Public relations: P.R.

Concepts, Structures & Practice

Module 2
Kochi,10th August, 2019

S Narasimhan,
Senior Vice President, R K SWAMY BBDO, Mumbai

22-09-2019 1
 The disruptive power of PR

PR is like Nitroglycerine.
It’s unpredictable and often blows up in your hands.
Not many really get it right because of this. But those who
do get it right often reap disproportionate benefits

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 2

 AMERICA’s MOST
ADMIRED COMPANY

Fortune magazine named Apple the most admired company in the United
States in 2018. Not for the first time.

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 3

 MOST POWERFUL
BRAND IN THE
WORLD

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 4

 India’s most Trusted Brands

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 5

 Good PR is the result of great branding
• Media chases brand leaders. When media want a story who do they
turn to.

– So if you’re doing a story on Digital Payments you go to – PAYTM. If it’s on

home loans – HDFC

• The media anticipates with bated breath what Apple will do next

• These brands by virtue of their brand strength have created great

credibility not only with their customers but with the media as well.

• So the media engages them which in turn results in good PR which in

turn further enhances the brands appeal and reputation

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 6

 PR power

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 7

 Good PR is a prized objective
• The success of a communication campaign is often judged by the
positive coverage it generates

• Naturally Corporations, Brands and Individuals aspire to receive

good PR.

– Did the media cover the brand. How many columns or air time did the brand
get. “Was my brand event reported” is often a yardstick brand owners use
to judge the effectiveness of their campaigns

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 8

 But even the best Brands falter
• Great branding is sometimes simply not enough.

• Brands are verbs. The bigger they are the greater the impact their
actions have on people lives.

• So when brands fall short on expectations or don’t seem to live up

to their promises act in a way that is contrary to what people think
it should – bad PR is sure to follow. The media takes up the issue
with zealous enthusiasm and rips the brands to shreds

• Ask Facebook, Nestle or Uber

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 9

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 10
 PR is a double edged sword.
• Some of the largest and most aggressively marketed brands have been
at the receiving end of bad PR for reasons right or wrong

• Larger the Corporation or Brand the greater the damage done since the
image they have spent millions on creating, suddenly seems phony

• And in this connected world the bad news not only travels very fast it
spreads very wide

• Containing the damage often becomes a huge and expensive operation

• And while big Corporations and Brands usually survive such adversities
it does make their customers more skeptical and watchful

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 11

 Data sellers

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 12

 Manhandling passenger

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 13

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 14
 JUNK food

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 15

 Pesticide

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 16

 Sweat shop

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 17

 Worms

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 18

 Rape

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 19

 Bad PR is good… Sometimes

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 20

 So what is Public Relations (PR)?

The theoretical foundation

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 21

 What is PR?
• Every organisation, no matter how large or small, ultimately depends on its reputation for
survival and success

• Customers, suppliers, employees, investors, journalists and regulators can have a powerful
impact. They all have an opinion about the organisations they come into contact with -
whether good or bad, right or wrong.

• These perceptions will drive their decisions about whether they want to work with, shop with
and support these organisations

• In today's competitive market, reputation can be a company's biggest asset – the thing
that makes you stand out from the crowd and gives you a competitive edge.

• Effective PR can help manage reputation by communicating and building good relationships
with all organisation stakeholders

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 22

 Definition of Public Relations:
• Public Relations is about reputation - the result of what you do,
.
what you say and what others say about you.

• Public Relations is the discipline which looks after reputation,

with the aim of earning understanding and support and
influencing opinion and behaviour. It is the planned and
sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual
understanding between an organisation and its publics

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 23

 To elaborate this further
• Public relations (PR) is the way organisations, companies and
individuals communicate with the public and media.

• A PR specialist communicates with the target audience directly or

indirectly through media with an aim to create and maintain a
positive image and create a strong relationship with the audience.

• Examples include press releases, newsletters, public

appearances, website, Social Media etc.

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 24

 Common PR Tools and Techniques
• Attendance at public events.
– In order to attract public attention and keep it
engaged with a particular organisation or an
individual, PR specialists take an advantage of
every public event and the opportunity to speak
publicly. This enables them to directly reach the
public attending the event and indirectly, a
much larger audience.
• Press releases.
– Information that is communicated as a part of
the regular TV or/and radio programme,
newspapers, magazines and other types of
mainstream media achieves a much bigger
impact than advertisements. This is due to the
fact that most people consider such information
more trustworthy and meaningful than paid
adds. Press release is therefore one of the
oldest and most effective PR tools.
22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO
• Newsletters. Sending newsletters
– Relevant information about the organisation or/and its
products/services - directly to the target audience is
also a common method to create and maintain a strong
relationship with the public. Newsletters are also a
common marketing strategy but PR specialists use it to
share news and general information that may be of
interest to the target audience rather than merely
promoting products/services.
• Blogging.
– To reach the online audience, PR specialists use the
digital forms of press releases and newsletters but they
also use a variety of other tools such as blogging and
recently, microblogging. It allows them to create and
maintain a relationship with the target audience as well
as establish a two-way communication.
• Social media marketing
– Like its name suggests, it is used primarily by the
marketing industry. Social media networks, however,
are also utilised by a growing number of PR specialists
to establish a direct communication with the public,
consumers, investors and other target groups.
25
22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 26
 Who Needs PR Services
PR services are utilised by many and individuals who want to create a better
image of themselves in public. The most frequent clients of PR firms include:

