@dvocable

Recently a colleague forwarded me a mail that was supposedly sent out to dozens of media persons by a renowned media personality criticizing a certain journalist about her misbehavior with PR folks and saying PR and journalism are part of the communications industry and should go hand in hand. For a moment I was surprised to see such a mail. Then I realized the mail was fake. He wouldn’t have used a spammy Gmail address to address his media colleagues. So my guess was someone who probably had a tiff with the journalist decided to get back by faking her boss and sending out a strongly worded email.

In another incident, a mail was sent impersonating a colleague of mine, using another Gmail address, to some 40 plus journalists, including senior editors and COBs claiming that certain journalists and a PR person have been involved in bribery to get press releases covered in newspapers. My colleague had to send out a mail to everyone explaining it was not him who had written that mail.

I don’t know who have been doing these, and whether the sender of such mails are from the PR industry or not. However it certainly brings bad reputation to the industry, for the misdeeds of a few unprofessional lot.

Check the content of the mails below. Please note: All names have been removed to protect the identities of individuals concerned.

Fake Mail 1 text: (see screenshot)

All the journalists being a part of this communication industry MUST READ IT……..
The communications industry in India is growing by leaps and bounces. It has gathered an unbelievable momentum and the credit goes to all the pillars – media, advertising, public relations, corporate communications, etc.

However, it is hard to segregate the whole industry into parts as these parts are totally interlinked. Though, it seems that some of the people working in the industry do not realize this fact and tend to believe that they are running the industry on their bare shoulders.

It’s funny to see how some journalists feel so logiclessly above the people who are working in the corporate side. And in this fool’s paradise, they tend to behave not only in an unprofessional but also in a very uncivilized manner with the professionals from public relations and corporate communication consultancies. They must remember one thing that they can only get respect if they are willing to give respect to others.

Recently, there was an incident where Ms. vjvjvjvj from vjgvjvjvj had displayed such a behavior. This is just to remind Ms. vjhjbjbb that if she continues this uncivilized behavior of hers, she may lose out on any stories she is doing through agencies and even of the clients with whose communication agents she misbehaves with. This is a strict warning for not only her but all such unprofessional people in the media fraternity.

All the PR consultancies across India have been informed about this step and any misbehavior with any of the members of these consultancies shall be at the personal risk of the journalist.

The media people who have done anything significant in their careers realize the interdependence of all sectors and always behave in a professional way. The PR industry hopes that you are one of them, because if you are not, it won’t be tough for them to strike you off our list completely.

Fake Mail 2 text: (see screenshot)

Dear all
I wish to bring this to your notice.

Three people – sfdvdfv (sfvfv), rvevevi (Tsevefnt) and aevfdv (a PR manager with fvfvsfdvsdfv) who are extorting money to write press releases and to publish them in their newspapers.

Recently, I experienced it myself, was shocked and ashamed to see their behaviour.

These persons, who claim to be journalists, demand cash and if delayed on account of no reason, use the most vulgar of language and go to the extent of blocking the news in getting it printed. If money is paid on time, without a word, they see to it that it gets prominent display and go to the level of writing it with their names on it and in turn advise us to release it a couple of days later.

Please in future, please be careful while engaging them.

Take PR personally. It’s not just a profession. It’s the art and science of communication. Human relations and dealing with human sensibilities is a part and parcel of the entire process of communication. It could be about communicating anything…be it financial results, corporate health, news and announcements, developments and crisis….am not even talking about the contents. What I am talking about is the readiness of the parties involved in the process of communication. Be it clients, media or PR consultants…or for that matter people in day to day life.

As students of communication we have all been exposed to the theories of Lasswell and Marshall, Shannon and Weaver amongst others…but there is a much original theory of communication that existed in India in the days of yore called ‘SADHARANIKARAN’ which was more holistic in its understanding of how communication can be fruitful.

