ET Corpcom Summit on Dec 9

In light of aggressive media strategies and tech enabled consumers, the modern day corporate communication team has to constantly tackle the fluctuating tides of scepticism. 

The second edition of The Economic Times Corporate Communication Summit is a daylong strategic meet, featuring some of the most influential voices in corporate communication. The summit will focus on ways in which businesses can keep employees informed, engaged, and motivated as well as provide an opportunity to interact with the experts as to understand how to advance their company’s goals while managing communication across multiple channels.

It gives us immense pleasure to announce the largest gathering for CC & PR professionals - The 2^nd Annual Economic Times Corporate Communication Strategy Summit – 2016 scheduled on the 9^th December, Mumbai.

(PRCI is the Supporting Partner for the Summit, adds PRapport Editor)

The summit will witness 100+ key stakeholders from leading conglomerates across India. Participants will comprise of Heads, Directors, Vice Presidents, General Managers, Senior Managers from Corporate Communications & Public Relations.

Advisory panel:

·         Debasis Ghosh, Public Affairs Officer, Citi India

·         Deepa Dey, Director Corporate Communications, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare

·         Poonam Kaul, Vice President Corporate Communications, PepsiCo India

·         Rachana Panda, Chief Communications Officer & Citizenship Leader, GE South Asia

·         Sujit Patil, Vice President & Head - Corporate Communications, Godrej Industries

·         Viral Oza, Chief Marketing Officer, Lodha Group

Some of our eminent speakers:

·         Akansha Pradhan, Head Corporate communications, DHL Express

·         Calvin Printer, Vice President and Head of Corporate Communications, Dr. Reddy’s

·         Debasis Ghosh, Public Affairs Officer, Citi India

·         Moushumi Dutt, Senior Director and Head corporate communications, Philips India

·         Poonam Kaul, Vice President Corporate Communications, Pepsico India

·         Ramya Rajagopala, Head - Corporate Communications, Siemens

·         Senjam Sekhar, Head Corporate Communications, Flipkart

·         Sudeep Bhalla, Vice President - Corporate Communications & Sustainability, Vodafone India

·         Viswakumar Menon, Global Head of Communications, Suzlon Group

·         Yuvraj Mehta, Group Head-Corporate Communications, GMR Group

Key areas of discussion:

·         Brand reputation and identity management

·         Employee engagement in corporate communications

·         Driving business value though communication excellence

·         Crisis management – reinvention to re-establish corporate repute

·         Metrics and analysis of communication impressions

·         Creative improvisation! Doing it right

Registration Fees:

INR 20,000 (Inclusive of taxes)

To be a part of this industry platform, you may reach me on sujith.bangera@timesgroup.com / +91 9920460301

Regards,

Sujith Bangera

Assistant Manager – Special Projects

(D) +91 22 61669605 | (M) +91 9920460301

(E) sujith.bangera@timesgroup.com

SCOPE Manthan over Media Relations

SCOPE for Board Approved

Media Relations Policy by PSUs

NEW DELHI. SCOPE’s two day Media Relations Conclave for CEOs and Spokespersons of Public Sector concluded yesterday which was attended by large number of CEOs and Spokespersons of public sector enterprises.


Mr. Bimal Julka, Information Commissioner, Central Information Commission, highlighted the changing scenario of media landscape with the advent of digital media. Mr. Julka urged senior executives of PSUs to adapt to the change and be proactive in promoting themselves.

Mr. Nirmal Sinha, Chairman, SCOPE and CMD, HHEC said that PSUs need to embrace the digital media platform in order to promote Prime Minister's vision of e-Governance through Digital India initiative. Mr. Sinha also said that PSUs need to enhance their brand image as their contribution towards nation building is next to none.

Dr. U.D. Choubey, Director General, SCOPE said that PSUs need to build a strong relation with media to thwart negative publicity around them and also to create a brand image for themselves. He also said that Public Sector should come out with Board approved policy on media relations to establish efficient and effective communication channel.

