'PR matters, but ultimately good content decides the success of the film'

PR needs to be strong and effective, and the message should reach to the remote levels of society, said the panellists at the PR and Corporate Communications Women Achievers Summit and Awards. Paula McGlynn, Actor and CEO of Bhartiya Digital Party and Anurag Chauhan, Founder of Humans for Humanity discussed the topic ‘Bollywood and PR: How entertainment PR influence brands and society.’ The session was moderated by Ruhail Amin Sr. Editor BW Businessworld & Exchange4media . 

Mcglynn believes that Film PR is as important as brand PR or traditional PR. In today’s digital world, everyone wields the power to criticize and have their voices heard across the world and problems of boycotts and protests raise their ugly heads. 

In order to crub the damage from anti-film PR, strong PR strategies should be put in place. “It’s all about building up the narrative. I think that something that a lot of films have attempted to do in the last few years is to anticipate what bad PR could be and try and build a narrative around it so that your film is protected or you are able to ensure that you will be getting some kind of an audience alongside your release,” she said. She shared her experiences of starting her career and her company in India.

Chauhan thinks that the ‘word of mouth’ is very strong and it still exists. He said, “There are so many films with and without PR. There are so many films with huge PR budgets and their activities go for months before the film comes out, yet they are not able to make an impact on society and be successful at the box office. PR is important but at the end of the day what matters the most is the content of the film."

Moving forward with the discussion, McGlynn explained that the use of PR differentiates between an influencer and a celebrity. She thinks it is important for celebrities to have PR since they have to tell the world who they are and have to showcase their work.

Chauhan explained with the example of his own experience that how PR can guide celebrities in building their image and bringing various opportunities. He said it is very difficult to manage celebrities since the PR has all the pressure to create an image, which has to be politically correct in all ways.

Later on, the panellists discussed that how PR can offer great content. People even want to cover stories of celebrities going to gym. On this, Chauhan said,  "It is not just the PR to be blamed for this, it’s the audience who wants it. It has become a trend to watch cringe and meaningless content rather than looking for some value-added ones. There are more likes and views on such contents on social media."

“Audience is looking for the cringe moment or the glamour moment, whatever it is that’s fun that takes weight off your back for a second, where you don’t have to think about your problems “, McGlynn added.

The film PR industry needs to be free from corruption and there is a need of cultural shift. Since, that is not the case in digital space, there are ample of opportunities for all sorts of people to come up and grow, both the panellists concluded.