Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ON WORK APPROACHES OF VARIOUS PUBLIC RELATIONS PROJECTS Submitted to SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT In partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the degree of MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION By SAMARJEET DUTTA (Reg. No. 3511110856) Under the Guidance of Mr. Rajan Daniel, Asst. Professor
DECLARATION
I SAMARJEET DUTTA, hereby declare that the Project Report, entitled WORK
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
If words are considered to be signs of gratitude then let these words convey the very same, My sincere gratitude to LE COMMUNIQUE CONSULTANCY for providing me with an opportunity to work with them and giving necessary directions on doing this project to the best of my abilities. I am highly indebted to MR. ANUJ KUMAR BORUAH (Associate Director) who has provided me with the necessary information and also for the support extended out to me in the completion of this report and his valuable suggestion and comments on bringing out this report in the best way possible. I also thank Prof. Rajan Daniel, SRM University Chennai, who has sincerely supported me with the valuable insights into the completion of this project. I am grateful to all faculty members of SRM University and my friends who have helped me in the successful completion of this project.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Introduction-------------------------------------------------------Theory and concept--------------------------------------------------------
Industry Overview What is PR -------------------------------------------------------Elements of Public Relation -------------------------------------------------------Objectives of Public Relation -------------------------------------------------------Functions of Public Relation -------------------------------------------------------Essential qualities of good public Relation-------------------------------------------------------Need for Public Relation-------------------------------------------------------Role of Public Relation-------------------------------------------------------A PR professionals job involves Company Profile ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clientele-------------------------------------------------------Zee News-------------------------------------------------------WWF India-------------------------------------------------------Sitaram Jindal Foundation-------------------------------------------------------Mitsubishi heavy industries ltd. -------------------------------------------------------Lee Cooper Shoes -------------------------------------------------------HCCD India -------------------------------------------------------Flipkart.com -------------------------------------------------------Provogue -------------------------------------------------------Hunter Douglas-------------------------------------------------------National Diary Development Board-------------------------------------------------------Jindal Aluminium ltd--------------------------------------------------------
Research methodology -------------------------------------------------------Objectives -------------------------------------------------------working methodology -------------------------------------------------------12 steps to a successful PR campaign -------------------------------------------------------Related Work Activities -------------------------------------------------------Recommendations-------------------------------------------------------Conclusion -------------------------------------------------------Appendix-------------------------------------------------------Bibliography-------------------------------------------------------
ABSTRACT Established in year 2011, Le Communiqu is amongst the youngest but aspires to be counted amongst the best Communications Management Consultancies. It has a rich expertise (owing to the partners & advisors) in developing strategic and creative PR campaigns for its clients. Le Communiqu was floated as a full-service PR Consultancy with razor-sharp strategic designing, result-oriented implementation and expert media management. To Keep on Evolving is the mantra for its excellence in communications. Le Communiqu prides itself in internalization of its clients needs and processes; understanding the situation and molding itself to be an extension of the client organization in all activities designed to address its target audience. Le Communiqu Consultancy handles the Communications needs and chooses the appropriate media vehicle, keeping in mind the needs of the issue at hand and the target audience that it needs to be addressed to. Le Communiqu addresses its clients business interests in the best possible manner with the highest recall value through the best-suited media vehicle, thereby making sure that the target audience is able to recall what is conveyed. Today our clients find it more productive, as well as profitable, to think of us as creative problem solvers, no matter what the medium. We anticipate the needs of our clients, and ensure the smoothest executions possible. We pride ourselves in creating communication programs & publicity that give our clients the edge they need to succeed in their arena. During my one and half month tenure at Le Communiqu Consultancy, I was assigned the work of handling two of their retainer clients named as Zee News and WWF India apart from other project based clients. As a beginner in this field, initially I was given the work of daily newspaper tracking and monitoring ( which includes all the mainlines, financials and regional newspaper of Delhi along with the evening newspaper like Deccan Chronicle, The Telegraph etc). Tracking and monitoring newspaper means keeping a record of the news published pertaining to our clients, their competitors and the overall industry news. The second work was to keeping a record of the data repository of the coverage appeared for our clients (hardcopy as well as softcopy). Making dossiers for the clients was another part of my job profile.
