@dvocable

Well it’s amazing that there are so many auto blogs in India. Being part of a team that handles the digital outreaches of an auto brand requires that I read these blog regularly. And of course added to that is my passion for highway driving.

Just managed to take out some time finally and create a mashup the feeds of around 26 auto blogs in India on my Google Reader. You can take a look here (http://bit.ly/IndiaAuto).

Of  late, I have been doing some online research on the sites that exist today in India on personal finance. It’s kinda nice to see the plethora of sites that are mushrooming up. They certainly on the first glance seem to offer you comparisons of financial products available in the market – insurance products, mutual funds, credit cards, etc.. However, you soon realize that most of them want your name, address, phone number, email and many more things before you can simply use any of the compare feature they provide. If you provide your contact details, you soon get a call asking if you want to buy any insurance policy, etc. In a nutshell, these are the online insurance agents, sort of.

However, some do provide good comparisons and a few offer their services without you having to enter your personal details.

Site   -  Unique Visitors per month (according to Google Ad Planner data)
ApnaPaisa.com – 130000
BimaDeals.com – 32000
ChildInsurance.in – NA
Click2Insure.in – NA
CompareInsurance.co.in – NA
GetMeInsure.com – NA
IndiaBima.com – NA
InsuranceMall.in -   NA
InsurancePandit.com – 11000
iTrust.in – 63000
InvestmentYogi.com – 9400
PaisaWaisa.com – 64000
Personalfn.com – 36000
PolicyBazaar.com -  350000
RateKhoj.com – 27000

I like ApnaPaisa among the lot as I can do a quick comparison whenever I want. But you want to drill deeper, then it also  starts asking your personal details. One thing they lack – recommending which is the est product of the lot – can be found at PolicyBazaar.com. However, here you have to submit all your personal details before doing any search or comparison. Personalfn is good to read up on financial topics but they are limited beyond a point. InvestmentYogi is a new site and they are trying hard and it would be good to see how they fare int he coming months.

There is a very interesting report on Indian youth trends at Ingene.  What stuck me the categorisation of the Indian youth:

1. The Bharatiyas: 67% of the Indian youth who lives in the rural areas with least influence of globalisation, least economically priviledged and high on traditional values and highly Bollywood influenced.

2. The Indians: 31.% of the youth who have moderate global influence but still rooted to Indian family values.

3. The In’glo’dians: Minimal in number but globally inclined, exposed and affluent. Always try to be different.

So thus when it comes to social networking, the report reinforces what many of us intuitively know. The site is filled with the aam junta or the Bharatiyas. The In’glo’dians are rapidly moving to Facebook, and distancing themselves from the masses.  This, coupled with all the recent controversies surrounding the site, ‘Orkut is no more cool’.

I remember recently creating Orkut and Facebook groups for two of our clients. Both the Facebook groups have been growing and the conversations are happening. The Orkut groups just refuse to get active. I now tell my colleagues to think extra hard before including Orkut on any client campaigns.

What is also interesting is that the top layer of the In’glo’dians are moving to Twitter, and soon after some years Facebook might just end up getting the same fate of Orkut. And witnessing how Orkut had peaked in India and fall, it won’t be long for another wave of change to happen.

Facebook provides us an engaging platform today and I see a lot from the PR fraternity participating. Let’s hope we can make use of this to discuss some good PR and marketing stuff. Join us at the new PR community on Facebook.

Edelman has appointed Roger C B Pereira, CEO & MD of R&PM:Edelman as Global Vice Chairman effective July 1.

The first person to be appointed to this position from an emerging market, Roger will serve as a voice of ‘BRIC’ and Emerging Markets in Asia for the firm in Europe and North America. He will work closely with Edelman’s Global Client Relationship Managers (GCRMs) and large-client leads to provide an Emerging Markets perspective to global stakeholder engagement and communications strategies.

