PR with a higher purpose

I was aware that religious and spiritual organizations practice PR and promotional tactics in order to deliver their desired message. Discussing their strategies such as branding, celebrity endorsements, word of mouth publicity, direct marketing etc even led me to believe that they practice a kind of ‘disguised’ public relations. Although the existence of regulated organizations that undertake PR responsibilities for religious groups was news to me.

WDC media is a leading media and public relations firm; they claim they are ‘Good news specialists’ who do ‘PR with a higher purpose’. Since its launch in 2003,
WDC Media has been effectively bridging the gap between religious America and the secular media. Their clients include faith-based organizations, ministries and businesses who need to deliver a religious or faith based message. They may be rooted in Christian values but claim to relate to all kinds of faiths and beliefs. Among WDC's most progressive and successful clients is Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), the world's largest religious broadcaster. Also apart from garnering effective media coverage for their clients they also produce religious films.

Organizations like these are revolutionary in the world of PR and are introducing a whole new genre to the world of PR and Marketing. In a recent article in US Religious News stated that the chasm between religious America and the media is being bridged by an amazing telecommuter-based publicity firm, WDC Media, which is employing a new market strategy while gaining the lion’s share of the religious publicity business. So it can easily be said that PR is going places and it’s taking its religious beliefs along.

Organizations like WDC media have even inspired large multinational PR firms to undertake faith based practices. Mike Paul, the president of MGP & Associates PR, claims that his public relations firm's philosophy 'is grounded in both business and biblical principles'. In a recent seminar about the Evangelical society, Paul further endorsed religious PR by saying that "If you're a Christian organization and you want to get stories placed on mainstream media consistently, you need to form a relationship, you need to think from their perspective, not just our own," Paul added. "It's a two-way street." That is also the philosophy behind most PR and promotions and seeing religious and spiritual organizations adopting it makes us believe that religious promotion maybe the new trend in PR and marketing.

The Scientology Celebrity

Religious organizations are not only practicing PR and Marketing; they are adopting it with all its trends. The most effective trend to hit the spiritual world is that of celebrity endorsements. After conquering and exhausting the red carpet, celebrities are now turning to religion to add their glamour.

The church of scientology has even established a ‘celebrity centre’ within Hollywood to cater to the scientology needs of it’s celebrities. The founder, L.Ron Hubbard says “The world is carried on the backs of a desperate few.” Unfortunately, it is these desperate few who are often the most neglected. It is for this reason that L. Ron Hubbard saw to the formation of a special Church of Scientology which would cater to these individuals — the artists, politicians, leaders of industry, sports figures and anyone with the power and vision to create a better world’
Illustrious patrons to this church include Kelly Preston, the Presley Family, and Kirstie Alley, Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise and his family. In fact Tom Cruise has heavily endorsed the faith by having a widely publicized Scientology wedding ceremony, and speaking about it constantly in the media so much so that The Sun newspaper nicknamed him ‘The Christ of Scientology’. Celebrity mania within this religion increased to such a level that it triggered an investigation by FACTnet, who declare that all these celebrities are not simply propagating their faith; however they are compensated heavily for their endorsement. FACTnet made further claims that Scientology's celebrities are compensated richly for endorsements with:

• Free Scientology services costing up to $1,000 dollars per hour. John Travolta alone has had in excess of $100,000 of free services in compensation.
• Commissions of up to 10% for bringing people into Scientology (who subsequently pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for Scientology's services).
• One or more Scientology staff being sent to travel full time with celebrities as "support," at Scientology's expense.
• Free luxury accommodations and carte Blanc use of the finest Scientology facilities and properties. E.g. During their visit, Cruise and Kidman are provided the additional luxuries of a specially prepared suite, maids, and two four-star chefs, all at scientology's expense as a quid pro quo exchange for Cruise's endorsements of Scientology. (Source: http://www.factnet.org)

While some may view this as an unethical use of Religion and god, it cannot be denied that it is very effective marketing. Using celebrities is a tried and tested formula which is known to have worked for brand image, corporate social responsibility, crisis management and advertising, so why now religious promotion?

A brief history of how it happenned?

This is an interesting video about the origins, spread and rise of religions accross the world. The video observes that Hinduism is one the world'soldest religions, however Christianity and Islam are the most widespread.

Does GOD practice PR ?

It was purely by observation I realized that the latest users of Public Relations and marketing tactics are religious and spiritual organizations. Walking down London’s Tottenham court road you will almost definitely be stopped before a storefront called ‘the church of dianetics and scientology’ and will be asked to come in for a free stress test and an introduction into the practice of scientology. A few steps further down you may encounter a ‘Hare Rama, Hare Krishna’ disciple inviting you for a free meal at their temple along with an introductory discourse on Krishna consciousness. It may be disguised as ‘spreading the message’ but if you think about it, these smooth-talking, smart salesmen are practicing direct marketing and, throwing in freebies and incentives just ads to their use of promotional activities.
As a PR student it is interesting for me to notice how PR is taking over the world and is applying itself in all possible fields. However when it comes to faith or religion the roots of using promotional strategy or tactics that may classify as modern day PR are steeped in world history. For example Sikhism in India bas born out of Hindu-Muslin angst and angst against the caste system, however it spread by the effective word of mouth promotion of it’s founder- Guru Nanak and his disciples. Being only 531 years old, one could say that Guru Nanak saw a market for a religion of its kind and thus went about promoting it effectively. In a country like India, where religious converts usually arose out of conquests, Sikhism re-instated the concept of religion by way of ‘spreading the message’.
Even Christianity and the Church are known to use widespread promotional tools and events towards spreading their message. In fact the Christian faith has since history been accused of using propaganda tools in order to further their belief;, however propaganda is also something that Public Relations has forever been accused of using. In light of this I found a comment on the BibleBabble website that may not have qualified as propaganda but it definitely qualifies as Public Relations,

