CSR - The New Age Mantra

With the Standard Chartered Greatest Race just over, it won’t be a bad idea to delve into CSR and PR…Say wot? Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR is the most discussed topic in the alleys and crossroads of communication these days…and why not? Most organizations one knows is indulging in some CSR activity of some scale. Be it for customers, employees, shareholders, communities and environment for that matter. CSR is becoming a way of life with many Corporates across the globe and it is not just for the sake of earning brownies. While I would like to leave behind the debate of whether it is ethical or whether it is just another ways of manipulating the audience, I would like to believe that most people are doing it with a sense of larger responsibility and contribution towards the society. And even if it weren’t, just the act is good enough since it does affect the beneficiary positively.

As PR professionals we work on integrated communication strategies and it is almost imperative these days to add an element of CSR in strategies and how we could maximize media visibility for the same. I do not see any erring in that intention. The good thing of propagating CSR could help in influencing many more Corporates who haven’t yet joined the bandwagon and do some more good for the society. Some CSR initiatives like the Standard Chartered Marathon or Infosys Library for every school achieve enormous scale and that is great news for society.

How does PR help? PR helps in not just to publicize the initiative but actually helps in leveraging someone else’s initiatives to mobilize the masses to join hands for similar causes. I love the way PR acts behind the scenes to drive Corporates towards the humanitarian goals. I know of PR professionals and Agencies that have consulted their Clients and convinced them to take up larger issues of concern and set aside budget for a cause and work relentlessly towards the betterment of a larger mass-scape.

I have worked with a couple of Clients who have been working silently towards causes not necessarily very large ones, but they have been consistently working towards uplifting the situations of senior citizens and children, or towards literacy or even for recognizing good talent. And in all these Clients’ initiatives PR helped in garnering support from the common masses to join in and get encouragement for taking up the initiative in a larger way. When we are devising a human chain for some cause, it delights me when people have read about the cause to have known about it and come and volunteered to be a part of the cause.

The only thing that we could do more with is the support from media on CSR issues. Media sometimes does restrict causes to specific days like AIDS Day, Women’s Day, Children’ Day and would not want to spend ink and space in writing for the cause at other times. I say, let’s all get together, forget about days and dates and advocate for the cause. Advocate for the cause in the larger interest and not take things too seriously in terms of whether the organization is manipulating et al.

Be it Standard Chartered Marathon, Hindustan Lever’s Shakti, or the various other CSR programmes, they are all well conceptualized and structured way of reaching out to the public at large. No community work is created to get PR mileage. PR or no PR, people will continue to do good work and CSR will continue to be the new age mantra…and I couldn’t be happier!

CheersMadhavi.

Taking it further from where I left it the last time, Stalagmite Theory could well be how Public Relations slowly progresses towards creating opinions and influences mass values. According to Stalagmite theory, mediated experiences induce long term effects that are very difficult to measure. Fair enough..I wouldn’t delve into measurements and evaluation of PR now anyways, since that almost is a topic worthy of its own space and discussion. Meaning theory and Cultivation theory are two most significant theories. In today’s blog I stick to Meaning Theory, one of the theories of Stalagmite Theory.

We all are aware that every little byte of information, every little ink and sound of media delivery is an experience by itself and each one of us is absorbing it, consciously, sub consciously to create our own versions of how the world is and appears to be. That is basically the formation of an opinion, the molding of our thoughts by so called external sources to create a point of view.

Now, what do you think we are doing in this business of PR? Moulding thougts, throwing in key words at the right places for the right audiences to read, watch and hear. Bombard them again and again and again in myriad ways till we are sure that the recipient can take no more and then we take it to the next level of communication. It is a slow dripping process of communication.

A niche sector of say for example, Electronic Home Security. We don’t know who needs it, what people think about it, their reservations and apprehensions about technology and how safe and secure it can make them, it’s affordability et al. Now how would you engage the receiver of all your communication to suddenly get excited about something he never thought he needed. There was simply no reason for him to think it was meant for him all this while. Electronic Home Security…bah! I have two copllapsible doors, seven level lock systems, two security guard….what else do I need?!

