When in crisis or challenging times, like in life reach out and communicate. More the better!

It is by now common knowledge that companies are all about people. And customers and employees interact with people and not companies. It is also now proven beyond doubt that brands are like living beings and they are what they are because of the emotional connect they strike with it’s ardent and loyal customers.

You are a PR firm

This is one of the articles which have their roots in personal anguish. Over the past 18 months during which, the firm I run has started moving away from traditional, plain vanilla media relations into being a customized communication solutions firm there is one phrase that I hear (and now live in constant mortal fear of hearing again and again) from clients –“You are a PR firm and a PR firm is not supposed to be a specialist beyond media relations.”

Few days back had a potential client who is a start-up spend a lot of time in our office. Our creative head who is a two decade veteran in advertising and I took him through our portfolio and explained to him the process we adopt. He could also see that we had a full fledged team with graphic and interactive capabilities inside. So, we thought it is all sealed and done. Day after we got a call. The board of the company was of the opinion that PR firms are not good at design or anything to do with it and they asked the mandate be split into PR and brand identity development. We of course would get the “PR” part.

It is time retailers and regional FMCG brands looked beyond TV spots!

Since the topic touches and will touch raw chords and nerves let me at the outset categorically state that the views are those of a seasoned communicator looking at the current scenario dispassionately.

Being a not so regular TV watcher and my mother tongue being Tamil end up watching commercial TV in Tamil mostly in the evening prime time slot. Over the past few years have consistently noticed that big retailers (guess there are tens of them out of Chennai and elsewhere) and most regional FMCG brands almost entirely depend on TV commercials for their sales or marketing or communication with customers. It also dawned on me that festive season after festive season, collection after collection, product after product, this formula remained largely untouched.

Social media needs to move from promise, talk to rigor and action soon

Social media is the in thing nowadays. There is not a single day that passes without a story on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube or the stars of the social media space making it to the airwaves or the ink. The success of Obama and our very own Pink Chaddi campaign is fresh in our memories and already spoken to death in social media conferences and seminars. On the other side, every other day, witness a new venture or foray into the space. If one adds up all the hype, then social media should have already arrived from a brand communication and marketing perspective. Well, not really. Here is my take on what it will take to get social media which I agree is hot and presents profound new ways of touch, communication and engagement, can get there.

Do you know your DNA?

In my limited experience of being a branding and image consultant for a lot of IT, IT services and IT-enabled services companies, there was one constant challenge. With the exception of a few, the business model/content of communication of majority of companies in this space is absolutely indistinguishable. However, there was always a lingering question, which begged an answer and, answer to which I thought would be the basis of differentiation for a whole lot of players in these sectors.

The big shift towards non-linearity in communication presents a lifetime opportunity for the Indian PR industry

Listening to the various presentations made at the recent ICCO Global Summit and also while perusing recent media reports about separate tracking service for blogs launched by a global leader in PR, one key insight stuck me. The process of communication the way the PR industry has looked at for the past many decades is undergoing and will undergo a rapid shift in the days, months and years to come.

How about getting out of the box???

Often while running a business one of the biggest frustrations faced by those who head and run it is that they seem to often hit an air pocket with no solution in sight. It could be an issue that is internal like team dynamics, external like unreasonable customers, delayed payments, errant suppliers and confusing market conditions. Or it could be even the bullying behavior of a bigger competitor who is ruthlessly trying to put you down or cut off your supplies. Often in these situations, the frustration is seemingly endless because whatever seemingly logical approach you try (i.e. one that has been attempted before) it seems the issue never goes away.