Blogs

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Nitin Mantri's Blog

Monday, April 11, 2011

Thriving and how

Are independent firms endangered or thriving? That was the topic of a heated debate at a recently-held meet in Delhi where I happened to be one of the speakers.

In my opinion, there are advantages in both independent firms and large agencies. While independent firms have greater control over their operations and are more nimble and creative, larger groups with their deep pockets offer financial stability and better infrastructure. But in no way are independent agencies endangered. There are enough global firms that are independent and thriving. I will once again give my favorite example of Edelman which has set new standards in the independent PR business and has done an excellent job in promoting its own brand.

Large organizations are no doubt full staffed, but are also overworked. Independent agencies, on the other hand, can take up projects on a short notice and give value for money to their clients. They also give the much-wanted-and-almost-extinct “personal touch” to their clients, something bigger agencies may find difficult to offer owing to the vast number of projects they handle. In fact, since there is little or no bureaucracy in independent PR firms, senior employees oversee big accounts personally. This combination of personal touch and expertise helps them land big accounts. Again, senior-level executives who leave large firms to start or join independent agencies bring big portfolios. Read more

 

 

Girish Huria's Blog

December 23, 2011 by girish30

PR professionals wishes from Santa

Its Christmas time and everyone’s planning a holiday. Ironically, like every year, my team and I are busy - working. Are we complaining? Definitely, but it’s also fun time at office where spirits are high – literally.

Like my son who makes a wish to Santa for gifts, I too want few wishes to be fulfilled by Santa in 2012 and they are listed below:

• Early closure to pitches – I wish that if a prospect (client) calls for a pitch, they take quick decisions. Teams that work on business pitches spend time and energy researching and putting together the pitch. However, it is demotivating when clients don’t revert and defer their decision inordinately, citing not-so-genuine reasons for the delay in decision making. I hope clients realise that agencies burn the midnight oil to put their best foot forward on pitches.

• Don’t squeeze retainers under the pretence of recession – We all understand that value (ROI) is what clients seek from their agencies. However, it is painful when clients do this under the pretence of recession. May I ask when was the last time a client forego their salary raise due to recession. Just like they need to maintain a certain lifestyle, so do agencies need to pay their employees and retain them.

• Don’t abuse words like creativity / innovation / out-of-the-box – Agencies have heard these words so often that now they have become the most abused words in the history of public relations. While I appreciate the need to come up with something that’s workable, but when asked specifically what they feel would be creative / innovative / out-of-the-box, pat comes the clients’ response, “I don’t know, but this is not exciting.” When did feedback become so generic, or am I to assume clients themselves don’t have clarity in their heads of what they are seeking from an agency

• Undertake closure of contracts / renewals on time: How often have agencies been able to close their contract discussions / renewals on time? I am sure that agencies don’t raise the flag much in advance, but even in genuine cases, I have seen this is the least priority area for a client. Agencies continue to work without contracts and then struggle to recover their retainers. May I ask, how often have clients been happy if there is a delay in their appraisals? Just as they are cognizant of their appraisals, agencies have to be cognizant of their employee appraisals, which is directly linked to the monies the clients pay the agencies

• Lastly don’t ask for Times of India / The Economic Times every time: Yes, these two publications are the most widely read, but what clients need to understand is their news has to be meaty enough to be published every time in these publications. I am not being diffident of agencies’ ability to get news published in these publications, but agencies can’t work on ‘wishful thinking.’

Wishing all my clients and friends in this industry Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year . Read more

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September 30, 2011 by girish30

In the past couple of weeks, we all have been reading about how the global economy has been passing through testing times. The global economy, including US & Europe, grew at 3.8% in 2010, which incidentally was a significant improvement from the deceleration of (-) 2.2% in 2009. While the growth looks impressive, there have been markets like Africa and Middle-East which have been strived with internal protests.