The conclave was attended by CEOs, Spokespersons and Senior Executives of Public Sector and a number of prominent journalists.

PRCI is Supporting Partner for ET Corpcom Summit

• Summit to be held in Mumbai on December 09
• Visit: http://et-strategymasterclass.com/CorpComm/index.php

MUMBAI: Leading communication professionals’ body Public Relations Council of India (PRCI) has tied up with ET Edge to be a Supporting Partner for the 2nd Annual Economic Times Corporate Communication Strategy Summit – 2016 scheduled on the 9th December at Mumbai.

In the light of the aggressive media strategies and tech enabled consumers, the modern day corporate communication team has to constantly tackle the fluctuating tides of skepticism.

The second edition of The ET Corporate Communication Summit thus assumes significance as it features some of the most influential voices in corporate communication field. The summit will focus on ways in which businesses can keep employees informed, engaged, and motivated as well as provide an opportunity to interact with the experts as to understand how to advance their company’s goals while managing communication across multiple channels.

PRCI is a national body of Public Relations, media, advertising and HR practitioners as well as mass communication academicians with about 30 chapters pan-India. It conducts knowledge enhancement workshops periodically and felicitates achievers in various facets of communication such as PR, Journalism, Advertising, HR, community welfare, films and music with its signature Chanakya Awards. PRCI has recently launched its first global chapter in Dubai and will shortly have its units in te UK, US, Australia and so on.

PRCI has a youth wing called Young Communicators’ Club (YCC) though which it conducts professional activities for mass communication students.

PRCI also undertakes communication campaigns with social relevance. Recently, it organized campaign focusing on water conservation, girl security. Right now, it is running a campaign called Mission Mumbai Local focusing attention on the need to improve suburban rail infrastructure in the city where ten people die daily on an average on railway tracks, said PRCI national president and veteran media professional B N Kumar.

PRCI Chairman Emeritus and Chief Mentor M B Jayaram said the ET Corpocom summit is a unique opportunity for all communication professionals to learn from each other’s experiences.

PRCI and YCC will hold the 11th Global Communication Conclave at Bangalore in March first week.

Editors' Guild, Mumbai Press Club condemn ban on NDTV india

Following is the statement issued by the Editors' Guild of India on Inter-Ministerial Committee ban on NDTV.

"The Editors Guild of India strongly condemns the unprecedented decision of the inter-ministerial committee of the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to take NDTV India off the air for a day and demands that the order be immediately rescinded.

The ostensible reason for the order as reported is that the channel's coverage of the Pathankot terror attack on January 2, 2016 that the government claims gave out sensitive information to the handlers of terrorists. NDTV in its response to a show cause by the government has maintained that its coverage was sober and did not carry any information that had not been covered by the rest of the media, and was in the public domain.

The decision to take the channel off the air for a day is a direct violation of the freedom of the media and therefore the citizens of India and amounts to harsh censorship imposed by the government  reminiscent of the Emergency. This first-of-its-kind order to impose a blackout has seen the Central government entrust itself with the power to intervene in the functioning of the media and take

arbitrary punitive action as and when it does not agree with the coverage. There are various legal remedies available to both a citizen and a state in the Court of Law to have action taken for any irresponsible media coverage. Imposing a ban without resorting to judicial intervention or oversight violates the fundamental principles of freedom and justice. The Editors Guild of India calls for an immediate withdrawal of the ban order.

Raj Chengappa
President

Prakash Dube
General Secretary

Seema Mustafa
Treasurer"

Mumbai Press Club Statement:
MUMBAI PRESS CLUB CONDEMNS BAN ON NDTV INDIA

The Mumbai Press club which represents over 2,500 journalists, strongly and unequivocally condemns the ban by the Union Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (I&B) on the Hindi news channel NDTV India for purportedly airing “sensitive information” in respect of the Pathankot attack by terror groups near the border. The Club also demands that the ban, imposed for one day on 9 November, should be withdrawn forthwith.

