Community public relations - How to handle a crisis??

If you are in India, or even elsewhere in the globe, you would have sure heard of Koodamkulam, which sometime back was the epi-centre of brewing trouble, with the protests by the local populace snowballing into a mass movement. While what and who is propelling and catalyzing this people aggression (and any such community driven flare up anywhere) are complex questions, the only savior in such occasions can be a very pro-active communication/PR strategy by the authorities, and all PR professionals involved in containing any such ‘citizen movement’.

While the in-situ circumstances can differ from place to place and country to country, there is some amount of standardization in the communication strategy that can be followed with rigor. These are essentially aimed at not muddying the situation in the run up to the final citizen flare-up and also in the course of any such agitation.

1. Communications committee – This committee shall draw people from all the stakeholders and various interest groups – a judicious blend of experts to with the kind of plant/industry, with equal representation by the locals, who perceive them as the affected community.
2. Isolate the non-stake holders – Any agitation or public movement gets precipitated and turns rudderless when people who are not connected with the local interests move in to garner some political mileage, and in turn hijack the entire local movement. A prudent strategy would be to keep watch for such vested interests in any public agitation. In handling such agitations, isolating the non-stakeholders by consistent means of ‘direct’ engagement with the locals is the key. The goal must be to earn trust, address the genuine concerns, and get all the fringe elements out of the game.
3. Form locals committees – It’s never too late to completely involve every bit of the local community, when the situation looks like it might spiral out of hand, even remotely. The authorities and communicators must use every tool in the communications armor to reach out to the locals. Communicate to them that the authorities are willing to address every single concern/fear that may be in the mind of every one, who thinks he or she may be affected. This must be a sustained exercise, with no timelines, and the intent must be to understand what exactly are the perceived fears that loom large in the minds of the people in that area. Those which are well founded must be answered with facts, and those ill founded and planted by miscreants can be quashed to the dustbin.
4. Unleash a carpet-bombing local PR campaign – This might sound too aggressive – yet, in situations of public agitations, there is no rescue other than to communicate more and more. A crisis in the best time to speak out must be the PR mantra – while the opposite in reality causes incalculable harm to success of any well laid communication strategy. Make use of not just the national media in that place, but make sure every local reach to communicate is made use of – vernacular media, local radio, community radio, billboards, leaflets – just every possible tool to reach door-to-door in the region. Remember – if the fringe can manage a perception that there is a massive opposition to the plant or public amenity, the authorities can plan a turnaround in that perception with a well planned and executed strategy.

This is a broad communication template – a  combination of all these above will make sure that a space is created for a people centric dialog, which would lead to a solution to any citizen agitation.

Earning trust, end of the day, is the result of a sustained PR effort, with a conscience.

PR spokesman, are you? Some evergreen yet rudimentary "tips"!

Communication professionals in any organization constantly have to face the media, on a litany of ongoing issues. They could be at any level – be it the Corp Comm executive, right up-to the CEO. Media briefings are regular pressers are just a couple of communication tools that have yet retained the charm, despite the arrival of a barrage of social media tools, which are at the disposal of any right thinking public relations professional.

If one looks around, its it such media briefings and pressers that communication professional are at the risk of exposing themselves and in turn make their organizations image vulnerable – not by mistakes in facts, but by failing to address questions in the right manner.

More so, in times when crisis hits at the heart of an organizations PR armor. Under pressure, its very natural that the communications professional however well equipped, reacts to the situation, as the media event goes astray by the volley questions lobbed in by the media. Faced with this barrage, even the best communicators wilt under pressure, reacting with their emotion laden language – all leading to a perfect recipe for an ‘image disaster’.

Yet, such situations can be better handled, more deftly, and to the complete ‘image advantage’ of their organization.

·        Lay down ground rules – At the beginning of the presser, make sure you lay the ground rules – state it  in clear terms that the intent of the briefing is to address such and such specific issue, and any question shall be around that issue only. Any query that does not pertain to the issue on hand would be taken to be answered later.

·        Better, begin with a written statement – The simple step of circulating a well written media note, detailing the views and facts on the topic would serve well as a pre-cursor in setting the agenda for the right kind of questions. Make sure the facts that need to be taken to the media are mentioned with utmost clarity, and mention that questions can be around the statement. By making such a statement, you also possibly tend to take the steam away for any digressions that are planned by some members of the media fraternity.

·        Plan for complementary statements – You have in hand a written statement; but if there are some questions that can be responded to with more facts, it would be a great idea to respond verbally, and also tell the media that these responses will be typed and circulated at the end of the presser. This can be easily done with the help of the communications team; and not just that, a complementary press note at the end of the press conference is a great way to re-iterate fact, highlight your responses, and way to ensure there are no map – territory distortions at the end of the day.

·        Maintain a friendly and cool demeanor – this may sound way too basic, yet a whole lot of media face offs go astray only for this precise reason. One provocative question, and the communicator loses his cool, making a completely unintended gesture or remark – and however the presser be well armed with facts, this one spar hijacks the image of the organization. The best way to handle any unfriendly question is just a broad smile, or stating can we take it later, or I would come to back to you as soon as I can provide this information. And if the media persists with the same uncomfortable question, the communicator must persist with the positive demeanor, a simple smile, and the planned response – one of the three above. With this, in a matter of few minutes, the questions will move on.