Europe is trying to find a solution to its debt crisis and the US is still feeling the heat of S&P downgrade. There have also been reports of a rise in inflation in India and China, which will slow down growth in these two economies. This coupled with reports of slower growth in salary hikes in the current year, doesn’t present an overall impressive picture to an Indian professional class like me.

While many would forecast a grim future, I would like to see the foreseeable future with cautious optimism. Why? Because I see opportunities for us PR professionals despite the grim economic situation and my reasons are cited below

If Europe or USA are going to be hit by economic crisis, the only way their economies will survive if the production gets consumed in emerging economies like India. Thus it would be difficult for a car manufacturer to sell its luxury car in a European market, but quite easy to find buyers in India or China, considering the luxury consumer, rarely gets impacted by slowdown, given the propensity to spend. Which is why we are seeing the huge influx of luxury products in both these countries?

While many will argue that demand is plateau-ing in major metros in India, but what we are not taking into account is the ‘Bharat’ within India, which is witnessing new monies and thus demand for luxury / premium products. The only shift for manufacturers is that they need to move from a metro consumer to a rural consumer.

Similarly, a couple of sectors like education / healthcare (primary & tertiary) will continue to grow given the huge demand for these services in India.

While India’s trade focus has always been tilted towards Europe / USA, we haven’t realized the potential of investments from a G-8 country like Japan. Let’s appreciate that Japan’s financial institutions still have funds to invest, which currently they would like to park in emerging economies like India, rather than in their own country, given the natural calamity that had struck the country.

There are Fortune 500 companies, who are sitting on billions in cash, which sooner or later will be invested in economies or utilized for acquisition of cheaper assets somewhere in the globe. Prime example of that are promoters of Piramal group / ex-Ranbaxy who are still flushed with cash reserves after sell-outs and they will invest, which could very well be smaller cities in India or starting new ventures.

Lastly, because developed economies are going to face cost pressures, they will continue to see destinations which provide economies of scale and thus outsourcing / contract manufacturing will become a norm.

To stay competitive, we will have to keep costs in check, however more importantly we will have to work smartly and effectively. If three people were doing a task, we got to find innovative ways for either two people to do the same task, or three people perform four tasks. It’s about the 1 kg cake which can be either shared by 10 people for smaller pieces or by five persons with bigger slices.

What does all the above present – opportunities for us PR professionals to find newer customers or take existing customers to newer markets? I don’t deny there will be pressure of topline growth, but what it will definitely do is keep us in business and help us grow at decent rates for the next couple of years, without fear of being wiped out. Thus choice is ours, whether we would like to see our glass half empty or half full

Please Note: I am not an economist and don’t claim to understand economic theories as well. The above is a view of how I hope to survive and remain competitive in the business. . Read more

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August 3, 2011 by girish30

Client servicing lesson from Zindahi Na Milegi Doobara

Zindagi Na Milegi Doobara (ZNMD) – A fantastic movie celebrating friendship and overcoming fears. Every character was true to its role and with cheeky punch lines the movie made audiences feel that it was a ‘paisa vasool.’ Movies to me are stress busters and while I am a complete bollywood freak, I also like to analyse movies, especially to find out what’s the MESSAGE. Thus post watching ZNMD, I sliced the movie frame by frame and came up with some lessons that a client servicing personnel can learn from the movie and are captured below 1. Learn to Say NO – In the movie the Abhay Deol did not say NO at the right time and decided to go with flow, realizing rather late that he did not want to marry Kalki or maybe he was not ready for a commitment. If we put ourselves in a client meeting situation, we also many times believe that there are deliverables / timelines we can’t meet, but we hardly say NO. By the time we realize that we should have pushed back the client, it is quite late and we fear losing credibility with our clients. Thus do remember that it’s OK to say NO, but we should do it in a manner and form which is a win-win for both the client and the agency, just the way it was in the movie for both Kalki and Abhay