NDTV India in its response to a show cause by the government has said that channel did not report anything which other channels and newspapers had not covered simultaneously. It is therefore mischievous to singles out a particular channel for such penal action.

Though there are various legal options available for the government in the Indian Court of Law for any irresponsible media coverage, the I&B ministry action of banning against a specific TV channel that has been critical of the government, and has done serious ground reporting on the views of the common man, does not augur well for freedom of expression of the country.

The I&B ministry’s order imposing the ban is vague and also does not disclose what specific clips or information can be termed ‘sensitive’ and ‘useful to the enemy’.

Any penal actions like the ban of NDTV India that infringes on media operating and reporting freely will be stoutly resisted by media persons everywhere.

Dharmendra Jore
Secretary

Wanted: War Memorial in Mumbai!

Inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Mann Ki Baat Message dedicating this Diwali to soldiers defending the country’s borders amid tremendous odds, a national body of communication professionals has launched a campaign for a War Memorial in Mumbai.

“The financial capital, which also houses the Western Naval Command, is out to have a permanent War Memorial. Several people from Maharashtra have also sacrificed and continue to do so for the nation,” said B N Kumar, national president of Public relations Council of India (PRCI), and a trained war correspondent.

The splendid War Memorial at Dharamshala, HP

“This is part of our series of social communication endeavours and we are keen to communicate to all concerned to work on a War Memorial in Mumbai,” said PRCI chairman emeritus and chief mentor M B Jayaram.

“Recently, we have seen a war memorial in Dharamshala which is a huge tourist draw and serves as a reminder of the sacrifices made by our soldiers. It was heartening to see many tourists saluting the soldiers and taking selfies and posting them on the social media,” Kumar said.

PRCI said part of one of the mills lands could be used for the war memorial. Or between the State government and CIDCO, they could look at a suitable place in Navi Mumbai

The War memorial can house war planes, battle tanks, and artillery guns, apart from plaques highlighting some sacrifices and achievements.

This can also inspire the youth to join the armed forces which offer adventurous life and are one of the large employers with pretty decent salaries and perks and even post-retirement benefits.

Challenges in PR - In Kannada now!

The Institute of Media Studies and Research and Public Relations Council of India (Bangalore Chapter) organised an event to release the Kannada version of  Professor C.K. Sardana’s book "Challenges of Public Relations". The Kannada book, "Saarvajanaika Samparka - Saarthakatheya Savallu", was translated  by HR Shreesha and Khadri S. Achyuthan. The function was held today at University Visveswaraya College of Engineering Auditorium.

The Book was released by Prof K.R. Venugopal, Principal UVCE and PRCI Chairman, South Zone. Mr M.B Jayaram, Chairman Emeritus  PRCI presided over  the function. Mr R.T. Kumar Chairman GC PRCI and Mrs Geetha Shankar National Chairperson Young Communicators Club spoke on the occasion.

Several academicians, PR, Media and advertising  professionals from different sectors attended the function.

In this picture, L to R: H.R Shreesha, the translator of the book into Kannada, Mr S. Raman former DGM, Union Bank of India, R.T .Kumar, Khadri. S. Achyuthan.. the co-translator, Prof K.R. Venugopal, Principal of UVCE and  PRCI Chairman, South Zone, Prof C.K. Sardana, M B Jayaram, Suresh Savekar.S, General Manager  State Bank Of Mysore

Stop Daily Tragedies on Mumbai Local Tracks: Sign Change petition

PL sign this petition - Communicate for Commuter. Join Mission Mumbai Local - a PRCI campaign

https://www.change.org/p/ministry-of-railways-stop-daily-tragedies-on-mumbai-local-tracks-10-commuters-die-daily-join-lifelinemumbai?recruiter=29763990&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink

PRCI salutes the soldier

A Team of about 15 members from PRCI .Hyd.Chapter had a photo shoot @ Charminar this morning wearing T.shirts depicting the slogan "PR community of PRCI Salutes Indian Army:

