pr project to be printed

8/7/2019 pr project to be printed

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PUBLIC RELATIONS

PROJECT

Submitted by:

Rupali Walia(50137)

Sanya Kapur(50146)

Sanchi Arora(50144)

Ritwik Barthwal(50132)


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C O E ACKNOWLEDGEMENT INTRODUCTION V ALUE 360-INTRODUCTION S ERVI CES CLIENTS CAS E S TUDIES BH ARTI-INTRODUCTION VISI ON AND V ALUES DIV ERSIFI CATION PR PHI LOS OPHY PARTICULARS OF PR AT BH ARTI CAS E S TUDY PR AGENCY VS PR DEPARTMENT CONCLUSI ON BIB LIOGRAPHY


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A CKN OW EDGEME NT We would like to thank Mr.Ameet S ahu, our teacher

for Public Relations for his guidance at every stage of our project. H e encouraged us to go ahead with ouridea and it is with the zeal he instilled in us that wecould complete this project successfully. We wouldalso like to specifically thank him for giving us such aproject which involved us to conduct field study andobserve the practical application of all the PRconcepts we have studied in class.


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I NT ROD CT IO N Everything you do or say is public relations.

As we have studied throughout the Semester, Public Relations is inarguablyone of the organization s core concerns. Its scope and range of activities hasdiversified and evolved greatly in the Indian context over the last decade.

Although we read a lot about it in theory, our Public Relations Project forSemester 2 enabled us to get a clear insight into what exactly PR as it exists asa profession in the real world consists of, how it is perceived and positioned invarious organization setups, what are the core functions of a PR deptt/agency,whether the same our consistent across different firms and essentially, what isthe degree of importance/influence PR enjoys in the business world today.

For the same, we contacted two companies, one a PR Agency, cal led Value360,which boasts of a decorated client base and the other one being, BhartiEnterprises, which has a Corporate Communications Department handling itsPR functions.

We spoke to the Founder and Director of Value 360, Mr. Kunal Kishore and theHead of the Group Corporate Communications Department at Bharti

Enterprises, Mr.Prem Subedi, about how they look at the Public Relationswhich has become so crucial these days to the functioning of any organization,what their day to activities are, probed them for examples that showcasedtheir PR strategies and campaigns and compared what we inferred from boththe talks and perspectives.

The above helped us

y Understand PR in practical and how it has evolved over timey Understand why Organizations outsource their PR Activity or conversely,

keep it internaly Understand how diverse PR needs of different clients can bey Understand how organizations have, in the past, applied the knowledge

of PR to real life situations and to what extent they have beensuccessful.


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About the C ompany:Value 360 Communication, an affiliate of Huntsworth, is a full-fledged corporate communicationconsultancy firm, which is formed with an objective of offering focused, practical, and measurableintegrated communication program. The agency has helped more than 100 brands from across theworld to realize their corporate communication requirement. Using a blend of communication tools,it has been effectively working since 2003 towards adding value to the events of its clients, lendingexpertise to its promotions and ensuring appreciation and awareness for the values represented bythe companies and influencing positive perception about the brand.

As told to us by the company Founder and Director, Mr. Kunal Kishore, Value 360 strives to Bring

your brand to life . In today s world, it s important to decide what kind of and then work towardsbuilding the decided kind of personality around your brand-could be a luxury brand, could be abrand for the youngsters

With its Headquarters in Delhi and pan India presence through 36 affiliate offices and aninternational presence through its global partner-Huntsworth UK-Value 360 Communications is partof the group company with Precision PR and Media and Imprint PR being part of the group company.

About Huntsworth:

Huntsworth is a world class communications group with public relations at its core, global in scalebut rooted in domestic excellence.

Huntsworth houses some of the world's leading PR agencies and offers expertise across a number of sectors including: consumer, finance, public affairs and technology together with an integratedhealthcare offer.

Enterprises are now operating in multifaceted and rapidly shifting ecosystems. To make an impactfulmessaging strategy in this environment, Value 360 believes that an interactive approach should betaken to align and build relationships with the ecosystem. Value 360 Communications has developedan approach and consulting methodology to enable its clients to communicate successfully in this

new world. It s communication approach focuses on five important aspects:

y Innovationy Strategyy Executiony Deliverabley Impact


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S ERVI C E S 1) MEDIA RE

A T IO N S :

Value 360 Communication s approach towards

communication is to understand the playground (media space) and customize thecommunication to have a level playing winningapproach.

