Endearingly called PR, an Acronym for two Social Paradigms-Public and Relations, once considered a side show of the high and mighty of ‘Advertising’, now stands on its own with hi- tech props and matching accessories ever ready to switch on its charm and turn resplendent whoever comes in contact with it ,may be individuals, organisations corporate or even Nations.
PR as a phenomenon is not new to the world; it existed in various forms and manifestations all through the ages, though not in its present shape; why you can even trace it in the Garden of Eden when God told Adam the first Human being to keep his image of ‘first in the universe ’and not to tarnish it by eating the Forbidden fruit at any cost, He was very solemnly performing his PR prerogative.
When the ‘Homo Sapiens’ emerged out of their caves in one piece, spread out into this vast expanse called earth, in search of food and other necessities, lived first in small groups coalescing into societies, Communication became imperative; PR was born in its crude form of ‘word by mouth’. The nomadic tribes in the beginning of civilisation attained prominence or demise by the way they communicated or positioned themselves ; the ‘might is right’ philosophy of the olden days was maintained through how effectively they communicated to out do the other and establish themselves.When from nomads into settlements and from settlements to Nation States , civilisation advanced ,‘survival of the fittest’ was the mantra ;here again communication and carving out an image –mild, arrogant, savage, fierce etc became the clue for survival ,each nation state known by the image it created about them. If you delve deep into the recesses of antiquity, you can perceive how communication by ‘word by mouth’ at that particular point of time in History impacted the lives of the people and Nation states. In ancient Greece, the two Nation states –Athens and Sparta -were in a positioning game, Athens positioned itself as the pioneer and home of Democracy while Sparta was known as the warrior kingdom, both survived on their respective USP for a long time until Sparta created ‘fear psychosis’ in the minds of Athens and overran their country and decimated their democracy.
History is replete with instances of fighting and winning wars on psychological factors by permeating fear psychosis in the rank and file of the forces and creating disarray and mayhem among them however, numerically strong they happened to be. When Alexander the great ,the young ruler of a hardly known Macedonia set out to conquer the world ,more than the strength of the army ,the aura created by his close confidantes around him to be ruthless and invincible ,worked in his favour more than the prowess ,as messengers would fan out the enemy camps with fabled stories of his being the son of Greek God , born to rule the world and no one however mighty would be able to defeat him etc. and overwhelm them ;the fortress of impregnability erected around him was nothing but a creation of fertile minds with traces of PR ingrained in them . However, Alexander met his match in the irrepressible Chanakya who was bidding his time ,having mentored a rustic lad Chandragupta to be the future king of a unified Indian empire which he had envisioned and nearly succeeded barring the threat from Alexander. Chanakya an eminent Vedic scholar, held firmly the view that whatever be your moves, your actions, you have to look at your ‘permanent interests’, whether your actions be positive or negative, as long as it serves your ‘permanent interests’ pursue it, look at the end not the means of achieving it, even if a negative move leads to a positive end result, your action is justifiable. He also believed that there are only two types of people in this world, either, they are wise or they are fools, there is no in between. Armed with these, He unleashed a massive communication blitzkrieg in history aimed at demoralising Alexander ,his close advisers and the rank and file –first the ‘wrath of Indian Gods would decimate you and your army’ massage was disseminated through one of Alexander’s own advisors ,spies and messengers , followed up with perpetrating certain telltales of actual wrath on the Greek conqueror ,then planting trusted Chandra Gupta himself among the Greek army columns ,particularly among the Indian contingent, rousing nationalistic feelings and creating internal dissension to such an extend that the world conqueror had to retreat abandoning his global ambitions. If you look at the foregoing descriptions of two Historical personalities and their actions, it can be surmised, how communication, ‘word by mouth’ the only available mode at that time ,was effectively used to project the image in certain way or mar the image to annihilate your adversary and make way for achieving your goals; now try applying these principles into modern scenario, whether the edifice of ‘fear psychosis’ erected by the coterie of Alexander to weaken his adversaries is applicable to Corporate warfare of modern times to fiercely protect your Market Leadership and whether the negative moves and vibes orchestrated by Chanakya to browbeat Alexander ,which History has justified as being aimed at positive outcome of a united India ,can be applied to brand wars ;no doubt, these are debatable points for modern PR practitioners ,who are armed to the teeth with modern precepts, tactics and hi-tech communication gadgets and yet find some lessons from History to emulate and apply to modern times.
Modern PR is also all about ‘image building’ –images of products and services- in inanimated segments, images of individuals hailing from various spheres –social, economic ,political -images of Corporate-private and public- images of organisations/ institutions and Nations in animated segments. Image building is effected on the basic premise: ‘man is a social animal’, built on main planks--social and psychological -social say-perceptions, tastes, aptitudes, attitudes, sense and sensibilities etc.-psychological say-status ,prestige, power, glamour etc, on the positive side -fear, complexes and various negative emotions on the negative side --of the target group to be influenced. In today’s fast paced world, when the options are legion, like other services, Innovation is the key to the success of PR also; innovation in strategies, innovation in execution and innovation in outcome. No PR strategies remain constant, amoeba like it takes manifold shapes depending upon the stimuli of social and psychological strata as mentioned in the forgoing paragraph of the targeted audience which are constantly changing; as such PR steps continuously need revamping, refurbishing, recasting, relocating ,metamorphosing and overhauling ,to keep pace with the fast changing times and trends. The latest phenomenon in PR is personality centric, contrary to the organisation/brand centric of earlier times, by which the image is built around the CEO or the Head of the organisation and the corporate or the brand becomes synonymous with him; in this the profile of the person concerned is pepped up by constantly eulogising him through Media exposure and keeping him on high pedestal and through him the organisation and product recall being achieved. In this realm, even several low profile figures have reached great heights taking the organisation and products and services He represents to dizzying heights—Aditya Birla , Anand Mahindra to quote a few examples.Another area in which PR render impeccable service is Damage control; when Business houses or organisations fall into disrepute, fall from grace in the eyes of the loyal patrons due to the dip in quality of their goods and services or certain omissions and commissions of the company have brought harm to the society at large, or not palatable to the norms set by the society, and as such, the company has to retrieve the lost ground, PR steps in with their damage control solutions. PR go deep into the matters, pinpoint the missing links in the dynamics of its operations which have brought about the downslide and puts forward constructive suggestions for the company to bounce back to its original glory. PR have ,therefore, come a long way from the age old days of ‘word by mouth’ communication to its present exponential level of growth laced with rare wizardry , maturity and above all equipped with modern communication tools becoming part and parcel of the business houses ,global conglomerates, govt , quasi govt and all kinds of organisations ,leaders and individuals who want to nurture an alluring image and sustain it.
A fitting finale to the forgoing PR story would be to attempt a CARICATURE of the typical present day PR professional : A happy go lucky Human –male or female –endowed with boundless nervous energy, tastefully attired, pleasant in disposition, subtle smile on the lips, confident to the core, solution on finger tips however vexatious the problem, patience personified, never frowns never winks, calm and composed and with a never give up attitude, wielding a ‘PR norm’ scissors and a ‘best impression’ brush dipped in psychedelic ‘makeover’ paint cutting the rough edges, sprucing and shaping up the communication edifice of the organisations and applying fresh paints where ever it is worn off or faded ,touch up at crumpled areas to give that perennial imposing and evergreen look .Bravo PR ,you have arrived in style and here to stay for ever.
