Inside the PR industry

It was 2 AM and the mattress of the bed vibrated as the phone rang. I answered the call and a husky voice said, "I need to present a strategic narrative for my brand by 10 AM. We need to rework our perception and engagement strategy. Can you please develop something for me and share it with me by 7 AM? I will work on it and make necessary changes as I deem fit."

At this point, without sighing a breath, I replied "Looking into it, Boss! You will get something by 7- 8 AM." I instantly turned on my lights and laptop, geared my planning and strategy hat on and dived right into it. This has become more of a reflex action for us now.

We are the ones who craft the story, set the tonality of a brand, design their communication roadmap, set the context of an incident to best suit the brand's interest, control all information, manipulate media and help brands to tell their story.

We are the minds behind the impeccably polished faces — the responsible ones, the powerful ones, the successful ones, the intellects, the storytellers and the social heroes. We are the public relations professionals of Bangladesh.

The challenge of success, the possibilities of failure and the rush of blood that comes with the responsibilities is addictive. The world of PR is not for the faint-hearted.

The dynamic of a PR industry pushes you to work to the bone — it's the perfect playground for workaholics where normal working hours and work-life balance stands as an absolute myth.

It's a perfect pleasure tool for the corporates and the big brands who seek support for instant delivery. And in this world of social media and digitalisation, PR is becoming the most powerful strategic tool. 

From shaping content to scripting talk shows, PR agencies ensure the most controlled environment through which a brand can deliver its key message and the brand spokesperson can savour his/her glory on national media to project him/herself as the poster child of the industry.

Yes, the entire PR industry works in shadows, subtly and discreetly, lurking around the newsroom and interacting with relevant stakeholders, upholding their endorsements for client's use and capitalising on every bit of information that is extracted from the engagement.

It's a fast-paced industry where only the most strategically gifted, analytically solvent and passionate individuals with a drive to excel — survive. Hours, days and nights are spent on developing strategic solutions for clients and paving a pathway of meaningful and effective communication for them.

But the industry doesn't come without challenges. The industry is filled with challenges. Challenges that encompass industry practises to policies and the lack of initiatives that prevails within it.

One of the biggest challenges that the industry faces is the lack of knowledge and experience regarding PR and how it works. In most cases, public relations in Bangladesh is misconceived as paid media/media buying.

This misperception persists mainly among the local organisations. One thing to blame for this is the existing university curriculum of marketing which does not emphasise what public relations are and how it works.

The curriculum is limited to theory without any practical example, reports or assignments. There are only a handful of universities that have started to pay heed to media and journalism as one of the core subjects of the university degree.

And as an after effect, the PR industry, itself, suffers from the lack of skilled resources. The resources in the industry now need to be groomed and developed from scratch by providing them with hands-on experience and clarity on the basics of public relations.

Most brand managers and communications specialists in the country are holding critical positions and making decisions without proper knowledge regarding the media landscape and how public relations works.

This instance, alone, is damaging to the brand and the company. Hence, the misconception of feeding the media with monetary incentives has become a thumb rule of the market. This practice does not only hamper the image of the brand but also ruins the credibility of the media houses. 

Public relations does not support the ideology of paid content. Its principles are based around pitching the client's message to the media in a way that instils the values and the impact these values will establish in society.

The concept is practised purely on coverage being earned through engagement sessions to build relationships with the relevant media stakeholders and ensure that the content pitched to the media holds substantial news value.

Public relation is the most effective and efficient marketing tool that is bound to give brands the makeover and the result that they are looking for. However, this result will emerge as an outcome for the brands after at least 12 months of continuous attempts at shaping perceptions and managing reputation.

Unfortunately, in most cases, the agencies are not allowed so much time by the clients. This, again, is a direct result of the lack of understanding and know-how that prevails amongst most communication leads in the industry today.

Another major area where the PR industry suffers is the lack of initiative to collaborate and support each other when the tide hits low. The industry has always been too competitive and hence there is a massive disconnect between the players.

Many of the PR agencies wage a price war. And this price war leads to an undesirable undermining of the overall value of the industry.

A common platform is required where all the players can come together and chalk out a sustainable strategy forward designed to have a win-win approach for the clients, the media, the agencies and the overall industry.

The opportunities for growth and development of the PR industry is enormous and with the digitalisation of the industries taking leaps forward, the agency with the most contemporary business approach will be the one to take the biggest bite off the market share.

The agencies need to prepare themselves in a way that can adapt to different market scenarios, challenges and changes, as Dave Smalley famously said "The survival of the fittest is the ageless law of nature, but the fittest are rarely the strong. The fittest are those endowed with the qualifications for adaptation, the ability to accept the inevitable and conform to the unavoidable, to harmonise with existing or changing conditions."

Syed Rayhan Tarique is a Director of Client Relations at Forethought PR.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.