Mr. Kunal Kishore, Founder and Director of Value 360 explained the above to us by citingthe example of how if an employee of the PRdeptt of Reliance group calls up Star News and informs them about Anil Ambani s wish toappear & talk live on their Crime show, Sansani , it shall be a ineffective attempt since it isvery important for a PR agency to have the perfect context and contact matc h i.e. to not

just have contacts in the world of media or whichever sector one is trying to target for itscompany so that influence can turn into visible presence for the company but the content of the message being communicated must be spot on when considering thecontext/format of your playing field.

The media strategist's at Value 360 help you identify target media and audiences andprovide:

A full press office service that includes writing, researching and placing pressreleases, opinion pieces and case studies,

feature tracking and on-line media relations and a dedicated website for the media.

It also coordinates with its client s international press offices to ensure that themessaging in local markets is in sync with the global messaging and timing.

2) C RI S I S C OMM N I C A T IO N S :

It takes years to create a positive repute and a crisis of seconds to destroy it. During a crisis, the challenge is toprotect one of the most important aspects of a company,institution or organization the long-term reputation(image) of brands and products. There are three stagesthat the company follows: Pre Crises; Crises and PostCrises. It also works on creating a crisis drill for all ourclients to help them to react rightly in time of crisis.


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W e were informed about how the primary reason a crisis gets blown out of proportion or serves ahuge blow to a company s long term image(both of which can be avoided) is due tomismanagement of communication. Go to the chaukidaar, he ll give you one version of events, goto the General Manager, he ll give you a completely different story altogether . Also, many atimes, since constant flow of communication is not maintained with the media and public, the

media starts speculating and the company is often talked of in a bad light.To avoid all of the above, Value 360 follows a systematic Crisis Communication Model whichentails

y developing a list of possible crisis situations for every client.y Following the list development, a chart is formed which defines the responsibility of each

person at each level of an organization during a crisis situation, what they need tocommunicate, if they need to communicate at all etc.

y The PR team also creates a media desk for the client through which the people who are tobe the spokespeople for the company in the event of a crisis are identified and giventraining

The founder of Value 360 also pointed out to us that in a crisis, it is not necessary that an exact reason for the crisis is given to the public; mitigation steps being taken need to emphasized on and

even in the negatives, stress on the positives approach needs to be followed. For eg: Value 360 was the firm handling CrisisCommunications for the Grand Hotel fire that broke out

in Jan, 2008. The coverage of the entire incident if reports are dug into reveals that the hotel was saved

from too much negative publicity and the informationbeing disseminated from the hotel officialsconcentrated more upon things like the coordinated evacuation plan that was carried out, how nobody wasinjured etc.

3) I N VE S T OR A N D A N A Y S T RE A T IO N S HI :

Value 360 also provides a range of dedicated strategic and operational services that allowsits clients to communicate effectively with industry analysts.

These analysts are part of the 'circle of influence' and come from media, government,services and business backgrounds. The PR agency provides a custom-built communicationcampaign targeted at them through a white paper program, newsletters, magazines and

backgrounders to ensure all relevant analysts have an accurate understanding of its clientsstrategies, achievements, USPs and products/services, as well as a positive and sustainedrelationship with itself.


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4) E ENT ANA E ENT

Direc c ic ion through r e ev nt platform s can h e lp a compan y d e live r maximumimpa ct for it s m ess aging. Valu e 360 Communi cation ha s existing r e lation ship s withconf e ren ce and eve nt s organiz e rs and al so build s sp ec ial conf e ren ces customiz ed to youroff e ring so you can communi cat e dir ec tly with your targ e t audi en ce . It s se rvices includ e

Sp eak e r training Issu es and eve nt -cont ent d eve lopm ent, and Sp eec h writing It can al so d eve lop a wid e rang e of dir ec t communi cation forum s targ e ted at th e

client s imm ediat e audi en ce . These would rang e from trad e show s, conf e ren ces ,round -tabl e bri e fing s or ho spitalit y eve nt s coordinat ed with oth e r bu sin ess partn e rs and indu str y asso ciation s

5 ) INTE RATE ARKETINM ark e ting i s bec oming compl ex with multipl e platform s availabl e for communi cation. It i s imp e rati ve that m ess aging a cro ss multipl e chann e ls should b e uniform. Th e compan y ha s capabilit y to d e live r communi cation for diff e rent audi en ces through contra ct publi shing,ne wsle tt e rs, w eb sites , intran e ts, sales collat e ral, whit e pap e rs, ca se studi es and dir ec tmail e r that ar e cu stomiz ed a cro ss audi en ce group s.Inte r te

m r

eti ng a l co m ri e o f C r oss Ma r

eti ng wh erei n V a l e 360 mi g h t ad vi se it s c lien t s t o g et i n t o a lli a nc e s o r pa rt ner sh i ps w it h bus i n ess es w it h s imil a r i n tere st s-a term o fte n ca lled c r oss ma rr i ng . V a l u e 360 f o r eg . C r oss ma rrie d 2 o f it s c lien t s, Ruby sTuesday a n d Sn ap D ea l i n a d ea l wh ere bo t h a re re ap i ng b en efit s w it h t he l a tter ad verti si ng t he f ormer o n it s o n li n e po rt a l t h r ou g h d i scou n t o ffer s a n d o t h er sch eme s.

