Announcing the 2nd Unofficial Indian Public Relations Survey
By Palin Ningthoujam on Feb 11, 2009 in Indian PR industry, PRagencies, PRagency, blogosphere, industry, industry news
We conducted the 1st Unofficial Indian Public Relations Survey in July 2006 and may we say, it was a much discussed topic in the industry. Now it has been almost two years since then, and we think the Indian PR industry needs a quick reality check. What do the PR professionals think of the profession, the agencies, their bosses, and so on. And so today, we are back with the 2nd Unofficial Indian Public Relations Survey. There are 22 questions – not necessary that you answer all of them, but we would love it if you do. The questions cover more area than what we did with the first survey. We are trying to focus on the industry as well, like what do a PR professional think of his/her daily work, is he/she enjoying his/her job, etc. – rather than just an agency vs agency questionnaire. Of course, we can’t wait to pronounce the best PR agency in India, unofficially of course.
Surveys are rare in the Indian PR industry and thus it will be interesting to see what comes up here. We will highly appreciate your 5 minutes spent on filling up this survey. Before publishing the results, we will request a senior industry professional, not associated with the blog, to cross-check them against the actual survey responses. Survey ends February 24, 2008.
To participate, please click here.
Or fill out your responses below:
Popularity: 9% [?]
On Mar 9, 2009, Soul Curry said:
I did not have the time to participate in this survey & I’m most disappointed that when I do have the time, the results are already out!
In any case, I would still like to share my views… I have worked with a number of agencies in various roles. The one agency where I have seen very hard working executives is PR Pundit, Bangalore. The team is dedicated, energetic, thorough & very diligent.
I’m not in a position to comment about ‘bad’ PR agencies as I, personally, think that no ‘bad’ PR agency exists. Each one has their own strengths & their own weaknesses.
Having said that, I have been in the PR industry or associated with the PR industry for more than 6 years now. I entered the industry by default & realized that I’m good at what I do, which is why I’ve stuck on! This is not to say that I haven’t tried my hand at other jobs…I’ve just realized that I’m at my best when I’m in PR!
I don’t like PR for one reason & one reason alone. That would be the media! I don’t like the fact that we have to be dependent on the media, or the fact that the media seem to take for granted their position & their value to the entire PR industry. I do not like the way PR executives bow down to the various whims & fancies of the media people. Why do we treat the media like they are some exalted beings? They are as human as us. Why then, do we differentiate?
These are my personal views & I hope I’m not blacklisted by the various PR agencies and media publishing houses across the country!!
Cheers!
This comment was originally posted on http://www.indiaprblog.com/)“>India PR Blog
On Mar 9, 2009, Soul Curry said:
I did not have the time to participate in this survey & I’m most disappointed that when I do have the time, the results are already out!
In any case, I would still like to share my views… I have worked with a number of agencies in various roles. The one agency where I have seen very hard working executives is PR Pundit, Bangalore. The team is dedicated, energetic, thorough & very diligent.
I’m not in a position to comment about ‘bad’ PR agencies as I, personally, think that no ‘bad’ PR agency exists. Each one has their own strengths & their own weaknesses.
Having said that, I have been in the PR industry or associated with the PR industry for more than 6 years now. I entered the industry by default & realized that I’m good at what I do, which is why I’ve stuck on! This is not to say that I haven’t tried my hand at other jobs…I’ve just realized that I’m at my best when I’m in PR!
I don’t like PR for one reason & one reason alone. That would be the media! I don’t like the fact that we have to be dependent on the media, or the fact that the media seem to take for granted their position & their value to the entire PR industry. I do not like the way PR executives bow down to the various whims & fancies of the media people. Why do we treat the media like they are some exalted beings? They are as human as us. Why then, do we differentiate?
These are my personal views & I hope I’m not blacklisted by the various PR agencies and media publishing houses across the country!!
Cheers!
This comment was originally posted on India PR Blog
On Mar 9, 2009, Palin Ningthoujam said:
Hi, thanks for your views. I found it strange as you say and also according to the results that PR pros find media followups as the activity they like the least, while in fact the industry started on media relations.
Is it that today’s PR generation don’t want to continue the ‘unintelligent’ routine of media followups as a core part of their work profile. We need an alternative to that. Or a way to add ‘intelligence’ into the activity. What say people?
This comment was originally posted on http://www.indiaprblog.com/)“>India PR Blog
On Mar 9, 2009, Palin Ningthoujam said:
Hi, thanks for your views. I found it strange as you say and also according to the results that PR pros find media followups as the activity they like the least, while in fact the industry started on media relations.
Is it that today’s PR generation don’t want to continue the ‘unintelligent’ routine of media followups as a core part of their work profile. We need an alternative to that. Or a way to add ‘intelligence’ into the activity. What say people?
This comment was originally posted on India PR Blog
On Mar 9, 2009, Soul Curry said:
Hi Palin,
Again these are my personal opinions!
