The Amateur's Scratchpad

Until a few months back, a pandemic was something that we only saw in movies or heard about in stories. None of us ever imagined how our lives would turn out or even how businesses would face severe tumult and that too only within the first quarter of the year. On 22^nd of April, one day after National PR Day, School of Communications and Reputation (SCoRe), organized a Zoom panel with six leaders from the communications fraternity on “How to be Future Ready”. The panel had Archana Jain, Managing Director, PR Pundit; Atul Sharma, Managing Director, Ruder Finn; Dilip Yadav, Founding Partner, First Partner Communications; Kunal Kishore, Founder, Value 360 Communications; Ruby Sinha, Managing Director, Kommune Brand Communications; Shivani Gupta, Managing Director, SPAG and was moderated by Arun Sudhaman, CEO/Editor-in-Chief, PRovoke Media.

Arun Sudhaman kicked off the conversation with how the COVID-19 situation is taking a toll on business all around the globe. He mentioned that his organization, PRovoke Media, held a survey for communication leaders around the world and almost 77% percent of them mentioned that they expect a loss of earnings along with other areas of concern like loss of work, payment delays and even layoffs.

Archana Jain, Managing Director, PR Pundit talked about the three R’s that are significant during these trying times- Resilience, Recalibration and Re-imagination. Brands should not come across as opportunistic during these challenging times.
“The impact of COVID-19 for us has been emotional and what this means for us is that to be empathetic. Our communication now needs to be adaptive. The communication strategies should be creative, focused and they need to be achieved through earned conversations. This is the time for brands to give back to the society.”, she said while talking about how brands can be more empathetic and purpose-driven than before.

The times are difficult for everybody and every organization must look after its employees’ well-being. Thus, internal communication has emerged to be more vital than ever. Atul Sharma from Ruder Finn focused on the point that this is the time when the flock has to be kept together and since, we couldn’t predict COVID, there will be two new focus areas now- skills in Cyber Security and Predictive Analysis.

“The aftermath of the COVID situation will also witness the transformation in the communication style of brands. They will have a more humanitarian approach. The narratives will change, the story-telling will change and organisations will look for people with analytical skills and Emotional Quotient (EQ).”, said Shivani Gupta of SPAG. She also touched upon the point that how working remotely from home has become the new normal in spite of some initial technical and connectivity hiccups.

Kunal Kishore of Value 360 Communications put emphasis on the changes that his organization saw during this pandemic:

• Increase in the productivity of the employees even while working remotely
• Work from Home has increased efficiency in the quality of work
• Innovation and Collaboration among employees, especially in mid-levels has increased exponentially. People are finding out innovative ways to collaborate not only with each other but with various stakeholders as well.

On being asked about her learnings from the current scenario, Ruby Sinha of Kommune Brand Communications talked about the three following things from an entrepreneurial point of view:

• It is very important for a nascent organization to have a diversified client portfolio
• Technology is not only for functional use but is also a very important tool of communication as a lot of client-servicing is happening over calls and webinars now a days
• Future of work is about working from home through technology. Virtual agencies are going to be a reality soon

“One of the businesses to bounce back immediately after this turmoil will be the PR business.”, assures Ruby.

The biggest lesson that Dilip Yadav, Founding Partner of First Partner Communications has learnt from this situation is taking tough decisions without letting that affect the reputation of the company. “The current crisis is completely external. We are witnessing an emergency communication situation today. Also, relevance is essential now. Some companies under the current circumstances are relevant and some are not. For example, essential goods and technology companies are suddenly more relevant than ever.”, he said.

The session concluded with how new waves of trends are coming our way. Beginning from digital forms of consumer engagement, digital payment to digital information consumption, there will be a surge in every form of communication. Communication will be more home-oriented. Media is also innovating continuously with earned, owned and paid verticals. The leaders talked about how India as a market is so diversified but also mentioned their concerns about the regional counterpart of it.

“We might not have been ready for COVID-19 but after this conversation, I for one, am feeling very future ready for sure!” signed off Arun Sudhaman.

Author: Gini Dietrich
Published: 2014
Publisher: QUE

Public Relations professionals are often called “spin doctors” because of the nature of their profession. One major chunk of the job of a public relations practitioner is how he/she can manipulate the media in order to make them publish their brand story. And for this reason, PR professionals are often shamed and belittled. But that does not erase away the necessity of the profession and we all know how well spin works in today’s world. In her book, Spin Sucks: Communication and Reputation Management in the Digital Age, Gini Dietrich, who is also a top PR thought leader and blogger has written about how one can communicate honestly, responsibly, openly, authentically and truly “earn” the trust of your customers, stakeholders, investors, and communities.