There i s a hu g e d iffere n c e bet w ee n a n i nsi d er ad verti si ng t he ac tivitie s o f it s ow n co m pa ny as oppos ed t o pos itive revie ws o f you r co m pa ny by a t h ir d pa rt y a nd eve n mo re im po rt a n tl y, a n ex p ert o f t he fiel d.These pos itive revie ws o r eve n , fea t u re s a nd vi si b ilit y o f t he com pa ny a re f ac ilit a te d by V a l ue 360 by o r ga n i ! i ng on e t o o n e meeti ng s o f t heir c lien t s w it h ex pert s i n t he i nvest o r-a na l yst fiel d who a re l ong term co n t ac t s o f ou r firm .

M r. Kunal Ki shor e , Found er & Dir ec tor, Valu e 360


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CLIENTSV a l ue 360 has c lien t s t ha t a re eit her o n a l o ng term co n tr ac t bas i s or wha t t hey ca ll as

mo n t h l y ret a i n er s wh erei n a co m pa ny may app r oach t h em f o r sp ec ifi c PR s ervi c e s f o r t he

du r a ti on o f a mon t h a n d t he n d i sco n ti n ue assoc i a ti o n .The do ma i n o f t he firm spa n s o ver T ech no l og y, Educa ti on , H ea lt hca re , Life st y le , Rea l Est a te , On li ne bus i nesses a nd mo re .I t s li st o f c lien tele i s as f o ll ows :

WALL OF FAME

Lifestyle Ho spitality

Lee Cooper Shoes ITC Fortune HotelsID Shoes Shangri-La Hotel New Delhi

Fratelli Guzzini QuantumHi Tec Footwear CocoberryElvy Lifestyle Ruby TuesdaySparkling Hues Ice LoungeGem Legacy Mandarin TrailProvogue Shoes Emperors KitchenFirangi Shoes Hao Shi Nian NianMandarina Duck Three StoriesGeox Shoes Cosmopolitan, LudhianaMerrel Shoes Cafe Oz and Bar

Mobel GraceSteuben GlassJay Strong Water Mukul GoyalTattva

Media & Entertainment Educati on & NGO

Walt Disney Studio Piron EducationDisney Channel Pearl Acadamy of FashionHungama TV Roots Education MBA Guru

Jetix Magical MethodVdopia Quest Tutorial

WLC College IndiaElements AkadamiaSomfyUNODCFXB Suraksha


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T echn olog y & C orp orate Online Businesses

Fujitsu www.ibibo.comToshiba www.apnacircle.comBMW www.vdopia.comJabra www.zoomtra.com

Genius www.healthizen.comKingmax www.snapdeal.comWatch Guard www.snapdeal.comTrend Micro Medical Clients SES Paras HospitalSafenet Johnson & JohnsonPlustek GAIAInnova Telecom Medical PractitionersPlanman ConsultancyUsha Shriram IndiaHip StreetHandygo

Nissan AutoMaruti A Star SimmtronicsSimmtronics


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C A S E S TU DIE S -PR Success Stories

1) C ocoberry:The following was an example narrated to us by the Director of Value 360 to demonstratehow being in the field of PR implies constant innovation and adaptation to the changingtimes:

Value 360 was asked to come on board as the PR agency for Cocoberry, a new company with a completely new product to introduce to the Indian market i.e.Frozen Yoghurt . They were asked to come on board a mere 6 months before the

product was launched(Feb 2009) which also happened to be in the very core of the

recession time period. This meant that the PR strategy developed had to be 100%cost effective and that the budget for the PR campaign was restricted , to say theleast. This also meant that unlike what could have been a strategy in a healthy business times, a celebrity could not be signed on to become the face of Cocoberry and endorse the new brand to the Indian audience and neither was there enoughbudget to go all out on an intensive Media visibility campaign .

Additionally, it was believed that the public would confuse frozen yoghurt with icecream which it in fact aimed to substitute . This necessitated the need tocommunicate frozen yoghurt to be a healthier, low calorie substitute to ice cream.