Maybe, the current PR generation don’t want to continue the ‘unintelligent’ routine of media follow ups. They are also beginning to question the necessity of media follow ups! I think that we need to find a way to add ‘intelligence’ into something as mundane & boring as media follow ups.
This comment was originally posted on http://www.indiaprblog.com/)“>India PR Blog
On Mar 9, 2009, Soul Curry said:
Hi Palin,
Again these are my personal opinions!
Maybe, the current PR generation don’t want to continue the ‘unintelligent’ routine of media follow ups. They are also beginning to question the necessity of media follow ups! I think that we need to find a way to add ‘intelligence’ into something as mundane & boring as media follow ups.
This comment was originally posted on India PR Blog
On Mar 9, 2009, Asfaq Tapia said:
Very valuable insight. I participated in the survey and was looking forward to its results. Its interesting to see that most PR folk hate media follow-ups.
Maybe its time for the journalists to become more accessible, via email or IM? That’s what i’d do, rather than making people dial a 10 digit number
This comment was originally posted on http://www.indiaprblog.com/)“>India PR Blog
On Mar 9, 2009, Asfaq Tapia said:
Very valuable insight. I participated in the survey and was looking forward to its results. Its interesting to see that most PR folk hate media follow-ups.
Maybe its time for the journalists to become more accessible, via email or IM? That’s what i’d do, rather than making people dial a 10 digit number
This comment was originally posted on India PR Blog
On Mar 9, 2009, swatidwivedi said:
2nd unofficial PR Survey! Interesting: http://tinyurl.com/d3w73z
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
On Mar 9, 2009, Ruchi said:
hey
Got awesome insight! Don’t you think its high time we do away with press releases and come up with something more interactive. I don’t remember a single time a press release got ‘decent’ coverage in mainline or financial papers. We have to be satisfied wid a snub, however the client’s are not… and most of the time the news is not even worth a press release. Why cant we tell a client “NO” … after all we claim to be ‘Consultant’
This comment was originally posted on http://www.indiaprblog.com/)“>India PR Blog
On Mar 9, 2009, Ruchi said:
hey
Got awesome insight! Don’t you think its high time we do away with press releases and come up with something more interactive. I don’t remember a single time a press release got ‘decent’ coverage in mainline or financial papers. We have to be satisfied wid a snub, however the client’s are not… and most of the time the news is not even worth a press release. Why cant we tell a client “NO” … after all we claim to be ‘Consultant’
This comment was originally posted on India PR Blog
On Mar 10, 2009, Palin Ningthoujam said:
Asfaq, since we are the ones running after the journalists, we have to do the innovation. You mention email, IM. These could be the tools. Then there are Twitter, social networking sites messages, etc. These give the person at the other side an option to respond or not to respond.
I know that when telemarketing people calls me up on the phone unsolicited and demand a response from me, right there on the spot, I know I feel my privacy has been invaded.
Ruchi, Thanks. What I was thinking was maybe we should shed the idea of press releases = coverage. Press releases might be still be required as the company needs to announce occasionally and it might be one of the only platforms now.
What one thing among others I liked about the survey results is that people like strategy and ideation, which involves brainwork and mundane jobs as followups. So how we can add value to followups so that it becomes more intelligent, interesting and valuable to both the PR professional and the journalist is something we need to think and come out with ideas. I invite opinions.
This comment was originally posted on http://www.indiaprblog.com/)“>India PR Blog
On Mar 10, 2009, Palin Ningthoujam said:
Asfaq, since we are the ones running after the journalists, we have to do the innovation. You mention email, IM. These could be the tools. Then there are Twitter, social networking sites messages, etc. These give the person at the other side an option to respond or not to respond.
I know that when telemarketing people calls me up on the phone unsolicited and demand a response from me, right there on the spot, I know I feel my privacy has been invaded.
Ruchi, Thanks. What I was thinking was maybe we should shed the idea of press releases = coverage. Press releases might be still be required as the company needs to announce occasionally and it might be one of the only platforms now.
What one thing among others I liked about the survey results is that people like strategy and ideation, which involves brainwork and mundane jobs as followups. So how we can add value to followups so that it becomes more intelligent, interesting and valuable to both the PR professional and the journalist is something we need to think and come out with ideas. I invite opinions.
This comment was originally posted on India PR Blog
On Mar 10, 2009, Soul Curry said:
Hi Ruchi,
In response to your query of “why can’t we say NO to the client”… I’m the ‘client’ I always appreciate it when my agency says ‘no’. But if you are saying no you need to have a very valid reason & you also need to have good enough back up plans in place! Losing out on good media opportunities is not an option. As the client, we always appreciate honesty from our agency as we always feel that the agency knows best!
This again, is my opinion & I’m just one client!
