Exactly 2 decades back when ‘mile sure mera tumhara’ was created by Suresh Mullick, the brief from the then Prime Minister Shri Rajiv Gandhi was to infuse national integration through a strong film. And the film truly achieved it by bringing the different religion and colors across India by using well known celebrities from sports, films and music. All this was supplemented by composing the entire lyrics with rag bhairavi and driving home the message India is one.

When you are in peak you get great laurels and corporates are willing to shell out huge dollars and rupees to tie up with brand ambassadors. But what happens when the barometer drops for various reasons. Few years back it was got to do with the performance of the Indian cricket team in the world cup in the Caribbean where we got knocked out in the preliminary rounds and brands like Pepsi were so livid that they terminated the contract of some of the players. They were not keen at all to use them as brand ambassadors as it may damage the equity of the brand. This is also common with bollywood celebrities for years.

One can quote many examples as to why companies go for a makeover. But having said that most corporate and companies want to tell the world through PR that we have changed our identity and share the vision and its new values of the company. Well it definitely sounds interesting but will it create ripples in the consumers mind? To me the answer is no. So what will work? The entire communication strategy has to be well orchestrated 360 degree effort to instill the change in name or the logo in the desired audience’s mind. PR in isolation may not create the desired impact but PR with strong mass media campaign and internal communication will work wonders for the brand. The most refreshing example which still stands tall in my mind is the launch of Axis Bank. Today we don’t see much of their campaign but Axis bank has become a familiar bank name both with their current clientele and the future prospects.

Weber Shandwick, in association with The Economist, today came out with a report entitled ‘Risky Business: Reputations Online’ based on a survey conducted among 703 senior executives within more than 20 industries in 62 countries spanning North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and other markets. The report revealed interesting insights:
15 REALITIES
1. Reputation threat level is high: [...]

Some of world’s best brands have been built with PR.
With rising media costs and lack of deep pockets to spend, many brands are seriously considering using PR in a big way to promote their brand in the most cost efficient manner. Recently I was chatting with few of my friends who are working on [...]

Strangely, it was a client who taught me this equation, when I’d started my career in PR. I still remember the conversation with the MD of the company, him extolling the importance of PR in his company and me getting very impressed with what had landed in my lap. I was suddenly glad that I [...]