Roger C B Pereira, an Ad industry veteran at the time, branched out into PR to found the firm in 1987 at the instance of the legendary JRD Tata. The firm started with the most challenging projects for The National Dairy Development Board, Hindustan Lever and the Department of Atomic Energy (Government of India) to The Leather Industries of America. Between December 1985 and April 1987, Roger consulted with several Governments around the world on development issues. His wise counsel through the 1990s and 2000s for companies looking to make a market entry into India, manage their reputation or successfully overcome challenging crisis situations have earned him respect as one of the most sought after communications advisors from India.

Edelman also appointed Robert Holdheim as MD and Country Head for India. A veteran of Edelman Frankfurt and London and current Head of Edelman New York’s Corporate Communications Group, Robert Holdheim will succeed Roger C B Pereira.

(Source: Edelman Release)

My wife pointed out this very interesting information and I think it’s one of its kind. Murali D, Deputy Editor of The Hindu  Business Line, has a blog called ‘Just In, Just Out‘ where he publishes press releases he receives on his inbox. Very apt name! The subhead reads ‘What’s hot in my inbox’. It could have been ‘Hot releases in my inbox’ though.

Probably Murali was tired of follow ups from PR reps to put out press releases and so he created a blogspot blog and put everything – press release and intro mail included – online. ‘So there you go, your press release has been published. Happy now?’

Apparently many PR people are still sending him press releases and he is continuing to put that out on the blog. I figure the PR people don’t know about the blog and send him releases for the Hindu Business Line paper. Sending press releases for the blog especially would be a bit silly, I think, unless you are desperate of some coverage and want it anywhere. I said silly because the blog today looks like a free press release distribution site full of releases from mom and pop stores, SEO people, and corporates alike. I don’t know how many people come to read the blog especially for reading the releases as they are.

However, what I like is his other blog, Food for Thought, where he publishes his interview schedules online and asks PR reps to check free schedules there and pitch for those free spots. He will then accept requests on a first come first serve basis. I like this one, not because he is agreeing to do every interview request, but because of the approach he has taken. It’s open and transparent. It saves him time as PR reps will check his schedules first and pitch requests accordingly. On the blog, he also uploads the CVs/ profiles of the people he has met and post their pictures.

What do you think? Do you know any other journalist adopting such online tools to manage their connection with PR folks? Share in the comments.

Did our leaders and strategist from various parties learn from President Obama?

But the lingo and buzz word that is making rounds in all the parties are using the new digital medium to connect with the voters. But one wonders how many netizens will go through blogs and other social networking media as the penetration of internet in our country is still very low. Yes with security a huge threat for the BIG leaders this is one of the best ways of getting in touch with the masses in an interactive manner through podcast and other interactive tools. For example, the big leaders can be online with the masses answering questions, which would have never been possible otherwise.

In the last elections, the mobile phone medium was used effectively as barrage of messages flew on to the handsets of people in even smaller towns. It is interesting to know that technology has sunk into these old fashioned politicians to woo the young voters who constitute a major percentage of India’s population. I am sure using this interactive medium will also change the mindset of the various party as I keep reading parties planning to promote IT by promising to distribute cheap laptops and build IT polices in to their election manifesto and thereby telling the world that India will be a technology savvy nation.

Let us wait and watch. How this is going to help the various parties? While the traditional medium and road show will go on but the new vehicle using digital will be a new medium to tap the youngsters to caste their vote. The result of this will be known to us in middle of May 09.

As the parliamentary elections are coming to a close, I happen to connect some interesting analogy with cricket and soft drink. I have been a strong follower of cricket and cricket is almost a religion in this part of the country. Over the last 3 decades, each time we infused young blood in our team the results have been different. It dates back to the 70’s when Pataudi and the Wadekars of the world were replaced by the Gavaskars and Vishwanth followed by the Kapils and the Azaaruddin followed by Ganguly, Sachin and Dravid and now the Dhoni’s and Yuvraj has produced results. The approach and thinking to the game has been totally different and we are able to see India climbing the ladder in the world in both of forms of cricket.

Even in the case of soft drinks they keep on changing and introducing energetic youth as brand icons with Pepsi being a very classical example. From Juhi Chawla to Dipika Padukone, the brand has changed their strategy and tried not to move from the youthful positioning.