I was also given the responsibility of preparing daily and weekly reports for our clients according to their requirements. In day to day basis, I also disseminated press releases of our clients to the mainline media, financial media, regional, media, wires, electronic media and so on. After the dissemination of the release, I was asked to follow up with the media on the same. This can be a telephonic follow up or an email follow up. Apart from these work assigned, I was sometimes allowed to pitch a story to the media. For example, I was given the work for scouting interviews opportunities in the Mainline media and magazines for Director Bapi Bose who came up with his new direction "Seventeenth July"- a play performed on March 25, 2013 at Shri Ram Centre, New Delhi. Drafting press releases, press notes, pitch mails, press invite were a part of my project in day-to-day basis. The main part of my work assigned was to prepare and update the media database for our clients. This included Art and Culture media list, Feature media list, Environment media list and Entertainment media list. I also went out for media round in the INS building, New Delhi for developing relationship with the journalists which helps every PR professional in their field.
INTRODUCTION
1. Overview
"The history of PR is a history of a battle for what is reality and how people will see and understand reality."
Stuart Ewen
"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate the unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government, which is the true ruling power. We are governed, our minds molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. In almost every act of our lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires that control the public mind." Edward Bernays Every organization that interacts with other agencies may be said to engage in public relations. Organizations by and large wish to project as good an image as they can, and often wish to communicate a particular message. This applies as much to a small cooperative like Corporate Watch as it does to a large multinational like Dow Chemical. It is, by a broad definition, a ubiquitous and inescapable practice. There is nothing essentially wrong in wanting to present one's own case in as effective manner as possible. However, in spite of frequent protestations to the contrary from the PR world, this is only a part of what modern PR does. There is a considerable body of evidence emerging to suggest that modern public relations practices are having a very significant deleterious impact on the democratic process.
As this report will demonstrate PRs have often engaged in deliberate deception on their clients' behalf and have developed a deeply unhealthy relationship with the 'free press'. Furthermore, by giving vested interests the opportunity to deliberately obfuscate, deceive, and derail public debate on key issues the public relations industry reduces society's capacity to respond effectively to key social, environmental and political challenges. Section 1 provides some background information on public relations: what it is; some basic stats on the size of the industry; and a short history of its development Section 2 looks at the different agencies in the industry from in-house PR departments to the big communications conglomerates Section 3 looks at the services offered by PR companies Sections 4, 5 and 6 explore the relationships between the PR industry and governments, the media and the public Section 7 provides a list of further resources on public relations and lobbying
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1.3 Origins of PR
Public relations began to emerge as an identifiable industry in America in the early part of the 20th Century. From the mid-1800s onward there had been a rapid consolidation of wealth and power into the hands of big business resulting in systematic abuses of that power on their part. By the turn of the century trade unions began to emerge in order to protect workers. In time public opinion became highly skeptical of the new corporations and there were calls for stringent
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new regulations on corporate power. In this hostile climate of public opinion big business found itself in need of friendly propagandists. Stuart Ewen, author of "PR: A Social History of Spin", puts it thus: "corporate PR starts as a response to the threat of democracy and the need to create some kind of ideological link between the interests of big business and the interests of ordinary Americans." The practice of PR was pioneered and shaped by men such as Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays. Lee was a journalist who moved into handling press relations for Standard Oil and railroad companies. Up until then companies faced with a crisis, such as a railway accident, had tended to do their best to cover up accidents and problems, engendering an oppositional attitude and hostility from the press. Lee innovated by allowing journalists supervised access to accident scenes, defusing press hostility and in the process exercising some influence over coverage[10]. Even in the early years however, PR practitioners were not above lying to promote their clients' interests. Ivy Lee famously handled public relations for the Rockefeller family after the Ludlow massacre of 1914, when 14 striking miners were shot dead by the National Guard who were working on behalf of John D. Rockefeller, the owner of the mine. The event provoked a national scandal. In spinning the Rockefeller line, Lee printed numerous falsehoods about striking miners, claiming that they had started fires and deliberately provoked the National Guard. According to Stuart Ewen, Lee quickly gained a reputation as a professional liar. In the 1930s Lee accepted work for the German Dye Trust to improve relations between Nazi Germany and America. He died with the accusation of being a Nazi sympathizer hanging over him. Edward Bernays (quoted above) was another of the early PR men. He learnt his trade working at the Committee for Public Information, or the Creel Commission, Woodrow Wilson's pro-war propaganda outfit that coaxed the American public into supporting US involvement in World War One. After the war, Bernays opened his New York office in 1919 and worked for companies including Procter & Gamble, CBS, General Electric and Dodge Motors. Bernays, a nephew of Sigmund Freud, attempted to apply theories of social psychology to his work in mass communication. By contrast with Lee who claimed to be very open, Bernays was quite candid about the secretive and manipulative nature of his work (see opening quotations), and was expert in the use of third party advocacy. Working for the manufacturers of Chesterfield cigarettes, he
