State-of-the-Art Public Relations/People

Management: In the World’s Largest Democracy

PR - Value Driven Growth Engine to Shape the

Future of the any Profession

Mr. Samala Venu, M.Sc; MS (PR).

MD & CEO Samvad Public Relations Pvt. Ltd. Hyderabad.

1

Public Relations

“Public Relations is a strategic

communication process that

builds mutually beneficial

relationships between

organizations and their

publics.”

“India is the cradle of human race, the birth place of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend and the great grandmother of tradition”

About India

Mark Twain 2

If India is the birthplace of Human Speech, it is also the birthplace of Public Relations.

Gautama Buddha who is regarded the Light of Asia is not only the Public Relations messiah but also the forerunner of today’s Global Public Relations.

Over 2500 years ago, when America was not existent, public relations was born in India to promote Buddhism as a religion of love, non-violence and equality not only in India but also in the entire Asia.

India the Birth place of

Public Relations.

3

Mahatma Gandhi: Father of Indian Public Relations

If Gautama Buddha was public relations messiah in the Ancient India, Mahatma Gandhi who is designated “Man of the 20th Century” and the Bigger Communicator of the world is regarded as the Father of Modern Public Relations.

4

World’s Number One Economy

•In the past decades, India has been world’s

number one in starvation deaths and foreign

aid. Now India will overtake China as the

world’s number one economy.

•India will become the largest English

speaking nation in the world surpassing

the US.

•Global publishing industry including

New York Times will shift to India.

5

Multi-Disciplinary Profession

“Public relations is the management of a two-way

communication process between an organization and its

publics to promote corporate mission, goals, services,

products, reputation and gain public understanding”.

Public relations which cuts across other disciplines

such as management, Legal, marketing, HR, finance,

media, psychology etc. is a multi-disciplinary profession.

It is an umbrella profession under which different forms of

public communications, such as corporate

communications, public affairs, corporate relations, etc.,

function.

6

1. The Propaganda Model: 1500BC-1857 AD

Indus-Valley Civilization to the end of East India

Company Rule – Religious Propaganda & Promotion of

Kingdoms. East India Company discouraged press as it

has threatened its authority. 2. The Publicity or Public Information Model:

1858-1947

British India through Viceroys’ promoted publicity to

woo Indians and gain goodwill. Editors’ Room 1858,

War Publicity Boards 1914-1918, Creation of

Department of Information and Broadcasting in 1941

during Second World War were some of the measures

to intensify war propaganda and suppress freedom

movement.

PR Division in House of Tatas-1945.

Evolution of Indian Public Relations: Five Models

7

3. The Gandhian Public Communication Model (1919-1947) Mahatma Gandhi launched three major mass agitations -Non-

Cooperation Movement 1920; Civil Disobedience Movement 1930, (241 Mile-Long Dandi Salt March 1930); Quit India Movement 1942; all were shining examples of Gandhian Public Communication Model to mobilize public opinion against the British.

4. The Age of Public Relations Model (1947-1990) Creation of Ministry of Information & Broadcasting 1947; Five

Year Plans Publicity (1951-2010); General Elections (1952-2009); Mixed Economy; Nationlaisation of Banks; Emergence of Public Sector have added to the Growth of Pubic Relations.

Evolution of Indian Public Relations: Five Models

8

5. Global Public Relations Model (1991)

New Industrial Policy 1991 that envisages Economic Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization has created a Global Competitive Marketing Environment among multinationals on the one side and among Indian and multinational companies on the other. This has resulted in Trade Wars and an Upswing in Public Relations and Corporate Communications Activities. Growth of in-house Public Relations as well as public relations firms with professional excellence in the Era of Global Public Relations.

Evolution of Indian Public Relations: Five Models

9

State -of-the-Art-Public Relations

The Rs.10,000 Crore PR Industry representing

Government, Public Sector, Private Industry and NGO’s

with about twenty lakh public communicators in various

departments constitute the Biggest Communication

Network in the World.

Public relations in India is now a ‘Mixed Bag’ containing

highly qualified PR professionals second to none in the

world on the one side and many non-professionals

without any grounding and professional education on

the other. The distinguishing trait of Indian PR is the

“Quantity of Personnel” rather than the “Quality of

the Profession”.

10

Here are PR Trend - lines that influence the future of the profession.

