&+ SMU 3ublication: Marketing, p 3036 late: July 2011 deadline: Should PR have voice in the boardroom?

A SHOULDPR HAVE VOICE IN

THE BOARDROOM? In the aftermath of multiple crises, industry leaders are calling Increasingly for public relations to have a hand

in strategising at the C-suite level. Whib the demand for good PR is pressing, can the industry at present really

supply the need? Elizabeth Low reports.

In November 2000, Singapore Airlines @1A) role in helping stew a company through a crisls. N m Wlevss h9H the things they read In that had an enormous crisis on its hands. Tlw alrllne, In an Interview wlth M ~ ~ , Claments newspaper anyway', which prides Itself on top-dass m i c e and reveals how he had always received strong That response gave me the confidence safety. had a furlous and detraught public to support and had a direct llne to the C W m the to Eontinue tdkhg to the rnedla, but a face as Its SQ006 pkne mashed In Taiwan's PR lead in SIA. le&s supportha chafrmafi cwld have told me Chiang Kai-Shek &port durlng take off, killlng "WhenIRrstbecamemanagwofSIA'spu~b to be mwe cautious and put my Wes In nearly ha# of Its 1 79 m n g e r s . affalm depa&nsnt, there were two awecutlves wriblng."

Public outmy quickly came in the form between me and the CEO: bier there was only TOP t O PR AOENClW IN 9011

of lawsuits and accusations hurled at SIA for one. But from t b beglnnlrg, I wutd call tlw CEO not ghim Information quickly enough. SINS dlrectly and he wwld often call me," squeaky clean -tion nose-dlvsd In m l n g C!mmts talks a b u t FR professlmds M i a mprts with m e even Wcising me nwdtng to h a mmg nm~nip. md alrline as having one ofthe world's worst safety trust with the medla to wmrnunlcate w r d s , desptte te thec'dent biw W s first effectwty, wpsially In a M s . But for this wnm fatal mash. to happen, the PR professional needs to

In the midst of mountlng panic and distress, a &tb of one of m s passeng6fs bet-@ Into a news briefing, denaanding 'first-hand newsH f m SIA, Instead of aRowbg a pllceman to haul the man out of the room, SINS then sp~kespsrson Rick Clments let hlm stay and put hls arm around hlrn as tehdsicm cameras broadcast4 t k e.

While Clemnts' heartfelt act earned hhn deep raspsct In- the publlc relations and mdla industry, It was also a sbWng l m w of how puMk relations, when ern- to move elongSIde ccmpany I~dershtp, wn play a key

feel empowered, ideally with the suppwt of senior management, and unafraid to make the occasional sllp.

Relating an IncMent In his earty days In SIA's put& affairs department, ha says: "A jwmallst quoted rrm incorrectly by M n g some remarks -

I@&&-* ,; , wt of mtexf. B was probably partly my own :.a.+24.k &-: - - -. - . . ...... -

faldt due to hexperlence at that the, and k

management. An explanatory note was m t to

the note with the handwritten comment, 'I dbn't h o w why you're ail gettlng so excited. ~ ~ s ~ o l ~ Y ~ 2 M l

& Publication: Marketing, p 3036 SMU Date: July2011

C Headline: Should PR have voice in the boardroom?

r m r u b k l O E ~ T b & ~ ' ~ year saw many W c h i p cwnpanles wch

85 HP, BP and DBS stumble In their publlc r&afins efforts following W r crises.

Andrew Thwnas, maging director of ~ g w PuW Relatbns WorlMde S i t p p m

regimal managing dimfor of Qlhy Publlc Relations Worldwide Southeast Asia, opined that in tfie past the root of the problem was CH)s and top management Mng too far rermved fmm fhBir PR and cwmnunimtbns strategists. and argued that this was no feasible In a ti@ agewherstheintemetpro\4ded~umsrswith a deluga at infomation.

Hill and Knowlton's new Slngapre h d w Baey Yam Keng aka M n e d a Won of having

I pI3 occupy the frffh mt in the boardroom.

