Ameer Ismail, President, LINOpinion, Advent & Lintertainment

Currently heading a national team of communication professionals, Ameer Ismail is a profit centre head, in charge of all aspects of the business of PR, events and entertainment for the Lintas group. He has been instrumental in his tenure with the Lintas India Group for the success of the public relations business, which he took charge of in 1996. LINOpinion is an autonomous division of Lintas India that has grown rapidly in a short span of time to include reputed clients such as Standard Chartered Bank, Bajaj Electricals, and Sri Lankan Airlines to name a few.

Prior to LINOpinion, Ismail held the position of General Manager (India) for Profile, a Grey Communications International affiliate and the PR division of Trikaya Grey Advertising Pvt Ltd. In this short stint, he developed the business to include blue chip clients like Proctor & Gamble, Pierre Cardin Fashions, ICI, United Television, Elf Lubricants and BBC.

Ismail was also responsible for setting up the PR business of Enterprise Advertising in 1994. He was heading the Western region for the same since commencement of operations. The clients included Standard Chartered Bank, Herbertson Ltd, Marzotto Ltd of Italy, Club Mediterranean and Pierre Cardin Fashions.

Ismail’s PR career began in India in 1992 with Good Relations. He was part of a team that dealt with clients like United Distilleries (India) Ltd, ING Bank, Singapore Tourism Promotion Board and several other multinational clients.

Since early 1991, he was heading a team in Bangkok as Overseas Manager in an international trading company, Everworth Trading Company Ltd. His job profile included international liaison and business development. The clients handled were K-Mart Singapore, Kenko SP Tokyo, Japan Benetton International Japan, IPI Corporation USA.

In conversation with exchange4media’s Pallavi Goorha, Ismail talks at length about LINOpinion, the PR industry in India and the way ahead for the agency.

Q. What are the challenges and opportunities facing PR agencies today? Challenges are breaking the mould and devising innovative brand campaigns that go beyond media relations. Another challenge is developing better measurement tools and attracting and retaining good talent. The opportunities are marketing brand India to global audiences. PR talent in India is world class. With an increasing exposure to global brands, it is a matter of time before we see Indians in significant positions in international communication firms.

Q. What is the roadmap for Indian PR agencies in general and your agency in particular? PR has come of age and the profession is stable and credible and growing at a healthy rate of 30 per cent per annum. Independent players are increasingly being acquired by global PR firms that are keen to capitalise on this far maturing market – consolidation is the buzzword. Conversely, Indian PR agencies are into an aggressive expansion mode and now increasingly have an international footprint. As we go forward, I see three key developments. Our talent will integrate seamlessly into world markets and PR agencies will increasingly become knowledge driven. It will not be too far in the future before PR agencies in India are used as a content outsourcing hub for international PR agencies.

Q. How is LINOpinion different from other PR agencies? How distinct is your approach?

LINOpinion, the public relations division of Lintas India, is among India’s leading PR firms. LINOpinion is also the exclusive Indian affiliate of Golin Harris, an eminent international PR firm of the InterPublic Group. As a brand image consultancy, LINOpinion develops and implement communications strategies and programmes that project the goals and vision of a client’s organisation. It also provides specialised services in the areas of issue and crisis management. Media relations is the core competency of LINOpinion. Apart from a special media monitoring and analysis cell, it provides strategic counsel in identifying effective communication vehicles. LINOpinion benchmarks and measures success of the media programmes through its proprietary technique ‘LINdex’, a pioneering tool in the PR industry.

Unlike a conventional PR agency that offers media relations or support on internal communications, LINOpinion goes beyond that. LINOpinion’s USP is the ability to deliver to its clients a through-the-line communications solution through a single window. In addition to media relations, using the LINOpinion window, clients can access other divisions of Lintas’ Integrated Marketing Action Group (IMAG). These include Advent-Event Management, Lintertainment-Entertainment Marketing, Lowe Personal-Direct Marketing & CRM, Aaren Initiative-Outdoor Advertising, Linterland-Rural Communications, dCell-Strategic Design and Lowe Healthcare.

As a first-ever for a PR agency, LINOpinion has set up a full-fledged in-house creative and media team. Increasingly, clients are also using LINOpinion’s services for devising corporate identity programmes, advertising campaigns, brochures, audio-visual films and exhibition stalls.

LINOpinion has strong contacts with apex industry bodies like CII, FPSB, GJEPC, FICCI and Assocham – each of them features on the agency’s client list. The agency is also a member of the Press Club.

Q. How do you see the state of PR companies from the point of view of a PR practitioner and strategy thinker? PR agencies will continue to grow successfully in the years to come. Good PR professionals will be in short supply here in India and globally. The value of PR to any organisation will be better understood and PR practitioners will be better positioned to advise the top management.