Hence, the company adopted the following strategy:

o Instead of going to media people separately or signing on a specific celebrity to endorse the brand for them,

both the parties were invited to Cocoberry outlets to have free samples of their offering and then go on to writereviews(in the case of the media) or

promote it(in case f celebrities) probably

to their followers on social media website

o Also, as the Director once again said, in order to get a decent size of anadvertisement in Times of India which has a readership of close to 1.2 lakh

people across the country, one needs to pay close to Rs. 5 lakh . Since such astrategy was not possible, Value 360 suggested to launch an intensiveSocial Media Campaign for Cocoberry.


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The Cocoberr y pa g e o n Fac ebook t oday has 1 , 27 , 655 f a n s a nd t he sa me k i nd o f f o ll ow i ng on Tw itter w it h ma n y c ele b ritie s o fte n t w eeti ng abou t Cocob err y c r a vi ng s. Th r ou gh co nst a n t ac tivit y on t hese po rt a l s w it h re a l time cus t o mer s, co n te st s a nd o t her pos t s , a cu lt ure i s c re a te d t ha t mak es acus t o mer feel li k e t he b r a nd i s ac t ua ll y li ste n i ng t o h im. Thus, t h e per so n a l co nn ec t i s est ab li sh ed wh i ch g oes a l ong way i n bu il d i ng b r a n d l oya lt y a n d sus t a i n ed b r a nd i n tere st f o r t he cus t o mer .

Apa rt fr o m t h e co mm un i ca ti o n str a te g y t ha t has b ee n el abo r a te d abo ve , aco n sc i ous eff ort was a l so mad e t o co nve y t o t h e pub li c t he hea lt h ad v a n t a g es o f ha vi ng Cocob err y, it s fr u it t opp i ng s et c. Thus, t he USPs a nd s tre ng t hs o f t he

p r oduc t w ere accu r a tel y i d en tifie d a nd t h en , so l d t o t h e co n su mer . Today, Cocob err y, a n Ind i a n Br a nd (o fte n w r ong l y p er c eive d as a f orei gn b r a n d

wh i ch ca me t o Ind i a) i s abou t t o op en it s b r a n ch es i n Ph illi p i n es, Duba i et c.

2) Ri k n g nW eath e r Risk M anag em e nt Services is a pion ee r in th e Indian mark e t whi ch pro vides riskmanag em e nt se rvices to sec tor s like Agricultur e , pow er and airlin es and r e aches out toabout 300 ,000 farm e rs.The situation pr ese nt ed to Valu e 360 wa s W RM S s wish to ve ntur e d ee p er into th e ruralmark e ts of w es te rn and north ern India and al so to pro vid e inno vation solution s ba se d onsat e llite imag e ry and for th e ren ewabl e en erg y sec tor.Valu e 360 ide ntifi ed th e key ob jec tive of th e PR campaign or what ought to b e its corn e rston e i.e . to po sition W RM S as thought l ead e rs and pion ee rs of thi s fie ld and topo sition th e ir produ cts as tec hnologi cally, th e mo st ad van ce d and a ccurat e .The strat egy thu s adopt ed targ e ted stori es about w e ath e r in suran ce in a vari e ty of n ews and T V m edia, f e atur es about th e entr e pr en eurial natur e of th e initiati ve and stori es aboutth e manag e me nt produ cts mad e availabl e by th e organization for a vari e ty of sec tor s. The conta ct s and influ en ce of th e PR ag en cy pro ve d to b e highl y e ff ec tive and fa cilitat ed whatW RM S wa s hoping to a chieve .

Soc i a l me d i a, you w ill see i s t he n ext b i g t h i ng i n t he bus i n ess s ec t o r . In 3 y ea r s time ,you ll k now wha t I m t a l k i ng abou t . Soc i a l me d i a, as it i s p er c eive d t oday i s t he sa me as wha t PR was p er c eive d i n 2003 . P eop le

do no t re a li "

e t ha t t he sh eer i n fl uenc e it ca n ha ve a nd t he a tte n ti on it shou l d b e g iven .


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3 ) Miscellaneous examples:W e were also told about how the company came up with an eye -catchingly innovativestrategy to hold a vertical fashion show (where models walked a vertical ramp, suspended by ropes) for the launch of Shangri La Hotels in India, a sight still remembered by people

from the media. Also, the company executes an innovative strategy when it comes to the PR strategy of liquor companies such as Budweiser, Becks etc. Since for such companies, only sponsorship/below the line/PR are tools to bring about brand awareness and promotionbecause of direct advertising not being allowed for alcohol, a different strategy must beimplemented. For Budweiser for eg. It organizes things like the Budweiser night whereinthe brand partners with a nightclub for one night during which there are Budweiser models serving Budweiser to the people in the club for free and competitions are beingheld which make people win Budweiser discount options for the future etc.( This is on thesame lines as Kingfisher fashion awards for instance)


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Founded in 197 6, by S unil B harti Mittal, B harti has grown from being a manufacturer of bicycle parts to one of the largest and most respected business groups in India. With itsentrepreneurial spirit and passion to undertake business projects that aretransformational in nature, B harti has created world-class businesses in telecom, financialservices, retail, and foods.

