WRONG PR MOVES PROVED TO BE NEMESIS OF UTTARAKHAND

As the General Elections come to an end with UPA’s miracle story, parties on the other side of the fence have gone into introspection mode. One pertinent question which has all along been asked from various quarters is that whether branding and PR campaigns of the political parties and individual candidates actually translate into votes. Well, the basic instinct of a communication professional will always like to answer into affirmative.

However, very much like the political parties, we communication specialists too need to do some serious introspection over the way we practice what in collective consciousness is known as PR. After all, we too have had only mixed results and have definitely gone wrong both in strategic moves and tactical delivery. And since we have the advantage of a section of media being with us, we always try to evade the unpleasant realities. As a result, while we often boast of the credit of our client’s (party or candidate) victory, we rarely want to share the blame when the client loses.

It may sound fancy to blame it on the non-performance of the client when things don’t go the way it was projected by the PR agency. Of course, we conveniently, and often shamelessly, forget the tall claims of conducting political audit and gauging the mood and pulse of the voters only a few months back. Let’s face this fact called hypocrisy in our business. Actually our complacency to the job and an approach towards “Groupism” within our own peer group makes us believe that whatever we discuss within ourselves is the mood and reality of the masses. Sadly this “I appreciate you and you appreciate me” mentality falls flat on our face when confronted with the ground realities. If communication specialists have to institutionalize the branding and PR campaign in the country the way it is practiced in the west, we have to get rid of the syndrome of “when I am good, I am god; when I am not, I am human.”

Let’s take the case of Uttarakhand state where the ruling BJP was shown the doors by the electorates despite of very many performance driven initiatives. Now if we analyse the message emanating from the General Elections of 2009, the message is loud and clear-Perform or Perish. The parochial card of caste, religion and other jingoistic instruments were put silent by the resonance of development and governance. Shiela Dixit in Delhi, Nitish Kumar in Bihar, Shivraj Chouhan in Madhya Pradesh and Y S Rajashekhar Reddy in Andhra Pradesh are classic examples of the message that those who have paid attention to governance have won the voters’ confidence and received handsome returns by way of refurbished mandates.

Then what went wrong with Uttarakhand which has not been far behind these states in terms of governance? An army man by instinct, B C Khanduri pushed forward the reforms process which has always been a challenge in the hilly terrains. Still the voters of the state seemed to be determined to derail his train. There is a big question as to why? Was it the problem of perception and projection? That should not have been the case as Uttarakhand Government had hired a PR agency much in advance. And industry and government sources suggest that the mandate to the agency was loud and clear—Change the Perception & Project the Achievement.

The idea here is not just to blame the PR agency. After all, they are in the business of communication and conventional wisdom would suggest that if they can’t do their own PR, then what is the point to be in that business? So, a little bit of self appreciation is acceptable here. But is not acceptable is the approach to treat a failed communication campaign as business as usual for them. Since the business of PR has only recently evolved in the country and most of the so-called communication specialists don’t have any depth or background in brand management, it is more a game of “advertising is what you PAY for; and PR is what you PRAY for”. Now all the wishful prayers can’t be answered all the time.

And more often than not it is client who prays more and suffers even more. Well, in this case, Uttaranchal Government hired a PR agency without getting into a competitive pitch. “High Level Recommendation” and “Influential Connections” seemed to be the only criterion behind the selection of the agency. Perhaps they should have taken a lead from the Haryana Government which was at the receiving end of media backlash after the police laathi charge on the Honda Workers. They hired a PR agency after a rigorous competitive pitch and the result: within ten months Haryana emerged as the number one state in terms of positive media coverage. This is a fact which has been backed by an independent monitoring agency, CIRRUS.

But Uttarakhand is a case in contrast. Perhaps in his overzeal to do what successful governments in western countries do, B C Khanduri failed to cross check the credentials and get into competitive pitch. The campaign for Uttaranchal’s “Perception & Projection” was handed over to non-specialists and it was not even cross checked as to whether the same set of people were working for the candidates belonging to the rival parties as well. “Money Hai to Honey Hai” mindset prevailed and Uttarakhand stood out as the only state which defied the national trend of “Vote for Governance”. And as the BJP sources claim B C Khanduri might be asked to step down, as part of the generational change in the party borne out of the election failure. What a costly price of wrong PR moves? This PR campaign definitely deserves to go down as a Case Study in the academics of Public Relations.

The only answer to the questions raised above is to institutionalize the business of PR, Branding and Communication. Only transparency will bring qualitative change in the way we practice this trade. It is a well established industry in the western countries. However, in India many political parties and state governments want to keep it low decibel information while hand picking the PR agency. As a result, most suitable and deserving specialists often don’t even come to know which government is on the look out for an agency. Needless to add, who suffers the most in this case. However, we communication specialists also need some serious introspection as to how we practice this business and how we ought to practice. But the moot point remains-in the fiasco of Uttarakhand PR campaign; will the real PR Agency please stand up and share the blame? After all, it’s just for the academic discussion on the trade practices and not “personal”, and I repeat not “Personal” at all.