What is the goal of all communication? The goal of communication, in all circumstances, situations and requirements is to get across with one’s point of view, encourage and create a harmonious relationship as a resultant affect of a positive communication process. That is possible in the Sadharanikaran model of communication. Most communication models would limit it to reaching out from the sender to the receiver, creating a hierarchical situation making the receiver of the message a passive element in the process. That may or may not be the most ideal of all situations to be in when the receiver of the message is only but passive; so you aren’t quite sure of whether you are able to reach out the audience, of whether or not they are welcoming of your ideas, views et al. Most western models of communication concentrated on communicating between mass media and the masses. The Indian model on the contrary focuses on all kinds of communication situations, be it interpersonal, intrapersonal or even mass communication.

Sadharanikaran talks of how it is possible to let the receiver of the message experience satisfaction and joy and participate in the process of communication. In a complex society of pluralistic languages, castes, class and dialects, Sadharanikaran has the answer for a successful communication. It is all about creating an environment conducive for the transmission and reception of messages. The Indian model is not about persuasion and convincing but is a participative model where both the parties involved are in mutual anticipation of each other thereby becoming Sahridayas or people having common sympathetic hearts.

I request not to take semantics too seriously…coming back to PR, what we are usually trying too hard to do is to persuade and convince the party on the other side of our messages and what we have to say. That makes the job more difficult and sometimes not so pleasant. We need to treat the other person an equal partner in the entire process of communication. Respect the other person’s understanding and his or her willingness to be in a favourable frame of mind to listen to everything you have to say and believe in everything you utter. Give it time, give each other the benefit of space and relevance of message so that you can benefit from each other’s acceptance of the message. There is no noise of any kind. There is only acceptance and willingness required to complete a successful communication process.

Am sure that all PR professionals worth the salt understand this. This is for all who are new to this profession. Do not try too hard to gag the audience with your words and thoughts. Convey, communicate and step back to receive a favourable response to take the process to the next level. It has worked for me and hence this article. Create Sahridayas than mere listeners or readers… treat PR as just another situation when you are trying to communicate and I am sure you would find more situations of successful communication when you are not trying too hard…

It was my first class in PR and as usual I was sitting on the first seat. The professor came in and started the first lecture of the session. I was clueless – what was going on and what they were talking about. It happened because I was not a professional person at that time but just a fresh graduate who got admission in PR (by mistake). Well, that was in the past but I learnt one thing that everybody cannot understand PR properly.

If we will try to make people in other profession understand about PR, they will probably consider us psychos. I was surprised when people started relating PR with other professions like advertisement, marketing, journalism, space buyers, and lot more. Sometime it happens that you give your best efforts to make others understand about PR and at the end they remain confused or end up with wrong conclusions.

My first instance happened during a travel from Delhi to Lucknow for a car launch event. I met with a political member from the UP government. During the chit chat he asked about my profession. After explaining to him for about 10-15 minutes, he considered me as an advertisement agent. When I told him  about the media coverage after the launch, he took me as a journalist.

I got another shock when I met with a merchandiser. Again the question came up. I tried my best to make him understand about PR. We talked about all the aspects of PR for more than an hour. Suddenly, it shocked me when he told me that PR is just an extended part of marketing. It was a killing thought when he asked me to help him in some marketing strategies.

If we think in marketing perspective, I think we are quite closer. When nothing is happening on a client, then we start initiating different ideas to pacify the client. Sometimes, the client buys the ideas and sometimes reject the same saying it is a marketing initiative. I was a little surprised to see that one particular idea is a PR initiative for one client but is a marketing initiative for the other.

But the confusion doesn’t end here. When somebody knows that media coverage is one of the output of PR agencies, people started mistaking PR professionals as journalists. This is the worst thing one can think of PR. Some of my schoolmates started calling me media because they are not clear with the concept of PR.

An engineer from Delhi Metro asked me once that they have completed an assignment one month before the specified time. It was wicked when he asked me to get it covered in few mainline publications on his behalf.

It was again scandalous when one of the professors in Delhi University asked me about my profession and she took it as space buying medium.

I wish PR could be as simple (or well known) as doctors or engineers so that others can understand it.