B harti started its telecom services business by launching mobile services in Delhi ( India ) in199 5 . S ince then there has been no looking back and B harti Airte l, the group s flagshipcompany, has emerged as one of top telecom companies in the world and is amongst thetop five wireless operators in the world.

Through its global telecom operations B harti group has presence in 21 countries acrossAsia, Africa and Europe India, S ri Lanka, B angladesh, Jersey, Guernsey, S eychelles,B urkina Faso, Chad, Congo B razzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana,Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, S ierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.


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Vision and Values

Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal,

Chairman & Group CEO,B harti Enterprises

"As a responsible corporate citizen, we have decided to substantially scale up our existingprograms in the area of education, in order to support the aspirations of under-privilegedin the country."

Our vision By 2020 we will build India s finest conglomerate by:

y Always empowering and backing our people

y B eing loved and admired by our customers and -respected by our partnersy Transforming millions of lives and making a positive impact on society

y B eing brave and unbounded in realizing our dreams

Our valuesEmpowermentWe respect the opinions and decisions of others. We encourage and back people to dotheir best

EntrepreneurshipWe always strive to change the status quo. We Innovate with new ideas and energize witha strong passion and entrepreneurial spirit.

TransparencyWe believe we must work with honesty, trust and the innate desire to do good.

ImpactWe are driven by the desire to create a meaningful difference in so ciety

F lexibilityWe are ever willing to learn and adapt to the environment, our partners and thecustomers evolving needs.


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B harti Airtel B eetel Teletech Limited B harti Infratel Limited

B harti Realty Limited Comviva Jersey and Guernsey

Centum Learning Limited B harti AXA General Insurance B harti Walmart

B harti AXA Life Insurance B harti Retail F ield F resh Foods Pvt. Ltd

DIVER S IFI C A T IO N


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Mr. Prem S ubedi

Group Corporate Communications Department of B harti Enterprises

Following is a brief outline of the half an hour conversation we had with the PR Executiveabove.

He told us that at Bharti, the Group Corporate Communications Department, perform the functions of the PR Department.

Unlike other companies, they are not a single entity and have diversified operations, asBharti Airtel, Bharti Retail, Bharti AXA , and so on.

And as the Group Corporate Commun ications Department, they occupy the central position, over the PR activities to be performed within these diversified businesses. He said

that their job is to provide STR ATEGIC COUNSE LLING for all these businesses.

W hen we asked him about the PR Philosophy , he told us that Bharti makes concerted efforts to come across as a Society s company and so its social initiatives aim at not just the empowerment and strengthening of the weaker section of the society but also at environmental sustainability.

He said that Bharti believes in communicating information, services and content of valueto the customers and to the society as a whole. Hence, all their communication isstructured as per the needs of their public, be it customers, suppliers or media,government or investors, they believe in fulfilling needs and hence delighting people .


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Some of its social initiatives, he told us are -

Mobile towers reducin # carbon footprintAn average mobile tower consumes 96 kW of power daily and inareas of weak power supply, diesel consumption can average 24

litres per day. In order to reduce dependency of diesel backup fortowers, Bharti Infratel had embarked on a drive to adopt cleanertechnologies.

To start with, Bharti Infratel is leading the way with solar energy. It is powering mobiletowers with solar photo voltaic cells in remote rural India. On an average, installation of solar photo voltaic cells can lead to reduction of 2.5tons of Co2 emission per tower everyyear.

Some of Bharti s other projects are -

N urturin $ small businesses and Empowerin $ Rural Gujarat.

The CORPOR ATE SOCI AL RESPONSIBI LITY (CSR) is he said, of utmost importance intheir policies and operations. Bharti has always believed in undertakingtransformational projects, extended to the group s philanthropic initiatives with

the highest levels of commitment from the topmanagement of the company.

Bharti Foundation was set up in 2000 as the philanthropicarm of the Bharti Group of Companies to bridge the existingeducation divide and make quality education accessible tounderprivileged children in rural India.

The Foundation aims to help underprivileged children andyoung people of our country realize the ir potential bypromotion of elementary and higher education in thecountry.

