The cause related marketing or CSR activities is being deployed by many corporates and companies to strengthen their presence in the media on an ongoing basis. While some companies have been working on CSR responsibility with lot of focus and energy there are others who have not diverted completely towards this. One company that comes top of mind that has been practicing CSR for quite some time has been Godfrey Philips for their RED & WHITE brand in promoting bravery excellence.

The company has been doing this on a national level but unfortunately they are also promoting tobacco. But let’s not take away the credit from them as year after year they have been awarding people for excellence in bravery from all walks of life.

To me CSR has to come from the bottom of the heart if one is keen in promoting it. There are quite a few liquor brands in view of restriction in advertising has been using CSR as surrogate way of communicating their products. This according to me will never fall under CSR as the primary objective is to get the brand visible and not promote the CSR initiative.

Brand fit very important:

Identifying a cause or supporting any CSR responsibility must focus on issues that relate to the business the company is into. If the brand fit is relevant consumers will also appreciate the efforts as it is important that the CSR activity is also meaningful to them in their walk of life. Hence it is important for companies to check the relevance of the CSR activity so that companies don’t support unrelated cause which at times the consumers may feel that the business simply is trying to benefit from the not for profit ‘s reputation.

Many a times this may lead to consumer to stop buying the company products. Hence it is very critical for companies to maintain good brand fit when they venture into CSR activities so that consumers also connect well with the company and also see there is an effort being displayed by the company to promote CSR with more purpose.

Role of Public Relations in CSR:

A few years back a very interesting CSR effort was undertaken by a reputed finance brand SUNDARAM FINANCE in Chennai. I am sharing this example to illustrate as how this CSR effort was initiated and how successful was it. Sundaram Finance as a brand has been a very trusted and dependable brand in the finance space. The brand is almost present amongst most families mind , residing in the south. The brand over a period of time as been part of many families in south by truly demonstrating to its customers its correct brand values corporate vision. The company hardly advertises and it has entered the consumers mind mainly through strong word of mouth marketing and well networked distribution of their products with strong focus on service across South India.

As a part of their CSR push the company along with Ogilvy PR came out with the novel idea of promoting carnatic music among kids in Chennai. This move was initiated, as it was found more kids in that part of the world were getting hooked to computers, chats and TV shows and little recognition was given to the classical carnatic music. The company saw a great opportunity here and branded this CSR program as SUNDARAM FINANCE SUNDAY KUTCHERI ( Music concert ).The program was held in a park and the concept was developed to provide young kids aged under 15 to showcase their music talent .The idea was more to give a little back to the society as a CSR effort. High on recall. Low on cost was the motive on this CSR effort. The audience for this program was the young and aspiring musical talent, music connoisseurs and morning walkers in the park.

How did this CSR Program work?

* The program was held every first Sunday between 6.30 and 7.30am
* Kids were selected through audition tests
* Kids with good flair in music with basics were given opportunity
* Group of kids display their musical talent at the park with great ambience
* After the first half a dozen Kutcheri the concept caught on
* News papers and channels came forward to cover it

So what was unique about this CSR?

* One of its kind showcasing musical talent
* Age was the only criteria ( kids under 15)
* Open environment ,perfect and colorful settings
* No microphones. No loudspeakers
* Kids were the stars. No chief guests.
* Minimum branding from the company

The End Result:

* Zero advertising for the event. PR got the registrations.
* Entries came from neighboring cities also.
* Vast coverage on the event. Pre and Post.
* More audience participated
* Pressure was mounted to increase the frequency
* More parks wanted to hold the musical concert
* Boosted the confidence of the kids to perform
* Parents were thrilled and devoted more time on music with their kids.
* Finally the brand fit was also perfect as it connected well with the event.

This post seeks to address the genesis of PR Firms in India, their move towards specialization, and then back towards a generalist positioning. It further seeks to explore the interrelationship between global and organic Indian outfits and motives for their speedy polymerization. Finally it seeks to draw parallels in trends between the state of the Global PR business and a growing similarity in the Indian PR Industry.