2. Overcome FEARS – Hrithik in the movie did not want to try diving because he feared water and depth. However, once he was trained by Katrina and taken showed the wonderful world that lived in deep sea, he was completely enamored and for once did not even think of his fears. Similarly in our profession we are afraid to try new things and take risks, because we FEAR FAILURE. Till we don’t explore newer aspects we wouldn’t know whether we will like it or not. Thus it’s important to have varied experiences as it only makes you more informed

3. Face the SITUATION – Farhan desperately is trying to find his father and when he knows that he has found his father’s house, he decides to drive the car the other way. The reason could be because he would feel awkward facing his biological father and therefore wanted to avoid it as far as possible. There are times in our professional life as well, when we want to avoid facing our clients and therefore think of excuses to avoid an ugly situation. However, sooner or later that situation will come up again and we would have to face that situation, which is what happened with Farhan as well, when all three (Farhan, Hrithik and Abhay) land in jail.

4. Learn from MISTAKES – In the movie Farhan had hit on Hrithik’s girlfriend, because of which Hrithik was annoyed with his friend. But it is Farhan who realizes his mistake and he could have probably repeated the same mistake by hitting on Katrina, which he didn’t, as he realized it would hurt his childhood friend. We too commit mistakes while client servicing, but if we are aware of them and make an attempt not to repeat, it is what I believe is the best LEARNING The last lesson is one of my favourites.

5. WORK-LIFE BALANCE – Hrithik in the movie has ambitions which he wishes to fulfill, but in his quest to be the best, he losses out on love, life and friends. It takes efforts of his friends and Katrina to make him realize what he missed out all these years. Thus it is advisable for each one working, to take time off for vacations and do what you enjoy most, without worrying about work. The secret to enjoying your work is to ensure that you unwind as well CAUTION: Go watch a movie to ENJOY IT and not ANALYZE IT. HAPPY READING . Read more

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July 26, 2011 by girish30

Is it really the Death of Knowledge?

In my formative years I was constantly reminded that Knowledge is Power. If I didn’t focus on acquiring knowledge, I would be punished, either by teachers or parents and the only way I would gain knowledge was by investing time in reading. This quest continued till very recently when I bumped into a bunch of young professionals in my field (public relations) and asked them how much time they spend reading.

The response I got was that they don’t get time to read and they also believe why invest time acquiring knowledge when it is readily available at a click of button. I didn’t argue much and was obviously getting into my clichéd zone of “in our time.” Thankfully, I didn’t allow myself to feel Neanderthal and started pondering the confident statement made by a 23 year old.

The statement didn’t allow me to sleep that night and I decided to wear my Sherlock Holmes hat to find out why a young professional would not invest time acquiring knowledge. After enough thought / researching, I concluded that today’s young professional is actually acquiring knowledge, albeit differently. They are surfing the internet to read history / geography / mathematics etc. They are visiting Wikipedia to know more about a subject, thus making them better informed than someone who used our primitive methods of learning. The youth is downloading porn thus making him more educated on sex, which we still refer to as birds and bees and are using smartphones to get onto google and get immediate answers, in case they are unaware of something. In the old times, if we didn’t have access to information we would generally skip that subject.

In the truest sense today’s generation is acquiring knowledge rapidly and quite in-depth. What is required from us, the species that came before is the effort to mentor or help channel this knowledge into application. We rather invest time in creating learning sessions / simulated workshops which will enable Gen-Y to understand how to better utilize their knowledge, than have disagreements on methods of acquiring knowledge.

Thus knowledge was and is always supreme. It’s only taking a different form to reach the Gen-Y. . Read more

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May 23, 2011 by girish30

ARE YOU READY FOR FEEDBACK?

It is that time of the year when many employees in India undergo their appraisals. What everyone has on their mind is their new designation, salary increase, performance bonus etc and rightly so. After all, in a competitive environment no one is working for charity. While an employee is thinking personal benefit, organizations are focused on skill enhancement, training needs, development goals etc and thus equipping line managers with data inputs so that they can undertake FEEDBACK sessions.