He said that the reason why Bharti has diversified abnormally into varied sectors of theeconomy is because the company does not believe in stagnation. It wishes to grow,expand, and discover different means of satisfying not just existing but undiscovered

needs too. At Bharti, they believe that communication is the key to unlock the doors of ignorance, dissatisfaction and to bring about awareness and a meaningful change.


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How do they decide the no. of people involved in the PR Activity?

The number of people, he told us depends on the business verticals such as Telecom,Telemedia, or Enterprises Services (which has a B2B Function).

So for the Telecom Business, where massive advertising and hence communication takes place, they need more PR Personnel. So in his Departm ent he informed us, they are alimited team of 5 people, as their job is more to Overview the Entire PR Activity and approve of it. W hile at Bharti Airtel; their Telecom Brand, the Corporate CommunicationsDepartment is a team of 10 people.

Media Relations- A very important dimension

He told us that Bharti is very sensitive to media needs as it realizes the importance of the power and influence that media exercises over the people and organizations today.

To cater to the same, they have developed a proper pathway for the media to clarify, or ask any information from Bharti or Bharti Airtel or for that matter any other brand that Bharti is associated with.

The following is an extract from the W ebpage on Bha rti.com; it clearly gives any media person an open opportunity to approach the Corporate Communication Department.

Press Contacts - Group/ B usIf you are a media representative and have any queries, you can get in touch with ourCorporate Communication department:

Tel: + 91 -11 4666 6 100

Email:[email protected]


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I nvestor Relations

The following is a web page from airtel.in, which provides a detailed set of information for the investors to look at, browse through easily and analyze the company s affairs.

W eb page

http://www.airtel.in/wps/wcm/connect/about+bharti+airtel/Bharti+Airtel/Investor+Relations/?WCM_Page.ResetAll=TR UE&CACHE=NONE&CONTENTCACHE=NONE&CONNECTORCACHE=NONE&SRV=Page

Customer Relations

W eb page

https://auth.airtellive.com/central-authn?bharti-net &https://ebpp.airtelworld.com/cares/wps/myportal


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C A S E S TU DY -PR Success Stories

He told us that along with the belief they hold in providing services to their customerseffectively, they have a stronger belief in empathy. He said that today we need to get

into your lives to extract what you need.

And that s exactly what they have been trying to do. For the past two years, he told usBharti Airtel has been engaged in MOBITUDE.

MOBITUDE- A great initiative towards becoming sensitive to theyouth s preferences.

As an example of the kind of work they do, he told us about a v ery unique case study called MOBITUDE, that his department at Bharti Airtel undertook as an extension to aMarketing Initiative, to structure the communication with the public.

The aim was to study a trend, the behaviour of the youth, their preferences that they analyzed with respect to the kind of music or wallpapers that they downloaded, the

festivals on which they exchanged the maximum messages and so on.

For the biggest festival analysis that they have been doing for the past two years they studied 12 billion SMSs, in the first year and found out that New Year was the day when

,maximum messages were sent and received followed by Diwali. Dusshera and interestingly Friendship Day. In the second year, the result was Valentine s Day.

This study resulted in certain very beneficial revelations for the organization and they have also used the same to their advantage.


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Us, with Mr. Prem Subedi, Group of Corporate Communications, Bharti.


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We have researched about MOBIT UDE and summarized below the results of the studyabove and tried to conclude as to how the organization would have benefited from thesame.

BH ARTI AIRTE LPRESS RE LE ASE-2009

Captures the trends - preferences and choices of over 116 million mobile usersacross India!

y Study based on over 220 million downloads on mobile across music, imagesand games over billions of SMSs during the year have revealed that users send maximum messages on the New Year followed by Diwali, Dusshera and interestingly Friendship Day.

y H igh in humor quotient, Jab Dekho Phone Kar Dete H o, an April Fool Joke is themost downloaded music ahead of Jai H o of Slumdog Millionaire

y Katrina and Aamir are the most downloaded Bollywood celebrities ahead of Kareena and Salman

y Sachin Tendulkar is the most popular sports stars ahead of MS Dhoni

Airtel Mobitude 2010: The verdict of Indian masses is out:

H ighlights:

y Diwali delights India most: Out of total SMS traffic of over 90 billion in the year -more than 1.2 billion SMSs were exchanged on Diwali

y ' Munni B adnaam H ui ' leads music downloads: While a total of 225 million songswere downloaded in 2010 - Malaika Arora starrer item song from Dabaang peakedfull-song music charts

y Katrina Kaif and S alman Khan rule: Of 25 million images and wallpapersdownloaded, both stars scored numero uno position in respective categories

The findings of Airtel Mobitude 2010 are a true manifestation of what appeals to the Indian

masses.

