media advisors is an outdated idea. A media advisor in the age of digital age which began at the same time UPA 1 came into existence should be one with an understanding of politics and digital communication. To have hired the editor of a business daily was a flawed idea and to not put an embargo on him spilling the beans during the lifetime of the protagonist was shortsightedness of the PMO.
Having read excerpts of the book I wouldn’t think the content is fictitious. But the manner in which it is written clearly shows a bad falling out between employer and employee because employee wanted a bigger role which was not the way it was meant to be. A media advisor should not get into general policy making but help advice on reputation enhancement which the author tried doing and suggests the same in his book.
I am building an outright case that future Prime Ministers and we will have a new one by this time next month should stop the practice of hiring editors and instead hire professional public relations specialists. The only thing an editor brings is his connections that would be used to block a negative story. In this day and age anything negative comes out faster through social media and through RTI and negative stories should not be stopped.
A PR professional as media advisor would be better in three ways – he or she would have advised his clients on how to reach out to audiences and does it without fanfare or an ideological bias. He or she would have an understanding of digital communication and use it in a smarter way than has been done so far. And lastly, he would be loyal enough to respect non-disclosure agreements even if they were not signed because a PR professional worth his or her salt is instilled with ethics to not wash dirty linen in public.
There will be a time in the near future when that will happen. As a start, an initiative is being conceptualized to create Communication Assistants to members of Parliament who will become a resource pool in the future for politicians and governments to hire. So there will be no accidental Prime Ministers but more importantly there will be no accidental media advisors.
By Amith Prabhu
This past week I had the privilege of watching closely one of the most amazing Public Relations exercises. One which makes India the most vibrant and the largest democracies. One where one human being with their supporters going to fellow citizens asking for votes.
Yes – I was in a constituency that will see an interesting battle between three renowned individuals to spend 48 hours as a life-long student of political public relations. I was on Gul Panag’s campaign trail in Chandigarh. It was captivating to see this 35-year-old actor-activist go through a grueling schedule of 15 hours on an average juggling the urban and the rural areas of this union territory.
Thousands of candidates across 543 constituencies are doing the drill to make it to the Lok Sabha this summer which may see a change of government at the centre. But to see several individuals who have thrown their hat in the ring shows a new wave of politics that is gripping this country. And to see them embracing social media is as fascinating as the way this entire exercise is being managed by India’s independent election commission.
Few takeaways from my two days in Chandigarh: a) Social media and glamour take a back seat – people are looking for genuine leadership to lead them into better times. b) Politics is not as easy as it seems to be – one has to be ready for the long haul c) Public Relations is paramount in this game as there are multiple internal and external stakeholders to engage with d) A well-oiled machinery is vital to run a smart campaign e) Most campaigns are chaotic but there is a method in the madness e) Communications is the key to a successful candidacy and has to be multi-pronged f) Strategy takes a back seat as all politics ultimately is local and it is the small tactics of bringing multiple groups on board that matters
The gigantic exercise will come to an end on May 16 and over the next four weeks Public Relations will play out across the length and breadth of the country in myriad ways. Don’t miss the action on social media and main stream media. But if you get a chance join a campaign trail for a day as there is no better PR lesson than watching one from close quarters.
By Amith Prabhu
The Indian Public Relations business has evolved over the last two decades with the opening up of the markets. The LPG era of Liberalisation, Privatisation and Gobalisation has led to hundreds of brands setting up shop in the country and with their entry began the advent of advertising and PR firms. Today, India has almost all the leading PR firms that have begun operations organically or inorganically.
The leading firms are as follows:
Adfactors (the largest in revenues and a firm that is locally owned), Edelman (which acquired R&P Associates and has two other brands – Zeno Group & Rediffusion Edelman which manages the Tata mandate), Genesis Burson Marsteller, Weber Shandwick, MSL Group (which consists of 2020 MSL and Hanmer & Partners) followed by Sampark Ketchum, Linopinion Golin Harris, and IPAN H&K Strategies.
There are several international companies that have started out on their own without acquisitions and these include Fleishman Hillard, APCO Worldwide, Waggener Edstrom, RuderFinn, Cohn & Wolfe. There are several other mid-size brands that do not have foreign ownership. Prominent among them are Perfect Relations, Integral, Madison, Avian and The Practice.
Most PR firms operate in the key metros cities and have a direct presence or affiliation in the mini metros and smaller cities. Typical PR professionals are graduates or postgraduates who start at with a monthly salary that ranges from Rs 12,000 ($200) and goes up to Rs 24,000 ($400). Attrition rates are high at all levels and more often the reason for moving on is because of a corporate opportunity.
Most PR firms are members of the Public Relations Consultants Association of India (PRCAI) which in turn is affiliated to ICCO. The PRomise Foundation was created in 2012 as a nonprofit to help enhance the reputation of the profession which was suffering from a credibility issue. There are few other associations serving varied interests as well.
The Promise Foundation is an initiative by well-meaning and like-minded young professionals who came together to create an annual weekend offsite summit for the community. The first two editions were successful and the event which is called Praxis is now a must-attend in the calendar of professionals.
There is a thriving Corporate Communications community with over 500 professionals at all levels in the three major metros alone. This number is growing at a rapid pace as more and more organisations hire in-house communications professionals. Indian PR still revolves around media relations though that is changing.
The PR business in India has been growing steadily. There is no authentic estimate of the size and there are varying figures. But one thing is clear – the business of Public Relations will keep growing and one proof of that is the number of expats who are choosing to work in Indian cities in Public Relations firms.
By Amith Prabhu
The last three weeks have seen the global attention focus on the uncommon incident of the missing Malaysian Airlines plane. Earlier this week, the Malaysian Prime Minister made an abrupt announcement that the aircraft had plunged into the ocean. The world at large and especially the families of the passengers on that ill-fated plane are still not convinced of the whereabouts of the MH370.