These are live examples that our voters should learn and understand that India needs a very young parliament. US already have demonstrated by electing Obama. We have the bench strength when it comes to youth but it is time we handover the baton to these young and bright parliamentarian to bring a change in the way we think.

Even in the early days in England their cricket team had a bunch of oldies some of them made their test debut at the age of 38 years but that is no longer happening. Today, even they have a very youthful side. They have changed that theory. Why because youth is working and it is time we in India should also infuse young blood to Indian parliament to take our great country to the next level.

63% of PR professionals in India who participated in the 2nd Unofficial Indian Public Relations Survey on India PR Blog ‘are happy’ being in the PR profession, while 30% are ‘ok’, and 7% are ‘not happy’.

The top reasons cited by those who are not happy being in the PR profession include ‘lack of job satisfaction’ (20%), ‘type of work they do’ (19%), ‘work culture’ (14%), ‘salary’ (11%), and 8% chose ‘bad boss’. 8% of the respondents feel that the work is embarrassing and 6% feel that the job doesn’t just suit them.

When asked if they are likely to change their current workplace in this year, 49% said no, 26% said yes, and 25% said maybe.

38% of the participants felt that a PR professional should stay at least 2 years in an agency before shifting to a new one, while 32% cited a minimum of 1 year and 15% cited 3 years.

PR Agencies in India

There are no best or worst PR agencies. While some might excel in something, others might excel in something else. In India, we have PR agencies of all sorts – those who lead by revenues, or number of networks, or number of clients, or number of awards won. Then there are agencies that specializes in a particular vertical. There are also PR agencies with star PR celebrities, and then with good teams.

So we asked a simple question to our survey participants, which PR agency they liked the most and which they liked the least. The results are below.

PR Agencies in India that the survey participants liked the most

Least Liked PR Agencies in India, according to the survey participants:

PR as a Career

We asked the participants why they chose PR as their career and got some pretty interesting answers. There were only 5 participants who mentioned that PR happened by chance, which means the rest of the participants chose PR as their career.

Some select responses are:

1. Enjoy writing. Enjoy the trip of being an enabler – putting the right words in other people’s mouths

2.  I was always lured by the glamor in PR. This job gives me exposure to the latest in a particular industry, the upcoming trends and news and also enables me to handle communication at times of crisis and be an enabler in image building for my clients. Its a dynamic field to work in.

3. To me, it’s fascinating to observe how people form links and relationships. This is why I am in PR.

4. PR allows much room for creative and strategic thinking, rapid planning and action and networking, which i like doing. Secondly, in this profession I came across some of the most interesting people and ideas. Last, this profession is all about change, which is me – dynamic.

5. Everyday is different. Every task is unique. The industry is constantly developing and yet very exciting.

6. For someone who has varied interests, a PR job allows me inside participation across various industries.

7. I am a peoples person, very comfortable and connect very well with them. strong believer in investment in relationships. With very tamed ego , it becomes lot more easier to deal and interact with people… accepting their limitations. So work is fun.. and life goes on.

8. I got into PR by default than design. But once I got into PR, I chose to continue with it as a career because of several factors – the power that it has in building/destroying a company’s reputation, the challenges, the opportunity to interact with top management, the excitement and newness.

9. I found the concept of Public Relations amazing while pursuing a degree in Economics because of the simple ethical component in it. It was an emerging field then and I thought I would be suitable for the field and would be able to realize my potential.

And some more from those who joined the PR industry from other professions:

1. I actually wanted to pursue advertising as a career, but was not able to get a job and there was a vacancy in PR and that i how i got into it. Subsequently, i did get into advertising, but then i quit advertising and came back to PR again.

2. I moved from journalism to public relations department of a state government. A journalistic assignment being the assistant editor of the state’s monthly magazine engaged me into PR activities of the department including leading press parties, preparing different collateral, managing press conferences, which acted as a stepping stone for me to move over to a company to head their PR department.

3. Prior to my current ongoing tenure in PR, I was in Sales and Marketing , sensing I was not going ahead much, I moved in PR . Today after handling assignments and activities I feel I have moved ahead and I feel satisfied too. This is the profession I am going to stay and continue till I live.