Recently I was having a conversation with some industry colleagues. Among them was a new intern who majored from IIMC and who was not so satisfied with her first experiences with practical PR in an agency. She said she often feels like a telecaller who gives unsolicited phone calls, selling stuffs to uninterested and rude customers. Her products were stories of her clients and her customers were the journalists whom she was calling.

She continued that her professors at IIMC had warned everyone that theoretical PR and practical PR would be a bit different from each other. But what they failed to warn was these two run in parallel – never to meet.

That was bad. I thought. If the PR industry compels freshers to go out of steam in the first few months, how many bright minds are we going to lose to other industries in the coming years and how many are we actually going to groom well? I tried explaining her a few bits why she should not think of her job in that way, which I am trying to recollect here, and I am sure many can help me out here.

Let’s do a bit of analysis. PR students in the course of their studies read about Edward Bernays, Ivy Lee, and their theories, build teams and construct PR campaigns in their project work, read case studies of the best and worst of PR, and listened to all the lectures of seasoned professors. By the time they majored, they have developed high expectations and are all geared up. But what do they get?

When these students become the young PR professionals in an agency, they are suddenly the junior most of the team. They get to work on activities like making media monitoring reports, weekly reports, follow-up with journalists who often are not so supportive. Many of these activities just appear so mundane and truly things that can be done by any class 12 student. Their dreams come crashing and they think- I have to change the line.

Is this what has been happening?

But for the time being, let’s suppose indeed this is what happens typically. But then young professionals need to understand that everybody has gone through the grind and everybody needs to in order to become mature professionals.The same logic of many great marketing professionals starting out as sales people might apply here.

Often in these so called ‘mundane’ jobs, we learn the finer nuances of the art of PR and discover little secrets for ourselves that we can use for the rest of our career. For instance, if someone is making media monitoring reports for the automobile industry, by the end of six months or so, he/she would have automatically figure out a lot of information and up-to-date knowledge about what’s happening in that particular sector. Imagine doing this for other sectors. By a year or two, how many sectors can one keep abreast of? Documentation skills are also very important in the PR profession. All the monitoring and weekly reports are geared to help one with that. Following up on journalists for months will teach one how to speak in 10 seconds that can grab attention.

Then there is the complaint of theoretical and practical PR differences. Though in early years it sounds like there is a mismatch between what one has learn and what one is doing in an agency. But later on, having a sound theoretical knowledge will always prove to be advantageous. We have to take the theories as a good foundation. And when the foundation is strong, we can create anything we want and the possibilities are not limiting. So for example, when one starts doing a brainstorming and explanation of PR to clients, you know what you are talking about and is not limited to just what you have experienced in an agency.

Earlier I wrote a piece on 10 things a young PR professional should learn before finishing an internship. I think PR interns should focus on these activities and try to get the most of their internships. If they are just made to do one particular activity, they can always ask for variety.

Now that I have said all that I want to say, it looks like I have put everything on the young intern. Sounds like a crafty agency person! Let me also write this that agencies hiring interns have as much responsibility in grooming young professionals and in bringing out fine professionals for the industry. There should be some genuine intent towards this cause rather than equating interns as cost effective short-term solutions. If all agencies start doing their bit, we wouldn’t have so much attrition problem as we are having now.

It is a mess and it is all over the place and it is not going away in a hurry. The stock market is toast, the oil price is freaking out in the USD 150s, real estate and financial services are tanking like the titanic! Everyone knows that we are in the middle of a meltdown and the effects of inflation have just about started to ruin the financial results of companies.

The politics of the nation are in the gutter and the uncertainty that clouds all decision making both in the public and private enterprise will continue well into the next year, if and when another government comes into being. A government that is cross subsidising the oil bill and some other future government will reap the whirlwind and some whirlwind it will be for sure, and I quote Rahul Bhasin of Barings in the DNA, where he said, “We are frittering away our gains made in the last 15 years”.

Against the background of this carnage in corporate India, the bean counters are finally seeing resurgence, like desert plants, they have waiting out the decade of exuberance. Today they are rising like the proverbial phoenix from the ashes, and promise to be the bane of many brands, marketing campaigns and other assorted still born initiatives. Austerity is back like the rude shock of a cold water bath in the freezing winter!

