Khalid Jamal, Principal Consultant & CEO, Orion PR

Khalid Jamal has close to two decades’ experience in Reputation Management, having handled a large number of clients drawn from across all sectors such as MNCs, Indian corporates, NGOs, Government, trade bodies, etc. In 2004, he founded Orion PR, which he heads as its Principal Consultant & CEO.

Jamal began his career in corporate communications and rose to become the Head of Corporate Communications at ITW - India (a part of $12 billion ITW Inc. USA). He has the distinction of heading one of the largest corporate communications teams at a corporate in this part of the world.

Later, at the beginning of 1997, he joined Triton Communications Group to kickstart their forays into PR and started Abacus, which in less than three years became one of the largest PR firms in the country, in terms of size. In December 2000, he left Abacus as its President and launched RC-PR, Asia’s first VC-funded PR firm, as its Managing Director. He was instrumental in leading RC-PR’s diversification into ‘Personal Branding’ and for the purpose started world’s first chain of finishing schools called Aria Finishing School.

He was awarded the ‘IMM Advertising & PR Manager Award’ by Institute of Marketing and Management, Delhi and ‘PR Manager of the Year’ Award by Public Relations Society of India for the innovative work done by him.

A prolific writer, Jamal has published in major media. His privately circulated book ‘Facing the Electronic Media’ is referred to widely by the professionals. He also conducts media and communications training programmes for senior management of select clients, which includes MNCs and large corporates.

Jamal shares his views on the PR industry at length and its outlook with exchange4media’s Swapna Rahul Shah. He also gives a detailed analysis of what constitutes good and effective PR peppered with ample personal experiences.



Q. What, according to you, is the outlook of PR in India and globally? The anatomy of the PR industry in India and globally remains the same, except for the scale. We need to understand that the so-called growth in PR, which is tom-tommed by the bigmouths of the industry, has nothing to do with the importance attached to PR, nor does it indicate any perceptible change in PR’s image or appeal. The growth has been witnessed on account of the fact that the corporates in general need effective leverage of the media, either to use its space for building visibility (and saving advertising bucks) or to scuttle being on media and public scanner. This has driven them to avail the services of ‘PR Pros’ with a mandate to somehow get ‘media results’. This trend is likely to continue. And there is a good chance that the demand for such services – pure media mileage programmes – are likely to go up in the face of recession and consequent squeeze on ad spends. But whether that will improve PR’s perception or reinforce its old one for worse is a million dollar question.

Q. How has the PR industry evolved over the years? The good news is that the PR industry is evolving and growing – never mind even if it’s at a snail’s pace – while PR professionals continue to be the case of ‘Managers who missed the bus’ vis-à-vis other management disciplines. While the tag of ‘shoeshine and smile’ may seem to be taken away slowly, there is so much still left to catch up with.

The PR industry is reeling under a perception problem, notwithstanding the fact that many disciplines that are offshoots of PR, such as Opinion Research, have gained the desired respectability and credibility, much more than PR itself. The stumbling block to PR’s full-fledged growth has been the peripheral approach of practitioners. Devoid of substance of a certain calibre, the focus of self-styled PR pros continues to be the ‘column-centimetre’. The only visible change is the change in terminology – from ‘column-centimetre’ to ‘square-centimetre’.

The reasons for functional degeneration and lack of a blister growth are four-fold. First, PR continues to have no qualification/ training barrier, resulting in a huge gap in learning curve of the professionals. When on-board, the pressure to deliver quickly and somehow survive narrows the outlook largely to media relations. Second, the PR industry is not of that size that it could afford and introduce long term training programmes. So, the basic training, if at all imparted, is restricted to making these professionals ‘media follow-up ready’. Third, the top brass who represent the PR industry, at least in India, themselves are not from PR background to begin with. For most, it is not the love for PR that brought them to the profession, but the constraint of pursuing an easy second career shift from whatever background they switched over from – travel and hospitality, media sales, accountancy, advertising, journalism, etc.

Naturally, the biggies’ own learning curve on PR had to be completed before they could be expected to develop a vision of this profession or develop a practice based on substance. Since this has taken time – and continues to – there are differing views on how the PR industry should be organised. A large number of people hold the myopic view of what PR is and can do. Fourth, at a philosophical level, the views of thinkers like Philip Kotler on PR being ‘free publicity’ and that of Noam Chomsky, who considers PR being ‘unwarranted and unfair intervention in democratic processes’, contributed to PR’s woes further.

Q. Would you agree that PR is primarily considered as only media relations? How can the industry move away from this common belief? Yes. It is a fact that PR is construed as media relations, or rather ‘media fixing’. Whatever claims we in PR industry may make, the reality is that we are all guilty of precipitating this situation in order to stay afloat in the business.

The only way it could change is by ‘capability building’, and it’s a long overhaul. First, it requires commitment and ownership of the profession on the part of each practitioner, followed by learning that could infuse fresh ideas into PR practice at the ground level through individual and collective initiatives. Once we succeed in achieving this, we will realise how the world sees value in PR and attaches the desired importance, as much as they do to other established specialities.

I believe that the way ahead is in effecting structural changes in the way we in the PR industry operate. First, we should develop cutting-edge practices with focused approach and trained manpower. Subsequently, align the practices like the management consulting firms, not the advertising agencies, in order to stay flexible for absorbing new ideas and innovations and apply the same in day-to-day practice.