Show the audience reason, then show him relevance, follow it up with awareness and knowledge about the technology, blend it with stories where mishaps could have been avoided if the security system was in place, give him choices and then give him assurance about the Company pioneering it. Let him know that whoever thought about an issue that existed even before the audience knew he wanted it, was a specialist. An expert who understands needs…human need of feeling safe!

And now you tell me if this is possible in a sudden spurt of aggressive communication? Or would it be effective? And let’s say you do manage the audience to pick up the product for himself…what about the Client or the organisation? Have you been able to portay your Client as a Voice of reason? Yeas, Voice of reasons….I need my Client to be known for that. And Meaning Theory which is a form of Stalagmite theory helps me to do that.

Much before Mass Media this organisation engaged PR. Since he knew that PR evolved people’s minds from making impulse decisions to well thought, constructive and assured decision making. The organisation I am talking about has engaged ATL communication strategy today but not without bolstering it with PR. And it is a bolster today, but PR was all they started with some four years ago…and the organisation has earned it’s place as a voice of reason, as a pioneer of innovaton and making safety available for everyone.

Cheers
Madhavi Mukherjee
Senior Consultant and Practice Head Media and Entertainment
Hanmer&Partners

Tech Tags: PR public+relations india

I know today is not my turn to write…but couldn’t keep the contrariety and the dissension going on in my head…had to let it out and when the angst is related to all of us, I couldn’t help feel that this was the right place.

Public Relations is a part of the good old IMC (Integrated Marketing Communications) mix and is nowadays considered to be the one of the most crucial elements for a successful communication campaign. PR is a part of the Media and A&M (Advertising and Marketing) industry and yet is not just treated as a step sister, but sometimes scum. As excited and honored I am to be a part of that industry and having grown and specialized enough to have some sort of an expertise in the profession, it saddens me when Media (Journalists) treat PR professionals as an interruption, just a watchdog who mediates meetings and interactions and says nothing at all, a coordinator for information almost only to be a delivery boy…it upsets me when media thinks that ‘you’ are the ignorant link in the chain of communication.

PR professionals are sometimes more knowledgeable than the media peers and I wouldn’t shirk admitting that. The kids out there are slogging day in and day out reading upon the sectors, devouring reports and analysis to gain in depth knowledge about their Clients, strategizing hand in hand with the marketing team and the corporate communications team to build a sound image of the Client…and then you get rebuffed as the side kick whose role is chopped off at the editing table!

It’s a different thing to condemn a PR professional if they call and follow up at peak story filing time, if they come unprepared for a meeting, if they are unable to share the necessary information et al. But to revile those professionals who are doing an equally hard job to manifest everything that the Client is saying and channeling it to the right medium… I think is a sorry state of affairs!

PR professionals are not ‘DODOS’ as some would have them believed. They are a bunch of extremely dignified and intelligent group of kids who understand the depth of communications and are as big analysts of the sector and society as their counterparts are…
- Madhavi Mukherjee

Tech Tags: PR public+relations india

I would like to borrow a concept that is oft used for television viewership to Public Relations and I think it suits just fine. The concept is that of Cultivation Theory or the Stalagmite Theory. I quote “Black et. al. used the metaphor of stalagmite theories to suggest that media effects occur analogously to the slow buildup of formations on cave floors, which take their interesting forms after eons of the steady dripping of limewater from the cave ceilings above. One of the most popular theories that fits this perspective is cultivation theory.”

Cultivation theory (sometimes referred to as the cultivation hypothesis or cultivation analysis) was an approach developed by Professor George Gerbner, dean of the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania.

One of the core assumptions and statements of the Cultivation theory is that television is responsible for shaping, or ‘cultivating’ viewers’ conceptions of social reality. The combined effect of massive television exposure by viewers over time subtly shapes the perception of social reality for individuals and, ultimately, for our culture as a whole.

