Meenakshi Sachdev Verma, Chief Operating Officer, Good Relations India

A firm believer in ethical PR practices, Meenakshi Sachdev Verma, Chief Operating Officer, Good Relations India, has been in the industry for the last fifteen years.

She started off her PR career with Good Relations in 1990. In conversation with Sumita Patra of exchange4media, Verma shares her views on the industry.

Armed with a degree in English literature and a rich experience in PR and communications, she has earlier worked as Head of Network Development, South Asia, BBC World; and Account Director, Profile, the PR division of Grey Worldwide India. Excerpts:

Q. How has your second stint at Good Relations India been so far?

I’ve joined the organisation just a couple of months back. It’s too early for me to say how it has been. When you come back to head an organisation, it is always a challenging task. My biggest aim and my biggest challenge are to bring this agency back to the place where it was when I left. So, I hope I am able to achieve that with the support of my colleagues.

Q. How the PR industry has evolved over the years?

Earlier, PR in India was considered a liaison officer’s job. But, today it has become a far more defined and a far more proactive. I started off my PR career with Good Relations in 1990. That time around PR industry was at its boom.

Q. You may be aware that the public perception of PR agencies is that they are peddlers of press releases from clients. Do you see this as a failure of PR agencies to manage their own public image?

In India unfortunately 90 per cent of PR is still dependent on media relations. Every client wants himself or herself on the front page of the best newspapers or magazines. It’s not a question of PR agencies changing their images, it’s clients who need to change their thinking process. They should understand that everything doesn’t warrant a media story. For us to be able to get the media to write about our clients we do the convincing factor. We bring out new ideas and new thought for the media to write about our clients.

I would say that PR agencies have moved beyond the realm of media relations. If you look at some of our clients the kind of value add we give them in terms of internal communication, in terms of website, in terms of strategy, in terms of public affairs, in terms of other non-media related activities, you will find that the whole scope of PR and communication has grown beyond that.

Q. What is your client base?

We have a fair mix of FMCG, high-end luxury lifestyle brands, technology brands, automobile, infotech, and healthcare. We have a good mix of all kinds of clients.

Q. How do you differentiate yourself when you pitch for a client?

It’s the reputation. I think it’s more to do with the kind of beyond the media reach that our agency is able to provide. We are adaptable to any kind of client need and requirement.

Q. Considering that Good Relations is one of India’s oldest professional PR agencies, how did its fortunes nosedive so drastically in the recent past?

Our fortunes have never plunged down. Yes, in terms of probably clients we may have had lesser number of clients. But, I would not say that the agency has been performing badly. If we were performing badly, we would not have been operating from five cities. People use Good Relations as their best poaching ground because the best training comes from here. We have managed to retain the position that it has over the last five or six years. It is still very strong and is getting stronger day by day.

Q. Recently there was a mass exit from your Chennai branch. How did that unusual development happen?

I would not call that mass exit. I would call that unethical business practice by another agency who encroached upon our agency people to offer them a better package at a cost of enticing them with the fact that you must move with your clients and then you can further business for the new agency. The movement of two senior people and four junior-level employees didn’t hamper our business at all. I feel now with the new team in place in addition to some loyalists of the past, the branch is coming back to normal.

Q. But on the other hand Hanmer & Partners was quick to point out that they haven’t taken your business?

Hanmer & Partners can say what they feel like but we know which clients have moved and why. They have poached on the business but unfortunately one of the clients has already moved on to a third agency within 10 days of being poached. It’s unethical business practice.

Q. How would you gauge the efficiency of a PR firm? Is there any way to measure returns from PR initiatives?

The standard practice that most PR agencies follow is the column centimeter mileage that a client gets. One is that you actually measure every month the share of voice your client has got vis-a-vis others across media or across other activities and you see the impact. But there are various methodologies that are being introduced internationally to actually find out share of voice. To find out how the client is benefited, we do independent surveys, which are not related to column centimeters being counted. We actually commission the survey about the client’s areas of businesses and have it evaluated. These are few broad parameters that are normally used across most PR agencies.

Q. How do you distinguish the role PR and advertising? Do you think PR plays a secondary role in the entire communication process of a client or brand?

We have always believed that PR and advertising are complimentary to each other. They go hand in hand. Sometimes PR plays a greater role, while sometimes advertising plays a larger role. It would be incorrect to say that PR is not an integrated part of communication plan. I think PR, advertising and various other communication tools form a very key and integral part of any communication strategy.

Q. How do you foresee the roadmap for Indian PR agencies in general and your agency in particular?

PR will always grow. It’s not a dying industry. The market is booming in terms of the opportunities that are there. It’s how one grabs those and turns them into a business for oneself. So I would say that the growth path is there, its just fitting yourself in and pitching for the right kind of business that you can manage and keep the clients happy. I see Good Relations moving towards the same.