When the accountant’s chop does come down on big-ticket advertising, out-of-home and television commercials, these being the pet peeves of the accountant  PR promises to stay untouched. Having said that budgets for travel, off sites, media training, and all those nice fuzzy things are bound to dry up real quick, if not disappear all together. In all this skirmishing, fortunately for PR, most corporates have come to understand that it is not an on-and-off thing and if anything, some might even find it the last refuge of the marketing to reach their target publics in times of budgetary paucity.

The job market for PR professional and Communicators promises to retain traction and the moaning for talent will stay the wail it is, so here is one area that I again see no effect of the slow down, if anything it could lead to many more corporates hiring for the reasons above.

Challenges bring opportunities and usually constitute the need, the same need that spurs innovation and fosters new paradigms and discoveries. These are the times to service your customer better and to vow to be closer to the business and not lose accounts on reasons of tardiness, inefficiency or downright stupidity! I see many avenues that were shoveled into the “not important or urgent” quadrants due the presence of other ‘lazy cheque’ populars suddenly becoming fashionable. The medium I am talking about and maybe one who’s time has finally come in India, is the online medium.

This is the time to knock again and dust off those online plans, whether it is a programme to engage key bloggers in your space, or kick off that e-mail campaign or spend your remaining rupees in the pursuit of a web-only viral marketing or buzz marketing campaign!

I wish you well in these nasty times, so get dug in and wait it out, this too shall pass, maybe not soon enough but you can always take the time to do something you always wanted to attempt, something forbidden, constructive, intellectual, delicious and inspiring! I look forward to comments here!

This post is dedicated to the movers and shakers of pubic affairs, PR’s shy first cousin. Dilip Cherian, Nira Radia, Suhel Seth, Deepak Talwar are familiar names in this industry in Delhi. There are many more that you may not know but who are just as effective. Shantanu Guha Ray talks about them all in his article ‘Forked Tongues and Artful Nudges’ in the 21st June issue of Tehelka. Go ahead, you will enjoy it…

Recently I picked up a book called “Why So Stupid?” by Edward De Bono and this post is inspired by it. In fact, I wanted to write about why we stopped thinking about PR in our business but ended up writing something else courtesy a copy of a magazine landing on my desk.

Well, to be very honest I haven’t finished reading the book yet, but it seems that it would be fascinating to read through it. In the first few pages only, I disovered many things. One quote fetched my attention beyond doubt and I would like to share it with you. It helped me to put headline for today’s post as well. It reads and I write, “You can analyze the past but you have to design the future.”

Now coming back to the recently published report about “The Future of Public Relations” in one of the marketing magazines, I have few observations which I want to express for you lovely friends. While it did mention about the future of PR but the irony was that I haven’t seen any of the future leaders of PR talking about the future. I saw the same old faces trying to analyze the past without realising the present situation in many of their businesses or agencies and pretended to be designers of the future. I am sure many of you guys must have had a good laugh reading through it and some of their views must have been swallowed by many of us with a pinch of salt, some pepper and cold water.

The thinking in the industry has been stale and stopped somewhere. I was discussing the same with my wife and she said that it is happening probabbly because in earlier days leaders were born and born leaders are great thinkers, but today leaders are made, and they expect some reference as they are made like that. I think she has a point here. Most of our leaders are coming from ‘recoginition’ background and they always need a reference point to begin. The recongnition here is the worldview they have been living with since 70s and trying to impose the same upon their people. Do you have a high attrition rate – stop blaming the new generation, please. I have had the luck of meeting many of the agency heads and since I have to be politically correct here on this blog and have to remain in the industry where I belong to, I have to say a big lie that almost all of them have inspired me. (sigh!!) But, I am sure almost everyone who is reading my blog today knows ‘who is who?’ in the business and I do not have to give you any recognition or refernece point to think outside the box to arrive at any conclusion. I am sure you are smarter than me.