“No doubt you have been walking down a street, in a store, or in a public bathroom, when you look down and there in front of you is a ten dollar bill, or a wallet, maybe even a nice folded up hundred dollar bill. You see the money and think that today is my lucky day (or in case of the wallet you hope there's ID so you can return the wallet), but when you pick it up it's actually something promoting Christianity. Who hasn't had this happen?”

By making all these observations, under no circumstances am I trying to insult any religious practices or lower the credibility of any religion, my observations purely go on to raise the credibility of the practice of Public Relations.

PR has a duty to tell the truth, No ?

A few days ago the University played host to an exciting debate titled ‘PR has a duty to tell the truth’. Amongst the speakers were PR-guru Max Clifford and PR man turned priest George Pitcher. The motion of the house was defeated, but its difficult to say if that was actually the general consensus or that people were more awed by Max Clifford’s enigmatic style of putting a ‘spin’ on things. Since the room was filled with PR students and practitioners it is safe to assume that most of them believe that they need NOT tell the truth for PR purposes. In fact the word ‘spin’ reveals how PR has more of a duty to twist, gloss-over and manipulate the facts rather than tell it like it is. However I do have a few observations and arguments of my own that contribute to this debate. Interestingly a lot of the crises’ that PR has to manage or salvage arise out of the revelation of what maybe called the truth. This can be explained by taking the example of Coca-cola and Pepsi in India. They faced a collective crisis recently when the ‘truth’ about the colas containing a high level of toxic chemicals and pesticides was revealed by the Centre for Environment and Science (CSE) . So what does one do when your duty to tell the truth is what is causing vast damage to your image and your sales? Well, Coke and Pepsi responded by denying everything flatly and getting celebrities to endorse their safety claims. They also issued a bunch of alternative test reports and had everyone believe what they wanted to prove was the truth. So in a case like this the whole concept of truth gets warped because Coke and Pepsi are back on track and going strong in spite of once being accused of negatively impacting the Indian nation’s health. Similarly, signed as the new face of Yardley cosmetics, actress Helena Bonham Carter, unthinkingly once told a magazine journalist that she didn’t wear make-up. So the ‘truth’ was out, what could be worse PR for the company if the endorser herself claimed that she never used the stuff? So it has to be agreed that in a situation like this, Helena should probably have lied and attributed her beauty to Yardley cosmetics, after all that is what they are paying her for. Although there are many situations in which the truth works much better than anything else. Microsoft, in the wake of an Apple Computer ad campaign to woo Windows users, briefly ran a similar ad of its own. An ad, titled "Confessions of a Mac to PC convert," was posted to Microsoft's Web site. The article purports to be a first-person account of a writer who decided to switch from an Apple Macintosh computer to a PC running Windows XP. The writer was quoted as saying. "I like the Microsoft Windows XP operating system enough to change my whole computing world around”. It seemed like a really good idea until CNET News uncovered the fact that it was a PR stunt by Microsoft rather than a real person writing the testimonial. Apparently the PR consultants to Microsoft were not all that techno-savvy as they should have been and Microsoft has since been the subject of extensively framed online forums for the ‘lie’ and their reputation has thus been sullied. Therefore truth or no truth, in the words of Max Clifford, ‘PR has a duty only and only towards their client’.

Public Relations in a crisis !

I recently read an article by Dali Singh that said ‘Public Relations is a wildcat marketing strategy, which implemented correctly can yield tremendous results’. In spite of being a discipline and a practice in itself, separate from marketing the value of PR is only really realized in times of crisis.
PR is employed by organizations and individuals in order to maintain and build their public image; however PR also steps in when the same public image is in jeopardy. When Johnson & Johnson was accused of using Cyanide as in ingredient in Tylenol tablets causing a number of fatalities in USA it was an effective step by step in-house PR plan that made Tylenol bounce back as a trusted and popular medicine. Similarly in India Cadbury chocolates were found to contain insects which resulted in a huge drop in sales and loss of brand loyalty. In answer to this Cadbury came up with an effective PR campaign that involved celebrity endorsements and FDA approvals and today they are back on track.

There are a number of examples that elucidate the effectiveness of PR in a crisis situation, and honestly it is the crisis’ that have given Public Relation’s its elevated identity. For a long time PR has hidden in the shadows of marketing, a lot of the credit due to PR has been termed and passed off as ‘Effective Marketing Strategy’; this maybe because of an organization’s structural break-up or hierarchy that always clubbed PR under Marketing. In spite of playing such a monumental role a PR person still struggles to get recognition within the upper echelons of a company’s organizational structure.