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famously boosted sales of tobacco to women by persuading 1930s feminists to adopt smoking as a symbol of emancipation. But it wasn't until after World War Two that the PR industry really began to take off. Larger companies began to emerge from an industry dominated by individual consultants. Companies such as Hill & Knowlton and Burson-Marsteller crossed the Atlantic in the 1950s becoming the first PR transnationals and quickly assembled global networks of offices. For the first time it became possible to coordinate corporate propaganda in both the US and Europe. [see Hill and Knowlton and Burson-Marsteller profiles. In the sixties Hill and Knowlton again innovated by offering lobbying as a service to its clients. Within a few years its Washington DC office had multiplied its revenues many times and H&K began a string of acquisitions of other Washington lobbying companies. Now all of the major PR companies have a 'public affairs' or 'government relations' practice. In recent decades the PR and advertising industries have begun to consolidate. A small number of large conglomerates, such as WPP Group and Omnicom (see section 2.3 below), have been buying up the largest players and offering integrated corporate communications services. Only one of the top ten PR companies, Edelman PR Worldwide is still independent.
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INDUSTRY OVERVIEW
The history of PR is a history of a battle for what reality is and how people will see and understand reality.
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There is nothing essentially wrong in wanting to present one's own case in as effective manner as possible. There is a considerable body of evidence emerging to suggest that modern public relations practices are having a very significant deleterious impact on the democratic process. As this report will demonstrate PRs have often engaged in deliberate deception on their clients' behalf and have developed a deeply unhealthy relationship with the 'free press'. Furthermore, by giving vested interests the opportunity to deliberately obfuscate, deceive, and derail public debate on key issues the public relations industry reduces society's capacity to respond effectively to key social, environmental and political challenges.
Public Relations is a combination of philosophy, sociology, economics, language, psychology, journalism, communication and other knowledges into a system of human understanding." Herbert M. Baus
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"Public Relations is distinctive management function which helps establish and maintain mutual lines of communication, understanding, acceptance and cooperation between an organization and its publics; involves the management of problems or issues; helps management to keep informed on and responsive to public opinion; defines and emphasizes the responsibility of management to serve the public interest; helps management keep abreast of and effectively utilize change, serving as an early warning system to help anticipate trends; and uses research and sound and ethical communication as its principal tools." Rex F. Harlow
Public relations are the practice of getting attention and shaping public opinion. Its tools include publicity, advertising, public affairs forums, lobbying public officials, and any and every other means that gets a message out to the public. Mostly however it is about placing stories in the media, getting newspapers, radio and television to accept stories or messages sourced from PR agencies. This gives the illusion that the client's message is simply the product of impartial journalism rather than advertising with which the consumer is more familiar and resistant. A renowned scholar of PR remarked, A strong story placed in the newspaper, picked up by everybody else, will actually have more impact than an advertising campaign.
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Public relations use many of the tools of marketing and may be used to promote a particular product but often it is employed in pursuit of a slightly different goal. Marketing (including advertising and promotion) is about selling products and services whereas PR is often concerned with selling persons, government policies, corporations, and other institutions. In addition to marketing products, PR has been variously used to attract investments, influence legislation, raise companies' public profiles, put a positive spin on disasters, undermine citizens campaigns, gain public support for conducting warfare, and to change the public perception of repressive regimes. Typically PR involves all the activities as has been depicted in the figure below:
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20. To sponsor dealer and distributor relations schemes. 21. To undertake programs like sales training courses for retailers, wholesalers. 22. To establish press relations, publicity articles preparation, press release, photographs. 23. To communicate with the employees on their benefits, accident prevention labor relations and collective bargaining. 24. To undertake a campaign of public education about an industry or profession and its contribution to the public. 25. To establish relations with federal and state legislators, agencies.
