Good Design is Good Business

This nugget of wisdom came from Thomas Watson Jr, former IBM CEO, while addressing the Wharton School of Business in 1973. The Indian companies with the opening up of the economy have also started realising the importance of good design, whether it is product, services, or communication. A well executed design brings in lot of respect, brand identity and loyalty, and trust, especially when it precisely communicates corporate philosophy and is consumer friendly.
The Indian designers therefore are much in demand across the globe for their aesthetics and ergonomics which they are capable of creatively deploy in the products.
It is worth reading the latest 'Outlook Business' for a comprehensive overview of the emerging communication scenario and how the design, or the visual imagery, is being used not as a mere support function but as a part of the corporate strategy.

Corporate Image Monitor

There is another interesting study on corporate image of top 20 Indian companies, a study conducted periodically by AC Nielson ORG-MARG.

Chandigarh is the Cleanest City

Chandigarh has been declared as the cleanest city in India, by a survey conducted by A.C. Nielsen ORG MARG, covering 18 state capitals, including the metros, on the basis of the opinion of citizens on cleanliness in their cities.
Chandigarh city emerged the best city with a score of 144, followed by Chennai with a score of 118 and Kolkata, with a score of 108. Others in that order are Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Lucknow, and Trivandrum. Delhi ranked 9th with a score of (99), which is below the all-city average of 100.
The city cleanliness survey was commissioned by Lifebuoy.

PR Events

On 2-3 August 2007:
Marcus Evans, Malaysia is organising a seminar on corporate communication at Mumbai. (There is special discount for PRSI members). Further details can be obtained from Mr. VAvinesh Nadarajan, Phone: +603 27236600, avineshn@marcousevanskl.com.

13-15 December 2007:
29th All India PR Conference is being held in Chennai, India. Further information can be obtained from Mr. R.K.Dharan, PRSI Vice President South, rkdharan@yahoo.com

PR at a cross-road!

Last week, while conducting a training programme for the senior officers of the PR department of a state Government, I came across some interesting queries as we discussed the subject of ethical practices in PR :

One, "what would you say since most of the news and the special sections for the state government's news that the media provides in their editorial columns is squarely dependent upon the government's advertising released to them? The state government has massive advertising budget running into crores that is dangled before the newspapers to receive 'positive' coverage. Isn't it 'news for money' policy?"

Two, "media relationship is a 'hate-hate' relationship. They abuse the government PR department and we also do not give a damn to them since we know that they would report what we want so long as the ads are released to them."

Three, "are the editors of the newspapers truly the journalists or the marketing men?" The last question cropped in contest with the recent cash prize of Rs.25,000 given to the editor of a vernacular daily by its management for bringing in more advertising revenue to the newspaper in the previous year.

Valid questions. Need to be mulled over.

CJ Singh
http://prsichd.blogspot.com/

Punjab Govt to Engage Private PR Professionals

The Punjab Government would formulate a policy to provide recognition to the PR Companies and private PR  practitioners  to insure their involvement in ongoing government’s PR activities, under Public-Private Partnership (PPP).

 Mr. Jagjit Puri, Secretary, Information and Public Relations, Punjab disclosed this while presiding over a seminar on Achieving Excellence in PR through IT Intervention organized by Public Relations Society of India, (PRSI) Chandigarh Chapter.  

In his presidential address Mr. Puri advised PRSI to  compile a directory with details of PR Companies working in India and  abroad  to help the PR Department to  use their services for media management in in other states or abroad.

Talking about long emotional attachment with PR, Mr. Puri recollected his memoirs when he was a University student and started his carrier as an Assistant Public Relations Man in some Private Company. He said that today the Information technology had totally changed the face of the world, all the borders and barriers had been eliminated and flow of information became very easy through internet networking. Mr. Puri urged PR practitioners to continuously upgrade their technological skills for collective interface with the media to reach out to the grassroots level. Mr. Puri also underlined various PR challenges faced by the state government for effective flow of communication. 

Col Rajesh Dua, General Manager, IT, Punjab Infotech in his key note address touched upon 4 step PR Process of Research, Planning~ Communicating and Evaluating. He gave detailed account of current technologies and their applications for strategic information systems. He said that managing a local problem, partnership between general, IT and users management is crucial and e-governance is not about transporting processes, but transforming processes. 

 Earlier in her welcome address, Ms. Renuka B. Salwan, Chairperson of the Chandigarh Chapter said that technological changes have a significant impact on communication and PR professionals have to adopt it fully. PR is an information related discipline and information data banks help in PR planning and strategies. On the occasion, she also announced to annually organize Dilgir Memorial lecture every year on his birthday falling in August.

Mr Charanjit Singh, Managing Director, Core PR stated that for achieving professional excellence, it is imperative to be competitive, ethical and truthful. For effective and efficient  management of PR campaigns ,   PR practitioners should  learn to use the entire range of communication tools available with them whether traditional or the modern ones like webcasting, blogging, podcasting, etc.