I believe that Public Relations does that too…or rather primarily Public Relations is doing that all the time. Slowly and steadily honing the opinions and perceptions of the masses to cultivate attitudes, beliefs and notions about products, services and people. We are always cultivating our media, who are not just our vehicles but in fact they are our primary audiences. You grow on them by continuously orientating them about your Clients, the messages that you want to be widely spread, by convincing them about why they should write about your Clients et al. Just as a continuous dripping of limewater on the cave floor helps in the slow build up of formations on the floor, so also a continuous and steady feeding of messages leads to a slow and yet a sure formation of opinion and perception about the Client.

This holds true especially when you are carrying out a Public Relations exercise for a new and niche sector such as electronic home securities or a new brand in an already established market space. In either cases the effort of message dissemination has to be relentless, continuous and steady. And the results won’t be to your disappointment.

But as PR professionals, what you have to do is innovate, ideate and create new ways and means of getting the Client talked about…Cultivate the primary opinion makers (Media) to get talking about your Client, Cultivate your Client to have faith in the system and the process. The effects and the measurement of sucess of this model is difficult since it is a long driven effort and not related to a sudden burst of activity like a promotional campaign, but the long term effect is that it homogenizes a category of audience to see meaning into what your Client is doing and saying and to become ardent believers of your Client.

Next week, I will bring forth a Case Study to let you in into the effects of the Stalagmite Theory or Cultivation Theory that has been used in Public Relations.

Cheers
Madhavi.

–
Madhavi Mukherjee
Senior Consultant and Practice Head Media&Entertainment
Hanmer&Partners
Email: madhavi@hanmerpr.com

Tech Tags: pr public+relations india

Am sure you are aware that with the year closing in on us, it was time for reviews and serious introspection. So we all got back to our drawing boards to review the year gone by for our Clients, work on Annual Strategies for the coming year and discuss the highs and lows with regards to plans, achievements and bloopers and at the end of it all we all were unanimous about one realisation that hit us… that clients were no longer willing to be satisfied with Vanilla PR…. not happy with the regular press conference, press briefings, press releases, one on ones et al…WHAT NEXT was the question they all asked! And thankfully since my Agency had always groomed us towards thinking 360 degrees communications and not just basic PR, we were happy and also anxious at the same time.

Happy since we knew that that was coming and like I mentioned earlier, the Agency that I work for has always driven us towards working on Integrated Communication Stratgies… we were always made to understand not only the PR mandate of the Client, but understand his business goals, his business objectives, his need to reach out to various stakeholders and then create a Communication Stratgey that was more holistic. So a lot of research, industry awareness went into all our strategies that gave the Client an insight into what he could expect and what would be the end result. The strategy would not only reflect our understanding of the Client’s market. his audiences, his products and services but give the Client an insight into how we would achieve them. The Communication Strategy would thus include Vanilla PR Strategies of course, but also try and move it to the next level of PR…which was contact programmes, associations, networking meetings with industry audiences, blogging, online discussions, emphasis on collateral creation, events, meet-n-greets with stakeholders and not to foerget CSR. CSR is fast becoming not just a philanthrophic concept, but a crucial tool to reach out to the serious audiences as well… and we integrate a lot of that too at various levels, local,. regional, national and international…

Now why would we be anxious…anxious because this level of advanced Public Relations strategies needs expertise at the work force level and that is somehow missing. Talent is in dire poverty and that sometimes hampers the standard of execution and the convertability of plans into actions. Understanding of basic communication theories is crucial and I am not too sure how much in-depth knowledge do the kids have today to take PR to the next level. You can train resources in-house to understand the ushering new technology and how innovation is quickening the pace of communication…but communication theories by Harold Lasswell and Marshall McLuhan are as relevant today and need to be understood to be able to implement modern technology and inovation into mass communication strategies and make PR more effective.