1. Policy: Public relations policy is required for every organization. A policy is a statement of guidelines to be followed in the company. The department has to develop and recommend corporate public relations policies. It has to contribute the public relations viewpoint, which helps in the formulation of decision. Its function is not merely to provide the policy mainly to the top management but also to other sections and divisions. 2. Publicity: Corporate publicity is necessary to interact with the public. The department has to undertake the development and issuance of announcements of corporate activities to external communications media. It has to handle inquiries from the press. It is part of the functions of the department to develop and place promotional publicity about the company as a whole or any of its units. 3. Product Publicity: Corporate publicity is different from the product publicity. In this, focus is on the products and how to popularize the product. This includes both new products as well as existing ones. It includes the announcement of new products through
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the editorial channels of the communications media. The department has to develop and execute the promotional product publicity campaigns. 4. Relations with Government: Relations with government cannot be overlooked. In all spheres of activities the government interferes, regulates, controls and supervises. It is necessary to maintain liaison with appropriate governmental departments. This liaison covers the local level, state level and national level. Besides, governmental relations includes: (i) (ii) (iii) Advise action as needed. Report trends in government affecting the company. Help in preparing and directing corporate appearances before investigating bodies of legislative hearings. (iv) Direct programmes designed to promote the company's point of view in legislative or regulatory matters.
5. Community Relations: Community contacts should be planned. It is the performance and/or coordination of corporate 'good neighbor' activities, including compliance with environmental protection standards, fostering equal employment opportunity, cooperating in urban improvement programmes, and developing community understanding of a company's problems and needs. 6. Shareholders Relations ; Relations with the corporate stockholders is more important to attract public money. This takes the form of communication between the company and the shareholders in particular. Also the investment community in general. It is necessary for the development and acceptance of the company among investors by broadening the exposure of the company's policies and financial results in the investment community. This function includes preparation of annual reports, quarterly reports, dividend cheque inserts etc. It has to plan and stage the annual meetings of stockholders and appearances before meetings of security analysts.
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7.
Promotion Programmes: Public relations promotion programmes should be formulated and implemented. This may broadly cover institutional promotion programmes designed to build corporate acceptance of key policies, institutional advertising, public relations literature and special events.
8. Donations: A corporate donation policy should be developed for company contributionsVarious aspects involved in this function are processing requests for donations administering company's foundation, and the conduct of employees' solicitations for approved drives. 9. Employee Publications: The public relations department has to prepare and publish employee magazines, newspapers, bulletins, management communications etc. 10. Guest Relations: The department must undertake guest reception activities. 11. Coordinating Activities. 12. Conveying and Interpretation. 13. Advisory Functions. 14. Instructing by doing. 15. Public Relations Education Programme.
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The need for public relations is clearly explained n the points below
1. Communication:
The means for communication have reached; technically, almost a stage of perfection .It is today financially possible for practically everybody at least in the advanced nations- to receive information. The level of education of a wide circle of the population is rising rapidly and this ensures a steady increase in the capacity for receiving information, which is guaranteed by the constitution. Adequate information is, therefore, theoretically possible although it is by no means guaranteed in each individual case.
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3. Information Load:
Also called message load or quantity, the skeptic will, of course, draw our attention to the flood of information to which we are all exposed today. The proper reply to this is that this flood is largely without direction and that it is incomplete or inaccurate. Information must be prepared. Essential information must be separated from trivial matter, and the interest of the receiver must be aroused in the right direction. In the organization that ignorance, the inability to appreciate or organization, superficial knowledge is extremely likely to result in dislikes, dissatisfaction and outright rejection with all their disastrous consequences. What we require is a fair means of information, which eliminates existing or awakened suspicions, which builds up understanding, and creates confidence. This is what we call Public Relations.
2.5 Rules of PR A PR Coordinator while attaining media coverage always needs to be on hunt. It is not the audiences job to figure out what a communicator wants to say instead its the job of the communicator to make sure that what he is saying is clearly understood by the audience. The simplest and most powerful messages are the ones that are true and which toss aside pretense, complexity and double speak and say what they mean and mean what they say. Reputations rise and fall in connection with how truthful they are with their publics. The resolution of conflict is inherent in the theory of PR. Hence as per the rules of PR the strategy should involve all the phases as depicted by the flow chart below:
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A PR professional's job involves: Press releases. One way the publicity goal is accomplished is by sending press releases to newspaper, magazine and Web journalists. A press release contains information needed by a journalist to write a positive story about the PR professional's client. The public relations specialist must know how to write, edit and photograph information for release to the press. The professional must have the skills of a journalist and a photojournalist, and understand how editors and producers work.