1. Social Forces:

About 30 crore Indians who represent middle class – the Golden Gate for the Corporates and about 30 crore people who are below the poverty line without any access to media pose an important challenge and will have far - reaching impact on the communication network of our country.

2. Women’s Century:

Forty Eight percent of the Indian population constitutes women. A national policy for empowerment of women with reservation of seats in local bodies and Parliament will improve the position of women and that for India the “21st Century may become the Women’s Century”. Added to this a new trend has already set in towards feminization of public relations profession.

3. Right to Information Act:

The Act envisages that every public authority has to provide as much information Suo Motto to the public through various means of communication so that the public have minimum resort to the use of the Act. This strengthens the public communication machinery.

P R Trend-lines

11

Integrated Public Relations Communication Strategy

In reality public relations is intended to promote the overall corporate reputation based on the performance of all departments within the organization. As such public relations must be placed on the top management level with Director or Vice-President position made responsible to CEO and Board of Directors. In fact, Company’s Chief Executive must be Chief Communications Officer to design integrated corporate communication strategy to reach the target audience.

Value Driven Growth Engines

12

P R Ethics & Spiritual Values What is needed today to give a facelift to public relations is not only

professional efficiency but also public relations ethics and spiritual values. The author based with his close association with Prajapita Brahamakumaris, World Spiritual University has evolved a ‘New Mantra for Excellence in Public Relations” called the ‘Golden Triangle-Public Relations Model’ with three key elements – Professionalism, Ethics and Spirituality.

Ramalinga Raju former Chairman, Satyam Computers who is now

in jail reading books on Gautama Buddha and Spirituality. In the Indian context, Gautama Buddha, Swami Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi not only became great but also immortal because they only preached what they practiced and also followed ethical and spiritual values.

Value Driven Growth Engines

13

Public Relations & Law Firms

The most effective public relations strategies for law firms are founded upon a keen understanding of the issues. They entail the effective positioning of the law firm as a credible resource offering valuable insights into the issues and problems their clients face.

Five tips for conducting effective and efficient public relations for law firms:

Know your audience.

Intersect your firm's expertise with real pain points.

Understand current trends.

Represent yourself to the media as a resource offering substantial, well-articulated insight.

Author expert articles.

14

PR a Handy Tool…

A growing trend is for people to sue when they are offended.

Poor public relations can often be the catalyst for a bitter lawsuit. The resulting lawsuit costs both sides to the dispute countless hours of anxiety.

15

“The most cost-effective way to avoid a lawsuit is simply maintain PR with people.”

This may sound like common-sense advice. It is. However, too often we lose sight of common sense when someone acts belligerent or angry when we feel that his or her anger is undeserved. The old adage that the customer is always right is not necessarily true. However, all service-oriented businesses should certainly act like the customer is always right.

PR a Handy Tool…

16

If you do so you will defuse the situation and give the customer a reason not to want to sue you. You will then be much more likely not only to keep existing customers but also to gain more customers since word will get around that you are customer oriented.

PR a Handy Tool…

17

Legal & PR Hand n Hand…

With a good PR Communication any legal issues can be solved permanently as one time settlement within a short span of time, which otherwise will be a long drawn battle with solution seen after a long period of time.

In certain cases legal battle is a must to bring the opposition in to our fold to negotiate/compromise enabling easy PR role.

PR a Handy Tool…

18

Crisis Management

There are three smart ways to approach crisis situations:

1) Avoid a crisis in the first place.

2) Quickly address and resolve crisis issues

before they escalate.

3) Seek possible ways to turn your crisis into an

opportunity.

19

A Case Study…

Here's a classic model of how a crisis can be turned into an opportunity for good PR…

In 1986 someone put poisoned capsules with lethal amounts of cyanide in Johnson and Johnson bottles of Tylenol on store shelves. Before anyone could do anything, seven people died from the poisoned medicine. The company met the crisis head-on. First, they spent $300-million recalling all samples of the medicine bottles.

Then the company introduced new tamper-proof medicine containers that changed the entire industry. But most importantly, the company was prepared, it acted coolly, they answered the tough questions, and in the end maintained their dominance in the market. They used the media to demonstrate their concern and their determination to resolve the crisis. It was a message of courage and leadership through effective public relations.

20

thank you

21