This comment was originally posted on http://www.indiaprblog.com/)“>India PR Blog
On Mar 10, 2009, Soul Curry said:
Hi Ruchi,
In response to your query of “why can’t we say NO to the client”… I’m the ‘client’ I always appreciate it when my agency says ‘no’. But if you are saying no you need to have a very valid reason & you also need to have good enough back up plans in place! Losing out on good media opportunities is not an option. As the client, we always appreciate honesty from our agency as we always feel that the agency knows best!
This again, is my opinion & I’m just one client!
This comment was originally posted on India PR Blog
On Mar 12, 2009, Melissa Arulappan said:
Palin
While I agree with Mr Srinivasan’s comment regarding the bias that creeps into agency rankings, I don’t agree with his view that perceptions should be borne of experience. As PR folks focused on managing perceptions, we accept that perceptions based on hearsay, industry reports, the media or any other influences are all equally valid. However it would have been interesting to have made some correlations between agency rankings and agencies the respondents worked in. For instance, do employees tend to rate their organisations higher than others, etc.
What is more disturbing is that despite the fact that most PR campaigns are skewed highly favourably towards media activities, 75% of respondents rated media-related activities as least liked and enjoyed.And while a quarter of the respondents felt the need for improvement in media relations, this did not necessarily translate into a training need. There seems to be a deeper, more systemic issue with how media relations is being practised (or enforced)and PR professionals don’t necessarily see training as a panacea.Unless we look at ways to invigorate/change the approach to media relations (which involves changing a lot of mindsets)and stop pandering to internal or external pressures to measure media success by clip count, not much will change. And with majority of the respondents young, there is a likelihood they could get disillusioned and drop out of the profession.
This comment was originally posted on http://www.indiaprblog.com/)“>India PR Blog
On Mar 12, 2009, Melissa Arulappan said:
Palin
While I agree with Mr Srinivasan’s comment regarding the bias that creeps into agency rankings, I don’t agree with his view that perceptions should be borne of experience. As PR folks focused on managing perceptions, we accept that perceptions based on hearsay, industry reports, the media or any other influences are all equally valid. However it would have been interesting to have made some correlations between agency rankings and agencies the respondents worked in. For instance, do employees tend to rate their organisations higher than others, etc.
What is more disturbing is that despite the fact that most PR campaigns are skewed highly favourably towards media activities, 75% of respondents rated media-related activities as least liked and enjoyed.And while a quarter of the respondents felt the need for improvement in media relations, this did not necessarily translate into a training need. There seems to be a deeper, more systemic issue with how media relations is being practised (or enforced)and PR professionals don’t necessarily see training as a panacea.Unless we look at ways to invigorate/change the approach to media relations (which involves changing a lot of mindsets)and stop pandering to internal or external pressures to measure media success by clip count, not much will change. And with majority of the respondents young, there is a likelihood they could get disillusioned and drop out of the profession.
This comment was originally posted on India PR Blog
On Mar 13, 2009, Palin Ningthoujam said:
Hi Melissa
Yes, metrics on correlations between agency rankings and agencies the respondents worked in would have been good, but we didn’t ask that question as it became ‘personal’ for the respondents in a way. We thought that would deter people from participating. But perhaps we can give an option next time.
Regarding media relations, like you rightly say, some things need to change and the industry needs to look at it together.
This comment was originally posted on http://www.indiaprblog.com/)“>India PR Blog
On Mar 13, 2009, Palin Ningthoujam said:
Hi Melissa
Yes, metrics on correlations between agency rankings and agencies the respondents worked in would have been good, but we didn’t ask that question as it became ‘personal’ for the respondents in a way. We thought that would deter people from participating. But perhaps we can give an option next time.
Regarding media relations, like you rightly say, some things need to change and the industry needs to look at it together.
This comment was originally posted on India PR Blog
On Mar 13, 2009, himanshu said:
a good effort
This comment was originally posted on http://www.indiaprblog.com/)“>India PR Blog
On Mar 13, 2009, himanshu said:
a good effort
This comment was originally posted on India PR Blog
On Mar 30, 2009, Joey Logano said:
I think just about in every country the #1 thing a PR person wants is Presentation skills. Still though, I was very impressed with the stats
This comment was originally posted on http://www.indiaprblog.com/)“>India PR Blog
On Mar 30, 2009, Joey Logano said:
I think just about in every country the #1 thing a PR person wants is Presentation skills. Still though, I was very impressed with the stats
This comment was originally posted on India PR Blog
On Apr 1, 2009, Gunjan W said:
Is there any way by which we can have official Indian PR survey. I guess just like the 2nd unofficial survey it may give us some light shedding insights on a broader stage.
This comment was originally posted on http://www.indiaprblog.com/)“>India PR Blog
On Apr 1, 2009, Gunjan W said:
Is there any way by which we can have official Indian PR survey. I guess just like the 2nd unofficial survey it may give us some light shedding insights on a broader stage.
This comment was originally posted on India PR Blog