He said, Airtel is an industry connecting millions , and hence we have the power to reflectclearly what those millions desire. According to Airtel Mobitude 2010 - a whopping 90 billionSMSs were exchanged in India on Airtel last year.


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And Mobitude benefited them as The idea of the whole initiative is to realize that theorganization operates in a consumer -driven economy, and to strategize effectively, it hasto structure it s all activity as per the youth and form their content on the basis of what the youth would buy, since youth is their target market.

W hat does his department envisage for theOrganization?

W hen asked about the vision that his department holds for the organization, he said that Bharti has been seen as a VOICE LET Company that is involved in the job of speaking and communicating on the phone.

Now, they envisage a future when Bharti could be seen as a Lifestyle enabler company ,that is, they want to enter the consumer s everyday life.

The same they are trying to achieve through innovations in the telecom business, so much

that now a customer can talk on the phone, use internet, watch TV, and make payments,all at the same time.

For Airtel, They have been very active on Social Networking Sites also. Airtel is on bothFacebook and Twitter. On Twitter, he told us Airtel has a special segment called Airtel Presence where they handle customers grievances and complaints; this is how he said

they seek to be in constant touch with their customers and enable them to see their company as accessible.

And this is how he showed us that they are truly accessible

Web pages

http://www.airtel.in/wps/wcm/connect/about+bharti+airtel/ B harti+Airtel/Media+Centre/?WCM_ Page.ResetAll=TRUE&CAC H E=NONE&CONTENTCACH E=NONE&CONNECTORCACH

E=NONE&S RV =Page

http://www.airtel.in/wps/wcm/connect/about+bharti+airtel/ B harti+Airtel/Contact+Us/?WCM_Page.ResetAll=TRUE&CACH E=NONE&CONTENTCACH E=NONE&CONNECTORCACH E=NONE&S RV =Page

http://airtel.in/social/


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SIX SIG MA AND BHART I BROADBANDThe idea of the same was, as he told us was to be able to deliver error -free services to

the customers, as he quoted.

In the process he said that the company also saved as cost minimization is an obvious

result of the application of Six Sigma as wastages reduce with inefficient or not -so-efficient processes being eliminated or replaced respectively. Hence, Six Sigma helped the

service provider improve its customer service.

The rationale behind this approach was also the ideology of the organization to have the

Customer as the Priority.

Hence, the Six Sigma initiative was formally launched in June 2003 with the tagline: 'Six

Sigma-my customer, my priority'.

The company has outlined that improving customer satisfaction is the business objective for

first year of the initiative. The executive committee identified the processes that were inconjunction with this focus area.

In the first phase, critical business processes were aligned with business objectives. The

critical objectives identified were customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, improving

revenue and free cash. A cross-functional team was formed to tackle each project.

When the teams started measuring critical business processes they found that the baseline

was not as per customer expectations. There were gaps of around 30-40 percent in some

processes. The baseline having been measured, targets were set for improving the

processes.

The Six Sigma process improvements have translated into productivity enhancements,improved customer satisfaction and process effectiveness. As a result, there was a saving of around Rs. 100 million in the first year of operation. The target was to achieve 99 percent(i.e. approximately four Sigma level) Right First Time on all critical processes.Within six months the organization had achieved timely complaint resolution 66 percentfrom the baseline, Timely order implementation up 70 percent from baseline and Timelyinvoice submission up 51 percent from baseline.

The above he told us was a past initiative undertaken by Bharti Airtel to improve theservices provided to the customers and hence the Customer Relations.


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PR Agency vs. PR Deptt Our enlightening conversation with the Director of Value 360 also revealed to us the multi -

fold reasons why a company may choose to hire a PR firm for their everyday PR needs and when a PR Department within an organization doesn t s uffice:

1) Size and nature of the company-

SIZE N ATURE

=

A smaller firm may not have the financial capacity nor the requirement to add to their recurring paychecks the

paycheck of a PR firm.Their PR requirements are probably

limited and the same can be handled by employees of their HR/Marketing/ Communications deptt as is often doneby a lot of organizations in the country.

As the size and scale of the organizationincreases however,(for e.g . W hengeographical expansion or constant innovation takes place, the need for anorganization that has a wider reach,influence and that has a staff of creative, dedicated experts.

Additionally, if the firm is say, a foreign firm trying to make anentry into the Indian market and

establish a name for themselves,they would definitely like to hire areputed PR firm in the homecountry so as to get the homeadvantage and have the support services of an agency which haslocal contacts (media, investor analysts etc) and understands thedynamics of the local market and

populace.