Mission Mumbai Local - Report on Deaths Out ; Time for Action

• ·         Every day, ten people die on Central Railway tracks and another ten get seriously injured.
• ·         Its mainly because people do not want to miss trains and also they are not sure about the next train coming in time
• ·         21 year old Bhavesh Nakate died after losing grip from a speeding local – and the bvideo went viral –
• ·         Rly Minister Suresh Prabhu asks CR and WR to appoint committees to study.
• ·         CR comes out with “Report on Review of Rising trend of accidental deaths in Mumbai suburban system”.
• ·         Report on CR website for about six months now. Suggests Rs 20,000 crore makeover plan including:
• ·         Purchase of 150 new trains
• ·         Door closures and A/C trains
• ·         Additional platforms and stabling lines (parking for trains)
• ·         Disaster management plan
• ·         ROBs, fencing of tracks and so on
• ·         Committee discusses at length on the lack of parking places for trains which creates congestion (drag) on the system and leads to delays in train running.
• ·         Committee suggests ways to increase frequency of trains at two minute intervals by providing for loops, stabling lines etc.,
• ·         Underground loop at CSR and stabling lines at Thane, Kalyan and Panvel discussed.
• ·         Thane, KDMC and BMC commissioners were also on the committee and signed the report.
• ·         Also MPs – Kirit Somaiya, Arvind Sawant, Poonam Mahajan, Rajan Vichare – are signatories to the report, apart from couple NGOs.
• ·         Question is who is doing what to improve CR local services?
• ·         Is nobody bothered about people dying and getting seriously injured?
• ·         Do we believe in only cosmetic work like beautifying stations?
• ·         What is beauty without safety and punctuality?
• ·         PRCI – the national body of PR, media and advertising professionals – has launched communication drive as its contribution towards the Mumbai’s lifeline.
• ·         PRCI also launched a social media campaign and is engaging journalism students to spread the good word. 

Disruption is way of life - and how

By Rajasekar K S

Reproduced from http://www.socialsamosa.com/

Social media, mobile and apps have chipped away at the foundation of traditional behaviour. The way we work and how we live is impacted by new technology. People are adapting and evolving continuously to technology disruptions.

Sharing cabs with strangers

As children we were all taught not to speak to strangers, leave alone meet anyone we didn’t know before. Today, young girls and guys confidently share their travel with complete strangers on ride-share services like OLA. And they don’t seem to have any complaints.

Renting our Rooms

On Airbnb, we rent a part of our home to total strangers. We see several listings on the site where all-women homes and elders-only homes let out a room in their homes, on daily rent and even serve meals for a fee.

Selling stuff

Years ago, we were sceptical, sometimes suspicious of the gas wala, postman or the courier guy who rang our doorbell. On OLX and Quickr, we sell stuff and strangers come home to see them, have a coffee and buy the stuff.

Leaving our secrets online

We dare to speak our minds on politics, social issues and even leave a trail of our personality online. While privacy was a concern in the old world, the brave new world is oblivious of privacy issues “checking in” wherever they are, announcing travel plans and sometimes even leaving behind details of their holiday resort for the world to see.

Saving our private photos on a cloud

Not long ago, we’d be careful to privately store our pictures, letters and videos of family events. All that has changed as we use Google Drive and DropBox like services to upload our family content online and leave it in the cloud.

Exposing our vulnerabilities

Not so long ago, people generally revealed less about their fears and doubts online. But the communication paradigm has changed today where we see CEOs talk about their anxieties, sporting greats reveal their nervousness before a major meet and cancer patients documenting their last days on a hospital bed.

Permissions to peek into our phones

The way we view our privacy offline is completely varied with online privacy, although the trace we leave on social networks is permanent. Our notions of privacy and confidentiality have undergone drastic changes like never before in history. We hardly hesitate when an app asks for permission to access our phone list and even send messages to them.

At the same time the alternative “dark social” movement is visible with the shift to private conversations on WhatsApp and SnapChat. These are more to keep away from the repercussions of public data from advertisers, marketers, activists, governments and parents.