The first chapter of her book is called “Tell Your Story without Sex or Extortion”. In order to publicize a certain news or a certain brand, public relations practitioners take more than one unique way. These ways are always not the best of all. Thus, the first chapter of Spin Sucks talks about publicizing opinions, news or brands without sex, extortion or news-stretching. There is no better way to do public relations than to tell the truth and use the techniques honed by storytellers through ages. Public relations practitioners are rightly called “storytellers” but in order to change the term “spin doctors” one needs to resort to positivity, optimism and nothing else. The sub part of the first chapter in this book also talks about creating content which is valuable and shareable. This chapter is known as Shareable and Valuable Content Creation. Every PR organization must focus on humanizing themselves as well as the brands they are working on. Thus, in order to communicate they should create such content which is valuable and can be shared with the mass. The content which goes out to the public should be fact checked enough and no fake news or false information must not go out as that can play a big role in forming or changing the perspective of the common people. Public Relations professionals must have the pattern to tell their stories without distorting it, from idea to concept.

The second chapter of the book focuses on Whisper Campaigns and Anonymous Attackers. The author has started the chapter with a very interesting story, sort of an example. We often hear the words “grassroot communications”. She has shared an astounding story on how these words were twisted by a public affairs firm for their own sake. In 2009. Haltfax-Plympton Reporter, a newspaper in the U.S, received a letter in their editorial desk requesting the editor to “contact their Congressman about the Medicare Advantage program, a sort of privatized health plan paid for through the recipient’s Medicare. There may be some interest in doing away with the program.” The editor was quite estranged by such an obnoxious urge and decide to investigate. At the end, the editor found out that the letter was related to a high-powered lobbying and public affairs firm in D.C. It became pretty evident that the firm was working for an organization with an interest in keeping Medicare Advantage in business. Communicating on a grassroot level is something else, but such an act like the above mentioned one is completely unjustified. And this is just one single example of how some public relations firms operate. It is one thing to stand tall and strong beside your client and another thing to forget ethics in order to fulfill your clients’ wishes. The writer in this chapter doesn’t forget to mention that although in today’s digital age, we suppress most of our information hunger from the Web, but that doesn’t mean one should forget the negativities that come with it.

In the sub part called “Scammers, Liars and Beggars”, the author has penned down an entire process of how sometimes “grassroot communications” is carried on. She says that this kind of practices used to be there only in politics but it has spread to the communications industry as well. Many communication practitioners use the Web ideally in order to create such ruckus due to the lack of budget and fund. They create fake personas and robots to spread the word online. Offline, they take the help of sophisticated computer databases, telephone banks and hired officials to spread the news. This technique has also been used in order to reform the following things as well:

• Reject President Clinton’s Health Care Reform
• Encourage people to buy Coca Cola (which has otherwise no nutritional value)
• Oppose restrictions on people smoking in public places
• Generate news clips to assist Microsoft lobbyists

Another thing that deserves special mention are the seven ways that Dietrich has mentioned in the book which might help to deal with criticism. Here are the seven steps that one needs to follow in order to deal with criticism:

1. Create an internal policy: Whenever there is criticism, there should an internal policy that everybody on the team should know about. Thus, when real time criticism or negative comments come in then everybody can take a common stand against it.
2. Be cautious: While dealing with criticism, one should be very careful about how to react because a wrong reaction might worsen things further. Also, it is always advisable not to put up a very strong reaction in case the comments are coming from any anonymous source.
3. Consider the medium: It is suggested that when criticisms are coming in, one should always consider the medium through which it is coming. One needs to worry when they are physical in nature. When it in online, everybody does not need to be a keyboard warrior in order to block out the negativities.
4. Assume the best: One should never jump on a conclusion without knowing the knowledge source of the criticizer. It might often happen that the criticizer hasn’t properly fact checked and thus, you should be the one to check the ground before you pounce.
5. Use common sense: “Put your corporate hat off. Think like a human being.”, says Gini Dietrich. In a scene of turmoil and negativity, no one wants to listen to corporate jargons and thus it is always the best to avoid them. One should always use their common sense in answering back.
6. Deleting posts: While deleting the post might seem like a temporary and the best solution because it blocks out the immediate negativity that is coming in, but the action can also backfire. People might get an impression that you are an escapist trying to leave or avoid the situation.
7. Have a written external policy: The last but definitely not the least, that one should always have a written external policy and everybody must have the access to it. People who are on the outside must know the steps taken by the firm in order to handle the criticism that they were facing. This puts up a very honest image of the company in front of the world.

Dietrich in her book has given some of the most valuable advices and suggestions that every single person from the communications world must follow. “Imagine a universe, where every letter, punctuation mark, word sentence, paragraph, and page is a commodity. No longer is it about writing copy that is interesting and compelling. It’s about who can write the most words in the shortest time. If those words have lots of keywords in them, all the better. Writers are paid not by technical, valuable, educational or interesting content, but based on the number of words.” writes Gini.