• Businesses: they utilise PR services to present their products/services and

the way their firms work and of course, create a strong relationship with the
customers and reach more potential buyers

• Non-profit organisation: examples include charity organisations, schools,

hospitals, etc. who use PR services as a part of fund-raising events and
promotion campaigns

• Notable individuals: examples include celebrities who use PR services to

communicate in their behalf with the media and their fans but PR specialists
are also highly sought after by politicians who can succeed only if they have a
good public reputation

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 27

 Who Needs PR Services

Individuals
Special Interest Groups

Corporations and Brands

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 28
 PR vs Advertising

• PR and advertising often go hand in hand but they are two completely different
things with a completely different goal and overall effect.

– Advertising is exclusively focused on promotion of products or services with an

aim to encourage target audience to buy

– PR is specialised in communication with the public and media.

• PR often helps increase the sales - customers who are more likely to
choose the products from a company they have a good opinion over
those from a firm they have never heard off before or heard something
negative about it.

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 29

 PR vs Advertising

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 30

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 31
 PR Vs Advertising
• The Effect on the Public

– The public reacts very differently to an ad than to a newspapers article or a TV

report. They know very well when they are reading/looking an ad and the
information they are communicated is perceived with a certain degree of
skepticism. They know that the ad wants to persuade them to buy a particular
product or service and will either believe or disbelieve the information they are
communicated.

– But when they are communicated news about a new product or service through
a third party, for example a newspapers or online article they perceive it as
informative and worthy of their attention. A press release for instance does not
directly encourage them to buy but it often achieves just that by creating a
positive image about the product/service or its manufacturer, or both.

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 32

 PR Vs Advertising
• Cost - Neither a professionally led marketing or PR campaign is inexpensive.
The cost depends greatly on who you hire but generally, PR is less expensive
than advertising.

• PR has a lot less control over the way their clients are presented by the
media in comparison to paid ads that oblige the media to publish them
unchanged.

• A press release is published only once by a single media, while ads can be
published over and over again.

• An article or TV cover of purely informative nature is more likely to lead the

target audience to believe the content of the ads. As a result, PR campaigns
often precede or/and accompany marketing campaigns or are an integral part
of advertising strategy.

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 33

 Public Relations (PR) Disciplines
• In order to represent the client in the best manner possible, public
relations (PR) has to cover a wide range of areas. All
communication with the target audience and media can be carried
out by a single PR specialist but the profession is getting
increasingly specialised.

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 34

 Public Relations (PR) Disciplines
• Financial PR

– Like its name suggests, it is focused on

financial matters including investments,
disclosure agreements, takeovers,
adherence to government regulations,
etc.. Due to the complexity of the
financial matters, financial PR involves
presenting the client’s financial matters
in a way that creates and maintains a
positive perception of the client in the
public.

– Rather than with the general public, the

financial PR is usually specialised in
communication with the media,
stockholders, businesses and the
investor community.

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 35

 Public Relations (PR) Disciplines
• Consumer PR.

– This PR discipline is specialised in

presentation of products or
service with an aim to attract
publicity and make them attractive
to the target consumer audience.
Although consumer PR in a way
helps promote particular
products/services and
subsequently increase the sales, it
has little in common with
marketing.
22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 36
 Public Relations (PR) Disciplines
• Crisis communication.

– PR services are especially sought after

in crisis situations in which PR
specialists are often the best “lawyers”.
The goal of crisis PR specialists is to
get the situation under control in a way
that causes minimal damage to the
client in terms of public image and
reputation. In order to prevent the client
from losing good reputation, crisis PR
requires excellent communication skills
in order to tell the other side of the
story and change the public opinion.
Crisis communication PR methods may
also include spin which, in contrary to
the common perception, does not
always include deceit or manipulation
of the public opinion.

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 37

 Public Relations (PR) Disciplines
Government PR

• It refers to a discipline of PR which is

specialised in engaging with the
government bodies with an aim to
influence policy making. The
methods and tools used also include
lobbying but the latter is not enough
to win the support of the politicians
for a particular position. Government
relations should not be confused with
government communication which
refers to communication between the
government and the public.

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 38

 Public Relations (PR) Disciplines
• Internal PR.

– This PR discipline is focused on

communication within the
company or organisation. Most
organisations that utilise internal
PR usually have their own PR
departments with staff who make
sure that relevant information is
communicated to the employees
on time.