The author

This is sometimes surprising and at times scary. But, these are exciting times. Guess digital natives are revealing new behaviours that defy the best of psychologists and sociology researchers. One thing is sure, privacy may in future may be a major issue for governments and the people. But until then, I’m using the Bla Bla car and agreeing to all the terms and conditions of my torch app.

*Rajasekar KS is a content and social media strategist who works as GM – Marketing at BharatMatrimony and tweets at @positivemantra. When he's not playing with his family of one loving wife and two caring daughters, he blogs at www.positivemantra.com. He travels to connect to himself and the universe. Views here expressed are personal.

Concept PR deploys hub-n-spoke model for South, pitches aggressively

Bags PR mandates of ‘Granules India Ltd’, ‘Happay’, ‘Book my Time’,‘Sathguru Management Consultants’, and  ‘VBHC’

BENGALURU:India’s premier public relations company Concept PR has deployed a hub-and-spoke model for exponential growth across South India.The hub-n-spoke modelleads to significant improvements in efficiencies due to joint development of efforts across the centres, enhances the geographical footprint of the agency and simultaneously makes available the entire offerings of varied services of the agency to all the clients across all centres. This helps facilitate the entire production process and lower overall costs.

“We believe that the Indian economy is on an upswing and the growth going forward would be exponential. South India offers excellent opportunities for communication in different verticals such as IT, ITES, Bio-technology, Startups, Pharma and real estate and infrastructure. Our renewed focus appears to have paid us dividends considering the fact that we have been winning a string of businesses in this region,” said Ashish Jalan, Director and CEO of Concept group.

The consultancy has signed new clients like Bangalore-based Happay, abusiness expense management solution company, and Book My Time, a car service and sales aggregator, Hyderabad based,Granules India Ltd, a pharmaceutical compound manufacturer, and Sathguru Management Consultants amongst others. Concept PR has also won mandate from VBHC - Value Homes Private Limited which has projects across Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi-NCR.

“The past nine months has been a huge learning curve, we have pitched aggressively, won accounts, added to the team. But most importantly, we have hit upon the ideal model to increase our presence in the South, increase our product offering, efficiently use group resources across all offices, all this without increasing unnecessary costs. This is critical as we will be able to add value for our clients and at the same time not be heavy on their pockets,” said Sunil Nair, COO – South, Concept PR.

 ‘The increase in clients is gratifying but we still have a long way to go’, added Sunil Nair.

Concept PR, with a strength of 250 communication professionals has a pan India presence and an extensive network across eight major cities in India. The agency services clients across verticals likeBFSI, Real Estate&Infrastructure, Healthcare and Pharma, SEML (Sports, Entertainment, Media Lifestyle), IT& Telecom, amongst others. It also manages pre-IPO build up, IPO marketing communication, is renowned for its crisis communication skills and has dedicated Digital Communication and Investor Relations teams. 

The 'Sparrow' that shook the World and Gen Ayub Khan!

By S Narendra

 (Immediately, after the death of prime  minister Nehru, there was a vacuum in political communication caused by political drift. Lal Bahadur Shastri who succeeded Nehru was not a mass leader, and his Congress backers chose him more for his perceived weakness. He unexpectedly came into prominence and gave memorable nation rallying slogans thanks mainly to the misadventure of Gen. Ayub Khan of Pakistan....Read on S Narendra's column on Political Communication )

When Shastriji pipped Morarji Desai to the post for the prime ministership after the death of

Jawaharlal Nehru in May 1964, most observers commented that the powerful Congress working committee chose Shastriji over Desai as a more pliable, compromise candidate. In fact, British media invited Indian ire when they referred to Shastriji as a sparrow. Shastriji was a self- effacing, diminutive political leader not much known in large parts of India. Although the transition of power from Nehru to Shastriji had been smooth, a sense of political uncertainty prevailed and remarkably there was no attempt to dispel this mood with effective political communication. There were several reasons for this state of affairs.         