The public relations professional crafts a compelling news story designed to gain a reporter's attention. Newspapers, magazines, radio and TV stations, channels and networks, and news websites always are on the lookout for fresh story ideas. The goal of a press release is to fulfill a journalist's need for news while enhancing the client's public image. The press release clarifies why the client's product, service or history is important. Making contacts. PR professionals cultivate relationships with journalists. They research who might write about the client's interests. Then they contact those journalists to discover the types of stories being sought. They also determine how journalists like to receive story pitches. A journalist is more likely to pay attention to a press release that's timely, from a known source and targeted to the journalist's need. Publicity efforts also include email, messaging, telephone calls, visits and meals. Media kits. Public relations professionals create press kits or media kits. Journalists often request press kits as a follow-up to a news story release that interests them. The kit contains information the journalist needs to understand what the client does. That might include: Profile feature stories about executives Quick facts about the client organization The company history Photographs and videos Detailed product descriptions and samples
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Recent press releases Business cards of the PR professionals Interview prep. People who work in PR are regarded as experts in media relations. Often they are asked to train other employees on how to communicate in interviews.
Press conferences. A PR department frequently is responsible for organizing press conferences to reach much print, broadcast and Web media all at once. Of course, not all news merits a conference, so there must be more to a conference than just reading a release. Journalists will attend a press conference only if it promises to announce a timely event and includes interesting visuals, expert presenters and important officials.
VNRs. PR professionals use video news releases and Web press conferences to reach out to more journalists, save money and improve the chances that journalists will take part. A video hook-up allows local broadcast journalists at one place to interview a PR client who is somewhere else. Web press conferences use conferencing software to stream a video presentation online in real time. Crisis management. Public relations professionals manage crises. An old adage says, "All publicity is good publicity." However, really bad press can tarnish the image of a business, corporation, agency or institution. A public opinion survey in 2007 discovered that 15 percent of consumers said they never again would purchase a recalled brand. PR professionals create crisis management plans as best they can in advance to be able to respond proactively if damaging newsbreaks.
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COMPANY PROFILE
Established in year 2011, Le Communiqu is amongst the youngest but aspires to be counted amongst the best Communications Management Consultancies. It has a rich expertise (owing to the partners & advisors) in developing strategic and creative PR campaigns for its clients. Le Communiqu was floated as a full-service PR Consultancy with razor-sharp strategic designing, result-oriented implementation and expert media management. To Keep on Evolving is the mantra for its excellence in communications. Le Communiqu prides itself in internalization of its clients needs and processes; understanding the situation and molding itself to be an extension of the client organization in all activities designed to address its target audience. Specific needs require specific solutions. This is its strong suit. Its team, comprising of experienced professionals, strategizes on an issue, and the appropriate methodology is arrived at to solve it with the best communication vehicle and tool at hand. Le Communiqu Consultancy handles the Communications needs and chooses the appropriate media vehicle, keeping in mind the needs of the issue at hand and the target audience that it needs to be addressed to. Le Communiqu addresses its clients business interests in the best possible manner with the highest recall value through the best-suited media vehicle, thereby making sure that the target audience is able to recall what is conveyed. Today our clients find it more productive, as well as profitable, to think of us as creative problem solvers, no matter what the medium. We anticipate the needs of our clients, and ensure the smoothest executions possible. We pride ourselves in creating communication programs & publicity that give our clients the edge they need to succeed in their arena.
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3.1 Clientele
Zee News is an Indian news and current affairs channel founded in 1999. Initially most of the programs were broadcast in English. Around 2003-04, after the success of Aaj Tak, Zee News was converted into a complete Hindi news channel. Zee News is a part of Zee News Ltd (ZNL), which is a part Essel Group, which operates news and regional entertainment channels and is listed on stock exchange as Zee News Limited. It was demerged from Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd in 2006.
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States. It is the world's largest independent conservation organization with over 5 million supporters worldwide, working in more than 100 countries, supporting around 1,300[4] conservation and environmental projects. WWF is a foundation,[5] in 2010 deriving 57% of funding from individuals and bequests, 17% from government sources (such as the World Bank, DFID, USAID) and 11% from corporations.