Tradkionally, big companies haveimmtment bankers, legal caunsel, accountants, and management consultants imroh.ed in their C-suite pfanning. But we s e ~ that communications is equally Impomt. Wness plans need to be plamved well, drategtes need to be executed, but they elso need to be mmunicated to stake holdm, business pattners, custwnws, public a d also internal staff," hB says.

V i Urn, president and COO of Hill & Knowltcn Asia Pacific, thlnks the trend is all the

p m n g in Asia. oonsunwlsm In Asia, be Rmund

product l s e s that bubble up oniine w issues of sustainability. is reachiryl new levels and looles set to expand more as consumws understand their rigMs and press fw mpomte

,-untabilii. "Man C-suites have to mmunkxte more

w W y today than they have ever done More; thus the demand for senior PR cwnsellors and the ~edlbility they bring a~ they fows on helplng Thlnklng on the run: Nib used Carl Lewis to great e ? k t to grab headllneg in the Singapore marethon.

3ublication: Marketing, p 3036 late: July 2011 deadline: Should PR have voice in the boardroom?

nWsls cornrnun~tion is o m of many PR dieclplinw and practMoners who are

experfenced in all areas of PR, such as issue management, investor relations, sadal

networking are lh short supply? f u u k c h m m - - r ~ ~ k * r l

i w ~ m n a a m ~ f a w r d o r d i l C A P R

the corp~mte MWnrnw\ldon pm3ia at @ngapm's Man- Wnhrspslty4 qr,sajrs t h ~ 6-suite d m L dm that has h n I~ng-held by-,Bctt@tarnateMh HM, WM PtlWctg' PR h

Fmmn as well a @or om-m podtion Prr 8 m , ws while he sees mme top Iwders imdmdim gmd ~ w n r r w n w i comwiy, tha PR IndW

was not d e W m d Q b W m W, limiting Its rebanae h the C - M ~

% e W ~ I s t h a t F R h a s l s d d W da -2hat they ngsd M h tb,G~Ub, but gtlll they are thwa. Mi# lWk3 mrders td mora and mom about mmtmrn tbn , PF1 people still dodl mderstand mom ?abut bu&?wIL be.

~ , w h o n o w r u r t s t i i a r w v n independent mmunifr3W fmmihmy, a W w l r r m s t h a t a ~ H n k t o t o p ~ ~ t W notm*WOldr,ftkwm~~

-If W r k 3 v l y p a P t d m * m , n r r ~ a y b e m m t t o ~ w e w n w t w w s .

m ~ w ~ - b y ~ o w n H R p r a W m , c P r p o r a t e ~ o t m ~ ewr iemdI tsPR~ent - .

" F Q , ~ given d i e m f g them,

3ublication: Marketing, p 3036 late: July 2011 deadline: Should PR have voice in the boardroom?

"People who do manage to mow are up are grossly thrown money at because them's not

enough people to fill these rolesmn Qregor Ham- assoelate professor of carporata communlcatfon

practlce at Singapore's Manaoement Universtty

tha PR head has to b up to the job: if he or she d m ' t have the rlgM depth of expedew In 8 m $ such as stmteglc communlcatlon and corporate reputamn management, a dlrect W n g Ilne wlll be of no value and stmply I m the CEQ's management I d . "

B The reality is that the supply of expedenoed " public relations profasslonals falls fw short of

demand. Chis communlcatlon Is one of many PR

dlsciplim and practltlonersmare e x p e r i e m (n all ereas of PR, such as h u e management, I inwstw rda10ns. social netwwking and so on, are in short supply," Clements cays.

"Flndlng a candidate strong enough to IP head up a mufti-faceted PA department and

report directly to the CEO Is a real challenge, - especially In thls pad of the world. "Fhm who are Suitably qualified are often

hlghly valued by thelr existing employers and -- '

difficult to ~ r i se away." In a 201 0 Huchn Sadery report conducted k- across Asia on the PR Indust, Swapom and

mBJ Sautheast Asia were shown to have the highest jump In saw percentage from those being

YeDonalds* open door campalgn helped to build pmmotd a m e d a l role to a Mnlw consumer trust. (78%) wmpared to the Increase In other wuntrim

such as Hong Kong and Japan, where satartes onty I n c d by M3% and 33% respctldy.