The 1962 Chinese aggression seemed to have broken Nehru’s spirit that in turn told on his health. As criticism of his China policy mounted inside and outside the Congress party, Nehru’ s credibility also had been damaged, along with that of the political communication emanating from him. The two main planks of his and the government’s policies forming the core of the political communication had fallen off.

The first was them was the promise of faster development through five year plans. As resources had to be diverted to defence, III Plan suffered. The other plank, foreign policy rooted in non-alignment received a severe setback. In the aftermath of the Indo-China, Nehru’s frantic appeals for US military assistance (as recounted by J.K.Galbraith US Ambassador in New Delhi in his memoir) had raised questions about the benefits his foreign policy. In one sweep, the unifying message of hope and security that he had managed to convey had disappeared when his successor Lal Bahadur Shastriji stepped into his big shoes.

Economic and Political challenges:      As the media said, Nehru was a great banyan tree under which not a blade of grass could grow. Though Shastri had emerged as Nehru’s trusted lieutenant but certainly wasn’t a second in command by any imagination. During   the first few months of his tenure as prime minister, Shastriji had to deal with one of the worst economic conditions marked by drought sweeping north India. The country had to rely on concessional food imports, mostly from the US. The new prime minister tried to shift the III Plan focus to agriculture and his new slogan   ‘grow two grains where one grew before’ did not pick up steam. However, Shastriji is remembered more for his call to make Mondays a cereal-less day for saving scarce cereals. This had not gone down well with the people, especially with the restaurant and food business. In order to promote the prime minister’s call, the government publicity machinery hastily put together pamphlets giving out dozens of recipes for cereal-less meals and snacks and the government advertising wing created a dedicated cell for mailing the pamphlets in large numbers (I was associated with this exercise).

Notably, the  Congress party itself was inactive on the  political communication front, Its President, K.Kamaraj, could speak only Tamil and was known as ‘parkalam,Kamaraj’ (most questions put to him  elicited this response, meaning ‘Let’s see’).The party was a divided house, after the implementation 1963 Kamaraj Plan in which prime minister Nehru had asked senior cabinet ministers-Moraji Desai, Jagjivan Ram, Biju Patnaik, S.K.Patil, Lal Bahadur Shastri and several chief ministers to step down. However, Nehru had brought back Shastriji into the cabinet later, that had not gone down well with the seniors. Now Shastrijim had succeeded Nehru. Even Mrs Indira Gandhi, inducted into Shastriji’s cabinet as I&B minister was reportedly sulking, according to senior journalist Inder Malhotra. In an an article in the Indian Express written a few years  before his death, Malhotra wrote that Mrs Gandhi was unhappy that she was not given the foreign ministry. Another sore point with her was that Shastriji was not consulting her on important policy decisions. Such political differences were sufficient to slow down the government machinery as well.

Agni Pariksha: While Shastriji was grappling with domestic economic problems and the Congress party’s latent dissensions, there suddenly loomed an external threat as well. Gen:Ayub Khan who had usurped power in Pakistan, sent in army men disguised as Kashmiri  militants to the Srinagar valley. When the defence chiefs proposed a massive Indian counter attack on the western front, the prime minister without any hesitation gave them  the go ahead, according to Sharad Kelkar, who was the private secretary to the then defence minister Y.B.Chavan.

In the ensuing 17 days full scale war, India gained the upper hand, with significant territorial inroads into Pakistan. In the meanwhile, US and Soviet Union applied pressure on both the countries to go for a truce. The Soviet Union hosted a meeting between India and Pakistan at Tashkent for hammering out a peace pact. The prime minister who had travelled to Tashkent suffered a fatal cardiac arrest soon after signing this agreement. According to media persons who had accompanied the PM,  Shastriji  was extremely worried about the possible adverse public reaction back home to  terms of this agreement, according to which India had to give up the gains made in the war.