4. I was part of the BPO industry involved with operations, training manuals, training modules etc and was desperately looking for a good break and a nine-to-five job. That’s when I began copywriting and developing content for a client and worked together with their PR agency back then. On completion of the project, I was given the choice to join the client servicing team. I agreed to that and learnt on the job. Till today, its been one of the best decisions I’ve ever taken in my life.

5. I started my career with Advertising and than media planning in my early days but i felt that i should go for PR as it will test my all skills of communications. My teacher & senior gave me the feedback that i am a PR guy, i tried and feeling good though somehow I find that its a fat that PR is a thankless job but very dominating in any company.

Activities in the PR Profession

Type of work/activity enjoyed doing the most in the PR profession:

Type of work/activity enjoyed doing the least in the PR profession:

What Indian PR Professionals Want Training On

These are the areas where the survey participants feel they need improvement on:

These are the areas where the survey participants want training on:

Image of the Boss

These are the areas where the participants feel that their boss should improve/ concentrate on:

PR Outlook 2009

The responses of the participants can be broadly summarized in the following responses we pick from the lot:

1. It’s the year of the downturn. PR agencies need to demonstrate value but not cut costs or submit to unreasonable client demands. Align closer with marketing to showcase how PR truly can do better brand consultancy than advertising. Get into social media – but not before you understand it and treat it with respect and not a freebie-tool.

2. Clients’ focus has now shifted to PR in a major way as they have cut down their Advertising, Marketing budgets. So its become all the more challenging for the agencies & teams because clients are focused only on PR now and hence getting more demanding.

3. For Indian PR – 2009 will be more towards sophistication, agencies will try to achieve a good work culture. For Global PR – 2009 will be more towards new media acceptance.

4. Specialization in core expertise areas is a must going forward.

5. Another important thing would be better synergy between the PR and media industries.

About the survey and the participants

The 2nd Unofficial Indian Public Relations Survey was an online survey conducted among the readers of the India PR Blog.

Out of 85 participants, 58% were female participants and 40% were males. 39% of the participants were in the age group of 21-25 years, 31% in 26-30 years, 9% in 41-45 years, 6% in 31-35 years, 5% in 36-40 years, 4% in 50-55 years, and 6% in the 46 years and above category.

In terms of years of experience in the PR profession, 56% of the participants were under 5 years and below, 18% between 6-10 years, 14% between 11-20 years, and 12% having 21 years of experience and more.

69% of the participants have got a formal education in PR.

Disclaimer: The results above are the outcome of the 2nd Unofficial Indian Public Relations Survey that was conducted for research and educational purposes on India PR Blog in Feb 2009. The results are indicative of only the votes given by the participants who visited this blog and chose to participate in the survey. These results might not necessarily reflect on the true workings, image, status, or ranking of any PR agency or other organisations in India. Readers who read this are advised to treat the results as opinions of select PR professionals from the industry, who willingly shared their inputs on conditions of anonymity, and should be awared that these inputs might be subjective. Names and contact details of participants have been withheld and names of companies mentioned in participants’ comments have been removed in this post to protect the identities of participants. The survey is not associated or owned by any PR agency and has been independently conducted by IPRB.

To give credence to the results, we have mentioned that we will contact senior PR industry veteran who is not associated with India PR Blog. Thus, before publishing these results, we have also shown this post with the actual results from SurveyGizmo (the tool we used to conduct the survey) to Mr. K Srinivasan, image audit guru, CMD of Prime Point Foundation, and a luminary in the Indian PR industry. He also moderates popular online groups like PR Point and Image Management. Please see note from Mr. Srinivasan below replying on email.

Our special thanks to the participants of the survey and to Mr. Srinivasan for sharing their time and inputs and making this survey a success.

* The percentages in the above charts are based on the number of participants

For any arguments, compliments, or discussions, please leave a comment on this post. For anything else, email editor@indiaprblog.com

You might also want to read about the 1st Unofficial Indian Public Relations Survey and other PR surveys.