·        Avoid a “we know all” trap – Its often suggested that communication professional while addressing the media, must know all – yes, you must  be armed with a whole lot of facts on a situation. However, that is so different from displaying or exhibiting a know all demeanor in front of the media. That demeanor, mostly leads to a tinge of arrogance, and arrogance is the last thing you need in your PR weaponry. And it is such arrogance that tends to color the most accurate facts with the yellow of distortion. So, it is in your interest and organisation’s interest that you always maintain “I don’t have all the answers, but will endeavor to get them soon” demeanor right through. In fact make it a SOP for your media interactions, and the benefits are immense.

These 5 simple practices will serve to better your image management in a big way. They may sound simple, yet it is these that most of us as communicators or PR professional fail to inculcate in our PR armor, and also educate our spokesperson.

Why has news-jacking not caught up with Indian marketers?

News-jacking has now established itself as a powerful tool in the marketing and PR armor across the globe. Its now practiced by small and large brands alike in the west.

Yet, you don't see it being much used as a tool in India. Why? Is it that we are too touchy about how sensibilities might get hurt in this sub-continent, or is it just Indian marketers and brands are comfortable with conventional tools?

I for one believe that the pioneer for news-jacking is our own Amul brand. Their witty and thoughtful, and almost daily topicals are best practical examples of news-jacking. When they did it first, they would not have imagined that what was done in a simple easy to reach way will become "news-jacking", and pioneered by David Meerman Scott.

Just google, and you shall find how every possible event from the US presidential election, to Hurricane Sandy,  and more recently, the Royal baby have been news-jacked - ensuring unimaginable marketing mileage - which would cost very high in other means!

The "bananacin" news from brand "Anacin" (above) is the latest!

Why is news-jacking not catching up in India? Sensibilities, lack of innovation or no buy-in from clients?

What do you think??

Followers in social & PR column cms? #sameguy

Quick one.

Are you falling prey to the selling point of a social media power house that they will run campaigns to blow your money up, and get more followers and likes across social platforms?

If you bite the bait, you must know that the co-efficient of co-relation between the followers/likes and 'engagement' with your brand is zilch. Yeah - ZERO.

So, look at how you could better your engagement with a focused target audience.

Now to PR - did an agency come to you are say that if you sign an annual retainer engaging their services, you can be assured of x or y column cm coverage in print, or so many minutes of TV broadcast time?

Here if you bit the bait, you just do not appreciate one important fact in your image universe - CONTEXT.

Coverage, where? and will it matter to your brand? Broadcast time, when and in which electronic media? Ho w will it add value to your overall image??

Beware of follower count in social media and col cms/air-time in PR.

Same guys eh.....

Pharma PR - what ails pharma communication?

Back in April this year, I remember seeing this small piece on the shift in trends in the way pharma companies were approaching PR. It was under a caption "PR tonic" in Business Standard.
It read - 

"Recent developments in the Indian pharma industry, especially over compulsory licensing of life-saving drugs, have left multinationals jittery and encouraged them to change their public relations strategy in India. Till recently, the focus was on wooing government; now the attention has shifted to the media. This week, three major multinationals, caught in patent rows, did their media rounds one after the other explaining their stand. Their attempt is no longer limited to winning the battle over intellectual property-related issues, but to spruce up their consumer-unfriendly image and show that they care."


In the case of pharma companies be it Indian, or multi-nationals in this market, what ails their public relations strategy is this - the public in PR has been forgotten, with focus of the communication efforts only being institutional - doctors, corporate hospitals, the government, and the company's shareholders.

When was the last time you saw a pharma company attempting to tell the public about their commitment for affordable health-care, or how efficacious, SAFE, and fool-proof their processes and plants/operations are?

One large company which is embroiled in all kinds of safety issues, Ranbaxy, had its top leadership go about and state on prime time television that 'adulteration' wasn't a major issue for the Indian consumer!

This is only due to fact that the consumer is not a choice maker, like other products or services.

Does that mean that the PR of Pharma companies cannot have a communication strategy with consumer focus?

They can and must -

• communicate their commitment to better drugs
• communicate the safety of their drug development efforts
• communicate their support of better patient care and interventions
• communicate how their standards remain uniform across the globe - which is never the case by most

Like these, there a host of communication and image building opportunities for pharma brands.

Does Pharma PR do anything of this kind, with the consumers in mind? Can it do better?

What do you think?

Where is the "image" problem with Public Relations?

I have seen a handful of posts, where experts wax eloquent on the image problem with the "public relations" business, and with PR professionals as well....

If at all there is a problem that has come to hit the PR industry, it's just one problem - that of people , professional and organisations in this space over-promising to clients! The client, gets a feeling that once he has the services of a PR company, there's a magic wand that will transform his company's image the minute he signs up an annual retainer.

And post signing the retainer, the post sign-off dissonance is so much that the client ends up thinking that PR agents are nothing more that rogues - sorry about the usage of the word though.

When you make a pitch and promise the moon, if the client and his team spent a bit of their resources on a check about the delivery capability of the agency, and the relevance of it from their organisational ecosystem - then they would be not fretting and fuming about what promises they fell for.

The consolidation of the big global communications companies will only accentuate to the already sagged image problem for PR. Their presence may transcend boundaries, but would they have the local expertise to help build or re-build the image of a company in far of Bali or Cochin? Yes, with some and No, with most of these communications power-houses!

In this comes a great opportunity for home-grown communication professionals - only if do not fall in the over-promise trap!

So, where is the image problem in PR? and who is responsible?? Think!