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3.1.3 SITARAM JINDAL FOUNDATION The Sitaram Jindal Foundation (SJF), formerly known as SJ Jindal Trust, established in 1969 is a charitable organization with the humanitarian objective of serving the poor and downtrodden in various fields. True to the inspiring ideals and values of its founder, Dr. Sitaram Jindal, the Foundation has been promoting and providing basic needs of the people across various society in different fields including education, healthcare and rural development without discrimination of caste and creed. The foundation has set up various schools, colleges and hospitals and constructed many pathshalas (rural schools) apart from initiating and running many welfare schemes and vocational courses for the benefit of the poor and deprived. Besides awarding scholarships to more than 12000 students each year, the foundation has been extending financial support to more than 500 charitable institutions annually to sustain their activities for over 42 years now.
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Lee Cooper Brands is a British clothing company, operating worldwide, that licenses the sale of many Lee Cooper-branded items, including denim jeans. The head office is located in London, United Kingdom. The company originally produced work wear for export, and began to specialize in denim jackets and trousers in the 1930s. The firm is currently up for sale.
3.1.6 HCCD-INDIA
Honorary Consular Corps Diplomatique India (HCCD-India) was formed in 1995 with the following aims and objects: To promote and strengthen mutual understanding between Honorary Consular officers in and outside India. To develop a framework and basis for exchange of information, ideas and suggestions regarding matters related to the offices of Consuls General & Consuls (Hony). To promote at National and International level better understanding of the duties, rights, functions, obligations and privileges of the consular office and its incumbents, entrusted to fulfil and enhance their important role in International relations.
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3.1.7 FLIPKART.COM
Flipkart is an Indian e-commerce company headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka. Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal founded it in 2007. In its initial years, Flipkart focused on online sales of books, but it later expanded to electronic goods and a variety of other products. Flipkart offers multiple payment methods like credit card, debit card, net banking, e-gift voucher, and the most important of all Cash on Delivery.[3] The cash-on-delivery model adopted by Flipkart has proven to be of great significance since credit card and net banking penetration is very low in India.
3.1.8 PROVOGUE
Provogue is a Mumbai based Indian company incorporated on November 11, 1997 as Acme Clothing Private Limited. The brand Provogue was launched in March 1998 and is currently one of the biggest retail apparel brands in India based in Mumbai. As of March 31, 2009, provogue fashions and accessories were available across 126 Provogue stores and 110 shop-in shops. They have a subsidiary called Prozone, which recently got funded from Liberty International. Prozone is a chain of malls initiated by Provogue. The first shopping mall is scheduled for launch in May 2010. After the launch, Prozone mall in Aurangabad will be one of the largest mall in the country in terms of size and Gross Leasable Area.
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The National Dairy Development Board is an institution of national importance set up by an Act of Parliament of India. The main office is located in Anand, Gujarat with regional offices throughout the country. NDDB's subsidiaries include Mother Dairy, Delhi. It was founded by LATE Dr. Verghese Kurien and Dr. Amrita Patel is the current Chairman of the National Dairy Development Board, Anand. The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) was created in 1965, fulfilling the desire of the then Prime Minister of India - the late Lal Bahadur Shastri - to extend the success of the Kaira Cooperative Milk Producers' Union (Amul) to other parts of India. That success combined the wisdom and energy of farmers with professional management to successfully capture liquid milk and milk product markets while supporting farmer investment with inputs and services. The major success of this mission was achieved through the World Bank financed Operation Flood, which lasted for 26 years from 1970 to 1996 and was responsible for making India the world's largest producer's of milk. This operation was started with the objective of increasing milk production, augmenting farmer income and providing fair prices for consumers. NDDB has now integrated 96,000 dairy co-operatives in what it calls the Anand Pattern, linking the village society to the state federations in a three-tier structure.
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Jindal Aluminum Limited (JAL), established in 1968, is the leading manufacturer of Aluminium Extruded Profiles in India, located in the serene outskirts of Bangalore city. JAL is the only aluminium company in India having 7 aluminium extrusion presses under one roof and achieving production in the country. Jindal extrusion profiles are available in a wide range up to 460mm in width.
Yusuf uz Zaman
Yusuf uz Zaman has in his 16 years experience been with various reputed PR Agencies like Reinfusion, Blue Lotus, Clea & Abacus. A rich experience and great relationships with Media is a result of servicing brands such as Bharti Airtel, Idea, Oracle, LG, ICC, and Seagrams during his long tenure in the Industry. Heads the Consultancy as well.
Aradhana Tripathi
Aradhana Tripathi is a marketing communication specialist with over 15 years of crossfunctional experience in Marketing, Corporate Communication & CRM. She brings to the table her vast experience of working across various sectors from media to service industry. She has worked in companies like Times of India, Business Standard, APCA, Ruby Hall Clinic and VLCC.
