The Hindu Business Line : PR: In need of a makeover?

The 1980s was when advertising in India came of age. Mind you, then, it was just a Rs 170-crore industry. Today, estimates place the industry at Rs 9,000 crore. And the operative word is industry. Yes, advertising is an industry.

And I don't use the word lightly. Having been a part (albeit a very minor part) of this, I have observed what advertising has gone through. Its trial and tribulations. Recognition has not been easy. Nor does it continue to be automatic. Why am I going on and on at the risk of labouring the point? Simply because public relations, an activity that I am increasingly associated with today, is, in my opinion at least, where advertising was in the '80s. It presents a landmine of opportunity with a lot of quicksand on the approach road.

PR arrives as a business opportunity

Today, clients have realised the value of public relations as a means of communication. They know that while advertising can often neither be replaced nor substituted, it can certainly be reinforced and given credibility by public relations. They are also realising that there is more to public relations than the huge press conferences where the media was wined, dined and gifted. They are realising that there are columns other than the product launch column that they were accustomed to earlier.

Some enterprising clients use PR agencies to subtly (!) increase their market value in the employment rat race. Others are using PR agencies to influence stock prices. (Legally, of course). And technology companies are using public relations to tell prospective employees that they are an "employer of choice."

Sadly enough, while this is a tremendous opportunity for public relations as a business, it seems to me at least that the discipline does not get the importance it receives. Let me clarify - public relations will get its place in the sun (in India at least) when PR activities find a genuine provision in the marketing budget and not the leftovers of the advertising budget!

Clients need to understand that provisions for a PR budget extend beyond the (often miserly) monthly retainer that clients pay and should include events and other activities that build mileage and media visibility. Clients think they are smart when they start conversations with PR agencies with depressing clichés - "The good news is that we don't have money." And PR agencies smile, secure in the knowledge that at least there is a retainer. And this is the sad part to this whole unequal exchange.

Public relations can and will deliver, at times better than advertising. And at a fraction of the cost. And it is our duty to keep reminding clients of this fact. They will not serve those who stand and wait and it is only the child that cries that gets the milk.

Clients have fun

Clients are the source of all benefits to agencies. They give assignments and must be served. And yet clients, as we know, come in all sizes, shapes and colours. And often exhibit their true colours in the manner in which they treat PR agencies. As PR, similar to advertising has low barriers of entry - one man or one woman can start a PR agency. While this is welcome from a spirit of enterprise, it basically means that the costs of running a one-person agency are lower and the fees charged too are abysmally low. So clients get away with shoestring retainers. Nor is that all. Clients use their traditional strengths and the traditional disunity among PR agencies.

Let me give you an example. Last year, we were working with a client in Delhi who was hardly doing anything that was newsworthy. We moved heaven and earth, pitching possible stories across different publications at different centres and actually got significant coverage. The client stopped working with us, which was fair. What was not fair was that he did not pay us our retainer for the last two months and soon released an ad calling for a PR agency. A year later, some other PR agency will have the same problem that we had. And it is precisely clients like these from whom the smaller PR agencies need protection. Advertising has the Advertising Agencies Association of India, a body that circulates details of client outstandings to its members and warns them against unscrupulous clients. And a body like this for public relations will make the industry stronger.

Coverage? What coverage?

A bone of contention between the client and the agency often is the coverage or lack of it. Agencies believe they are doing a great job and they are often very right. Privately, the client believes it as well, but is shrewd enough to recognise that accepting this would mean an increase of PR retainer fees. So smart (!) clients increase the strength of their whining closer to the time of the renewal.

The PR agency needs to find a means of evaluation that, even if not universal, will at least find general acceptance. And while a few large agencies probably are using their own proprietary models, broad basing their appeal and use must help the industry as well. Small PR agencies tend to be wary of the large ones and understandably so. But in their own interest, it makes sense for them to insist on clients being `media trained' as larger agencies insist. Even if they are unable to provide this, they must ensure their clients go through this even if it is outsourced. It will only make things easier for them in the long run. Like this former client of ours - a CEO of a technology company who was a complete wimp. We put him in front of media at least 10 times for interviews and ended up with one lousy write-up! We lost the business but the problem was elsewhere. Obviously, talking interestingly to media was not part of his key result area while coverage was part of ours.

Poach till the cows come home

A growing industry without sufficient manpower basically means that no one has the time to train. Some mentoring happens, but formalised training? Agencies poach merrily from the competition and people leave without fulfilling their obligations and notice periods. Some of them are suddenly struck with prolonged bouts of migraine, which seems to magically disappear in their new environments.

And it is in areas like these that the industry suffers. I remember software in its early days had CEOs meeting every month to discuss common problems. PR agency heads must talk to each other more often and trust each other more. And while there is no short-term solution to the people problem, I think it would help if more PR professionals, despite their busy schedules, taught PR courses. That is the way to interest students and expose them to the industry. And I believe that at the risk of upsetting a lot of people, I must say that we are paying peanuts and at times deserve the sort of talent that we are currently struggling with.

Physician, examine thyself

We are consultants. Our place is in the board room. Not the back room. We honestly spend more time with CEOs than advertising agency heads. It is not a perk but an indication of our value, even if it is not reflected in our retainer fees. Let us act like consultants and not as mere order-takers, notwithstanding the size of the assignment or the bark of the client. Let us provide strategic counsel. Let's project ourselves as more than media relations experts. Let's understand disciplines like internal communication. Let's understand that we who build corporate image must build our own image as an industry now. Let's truly understand crises and thrive on them. Tylenol is still the greatest example of the use of public relations to manage a crisis, which leads me to my final thought.

The cola industry is facing a huge crisis again. Last time around, public relations played a minor role in this entire confusion as clients relied on ludicrous ads featuring Shah Rukh Khan who said that Pepsi was safe because he was saying so! Now the crisis is snowballing with every government and state threatening to join the fray. If this isn't an opportunity for the PR industry to mould public opinion, I wonder what is?

(Ramanujam Sridhar is CEO of Brand-comm.)

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