To most career journalists, public relations is a dirty word. But the moment the race against deadlines gets over, journos find long-lasting and satisfying careers in PR consulting. The trend is more the rule than the exception today. Meet Dilip Che­rian. One of the first Indian journalists’ to bite the PR bait and cross the bridge: from criticising to cultivating big-wigs for an image makeover. Former editor of Business India and The Observer, Cherian is the co-founder and consulting partner of image management company Perfect Relations.

Widely regarded today as the ‘Image guru of India’ and a ‘Tycoon Tracker’, Cherian boasts top Indian corporates, political outfits and institutions as cli­ents. Trained at the London School of Economics and the Delhi School of Eco­nomics, he has also served as advisor to the president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), one of the most influential in­dustry lobbies’ in the country.

Cherian is known for his incisive com­ments on political and economic devel­opments and authors three widely-read columns in The Asian Age and the Indian Express – two of India’s leading dailies. He is also in demand as a panellist in various discussion forums in the elec­tronic media, and together with his wife Devi, Cherian is a regular party pooper at Page 3 dos. Excerpts from his conversa­tion with Amim Ahmed...

Unleashing the PR Power

Ever the man to stay one step ahead of the herd, Cherian feels that big compa­nies are going to turn into multi-service providers, something akin to ‘one-stop shop for all services’, catering to a wide variety of clients. He says that with the growth of the economy, big companies will do well, however he also predicts a simultaneous rise in demand for special­ist services – be it in the field of phar­maceuticals or even Bollywood. His take is: Though several special agencies will foray into the services market, they will eventually be pruned down to four or five, as the sector cannot nurture special­ist agencies beyond that figure.

Comparing public relations and ad­vertising, Cherian says, “I think each facet has a time frame, and will continue to grow. In an economy like ours, most corporates want to work on stuff that gives quick returns. Time frame is very small for most corporates. They want something that will give returns day after tomorrow. Public relations usually requires a longer time to yield results.”

He feels that public relations can be a tool for creation as well as defence. According to Cherian, advertising is also a powerful tool for brand creation and recognition. Of course, ask him which of the two - public relations and advertis­ing – is the more important tool and he diplomatically, quips: “It’s just like ques­tioning whether your right hand is more powerful or the left.”

Harping on the Political Makeover

Increasingly political parties are esca­lating their usage of image and public affairs consultants to build a favourable image of the party among their respec­tive vote-banks. Cherian says that not so long ago, political parties had their spokespersons and lawyers to represent them and spread their views among the people. Party workers would undertake the printing of all party literature.

In stark contrast, political honchos are now sourcing out most communication to professionals. “They now prefer to let an advertising agency handle most com­munication with the masses,” Cherian points out.

“Broadly there are a bunch of func­tions that a political party can perform effectively. You can either externalise or internalise them. Over the years, the trend has been to externalise the non-core activities,” says Cherian. He believes that using communication agencies frees the party leadership to do what it is best at: mobilising the voters and introducing the party’s campaign.

Ethics and PR

Cherian opines that ethics play a ma­jor role in the survival of any political party, institution, corporate or organi­sation. Elaborating further he says that regardless of which industry it is, it is the characteristics of the corporations that make up the industry that matter. No matter how good a PR campaign is, if the organisation acts to the contrary, it will fail. “In fact, the top 10 players in public relations have a very transparent set of guidelines,” Cherian adds.

However, it is the client who has the final say as client satisfaction is the ul­timate measure of success of a public relations campaign. Since different cli­ents aim for different things at different stages of their corporate life cycles, it is important to understand the clients’ specific needs to give them maximum satisfaction, cautions Cherian.