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Suniti Kr Bhattacharjya
A marketing communication strategist, he has been working in communication industry for more than eight years. He has been involved in integrated marketing communication, collateral development and event management. He can handle multiple projects and believes in motivation as a factor for any success.
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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The project work is to fulfill the various objectives which are as follows: Understanding and analyzing the key factors in the working of a typical Public Relations firm.
Analyzing clients needs and requirements by regular interactions with them personally or over the phone.
To have updated media contacts/lists and the maintenance of same in Management Information System.
To coordinate with all the stakeholders involved in the project work so that principles of clarity should be well adhered to.
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As a beginner in this field, initially I was given the work of daily newspaper tracking and monitoring (which includes all the mainlines, financials and regional newspaper of Delhi along with the evening newspaper like Deccan Chronicle, The Telegraph etc). Tracking and monitoring newspaper means keeping a record of the news published pertaining to our clients, their competitors and the overall industry news. The second work was to keeping a record of the data repository of the coverage appeared for our clients (hardcopy as well as softcopy). Making dossiers for the clients was another part of my job profile. I was also given the responsibility of preparing daily and weekly reports for our clients according to their requirements. In day to day basis, I also disseminated press releases of our clients to the mainline media, financial media, regional, media, wires, electronic media and so on. After the dissemination of the release, I was asked to follow up with the media on the same. This can be a telephonic follow up or an email follow up. Apart from these work assigned, I was sometimes allowed to pitch a story to the media. For example, I was given the work for scouting interviews opportunities in the Mainline media and magazines for Director Bapi Bose who came up with his new direction "Seventeenth July"- a play performed on March 25, 2013 at Shri Ram Centre, New Delhi. Drafting press releases, press notes, pitch mails, press invite were a part of my project in day-to-day basis. The main part of my work assigned was to prepare and update the media database for our clients. This included Art and Culture media list, Feature media list, Environment media list and Entertainment media list. I also went out for media round in the INS building, New Delhi for developing relationship with the journalists which helps every PR professional in their field. There is a proper work and method study with adequate consideration of time guideline that we as employees of Le Communiqu needs to follow so that the projects get completed duly in time.
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RESEARCH
IDENTIFYING STAKEHOLDERS
KEY MESSAGES
STRATEGY
TACTICS
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TIMESCALE
BUDGET
EVALUATION
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wildlife conservation organization founded in 1969 as a Charitable Public Trust, with the express objective of ensuring the conservation of the country's wildlife and wild habitats. For example: We did a media audit for this client. The Media Audit is a multimedia survey conducted for the purpose of developing statistically reliable information about the client. This is conducted for the purpose of developing statistically reliable information about the audience levels. We called up the hi-end media like The Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Hindu, The Hindu Business Line from the mainlines and financials; electronic media like NDTV, Aaj Tak, Zee News etc for a communication audit on this client. We drafted a set of questions and researched on the client visibility in India. Research methods are categorized into two groups: - Primary This is finding out the information you want first hand: Questionnaires, one-to-one interviews, telephonic interviews, focus groups, blogs etc. - Secondary Often called desk research and involves gathering information from already published sources: Books, journals, papers, and libraries, Internet etc. 4.3.2 Situation Analysis The research weve carried out should clearly define the current situation with regard to the campaign. Depending on whats involved, this might include an organizations current situation in the market, how audience or staff perceives it or how its fairing financially. Going back to the WWF media audit example, it might include the current situation with regard to public opinion on the issue or how its been portrayed in the media. Whatever our campaign involves, we must be absolutely aware of everything both internally and externally. From this we can carry out a situation SWOT analysis to examine Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of the current situation, and a PEST analysis to examine the external environment Politically, Economically, Socially and Technologically.
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4.3.3 Objectives Once were aware of the problem(s) our organization is facing, we can then define the objectives of the campaign. The objectives are what is hoped to be the end result of the PR activity. Each objective must be SMART. Specific: Are they clearly defined and comprehensible? Measurable: Can each objective be measured in the evaluation? Achievable: Considering other factors (e.g. budget and timescale) are they achievable? Realistic: Are you being realistic given the resources you have? Time: When do you want to achieve the set objectives? Depending on the situation, sometimes the objectives set can initially be before the research has been undertaken. 4.3.4. Identifying Publics Who do you want to talk to? The research carried out in the initial stages of the planning process should have identified each public relevant to the campaign. For our client WWF, our target audience will be environment correspondents, Ministry of Forest & Wildlife, wildlife conservation groups and some non-profit organizations. This is crucial to ensure our key messages are communicated efficiently as possible. The research also should have identified each publics current attitude to the situation allowing us to tailor our key messages appropriately. 4.3.5 Identifying Stakeholders Once the public of this campaign have been categorized, it is then important to identify who the stakeholders are. A stakeholder analysis is not as specific as identifying publics as it looks at everyone that is involved in the campaign as opposed to only those who need to be communicated to. Publics can also be categorized as stakeholders also.