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 39

 Public Relations and the Internet
• PR that does not
effectively
communicate with the
online community can
no longer effectively
shape and maintain
the desired public
image.

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 40

 Public Relations and the Internet
• Challenges of the Internet for PR

The Internet has given just about

everyone the ability to share their
opinion just about everything with the
entire world in a matter of seconds.
The ability to reach thousands or
millions of people in virtually no time
gave PR specialists a powerful tool
but it also made their jobs more
difficult, especially in case of an
attack on integrity of their clients. Just
imagine restoring the client’s
reputation if the first page of search
engine results contains mainly
compromising or damaging content.

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 41

 Benefits of Using PR Specialist

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 42

 Benefits of Using PR Specialist
• PR specialists are professionals who have the knowledge and
skills to communicate with the public and media
•

– Many come from the lines of journalists and know exactly what it takes to
attract public attention

– But they also know how to respond in critical situations and protect their
clients’ public image and reputation.

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 43

 Choosing a PR Firm or Specialist
Reputation - who are their clients and what do
they say about the quality of their services.

Experience and expertise.. But established PR

specialists are typically also considerably more
expensive

Specialisation. Many PR firms are specialised in

particular fields of PR. While some focus on
financial PR and communication with potential
investors, stockholders, etc.,

Cost. PR services do not come cheap and most

businesses cannot afford to hire the best PR firms
and specialists.
22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 44
 PR power: in summary
Employees Makes jobs more attractive
and motivates hard work

Encourage repeat purchase

Customers
and builds market share
Corporates, Brands
Impact of PR on

Lowers capital costs and

Investors
attracts new investments

Generates more favourable

Media press

Financial Affects content of coverage

Analysts and recommendations
22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 45
 But it’s a tricky business
• It’s like having consumers write the ad for you. You can never
know what you’re going to get.

• PR as mentioned earlier is nitroglycerine.

• Unfortunately while most managers want good PR, they don’t

handle this with the care they should.

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 46

 Why do Corporates get PR wrong?

Let’s look at some of the common misconceptions

and mistakes managers make with respect to PR

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 47

 Why do Corporates get PR wrong?
• Few brand owners view PR as a brand building strategy

• PR briefs are usually read like this - lets assemble the media in
room and tell them what we are up to.

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 48

 1. PR is MANAGING THE MEDIA to get good coverage
• Rather than moulding public opinion

– We are far too obsessed with media goodwill rather than creating consumer
goodwill through the media

– This blinkers our vision of what we want to achieve through PR.

– What is the object of a PR exercise. Just to get some press coverage? Often
it’s just that.

– Managers don’t think about the impact of the coverage on the public unless of
course it is negative.

– There is no thought given to this crucial aspect.

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 49

 2. PR is a Press Release. If costs permit a press conference as well
• Other more strategic avenues of media engagement are not considered or explored. There is
often no PR calendar.

• The information that is put to the media is downright boring, formula led and uninspiring.

• Very little effort is made to genuinely create or convey excitement or whatever the strategic
intent of the brand is.

• We often fail to realize that the media needs to be as inspired by your message as your
consumer.

• We pretest ad messaging. Why not pretest PR messaging. We do not sweat over whether
the message we plan to give the media will have the desired outcome.

• The media as message is overlooked. This leads to either indifferent PR at best. And
sometimes disastrous consequences if the media has an angle on your brand that you didn't
expect they’d come up with.

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 50

 3. Many PR agencies do not have strategic capabilities

• Most are hired for their perceived lobbying capabilities

• Criteria for choosing PR agencies is often media contacts and column

space generated rather than strategic ability or proven results in terms
of the desired brand outcomes.

– Does the PR agency understand brands and branding.

– Do they have the ability to translate brand’s indented message into
powerful PR messages.
– Did the PR campaign have impact on the desired audiences.
– Does the PR agency have any tools and techniques, methodologies to deliver
super PR outcomes.

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 51

 4. PR usually figures at the execution end of the brand strategy

• Important but not highest priority. Another box to be checked on

the communication agenda

– PR planning does not get the time, effort or resources that is usually
accorded to creation of advertising or media planning

– Often companies/brands do not have a well defined PR strategy at all

– The PR brief is – get me good coverage – which refers more to the number
of publications and channels rather than the quality of the coverage

– And more often than not it’s the last item on the agenda.

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 52

 5. PR is Free
• The media doesn't charge for coverage so why pay for the service

• This perhaps is the most limiting factor. Clients don’t understand

why they need to pay a fair fee for strategic PR capabilities.

• Except for the bigger players in the industry most agencies charge
only for the executional efforts.

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 53

 The Creation of Mudra

A case study on integrated PR

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 54

 Cheers

You may ask me intelligent questions but I may not

have intelligent answers. Thank you

22-09-2019 S Narasimhan, R K SWAMY BBDO 55