Q. What would you call a milestone success in your journey so far?

I have several milestones in my life. I started my career with Lintas in 1996 as one of the youngest Unit Heads. I was appointed as Executive VP to lead LINOpinion, which is a separate profit centre. I was 26 years old then. That time I was probably one of the youngest professionals within the industry. Within a short span of two years, I set up Advent, the event marketing and management division of the Lintas Group. In recognition of my capabilities, I was fast tracked to the position of President and mandated with dual responsibilities for growing both LINOpinion and Advent. From a 2-member, one office operation, today LINOpinion and Advent rank among the top three in the country with 60 professionals and a 10-city footprint.

Another significant achievement in my career was the acquisition of the licensing and merchandising rights for the Cricket World Cup for India and the Sub-continent in 2003. This was the single largest L&M deal in the country in terms of value and prestige. In 2003, LINOpinion inked an exclusive relationship with Golin Harris, one of the world’s leading communication initiatives firm. We now represent Golin Harris as its partner for India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Q. How would you differentiate the PR industry in India vis-à-vis global public relations? Most Indian agencies started as providers of media relations services. Knowledge levels of the discipline among practitioners also left a lot to be desired. However, in the past few years, with the entry of leading MNC brands and education institutes like Northpoint, EMDI, MICA, ISBM, there has been a sea change in the PR environment. Indian agencies are moving increasingly towards a more brand focused and knowledge driven consultative approach. There is also a wider understanding of the discipline among practitioners and clients. Globally, the PR discipline is far more evolved. Indian agencies and practitioners have just about caught up.

Q. What are the strategies you adopt while deciding on the communication plan for a client? PR can be equated with good word of mouth. It is critical to surround your audience with positive messages consistently across a number of channels – mainstream media, direct-to-consumer, experiential, and consumer generated media like blogs. Hence, in addition to editorial (print/TV) and virtual media, we devise communication plans that leverage real-time customer touch points too. We make brand conversations with target audiences increasingly happen not only through the stereotype news coverage, but even through product/brand placements in a cricket match or in a news bulletin (remember ‘Bunty or Babli’ on NDTV) or a popular prime time soap/blockbuster movie (Western Union in the Amitabh Bacchhan starrer ‘Viruddh’ or Shekhar Suman going home to home for the Tide Safaai Challenge).

Q. How would you differentiate between PR and corporate communications?

Corporate communications is the process of facilitating information and knowledge exchanges with internal and key external groups and individuals that have a direct relationship with an enterprise. It is concerned with internal communications management from the standpoint of sharing knowledge and decisions from the enterprise with employees, suppliers, investors and partners. Corporate communications may include analyst relations, internal communications, investor relations, corporate governance, which includes communications aspects of corporate governance, issue management, change management (communications aspects of growth management, mergers and acquisitions, etc.), corporate social responsibility, litigation (communications on/around litigation), crisis communications, etc.

Public relations is an art, technique or profession of promoting such goodwill, that is exactly what a public relations firm does. It is a company that specialises in promoting news. A PR firm could do this for another company, brand or individual. Examples of public relations include – corporations using marketing public relations (MPR) to convey information about the products they manufacture or services they provide to potential customers in order to support their direct sales efforts. Typically, they support sales in the short to long term, establishing and burnishing the corporation’s branding for a strong, ongoing market.

Corporations using public relations act as a vehicle to reach legislators and other politicians to seek favourable tax, regulatory, and other treatments. Moreover, they might use public relations to portray themselves as enlightened employers, in support of human-resources recruiting programmes. Non-profit organisations, including schools and universities, hospitals, and human and social service agencies – such organisations may make use of public relations in support of awareness programmes, fund-raising programmes, staff recruiting, and to increase patronage of their services. Politicians are aiming to attract votes and/or raise money. When such campaigns are successful at the ballot box, these campaigns help in promoting and defending their service in office, with an eye to the next election or, at a career’s end, to their legacy.

Q. Do you think PR plays a secondary role in the communication strategy of a client? Public relations is about managing the relationships between an organisation and its publics. PR builds, enhances and protects corporate reputation. It is to relate with the public in any way, which means any initiative, anytime, anywhere, even beyond the traditional editorial coverage. Companies cannot sell/exist in the long term without brand equity. Hence, I believe PR is an integral part of a company’s corporate and marketing strategy and falls within that function.

Q. How do you think the effectiveness of PR can be measured?

It is imperative that the client can evaluate both qualitatively and quantitatively how well their money has been spent on their PR campaigns. LINOpinion uses various techniques to measure the effectiveness of PR campaigns. Measurement techniques are customised as per the client’s requirements with pre-decided key messages at the start of an activity as well as mutually agreed deliverables.

Our measurement techniques are perception audits, planning versus delivery, key message analysis – qualitative, share of voice (SOV) analysis – competitive analysis and cost benefit analysis (CBA), and advertising value equivalent.

Q. What next for LINOpinion? LINOpinion is rapidly moving towards a systems and knowledge driven approach. In the world of high clutter, high competition and technological parity, it is the idea, and the level of engagement and loyalty that differentiates. Customised solutions rather than standard transactions will mark a key turning point. Measurement and accountability will be the buzzwords of tomorrow.