Be it Alastair Campbell for Tony Blair or Max Clifford for England’s numerous celebrities, PR persons are the first people they run to when a scandal breaks out and one needs to do serious damage control within the media. They maybe called spin-doctors and maybe accused of manipulating the public via the media, but it cannot be denied that in the past they have also managed to put a ‘spin’ on numerous crisis’ and subsequently save the day.

Movie Marketing or Film PR ?

It has been established that Marketing and PR are spearheading the growth of industries the world over. In light of this it is interesting to study the increase in PR tactics employed by film producers and movie studios. Call it movie marketing or film PR there is a new trend in promotion employed by filmmakers in order to communicate with their desired audiences. Traditionally films depended on advertising to promote themselves however the audience is getting smarter and more and more discerning, and PR and Marketing have fused together to give them a more convincing voice of expression.
Coming from a country that takes their movies very seriously, I have examples of Film PR floating all around me. In the past few years there have been an increase in the number of film related events and screenings. The main aim of these events is to garner press coverage and therefore publicity for the film. Filmmakers and their PR personnel have made a conscious effort over the past few years in order to glamorize the Indian film industry (A.K.A Bollywood). PR has managed to elevate film personalities into Icons and everything they do is used as a PR tool. If you take a look at http://www.bollywoodpr.com/ you will see how seriously they take their business. Bollywood PR offers advice and solutions to people who want to explore the opportunities to work with Bollywood, their services include, Bollywood & Celebrity Promoters , Invite A Bollywood Star, The Bollywood Tour, Production of Films, Videos & Commercials, Music Video Production, In Film Advertising, Event Management, Radio Commercial Campaigns. We always know that for success of any movie, it needs good direction and good acting from the performers. Wrong! Think again. For Bollywood movies, success has just one source- successful marketing and distribution.
“It’s a new wave film marketing with Hollywood style publicity blitz on television, radio, banners, newspapers, and mobile phones. It’s all part and parcel of promoting a film - merchandise, games, cartoon strips. You have to do all this when a film is being released, and it will continue to be like this” – Actor Shah Rukh Khan in an interview with NDTV.
Another interesting current trend in PR and Marketing in Bollywood is the use of the internet in order to promote a film. Says Rajnish R., Head - Digital Marketing Revenue and Strategic Business, MSN India: "People who use the Internet are twice likely to go watch movies in multiplexes (than those who do not). Indians abroad go online to read movie reviews before they book a ticket or buy the DVD. So, the adoption of online media is attractive to new-age producers, who themselves are Net-savvy."
There is a sudden growth in the value of online advertising done for films and PR has taken a whole new attitude by targeting popular websites such as http://www.indiafm.com/ndiafm.com/, http://www.hungama.com/ and MSN India. Earlier the film marketers worried about gathering effective coverage within newspapers and magazines and now they concentrate on placed articles and good reviews on these trusted sites.
The proof of adopting this new formula of PR and promotion is in the results. “India's Bollywood film industry achieved its best year in 2006 after adjusting its formulaic approach with tighter screenplays, sequels and aggressive marketing. 48 out of nearly 200 movies - were box-office successes and recovered their investment, a record by Bollywood standards, according to Mumbai- based trade analyst Taran Adarsh.” – 3rd January, The Standard.
Using Bollywood as an example we can see how Public Relations and Marketing are used in a mutually beneficial manner, towards achieving greater sales figures, increased popularity and publicity. Call it movie marketing or Film PR they are both one and the same thing as they form a part of the films promotional plan or strategy. In Bollywood at least the boundaries between Public Relations and Marketing are diminishing and their role and worth within the industry is steadily increasing.

Is PR the same as Marketing ?

Very few people are aware of what Public Relations actually does therefore it is often confused with marketing or even Advertising. It can be argued that PR is an essential part of the marketing mix but in terms of delivering results - it hold's its own. There are however a number of reasons why PR and Marketing are so similar and the foremost reason is that they have common goals. Goals like Image building and brand recognition, promoting a product, and persuasion in order to induce belief or action. In a nutshell however, they both try to communicate the desired message.

Apart from the fact that PR uses different tactics and methods in order to achieve its goals they are essentially two separate things. Even then there is an increasing trend in the merging of ideas between the Public Relations and Marketing industry the world-over. In most organizations the PR practitioners operate under the wings of the Marketing department. When I was working as an assistant in the PR department of a large entertainment company I learnt how dependant PR is on Marketing. All PR decisions were first approved by the Marketing division before being implemented. Also, I recently worked on an analytical essay on the PR practices of The Bacardi-Martini Company and found out during the course of my research that they don't even have a PR department and that their Marketing department deals with all PR issues and they then outsource their PR whenever required.

This in no way goes on to undermine the power of PR because the proof lies in the world around us that - PR makes people sit up and take notice! However it seems that with the increase in its popularity and the dependency PR has created. Public Relations may be taking on the duties of Marketing and bringing the two closer together.