By the way, who am I to pass on any judgment on the industry or some of our so called leaders. After all, some of them have created the industry we are all working in now. They are the ones who are driving growth of their agencies and dipping the fees. They are the ones how are corrupting the business eco system and doing things which are not required in the name of building and maintaining relationships. They are the ones who are not willing to let their people grwo and try harder to make them feel inferior. After all, they are the ones who are drving the industry, where the accelerator is on a left hand side and brake is faulty with a gear lever lost somewhere on the way.

Why am I behaving so stupid and writing such a post? May be because I am like that only. I care for each one of us. I love what I do and it really hurts when I see my love being treated the way it is being now by many of them. SOS! Please respond, before its too late.

Take care friends and wake up! Jaago re… Jaago re… Jaago re…

PS: I wrote this heartfelt post with complete honesty and with an intention to hurt few of them in the process. If you are one of them and felt hurt, please accept my apologies and look into the mirror. Do you see the horns emerging from sides… ??!!!???

Some of the best brains in the PR industry today have no formal qualification for doing their job. They hold no diploma from any communications institute nor any management certificate. But when it comes to PR strategy and execution, organizations seek them out. What is it that they do? Do they have some practical lessons that can become a part of every institute’s curriculum? I could think of five such points a PR school could adopt to make their students ‘future ready’. They are listed below, in no particular order. And if you are studying at an institute this information might be useful before you start job hunting.

1. ‘Presentation Skills’ – One of the most important weapons in any PR pros’ arsenal. You are judged by how you speak and present your ideas. Clients and colleagues form lifelong impressions within five seconds of you uttering the first sentence. In fact once my boss had whispered to me in an ‘X Files’ kind of tone: “They are always watching you.” Therefore before you accept your diploma, ensure your presentation and public speaking skills are top notch.
   
2. ‘P2P Networking’ – Here PR students have an unfair advantage over others. If they look around in their communications institute they will see editors, senior reporters, special correspondents of the future learning the ropes in the journalism classes. Right now they are approachable and ready to be friends. Ten years hence you will just read their by-lined article or see them on the prime time news. So start making right friends right now.
   
3. ‘What to do and what not to say’ – As a PR consultant, you are in touch with company heads and senior management, and there’s a ‘certain’ behaviour expected from you. This may include how to handle difficult questions, how not to offend people, how to shake hands, how to initiate and carry on a polite conversation, how not to get unnecessarily provoked etc. It sometimes takes years to master the art but the sooner we make a beginning, the better it is.
   
4. ‘Dress up and play the part’ – A PR consultant inspires confidence in her clients. They seek her advice and trust her judgement. Again, this is a skill honed over years but you can start immediately by dressing up the part. Always be aware of the silent signals you give about your personality by the way you dress up. I once heard an industry veteran say: “Before you pass out of your institute, ensure you have at least two business suits in your wardrobe.”
   
5. ‘Sell yourself, gracefully’ – Promote yourself and do it with style. For example, even as a student you can share your business card at formal occasions. It can carry your name, contact details and institute address. Learning early how to effectively use sites like Linkedin.com is also an asset that will go a long way.

I am sure there are institutes that already have these lessons in their curriculum but there are others who can think about them. After all a little practical work never did anyone any harm.

Has it not been debated before? Yes, it has been. Have we not wasted enough cups of coffee arguing over it? Yes, we have. So, are we ready to bury and tombstone the topic? No, not in the near future.

The debate over what a client says he wants and what he really wants will live for as long as the marketing communications and, more specifically, the PR industry lives and thrives. The briefs will always be brief and the expectations will mean ‘under promise, over deliver’ (the mantra that all PR managers chant around their mentees). I would have never brought this up but for an incident that spewed out the rotting question – should I believe what the client wants or am I looking in the wrong direction?

Picture this – the Chairman of a large and well-respected real-estate major briefs a PR team about what is expected from the PR campaign. Brand image, reputations, lineage, forthcoming IPO: almost everything is discussed. The expectations are clear – the company is to be projected as the leading real estate player in India. Everything sounds positive. The agency has bagged the account and is eager, satisfied and very comfortable in the extra soft, leather sofa. The old man seems a decent bloke. “No sweat, Mr. Chairman; your will be done.”