Feedback as defined in the dictionary (Oxford English) is a comment about a person’s performance, used as a basis of improvement. However, not many who are getting appraised read it accordingly. There is skepticism, inertia and sense of discomfort whenever there is a feedback session and many times disillusionment post feedback. The reasons are many, but my experience has pointed out to some elementary aspects; one, organizations don’t train appraisers on how to provide feedback and leave to so-called maturity of the person to manage feedback, and, two, organizations also don’t equip appraises on how they should have prepared themselves through the year keeping in mind that there will be annual/half yearly feedback sessions. If organizations start utilizing some resources towards enhancing feedback sessions, there will be more objectivity and less employee dissonance. Read more

 

 

Nikhil Khanna

August 27, 2011 by Nikhil

The Best Meal I Had

Actually the title to this piece is a misnomer; one can’t possibly, in human memory, put down to paper one’s best meal. What if you had another best meal after the Original Best Meal? Then what would happen to the Original Best Meal-would you still call it the Original Best Meal or would you call the Previous Original Best Meal? And what would the Second Best Meal be called? Just the Second Best Meal or Now The Best Meal After the Original Best Meal? And so forth. One can only mention a great meal in the context of ,’One Of’, as in ‘One of The Best Meals I’ve Ever Had. So, ‘One of the Best Meals I Ever Had ‘ was;

In a charming, low-slung cottage in an English style,(stone, ivy, suckling rose climbing the walls, gabled uneven roof, low doors) high above the Wang Chuu River- a river that’s cuts a foaming, sparkling swathe through the Thimpu Valley in Bhutan, I once sat down to a memorable meal. The rainbow trout in the Wang Chuu is legendary. It is plump, fleshy and unencumbered by random fishing and poaching as this river belongs to the King of Bhutan and nothing can thus be removed from it without his permission. To fish in the Wang Chuu, one has to get permission from the King’s office, no less. Thus armed ,we-my family and I-spent the entire morning fishing for trout. We started at 10 AM casting with rod, reel and lots of colourful artificial bait. By 12PM, we had fourteen fat, juicy, glistening trout lined up on parchment cloth by the river bed. They looked as glorious as a bunch of well-fed, Louis Vuitton bagged ladies at 360 at a Saturday brunch air-kissing each other. The Latin name, by the way, for rainbow trout is Oncorhynchus mykiss. I didn’t make that up. Fish caught, we wended our way back to the cottage.

The trout was cleaned and placed in a marinade of bashed garlic, and lemon and then lightly dusted with flour and then set aside. In the meanwhile, the gardener,( a not very bright guy) was despatched to the extensive kitchen garden to pluck, variously, cherry tomatoes, lettuce, salad leaves and cucumber. This was ripped, chopped and mixed up with vinegar, salt, sugar, a drop of honey and some good quality olive oil. The cook meanwhile had just returned from the Thimpu market with an unexpected surprise-extraordinarily large, crunchy asparagus. The asparagus from the hills is not like the sickly, weak sticks that are an apology of asparagus that one gets in the plains. These are confident stalks waiting to be dunked in salted water and parboiled, which they were. Now the fish has been lightly fried, the salad had been tossed and the asparagus had a freshly-made Hollandaise sauce for dreamy dipping all set up on a round table with a blue and white chequered table cloth under a White Pine tree in the terraced garden.

Daisies crunch under foot, drongos call from close by hills. The wine- a chilled Chablis has been poured. The savant gardener has, this time cleverly, plucked a basket of fat, wet strawberries from the strawberry patch below the house. The local cow, no pun, has given the milk which has been turned to cream. The cream rests in a pale blue Spode jug on the next table. The river is below you, clear skies above, there’s a rustle of wind in the pines, the Chablis is causing a slight scene, the trout is exploding in the mouth. The salad is crunchier than you thought and the asparagus even more so. The Chablis is still causing a scene. The strawberries follow, cascades of cream avalanche its way over those glorious red mountains. This is truly One of The Best Meals I ever Had.

Ends. . Read more

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