Jai Jawan-Jai Kisan: The effect of this war on India’s politics was that it had put the limelight on Shastriji’s quiet but firm leadership and the nation had rallied behind him. Amidst the crisis Shastriji had come out with a memorable slogan ‘Jai Jawan-jai Kisan’ that resonated with the people. In a simple desi idiom Shastriji had communicated a strategic policy shift-development and  defence, not Either ,Or ( Nehru was criticised for his alleged neglect of defence )-that was to define his government’s approach for strengthening India’s security. It further emphatically signalled that his government would accord priority to agriculture that had not received the importance it deserved in the five year plans thus far. For a people fighting hunger and food scarcity this was a welcome message. Alas, Shastriji was not there to carry forward the political communication riding on his very popular slogan that had won him public support.           

The author:
Former PIO and Govt
Spokesperson

In January 1966, barely 20 months after Nehru’s death, India was thrown into political uncertainly. The political transition was not smooth this time, as Morarji Desai insisted on contesting for the prime ministership against the Congress party’s nominee Mrs IndiraGandhi .Eventually, Desai lost the vote and Mrs Gandhi was sworn in as prime minister on January 19. According to most commentators, senior party leadership, especially the party president Kamaraj, was scared of Morarji Desai’s perceived unbending nature.  Their choice fell on Mrs Gandhi,  as they deemed her to be ‘gungi gudiya’ (dumb doll) who could be manipulated. A stung Morarji Desai, refused to join Mrs Gandhi’s cabinet.

This was a pre-election year and the Congress party monolith was cracking not only in Delhi but also in many states. This was at a period when the country was facing daunting challenges - one of the severest droughts, it had to recover from the costly Indo-Pak war and   the prospect of one of the worst BoP or balance of payment crisis. There was no political leadership in sight that was capable of dealing with such mighty challenges.

How to win friends among media persons

By C K Sardana*

After a 23-year stint in PR/Corporate Communication -- all along in BHEL's Units at Bhopal and Hardwar -- I was transferred as Head/Corporate PR at New Delhi in June 1985. Even though, I belonged to Delhi,  I had not rubbed shoulders with media and media persons

The Author

stationed in Delhi. But, then, I was not a novice in PR/CC, either!.

On the very first day, I sought advice from the personnel in Corporate PR as to how to go about. While I was new in that position, they had already spent over a decade dealing with media in Delhi. I just asked them to name 1-2 media persons with whom they were not very comfortable or, in other words, who were not very cooperative. They named Harish Awasthi who, then, was Director/News/Doordarshan. Incidentally, unlike now, there were no other TV channels at that time.

I asked my colleagues when did DD carry an item on BHEL last time. They shrugged and said '3-4 months'. That, surely, was not acceptable to me. In tune with my nature and work style, I thought it best to take initiative, get to Awasthi and have a dialogue with him. I rang him up. He was, as expected, cold and said yes, no and so on.

I thanked him and concluded 2-mt talk 'OK, Sir, I will come over after a few days and then we will talk.'

He said Fine.

After 15 days, I met him. This time, he was little warm and forthcoming. He started saying that BHEL was not doing well at all. Contents of what he said and his body language made me understand that his premise was based on lack of communication with him. He was quite angry. I just listened, smiled and thanked him for his frankness. I said 'we will keep meeting'.

This time again he said FINE.

In the third meeting, I requested him to just listen to me for 10 mts by the watch. He said 'no problem, come on'. Quickly but clearly and pointedly, I shared with him some outstanding achievements of BHEL which surpassed those of even the best companies in the world. Now, his face showed a big smile and discreet 'yes on the achievements of BHEL which, he said, must be aired on the DD network. I cam back happy.

Awasthi called his colleagues and told them all that had transpired. He asked them to give wide publicity to BHEL. Jolly well, tables were turned. From the third meeting onwards, DD started good giving coverage.

Moral of this narration -- PR man, especially PR Head, must have confidence in self, in his colleagues and in the media persons. He must demonstrate his confidence and professional competence inside and outside the Organization. This will bring about negativity to positivity.

But, always humble and forthcoming. PR is not a 10 to 5 job but 24/7 job. (*The author is a Former GM/Corporate PR/BHEL, Now settled at Bhopal.email id: casardana@gmail.com)