The mess began as an operational disaster and soon tuned into a public relations nightmare. Much has been written about what could have been done and what should not have been done. This situation could happen to any airline anytime in the future given the conspiracy theories doing the rounds.
I’m making an attempt to highlight the glaring misses from a reputational point of view in chronological order. There is some much to learn for every industry from what just happened. This will be a case study for years to come.
Firstly, for almost 24 hours after the plane took off, there was no clear communication as to what had happened. There were mixed reports floating. Families and friends of passengers had begun to panic due to the absence of a clear picture.
Secondly, the Prime Minister’s first address came many days after the episode and was ambiguous. It gave the impression that the plane had veered towards India and the possibility of it being in Kazakhstan. This could still be a possibility sine the idea was floated.
Thirdly, sending text messages to the next of kin before the public announcement was a bad idea. Families should have been brought together into a common place or called by a human voice to inform about the plunging.
Fourthly, Malaysian authorities infuriated passengers’ loved ones by telling them at a briefing this week that there was “sealed evidence that cannot be made public†in relation to the missing flight.
Finally, there is the Triple R of crisis communications – Regret, Reason and Remedy. While the company got the first one the second and third seemed to be absent at most times.
In the background there has been some noise of how Boeing’s name has not cropped up after the first day. I would argue saying why should it crop up. Several Boeings fly around the world every minute. Such an incident is completely the airline’s responsibility and not that of the aircraft manufacturer.
As Robert Jensen, CEO of a firm which provides crisis communications support for a number of airline clients says, “The challenge you have with crisis communications is not to make it worse, because you can’t make it better” – If that is something reputation management professionals can understand a lot of risk can be mitigated.
By Amith Prabhu
The second half of 2014 seems like an action packed time for the PR fraternity in India with a variety of events happening one after another. At least three of these four are taking place in and around NCR. Practitioners will need to block their diaries well in advance if they want to attend any of these.
The first in the series kicks off in July. Towards the last week, India will witness the second edition of the Sabre Awards. This global award organized by The Holmes Group allows Indian practitioners to showcase their work and vie for several categories of awards.
Then in August or thereabouts a leading Indian trade portal will organize its annual PR and Corp Comm conference and awards. This usually happens in the national capital region. Let’s hope they will consider the suggestion from yours truly to hold it in Mumbai. That being said Mumbai and Bengaluru generally get neglected over Delhi when it comes to national events.
Third in the list but certainly now a keenly sought after event after two successful editions is Praxis 2014 which will take place in a historical city couple of hours away from Delhi. Keeping in tune with the promise of moving this event to the three important regions this edition will be in the North after the debut in the beach town of Pondicherry and the second summit in the hill city of Lavasa. Registrations open this week for some fantastic early bird discounts.
Finally, the ICCO Summit is back in India in early October, again in the capital city and this will have numerous international delegates. The last ICCO Summit that India hosted was in 2006. This edition hopes to bring old friends and new from across the world together one more time.
With a series of events following one after another it sure seems to be a power packed 2014 with several opportunities to learn from and meet fellow practitioners. This column is a call to action to the younger folks in the fraternity to set aside some savings right away to attend at least one of these. It certainly is worth it if you can attend more than one and if you do, thank yourself for it.
Editor’s aside: We didn’t ask Amith Prabhu to not name exchange4media and identify it as the Indian trade portal that organizes its annual PR and Corp Comm conference and awards. MxMIndia is media neutral and we have no issues reporting on events organized by publications which perceive us as competition, provided they invite us for coverage.
By Amith Prabhu
The most fascinating sight at a big city press conference for a big brand is the way some of the attendees behave at the end of the press conference. This is a sensitive topic and has never been discussed in public. And this pertains to a tiny minority who sometimes let human nature take a lead over human dignity.
The bottomline is to get brand marketers, media houses and PR firms to come together to prevent obnoxious gifts being doled out at the end of a press conference. While some may argue that each one is free to accept or reject a gift, the basic premise is if a gift should be offered in the first place. It has become a best practice for some brands but does anyone care to understand if a gift is an ethical thing to do.
Let’s look at key elements of organizing a press conference. From the time the invitation is sent out until the day of the event the following happens – follow ups, an offer to pick up and drop a journalist, the actual presence of the journalist, usually followed by a meal and then the exit from the venue which in most instances includes a gift. While offering transport to a far off venue may end up being courtesy and having a five star lunch is par for the course, these are shunned by journalists from media houses who have a strongly enforced code.
However, there are few who are only there for the good time and for the gift and there is a motley group in each city who have had lunches at press conferences on almost all weekdays of the year. If an audit was done to see if these journalists actually carried a news item on their outlet one would find it hard to see anything leave alone anything of substance. While PR firms get a pat on their back for bringing in a huge number which boosts the ego of the corporate communications person and the spokesperson, the fallout is seen on the following day when there are 150 people who have dined but only 15 pieces of media output.
I know there are some cities which offer cash or gift vouchers to journalists to attend a press conference and an added incentive for coverage. This is a rampant practice in some other parts of Asia, especially China. But should India go that route? Can we the PR fraternity jointly take a resolution to stop gifts at press conferences?
Consumer companies offering samples are a grey area and if the value of what’s on offer is not greater than 10% or Rs 500, one can overlook it. But when a consumer durable company or an auto major offers a portable mobile charger or a portable hard disc costing Rs 3000 or $50 and then expects humongous amounts of coverage the question of ethics sets in. Can PRCAI take the lead in ensuring its members discourage clients from gifting media?
If gifts are not a bribe, then what is? It’s a different matter that media sales people gift media planners and buyers fancy items from time to time. The vicious cycle continues and it needs to stop somewhere.