CLASH OF INTEREST; STILL IT’S MY BUSINESS

PR in the decade is set to wipe out bullshitting


A leading corporate group recently invited pitch from the PR agencies for its prestigious account. The short listed PR agencies were given a level playing field and there had been nothing to suggest any element of favouritism when one of the PR Agencies clinched the deal on the merits of its exposure in the given industry. It looked like a normal competitive pitch where one of the Agencies got the account on its sheer merit.

It was so till the time another Agency which had lost it in the competitive bid poached for one of its key professionals. After that it was an expose of sorts. Switching to the new Agency made the professional change his loyalties too, and hence it was brought to the light that the Agency which bagged the prized account was actually handling the account of the competing brand as well which had a clash of interest with this client. The greed of the Agency had made them conceal this information despite of the fact that they had signed the contract with the clause that they will not handle the account of any competing brand till the completion of their agreement.

The expose was not confined to the board room of the Corporate Group. It was rather selectively leaked to the media and hence there were newspaper reports on the subject. The Agency was immediately summoned by the Corporate. To the utter surprise of one and all, the Agency tried to defend its act by reiterating that they are not handling any PR campaign of the rival group and are actually taking care of just the Investor Relations for them. And what does this Investor Relations mean? To the best of my knowledge as a communication professional, it means issuing Press Release and sharing other financial information with the audience who are key stake holders and have invested money in the company through equity. Well, if Investor Relations is not part of Public Relations, then I suppose even Event Management and Public Affairs too are not part of the PR business.

The said instance here clearly suggests as to how PR Agencies play the role of spin doctors to the detrimental of the clients. The contract of the Agency was revoked and they were shown the doors. However, this is not the only exceptional instance of PR Agencies working on the competing brands with conflict of interests without the knowledge of the client. If such agencies do not wake up to the reality that PR is evolving to a new level they will soon get mowed down. The next decade is going to call for PR to redefine its path and roles. Public Relations in this part of the world lack an identity because it means so many things to so many people. With almost anyone getting into PR, it is time it evolved into a genuine profession.

Nothing is more criminal in the business of PR than to work on the competing brand where there is clash of interest. However, some of the PR Agencies seems to believe in the theory of being indispensable just because there is no safeguard mechanism to protect the clients. A few clients from the same sector in the kitty and it goes to the head of the Agency to become self-styled specialists, and hence indispensable.

This criminal negligence becomes all the more grave if the Agency is doing it without the knowledge of the client, often misleading the client after signing the contract with the clause of “No Business” with competitors. Can anybody believe the same Agency working on the PR campaign of Crocin and Ibrufen in the paracetamol segment or Quaker Oats and Kellogs in the breakfast segment? I can understand Lays PR being in the same kitty since the product is not a healthy snacking option and hence there is no clash of interest. But this all happens within the PR industry and there are Agencies who shamelessly claim to be ethical and “clean” people despite of such unethical trade practices.

There are Agencies which have taken a smart way to deal with the situation in the wake of getting such competing brands with clash of interests. A couple of years back an Agency handling the account of one of the largest PSU telecom company got an offer from the competing private telecom company. Under the contractual obligation of “No Business” in the segment, they floated a new subsidiary of the parent company, only for the billing purposes, and henceforth it was business as usual with same set of people handling both the account.

While the PR industry world over is moving towards specialization, in India this specialization seems to be heralding for all the wrong reasons. In June 2004, Dejan Vercic at the IPR's AGM, commented that: "We, the PR community, are the essence of a free society, a market economy, and political democracy, and we should start thinking about ourselves as such. There never has been and never will be a closed society with public relations." I believe this comment is of great relevance as it extends well beyond PR to communications in general. Moreover, it also clearly suggests that specialization does not mean you start living into your own cocooned and isolated world.

Agencies that live in their own fool’s paradise, believing that since they operate in a given sector, like healthcare or education, they have become specialized ones. The arrogance becomes all too obvious if they continue with the business without getting exposed. Agencies who believe they can afford competing brands with clash of interest need some serious introspection for their own good. I have reasons to believe that such unfair trade practices would not last long. And for the sake of the profession and industry in general, let’s hope that PR in this decade will wipe out all the bullshiting as far as business norms and ethics are concerned.