Q. Essentially, what is the key communication plank for Orion PR? How has been the growth of Orion PR this year? Orion PR is known for its boutique approach where size doesn’t matter. What matters is the exclusivity of expertise and highly customised services. Clients who work with us are the ones who believe in leveraging all encompassing PR in its true form as a multi-functional discipline to get what they want. Similarly, those who work with us come with a vision that, yes, this is the place that offers the ‘challenge bug’ and opportunity to lead the industry over a few years through rigorous training and exposure. Challenge bug is what we look for even in the assignments that we pick up. This select approach not only gives us professional satisfaction, but also an opportunity to demonstrate all-round strengths of PR as a discipline on each account that we work on.

Orion PR’s cornerstones are its principles – professionalism, we define it as a combination of performance and ethics. We believe in doing high profile jobs while maintaining a low profile for ourselves. That’s the hallmark of a professional PR practice. We are proud to trace our genesis in PR, in the fact that we opened our eyes in PR itself, that we are a home grown product of PR and not the second shifties in the industry. That would mean that we understand the grammar of PR inside-out and are best equipped to deliver.

We enjoy working as a boutique-practice and are for consolidated growth. For us, quality of work matters, not the numbers.

Q. What kind of vision have you outlined for your agency? We will continue to work distinctively and follow our principles. The vision of any professional/ practicing firm will have to be in line with that of the profession. In the case of PR, it is to promote understanding, goodwill and trust, thereby minimising conflicts. And at Orion PR, we would continue to identify with this vision and practice in a way that these noble objectives are achieved through strategic PR inputs and programmes. This is also the way we could help PR gain respectability and credibility in our own small way.

Q. How would you differentiate between PR and corporate communications? PR is a discipline like any other specialist field such as management. Corporate communications is a function with its scope defined as part of corporate services, but focused on communications. In fact, at times it straddles both.

Q. What has been your most exciting experience in PR till date? The memorable ones are when we had to advise some potential clients that what they were expecting could be delivered by some other discipline/ function, not PR. Or, refusing to work on assignments not offering enough challenge bug for us to use our expertise and build further on our learning.

Q. Do you think PR firms or corporate communications departments of various companies in India have been able to handle crisis communication effectively? Could you give some specific examples? Yes, given a chance they have risen to the occasion. There are a good many instances of effective crisis management. I will share a few where I had the opportunity to be involved with.

1) Shaktimaan: Public perception was fuelled by certain quarters that children were imitating certain feats from the serial and dying. There was a public outcry and huge pressure from the rent-a-cause brigade. Finally, the right communication mix could rescue the telecast being abandoned. The serial continued to be telecast successfully.

2) IDMA: When the new Drug Policy was being worked upon, it was important to have the voices from the domestic industry heard and concerns considered. Once again, the correct line of communication did its job despite opposition.

3) Channel [v]: The conduct of some of the participants of a programme, which was telecast later, created an uproar and spun off debates on decency and morality. Here again, the public trust in Channel [v]’s core beliefs were projected in order to smoothen the nerves and communicate its stand.

4) Telecom Policy: TRAI was the first experiment of a regulatory body in the country. Positive public opinion was needed towards this experiment to succeed and ward off criticism from certain quarters. That was exactly what was done in the face of opposition. And the rest, as they say, is history.

5) Unit Trust of India: Simply put, the exercise was aimed at bringing public confidence back in the organisation after it went through a bad patch of public criticism.

Q. What factors do you take into account before deciding on the communications strategy for a client? The clients who we work with are there with us for all encompassing and broad-based PR inputs. Hence, the approach that we adopt is broad-based too. The premise of our strategy and programme is Reputation Management. First, we identify what stage of ‘reputation’ the client enjoys and then go on to build/ manage / reinforce reputation and organise the nuts and bolts needed for the purpose. Various factors have to be assessed and incorporated, such as the ‘issues’ confronting the organisation, the operating environment, public opinion, stages of organisation development, its raison d’etre , management practices, etc., before arriving at the strategy and recommending a programme.

Q. What, according to you, are the essential qualities of a good PR professional? What advice would you like to give to the freshers? A person should be an all-rounder, having complete understanding of the scope, objective and function of PR. He or she should be evolved enough for one to look up to for advice/ intervention. And of course, not a sloppy personality.

Q. In these competitive times, it has become very difficult to retain highly skilled staff. What role can PR play in stemming attrition? PR plays a very vital role in organisational communication and culture building. For example, an employee’s association with an organisation is not just a function of pay and perks and career or internal dynamics, but also of pride associated with working with an organisation, a pride that comes in the form of feedback from the family and immediate society.

We, at Orion PR, have an exclusive process that we offer to our clients. We call it ‘Outside In – Inside Out’ programme, where the external image of the company rubs off on the perception within. Similarly, each employee is evolved into a brand ambassador of the company, by design, not default. Our exercises have been bang on target and known for their efficacies.

Q. You’ve had handled clients from various sectors, which have been your most satisfying projects? Many, it’s a long list. I would like to mention some of them – working with the Tatas on group image, culminating in the introduction of new logo; Shahnaz Hussain, J&J, Emami, Nike, Action Aid, and Government of Sikkim, among others.