Am kicked about the new year since I have been lucky to have Clients that are not just media savvy but understand the ethos of communication, know what their end consumers or audiences want and are not happy with mundane text book PR…and why is that good news? Since my team and I are now gonna juggle with some great strategies and bring them to life with encouragement and support of my Clients…and as far as talent is concerned…looks like a session or two on the traditional communication theories will only enhance what we have to offer.

Cheers and have a great new year
–
Madhavi Mukherjee
Senior Consultant and Practice Head Media&Entertainment
Hanmer&Partners
Email: madhavi@hanmerpr.com

Tech Tags: pr public+relations india

“The world seems a whole lot bigger than on the map”…says one of the promos on Discovery’s Travel and living. I kind of agree to that. With all our perceptions of the world getting closer and distances fast dissolving with the evolving and increasing modes of transportation, conveyance and communication – and with the almost homogenization of all world cultures (would refrain from using the word Californication), the contexts and references, incidents and situations that are of relevance today are getting more local, niche and far from the macro-global issues that supposedly make news to us.

This brings me to the word that surrounds our very senses today and brings about that sense of deliberate connectivity …NEWS! There is an overarching need to reach out to the audience, to get him to listen to us first, be that first source, the most credible source, and the all encompassing source of news…everyone claims to have hit the pulse and understood the audience’s nerves in terms of what he wants to see and hear. Pluralism of media though on one hand has led to convergence of media, it sure has also led to fragmentation of content. And I have my doubts about which one of them understands the target audience as well or can put a finger to say assuredly that this is what my audience wants and this is what I give him.

In spite of a visible and obvious blanket of a youth culture, with people trying to find similarities in clothing, cuisine, music…with everyone wanting similar vacations and adventure trips, shopping for domestic items in foreign lands, with prices for studies abroad fast slashing to meet the demands of the ever growing student population and a near bombardment of exclusive high end brands in every nook and corner of the country…all these similarities are only the epidermis layer of all the world societies – scratch the surface and you will find that there is a marked difference in what is of relevance to us, what we hear, what we like to see, and what makes sense to us or affects us directly.

News as much as we may want to differ, is very personal in the way we perceive it, receive it and understand it. If I have some relative working in the far east, I may switch on to BBC for its news on Middle East Asia, if I hail from the Hindi speaking belt, my channel surfing would be limited to Aaj Tak and sometimes shift to a Sahara Samay, if I am the so called metropolitan, I may swap between CNN-iBN, Times Now and NDTV 24X7. To each his own. It is much more difficult to run fledgling news channels in India than to run soap operas since story telling has always been second nature to Indians and hence getting glued on to air waves that broadcast pan-caked women and ostentatious homes housing the most ridiculous of men still garner high TRPs.

There is a heightened hype and hoopla of the fast expanding spatial boundaries to keep the channels opening up and the virtual fight of the various ‘dishes’ that are keeping the clarity, variety and choice of the customer in tact. But I am still wondering if the entire range of choices is meeting the requirements of a clarified news source that gives me different perspectives and lets me be a better decision maker to the larger issues that affect us.

We have the entire palette of news channels both in English and Hindi and of course not to forget the regionals. Pluralism at its best! But even as pluralistic media gets more localized with the content to suit the audience requirements, I am still not sure if a pluralistic media is lending objectivity to national news that can be more nation oriented. It’s a different thing to run a news item on national news channels such as ‘Ash and Abhi visit temple to dilute the effect of …manglik?!’ and call it breaking news…but again…objective?!!!! It’s a pity that with increasing channels every hour, there seems to be a dire poverty and clammouring for real in-depth news and all the intelligent Media graduates run behind the so called pseudo cultural family of India to see who weds whom?

