| Marketing |
| Written by AdMix / Marjorie Teresa R. Perez / joyetteperez@yahoo.com |
| Monday, 21 September 2009 18:22 |
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THE PRSP, led by its president Butch Raquel, APR (left), recently conferred on (from left) Rosan Cruz, AVP, group PR, Benpres Holdings Corp.; John Jojo, VP, corporate brand and communication, Bayan Telecommunications; and Carla Paras-Sison, senior manager, corporate communications, Benpress Holdings Corp., the status of accredited public-relations professionals during the recent 16th National Public Relations Congress at the Centennial Hall of the Manila Hotel. In spite of the overwhelming acceptance by the advertising community, it’s possible that positioning will come to play an even greater role in public relations. The reason is obvious. Positioning is essentially an “against” strategy. That is, you normally position your company or brand against another. In this mass-communication society, if you don’t exist in media, for all practical purposes you don’t exist. Publicity is like eating. Nothing kills the appetite quite as much as a hearty meal. And nothing kills the PR potential of a product quite as much as a premature feature story. Or a misdirected television placement.
“All social change needs good communication,” Ateneo de Manila University president Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, SJ, pointed out in his keynote address. Culling insights from the Ateneo experience, Father Nebres said meaningful social reforms may be achieved by educating potential leaders who will be able to eventually institutionalize structures that will initiate concrete changes while encouraging and engaging people who will benefit most from such reforms. “And public relations—with its expertise in communication and relationship management—plays a key role in effecting social change.” “PR people are change champions,” stressed Dante M. Velasco, chairman and CEO of Creative Point International Inc. In addition to expediting communications, PR, in essence, is not under the marketing or the advertising department but an entirely different and prestigious position that reports directly to the CEO. With the prospect of even greater expansion of public relations, it is important for management to understand its potential and limitations. “PR people deserve to be up there,” he stressed. In many cases, when you ask the chief officer of a company, “What is it that your PR department is trying to do?” you get a vague answer such as “We want people to think well of us” or “We would like to have a good image.” These are nice words. But unfortunately, they don’t translate easily into a meaningful objective. The result is that the public-relations man’s efforts are all almost dissipated; the end result is not much of anything and certainly cannot be measured. Vic F. Garcia, president and CEO of Unleash International Corp., tackled on how change starts and ends with oneself. CEOs Nandu Nandkishore of Nestlé Philippines Inc., Tunde Fafunwa of Bayan Telecommunications Inc. and Lorenzo Chan of Pioneer Life Insurance Phils. Inc. talked about unconventional strategies such as blending profit with social responsibility and how they challenged the corporate status quo. All told, the amount of real-world involvement is a far cry from the passive communication with consumers usually found in “make-believe” brand advertising. All this fits in very well with those branded-product companies strategy—from the first conception of how they wanted to present the product, they have taken into account the consumer’s wishes and interests. “If the strategy is correct and you’re following [your] mission and vision, then it’s worth taking the risk,” said Fafunwa. Nandkishore furthered: “PR has a fundamental strategic role in creating shared values.” Chan noted that a good PR effort is to educate the public, and performance must be good in any area of corporate endeavor if the company is to win and retain public regard in that area. A panel-sharing and reflection on the need for change from the perspectives of students and young professionals included Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila professor Rosario Taylo, Miriam College student Joanne Balangat and University of Santo Tomas student leader Leandro Santos II. In the past, however, many PR programs haven’t been effective from a marketing point of view. And it’s easy to understand why. In PR, your inherent lack of control over what is being printed or said about you often leads to a lack of direction. As one grizzled PR veteran defines things: “Advertising is what you pay for. PR is what you pray for.” The discipline that positioning can bring to a publicity program can make an enormous difference in terms of results. To make positioning in PR, however, the emphasis has to shift from “getting your name in the paper” to achieving marketing objectives. While PR is essential to creating awareness, the story doesn’t stop there. Participatory media have changed how people relate to each other, to marketers and to the traditional media. PR people must look beyond awareness to consider how the public dialogue in digital channels influences people. News today zips around the world, spreading though countless social networks at light speed. Therefore, it’s impossible to manage the digital discussion in the same way PR used to manage through traditional channels. Speakers for the new IT tools for PR and the new media included Yehey! CEO Donald Lim and Havoc Digital general manager Mike Palacios. The second-day session had Unilever RFM Ice Cream Inc. CEO John Concepcion, who shared highlights of the Bayan Anihan Food Sustainability Project of Gawad Kalinga. Media personalities Jessica Soho of GMA Network and Maria Ressa of ABS-CBN presented their respective views on the needed change in PR as media sees it. Controversial artist/model BB Gandanghari also shared her personal journey as she mustered the courage to change. Sens. Francis Escudero, Loren Legarda and Richard Gordon talked on how tomorrow’s leaders see change. PR consultants Milen Sison-de Quiros of Full Circle Communications, Joel Lacsamana of TruNorth PR Consultants and Ramon CM Bermeo of Reach Communications imparted valuable insights on shifting careers from corporate PR to consultancy PR. The congress ended with a sharing of The Real Bank (A Thrift Bank) Inc. chairman Jose G. Araullo on building and managing trust. The Real Bank was a major Anvil winner, an annual recognition of PRSP, which cites exemplary PR programs and tools. The congress covered the need for PR practitioners to bring a new mentality and flexibility to the profession. In particular, they noted the need to be willing to take risks, to try something new. “For it is truly foolish to expect results other than what we have always had in the past, if we do things simply the way we always have,” concluded Barbie Atienza, congress chairman. |
Change in PR has become an ever-increasing factor in today’s high-speed and complex world. The Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP) sought to give new meaning to PR during its 16th National Public Relations Congress on September 10 and 11 at the Manila Hotel—that is, pursuing reforms—and as such, to highlight the role of PR practitioners as catalysts of change. The congress is a major initiative of the PRSP this September, which is Public Relations Month by virtue of Presidential Proclamation 1357.