HaM believes t h e mum hlnt at the maturity of the markets In the latter two and conversely, the lack of maturity In Slngwm and southeast Asla.

Commentlmg on the fast moving tatent in the Industry, H M says: They (more experienced PR professlonds) are being traded like hot pies.

Them's a dtamatlc lack of people Me (In Sln-) so the m few people get picked. Pmpb who do manage to move are up are grossly thrown money at becaum there's not enough people to fill them roles."

He also observes that a majority of corporate communkatims personnei on stock-lMed cmpmles are fwelgners Instead of locals.

On that note, Singapwe's Investment cmpany Temasek Holdlngs also m t i y hlred Stephen Forshaw as tts puMb relations lead.

A few Industry leaders have mmented on themuch publlclsdappointment, ackrwledging that whlte he mltaidy came highly Wlfied, there was the questlwl of whether he had faced much real campetitlon for the apappolment from lowls.

"They're not growing higher, but bmder: HaHf concluded, Ilkenlng the growth of the PR

3ublication: Marketing, p 3036 late: July 2011 deadline: Should PR have voice in the boardroom?

Industry In Singapore to a bonsal, growing larger In n u m b , but not necmsarily climbing higher in the ranks as a whofe.

=- In the shortage of strong public relatrons professionals, what has happened In Asla Is that CEOs arb3 leaders are rlslng to become strmgw mmunicators.

Flgures such as AirAsia's Tony Femandes; MabHan Alrllnm' prwbus CEO ldrls Jala and Caprtaland's CEO Llew Mun L q have proven to be fluent oommunicators with the d i a ,

'A CEO needs to be medla-sawy and understand how to deliver a sound bite on television or radio, how to bridge key messages and how to create an impression that wlns puMlc approval. But not every CEO has that skill, and as we often see when a CEO speaks to the medla - especially In tlrnes of crisis - s bad sltuatlon can be made worse through Ill-judged or hsenslttve comments," Clements says.

However, the Industry Is still In transition, he adds, noting that companies are nedlng to factor in m i d medla, even for thelr crlsis mrnmunicatlons.

"During the volcanlc eruptbn in tceland. whlch caused mass flight cancellations wer

"Asian C-suites Rave to communicate more 1 widely today than they haw ever done before;

thus the demand for senior PR counseltors." Vivian Unes - president and COO of HIII 8 Knwrtton Asla Pmclllc

Europe, alrllne call centres couldn't handle the huge volume of requests to re-bmk flights.

"A number of airllnes turned to soclal medla as a chis communimlion tool, uslng Twitter and other apptlcations to send out f reqwt updates and re-hoklw tip.

They were pralsed for t k i r proacthe responss. but that doesn't mean any organlsatlon can simply turn to Twittar, Facebook or YouTube during a crisis and expect similar success. A social media strategy has to be in pbce M o r e the crisis happens.

"I am often asked by clients how to mike the social media in a crisis, but not all are ready for it.

"Uslng social medla to converse directly wkh stakeholders - and In a styie v6ty dbrent from a news release crafted In fwnal corporate- speak - is something qulte fomlgn to a lot of urgantsatlons.

'They stlll want to control the flow of

lnforrnatlon In a crisis, and with t o w s social media, contml simply isn't possible."

Ham thinks investing In education wlll ease the problem, having started a Masters programme for the mrporate curnmunlcations.

A k , to galn credlblllty In an envlromnmt

more and more, and markdng b h d s hcreaslllgly wlth the PR funcllon, PR pmfwlomls need to carve a niche to define and justify thelr role in the drganisatiin body, much more than in W C-suite.

"It is like what I once read on PR excdlence In this book published In the '80s.

"It said a publlc relations profesiwral W s to be more I l k a dentist and not a halrdremr.

'Baslcalty, anyone can cut your hair, but not everyone can bs your dentist. Dentists solve problems no one else can s o b , and that's what good PR &utd be like." El