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A stakeholder analysis may involve: * Employees * Identified publics * Suppliers * Senior executives * Investors 4.3.6 Key Messages Once we know the issue were facing, the current situation of the organization (both internally and externally) and who we want to talk to, we then have to plan what we want to say. Every PR campaign needs to have a set of messages that forms the main thrust of the communication. These messages need to be clear, concise and readily understood. Key messages are important for two reasons. First of all, they are an essential part of the attitude forming process and second, they demonstrate the effectiveness of the communication. Key messages must not cross over or conflict. 4.3.7 Strategy The strategy in a PR campaign is often confused with the tactics. However, the strategy is the foundation on which a tactical program is built. It is the theory that will move us where the current situation is now to where we want it to be. The strategy is usually the overlying mechanism of a campaign from which the tactics are deployed to meet the objectives. 4.3.8 Tactics The PR profession has a number of tactics (or tools) in its armory. The challenge is choosing the right tactics to meet the objectives. Again, depending on what type of campaign were involved we might use media relations, lobbying, events, interviews, blogger relations, presentations, consultations, newsletters, competitions, podcasts, stunts, websites, conferences, photography, video news releases, etc. etc.
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4.3.9 Timescale Now we know the overall strategy and which tactics were going to use, weve then got to allocate a time to do it. A timescale allows us co-ordinate our tactics appropriately and helps us to be aware of certain deadlines. Not only that, if there are certain future events that relate to our campaign, we can tailor a tactic in our timescale to coincide. 4.3.10 Budget Allocating the budget is an essential part of a campaign so all costs should be taken into consideration. The primary reason for a budget lets us know what we can or cant do, but it also allows us to allocate money to the specific areas of the campaign: Operating costs Distribution, administration, travel, production, seminars Human Overheads, expenses, salaries Equipment Telephones, furniture, computers
4.3.11 Crisis issues and Management place Risk is an inevitable part of some PR campaigns, so being thoroughly prepared in case a problem does occur is paramount. Crisis Communication Develop a cogent messaging strategy for crisis situations Work with the board and communications team to develop positions and responses to
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Management of public relations crisis and working with the relevant representatives to
develop crisis communication plans for the same Workshops for designated executives with a view to sensitize them to deal with a crisis
4.3.12 Evaluation The evaluation is an ongoing process particularly in a long-term PR campaign so it is critical to constantly review all specific elements. Evaluating a campaign should be done in two ways: - Ongoing The ongoing review is what will be carried out throughout the campaign. It is not calculated at the end of all the campaign activity, but constantly throughout. If certain elements of the campaign are not working as effectively as thought in the planning stages, it can be re-focused or re-jigged to fit. - End The end review will take place after all PR activity has finished and where the final results will be compared against the campaign objectives. To do this, the tactics for each objective will be analyzed individually and critically. The evaluation is vital to discover which parts of the campaign were successful and which were not. Not only that, it helps determine what the current situation is after the PR activity has ended. The evaluation process is the added value of PR and is something that should not be neglected.
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RECOMMENDATIONS
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Twitter, Facebook and Google+ allow organizations to speak directly to and solicit responses
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CONCLUSION
Marketing and other Concepts The application part of various marketing concepts which we learn during our course in Business Management program such as brand awareness, sales promotion, image building and five Ms can easily be found in the functioning and day to day working of Le Communiqu. At the same time various principles of management like principle of communication, line of command, levels of hierarchy, importance of coordination, sensitivity training and importance of written records in the form of data repository etc. are found at Le Communiqu. The learning of the basic understanding of the functioning of various industry types ranging from power, media and service industries etc. is also an indirect part of the project due to the dealing with various clients along the large cross section of industry. The project helped me in all round development of my personality and made me a confident person since the work involved dealing with various personalities across all the hierarchy levels in an organization on a daily basis.
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APPENDIX
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
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