The team steps out of the suite on the 10^th floor and is immediately ensconced by the till-now reticent Corp Comm manager. Two things are made clear. The cheque will be signed after the press coverage report is received. Whatever the Chairman said was gas. The success of the campaign would be directly proportional to the thickness of the media coverage report, which should start thickening as soon as the team leaves the client’s office.

Now, wait a minute! Where exactly do brand strategy, image management, PR policy figure in this dry and very hollow scheme of things?

We can’t deny that there are more opportunities for PR professionals in India than ever before. Companies have started valuing the importance of public relations for their business. But when it comes to measuring its success it is still how thick a press coverage report looks. Building relationships with the target audience, nurturing a public image, paying attention to the demands of that ever important ingredient to your success called Press – these concepts will still take some time to bloom. So when a new luxury store is opened, the thrust is not on the years the brand will spend in India and how it should be perceived by the niche consumers. Sadly it’s on how many video cameras are seen at the launch and how many press clips appear after the hackneyed P3 party.

But we should not be complaining too much. There was a time when PR meant going on media rounds with bad photocopies and even worse media lists. Press coverage was really about cutting every single newspaper snippet and admiring it with the zest of a mother looking at a new-born baby. Things have changed a bit and the same things are now done with much more style…

In hind sight, the days when more and more companies would expect agencies to walk the talk and do some real PR wizardry are round the corner. A few of us need to get out of the complacent mode and be willing to do things differently. If the ‘MNC culture’ (another cliché awaiting burial) has survived and thrived, we can be sure that more professional understanding between PR agencies and companies can’t be far behind. Till then the debate will continue and many more words will be wasted. But only briefly…

It was after a long lunch session that she shared this with us: “They promised me an exclusive. The interview with the Chairman was to happen in the next couple of days. The meeting was cancelled at the last minute. Reason? The Chairman had to fly out of the country. Next day I saw the interview promised to me in three different newspapers.”

This is part of an amusing conversation my colleague and I had with a senior business journalist from a leading English daily. The ‘they’ she refers to is, of course, a PR agency. Have you come across an incident like this in your PR career? Something promised to a journalist is never delivered – an important piece of information, an exclusive one-to-one, a research report. I am sure you have because it happens all the time.

Among the many bad things that we – PR pros – are accused of, not keeping promises tops the list. It’s an age-old discussion: “why can’t they stick to their word?” This happens in other industries and the communications industry is no different. So why is it that PR agencies are seen as incorrigible truants, and why have we created such a mean reputation for ourselves? If you have seen Colin Farrell in the movie Phone Booth, you know what I mean.

I can think of two reasons immediately. First, the stakes in this business are high and sometimes we fail to understand how important content is for a newspaper. Second, the pressure to please the client and keep our bosses in good humour. Actually there are more reasons but I want to end with two.

I have spoken with a few friends in our industry but there is no satisfactory answer on how to curb the ‘menace’. We are also naively unsure if this menace exists. So very often these incidents are shoved under the carpet and the thrust is on moving on with our lives. We are also uncertain if our industry is in need of an image makeover.

A few weeks back, a journalist from a business magazine met our client and was ready to file the article. So far, so good. But there was a problem. The information shared with the journalist was incomplete. Our client would have been in big trouble if the article was published. We contacted the journalist and promised him more information for a much better article. He was adamant. He had a deadline to meet. Even after speaking with him a number of times there was no headway.

We knew nothing else would work now. So we decided to do just one thing, be 100% honest. We called him up and laid bare the facts – if the article was published, our client would have to do a lot of crisis management; a few, very innocent heads would roll; we might lose a very good account. It was not a pleasant call but the article was never published. Of course, the journalist didn’t talk to us again. That is, till last week when we bumped into him. After some initial hiccups, I am happy to say, things were normal again.

There is no moral of this story. At best I would say that being honest sometimes works, even if it means getting badly burnt in the process. I can see many of you shaking your heads in disagreement. If you have a better solution, it’s time we used it.

Image source: http://www.freeimages.co.uk/