Note from Mr. Srinivasan:
Thanks for your mail and seeking my views.  I downloaded the excel format of the data.  I found from the IP addresses and other information, there appears to be no attempt by anybody to hijack the survey.  All the responses appear to be genuine from the different persons. I have only quickly gone through the responses.  I have not made any analysis.  You can release them.

I have one personal view. When you are the asking about the best PR Agency, I found at random, the members give the vote only for their companies.  Mostly, their personal factors would have influenced the rating of a PR agency as worst or best.

Normally, I used to tell my clients and also in my classes like this. When you want to get the perception of few products or establishments from the audience, I strongly feel that all the audience should have experienced all the products under review.  Then only, they can rate them properly.  This is only fundamentally  a common sense and not any theory.

If you ask 100 people to rate four hotels for the quality, service (under different parameters), I insist that all the 100 should have gone to the four hotels.  then only they can rate them.  If they do not have direct knowledge about the four hotels, each one will be tempted to give the hotel which he knows.

That is why, whenever, I do an image audit, I will put the questions, where the respondent is familiar with the choices given.  Also, I will specify the parameters clearly.

(A PR agency can be best or worst in different parameters.   Nobody can be totally best or worst.  working conditions, salary, quality of training given, etc. etc. may be different parameters)

In this particular case, all the respondents are from different agencies.  They do not have any direct knowledge of the other companies.  Whatever they hear is from the peers or not heard.  When you ask the question, they will be tempted to give the name which is more familiar, and not necessarily the best or worst.

(Once, when I was doing the Image audit for an IT company, the management insisted for the employees to rate other companies.  I explained to the management as above.  Ultimately, I made the question as ” what is your dream job and where do you want to work’ like this.  Since the responses used to be anonymous, they gave good feedback.  Some of them mentioned their own company.  Still it was better to find out the loyalty.  -  some compromise)

If some one asks  me who is the best social media evangelist giving choice (1) palin and (2) some person in US whom I do not have any familiarity, my choice is only for palin.  I do not know the other person and hence, my vote goes to palin.  If i know the other person, definitely, i may weigh both and at that time, the other person also is likely to be rated better.

I have not made any detailed analysis of agencies which they have ranked.  However, I do not consider them valid, due to various factors, explained above.   Otherwise, I find all other responses genuine.  I really liked the responses of what they like, do not like, what they want, etc.  I also look forward to your consolidated report.  They are worth considering by all the PR agencies.

I must firstly congratulate the PM’s personal physician and his medical team to quickly assess the situation of the Mr. Manmohan Singh and act fast for him to go for a bypass on an emergency basis. The team identified the right doctors and assured that world class treatment was given to the PM. Since anything to do with head of the country becomes a very sensitive issue, it is important that it is handled with kid gloves as the entire nation will keep on speculating if the right kind of information is not shared.

In the case of our PM, I happen to see in one of the business channels where reputed editor and doctors were part of a panel discussion were not happy the way the medical bulletin pertaining to the PM was given to media and the people at large. Firstly, they felt that the information about the PM’s operation process and the time consumed to perform the surgery were not correct. The panel felt that giving such bulletin meant sending wrong message to the entire country. The information were coming in bits and pieces and with media being so well versed with any subject will take this opportunity to interpret , speculate and draw its own inference.

Hence in such a situation where the premier of the country is being treated on some important health issue the government should ensure that they work with some very professional consultants to handle such situation. The government must ensure to protect the equity of the PM and the government by carefully drafting press communication and ensuring that the press briefing is done with complete transparency and facts especially for a leader of his caliber who is known for a clean, honest and intelligent image.

The PMO’s office must ensure that the spokesperson for him on very delicate matters are media trained and are able to handle with complete confidence with right messaging . The government in the past has been taking assistance of several external consultants on various issues but the bureaucrats associated with the PM’s office must be professionally trained in handling such issues. Today media in this country is well informed and they would respect the government if correct information is given to them and the government is able handle the media queries to their satisfaction

Our country has some great politician and ministers who can really speak well and handle the media but when it comes to bureaucrats we need to train them and inject professionalism.