Most Indian PR Firms first cracked on the scene somewhere between the late 1980s and early 1990s, which I really see as the time when Public Relations consulting evolved somewhat from cult led spin-doctors to consulting organizations. I employ the caveat, somewhat, because even today many if not most continue to have a similar architecture, with a single personality or two providing the thought leadership, most of the others never really making it beyond middle or senior management, till they either decided to start their own little PR Firm! Those were the days of IPAN, Good Relations, and Genesis (Now Genesis BM) to name a few, as they were very few. Some of these are still around, some with international affiliations and some with name changes after being acquired but do they remain the gorilla on the hill? I think not!

Here again, while we are on the topic of genesis, it is important to separate the also-rans from the connoisseurs. Disregarding honorable exceptions on both ends, on a general cliché, stand-alone PR Firms, grew organically, built scale and proliferated, while the PR’ divisions and the PR’ arms, mostly of advertising networks or agencies took a step forward and two backward, mostly playing a game of snakes and ladders. Evolution does strange things and many organizations that were once infallible are today extinct or alive in a dysfunctional sort of way, impossible if not hard to imagine back then.

Specializations are a factor of consolidation and pretty much follow the need for differentiation and domain expertise. At different points of time in the evolution of the PR story in India, tangents have proliferated in the form of Technology PR, Financial PR, Corporate Affairs, CSR, University PR, ‘this & that’ PR, etc. Have these always been deliberate attempts or single projects turning into templates that gave the financial logic of a practice or a critical mass that justified a specialist structure? There have been so many instances that have polled for or against the trend so the truth is somewhere in the middle.

The question in my mind really is what works best in the long-term, a generalist approach, or the specialist path? While I have had the good fortune to work for both specialists like Text 100 and 2020 Media, I have also witnessed their forays into the non-tech arena, the former through a proxy agency called Vox PR and the latter directly, when generalists started to eat their lunch. The smaller reasons for this were various including client business conflict, retainer pricing, and sometimes plain ego clashes. The positioning conundrum clearly follows the way of the market shift. The shift has not been smooth, some may call them works in progress, others a fear of losing what they already have in existing clients due to an apparent positioning preference as opposed to other client portfolios that they desire.

There are of course international specialist PR brands that have come in and opened their doors for business to get a piece of the action like APCO, Lewis PR, but for every specialist, there are an equal number of generalists rushing in with names like Fleishman Hillard, Brodeur, Manning Selvage & Lee and scores of others.

Interestingly one space that has stayed relatively virgin is the Financial PR marketplace with a few like Adfactors PR which have stayed ahead of the game and hedged their bets in other specializations while clearly holding on to a very lucrative Financial PR (read IPOs) pie. Others in the game include names like Concept PR, Pressman PR and the Financial PR practices in some of the larger generalists but with a low critical mass as a part of their revenue base. This remains one of the most lucrative spaces in Indian PR and already there are overtures from many international PR firms that work the Financial PR or Investor Relations space for a piece of the action. I know that they are biting at the hooves and I’d just love any M&A gossip there!

While specialists and generalists keep moving towards each other in shenanigans that defy logic, in the final analysis with a few exceptions, most home grown specialist outfits may or may not last long. Large global mandates will force an ongoing consolidation as the Indian PR Industry becomes pregnant with the FII money and the burgeoning weight of its booming middle class marketplace.

The Holmes Report makes for great reading for those interested in delving deeper into the holding patterns, revenues, market statistics and other insights into the global PR business. It is interesting to note that globally a majority of PR firms are controlled by 4 holding companies or networks: Omnicom, WPP, Interpublic, and Publicis.

Either which way the Indian PR Industry cookie crumbles, the traditional approach of developing a specialization to carve the melon will increasingly become harder as entry barriers to opening up or sustaining organic PR shops will get way higher than they used to be for the last decade or two. PR Firms that have shown amazing organic growth in the comparative short term like a Vaishnavi will become rarer. Independent firms of course remain more than capable of competing with network players for clients, both network clients or restricted to geographic location.

The Indian PR Industry soon promises to map the global PR Industry, and while a consolidation is imminent, all that is open to debate is the when and at what valuation. While isolated accounts may remain in silos but clearly the end of cult and personality led PR is around the corner. In all this mayhem, the largest benefactor is not a single entity; the entrepreneurs have their happy exits, the employees-growth, while slowly but surely the fight is hotting up for the Indian PR market pie and it’s time for the big guns to battle! These remain exciting times and all this can only mean more professionalism and better prospects for the Indian PR Industry: The King is dead, long live the King!

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.