I am writing this not just to put across a point of view, but to invite comments and suggestions….please do agree to disagree if you so wish…but I am still fighting a mini dissension of sorts in my head…
• What is happening to responsibility of content?
• What is happening to responsibility to society as representatives of Media?
• Why is entertainment news erstwhile restricted to Screen and Cine Blitz spilling over important space?
• Has the Country solved all its issues of poverty, unemployment, criminal offence, terrorism and political chaos?
• Have all the people become literate? Have all the cases been solved and the court of law vacationing?
• Have all arisen above poverty lines and India the superpower we all dreamt of?

Would love to get a different perspective.Cheers.

Tech Tags: pr public+relations india

‘Spin Doctors’ is what many think a Public Relations Consultant is…Well, I was quite flummoxed when I realised that that is how many perceived Public Relations or PR Consultants to be…so you are in the business of creating news huh?”, “You create news when there is none?” …”You make sinking organisations look nice?” Of course, the most common understanding of PR is getting covered in print and judging the works of the Agency per column centimeter of coverage in Print et al. So, is that all that a Public Relations Consultant does…Well, I say, NO!

Public Relations has been slow in evolution and needs some definitions beyond creating corporate images. I define Public Relations as the Art of communicating with the masses and formulating a Scientific approach to reach out to your target audience to enable the publics have better understanding of an organisations’ objectives and intention thereby building a favourable image.

PR or Public Relations is not just about Media Relations; it is not just about getting coverage in print, electronic media etc. It is ‘Communications’ and any professional who wishes to be a part of the PR industry needs to understand and should be able to understand the nuances of communicating with various groups of people, catering to heterogeneous mass-scapes. It has to be more than Media Relations, but a smooth blend of various ways of communicating with your target audiences. One has to be aware and understand the fabric of heterogeneity in our country. At a time when Media is at its pluralist best, it’s easy to get entrapped in the battle for ink and bytes and summarise PR as getting every bit of both. It is imperative for Clients and those aspiring to engage Public Relations exercise to realize that one should not get limited in their target audiences, which is what defines the route of PR to be taken most time.

As a student of ‘Communication Studies’, I was exposed to many alternate ways of communicating with the masses, such as street plays, posters, handouts, lectures and photography. We also tried to marry our communication objectives with skills that we could teach and impart to make a wholesome package of communication. At the end of the day, all that mattered was to get across to that one consumer, listener, reader, customer, stakeholder etc. That helps today in my profession as a PR consultant, since one does not only understand that target audiences can never be homogenous, but the way we communicate needs to be customized to each and everyone in the audience.

PR has evolved to a level where agencies today offer much more than column centimeter coverage. There is a whole gamut on the platter that is dished out to the Client: Issues Management, Crisis Communications, Investor Relations, Corporate Social Responsibility, Brand Communications, Corporate Communication, Healthcare Relations etc…and the Consultant knows it all. The PR Consultant knows how to synergise, how to create that perfect concoction of your messages that can be easily absorbed by the last man standing who matters to you as a Client.

Public Relations has evolved as an industry in itself, but the perception of PR hasn’t undergone much change. There is a bigger need today to make the obvious known, that PR is beyond press conferences and press releases…it is about bringing together the basics of effective communication and merging media and non-media activities to be heard and to get noticed. One has been lucky to have got the opportunity of working with Clients who have understood the benefits of communicating with their audiences at the right time and in the right manner possible. Clients who have given us the upper hand to judge what is best suited to reach out to their consumer and take decisions of the channel of communication to be adopted, be it media or non-media. It is heartening when the Client says “I am not looking at print, electronic or online media to make my presence known; I want to reach out to him directly…can you help me do that? Can you help me get a sustained communication blanket where I do not have to over sell myself…Give me an integrated communication plan”. That is good news for the industry, but for this perception to gain maturity is a long way to go.

No, we are not spin doctors, we do not create news out of nothing…we understand the five Ws and H (Who, What, Where, When, Why and How) of a communication model and know how to tune audiences into the same stream of thoughts to perceive our clients better. Public Relations like I said was the art of communication with a scientific approach.

Tech Tags: pr public+relations india