2) Evolution of PR as a specialized field Another reason for outsourcing of PR needs as anincreasing trend in organizations today is the fact that over the last decade, therecognition of PR as a specialized agency has come along. Corporations have begun torealize that PR is the most vital tool of their Marketing strategy and that PR needs areeveryday needs which cannot really be combined(in order to achieve the most effectiveresults) with any other department s functions.

As told to us by the Director, 8 years ago, he used to be asked by his parents, his busconductor and even corporations what the primary role of PR is and how its any different

from Marketing. W ith greater understanding of this difference, the demand for P R professionals and agencies has grown. He also pointed out that the prime requirement of a PR professional is his innovation capabilities. Advertising personnel need to be creativewhereas PR people need to be innovative because they need to continuously determinehow best to convey a message to the public. Advertising and other promotion keepshappening but its only a PR person s vision that determines a product s first public appearance said Mr. Kishore.


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3) Strategic Differences and Contr ol:

Sometimes, it is also a matter of difference in company wise strategies. For eg. A bigcompany like BM W might like to have a number of PR agencies under its ambit so that it can effectively capture upon markets in different countries and have a host of people

undertaking this a specialized and intensive PR function for them. On the oth er hand,another big company like Bharti might like to only align with PR agencies for some of itsbusinesses and undertake Public Relations function for other businesses within theorganization.

A part from not feeling the need to outsource PR needs, sometimes the reason could alsobe the fact that the company does not wish to dilute its own control over thecommunication that is carried out with any party. They wish to retain the right of strategic decision making to do with any major communication st rategy as also the responsibility tobuild and sustain the brand image.

4) Scope and range of influence and staff :Lastly, the reason for companies to outsource their PR needs comes down to the sheer scope of operations and offerings along with influence that a PR firm has.

As Mr. Kishore told us, A journalist when he/she comes to an agency like ours can get 2 -3stories to cover of 2-3 of our clients. As opposed to this, when a person from the PR Deptt of a company repeatedly keeps calling a journalist to co me to feature his company, the

journalist might either get annoyed or might not repose the same amount of trust in thestory that the person from the PR Deptt has to tell since it is straight from the horse smouth.

Additionally, the professionals in the PR industry today are experts who are trained towork in the this sphere specifically, are always striving to be innovative and deliver custombuilt solutions for each client as opposed to the same bunch of PR executives in a firm whomay be limited in aptitude and novel skills.


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C O NCLU S IO N Having met two experts in Public Relations, we concluded the following -

y The PR Philosophy that a PR Executive or an organization as a wholewould adopt will depend on the nature, size and strategy of business orits business verticals. Depending upon whether or not a businessrequires constant communication with the public, how geographicallyand contextually diverse its operations are, it can choose to either carryout its PR needs through an internal PR Deptt or combine PR functionswith those of Marketing or HR or conversely, a hired PR agency.

y It is also the preference and discretion of the organization what part of its PR functions to outsource. Different permutations and combinationsare followed in different setups.

y All aspects of Public Relations, that is, Relations with Customers, Media,Suppliers, Investors, and Government must be considered and lookedinto.

y Also, PR Activity is most successful when a proactive approach is applied,i.e. constant flow of communication is maintained with differentstakeholders and there is the correct match between contacts andcontext.While the PR team must be answerable for certain outcomes, it simperative to communicate relevant information before hand or at theright time.

y We also concluded that in the field of PR, constant innovation andflexibility is irreplaceable. Keeping in mind the ever changing perceptionsand reactions of the public and consequentially, the dynamic PR needsof companies, there is no straight jacket set of solutions available andeach client and problem must be solved exclusively. However, broadlyspeaking, as pointed out to us through our interaction with Value 360, abroad strategy to be followed with every client is STRATEGY, its


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EXECUTION, DEIVERABLES, their IMPACT and MEASUREMENT of thesame.

y Also, in the current times, a new dimension to PR is emerging which was

pointed out to us by both our interactions. This new dimension is SocialMedia. Every company today through its social media presence muststrive to do 3 things: LISTEN, RESPOND and ENGAGE with its customer soas to personify the brand and hence, facilitate a better customerexperience. Also, in the debate surrounding whether or not Social Mediastrategies should be categorized under Marketing or PR, the opinion isinclining towards PR considering the fact that Social Media is after all allabout opinion formations and influence which is essentially a PRfunction.

One mustn t try to SELL their product through social media but justengage with its customers and use this tool to break the monotony andso that the customer doesn t lose interest in the brand.Cocoberry s Twitter page for eg. has interactions by the CEO of Cocoberry, Mr. G.S. Bhalla with his customers which makes the customerfeel like a person who actually has the power to make changes to theproduct he is consuming is listening to him.


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B I B L IOGRA HY

www.bharti.com www.airtel.in www.value 360 india.com

pr project to be printed

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