The book is a hidden gem for those who wants to stand out in the world of Public Relations, Communications or Marketing. In this world if hurry and an average attention span of three seconds per human being, marketeers, public relations practitioners, communicators are trying very hard to get them and their brands heard. Gini Dietrich’s Spin Sucks offers amazing suggestions of how these people can keep their heads up above in the crowd.

The entire world seems to be talking about one single thing and I don’t think I need it mention what it is. It is as if people have forgotten that there are other things to talk about. And, we clearly have no updates about the other things that are going on in the world except the virus. The virus has been declared a public health emergency by World Health Organization (WHO) in 130 countries which is almost half the world and this half is in lockdown. Although most of the people are working from home, students are sitting in online classes and daily lives of people hasn’t been shut down completely, yet there has come a huge change in people’s lifestyle. The change isn’t the same for everybody though. While some are in amazement with the concept of work from home, some are in absolute disgust which in turn is also taking a toll on their mental health. So, what can one do in order to keep their sanity during this toilsome situation? Here are some of the things that can be done during this quarantine:

• Engage in some form of activity: Under the given circumstances, it is very important for your body to stay active. In our regular life, there is day to day activity of going somewhere, climbing up and down the stairs, walking around etc. but the current situation around provides us with no activity at all. Our daily commute has been replaced by just two steps from the bedroom to the sofa in the drawing room. Thus, some form of activity like meditation, yoga, free hand exercises or Zumba can help keep our body active. Keeping our physical health active is an automatic boost to our mental health.
• Revive or pick up a hobby: This is the best time to get back to a hobby that had been long lost. Not every hobby is meant to be capitalized. It does not matter if your guitar playing skills are horrible, your poetry is trash, your cooking is abysmal or your concentration for reading has completely been destroyed. This is the time when you can hone them all up, once again. Also, if you never had a hobby, you could find one! Gardening, doodling, learning a new language- anything can become your new pass time.
• Give yourself a little makeover: How long have you waited for a new look? Now is the time to gift yourself a new look and by that I do not mean cutting your bangs off! A new makeover can include getting back into shape, cutting down all the junk that you used to infuse into your body, finally starting that healthy diet now that you can’t order from outside and all your smoke and snack breaks have been eliminated.
• Spend more time with friends and family: This is the perfect time to catch up on all that lost time with friends and family. How many times have you asked your mom to call you back since you were so busy with work? How long has it been since you haven’t been able to catch up properly with your friends? This lockdown is the time when you reframe all the personal relationships!
• Finish all your pending work: We all have something or the other that we have left unfinished thinking we will finish later. This lockdown time can be used to finish all those pending tasks so that when this is all over, we can invest our time in sometime new.

This lockdown time is definitely not the best with all the problems going on around us. At the same time, it is also not the worst decision ever. India has to follow this lockdown period religiously or it would take much time to turn into the second USA or Italy. There are children in the streets who haven’t eaten, people who are crying and dying, the economy is in shambles and the future is still so blurry. In this situation, it is important for us to keep our mental as well as our physical health strong. The best we can do is keep our sanity and try to help those who are in the need for it.

The novel Coronavirus has been successful in changing the face of the earth drastically.  It is still changing the age-old traditions of the world every single day. The virus has been declared a Public Health Emergency in over 130 countries and most of the nations have declared complete lockdowns in order to get through the crisis. This crisis is such that it cannot be mitigated until and unless complete social distancing and crowds are avoided and restricted. But a complete lockdown doesn’t also necessarily mean a complete halt to our daily lives. The basic activities still need to be completed. One cannot stop with their work altogether. Can they?

Zoom and Google Meet are the new best friends of the world. Be it a big organisation or a mid-sized company or even a classroom, almost half of the world population is on Zoom or Google meet now. Our PR school, School of Communications & Reputation (SCoRe) too hasn’t deviated from the same. We have been engaging in online classroom sessions since the 16^th of March. Work from Home or WFH might be a very common world to the Western World but for us it isn’t. In spite of that, the online classroom sessions haven’t been very bad. We have been learning quite a bit with teachers trying to make it as much fun and informative as they can. Some of them have also introduced audios and videos in our curriculum slides to grasp our attention. But at the same time, there are quite a few problems that embrace these virtual classes.
The first in network problem. To conduct these virtual sessions or even to attend them, one needs to have a very strong internet connection. I, personally, have often faced issues like getting disconnected suddenly from the middle of the class due to bad internet connectivity. And when that happens, the concentration automatically flows out of the window and the flow of information has been broken.
Another thing is that it often gets mundane looking at the computer screen and hearing the machine talk. One can easily get distracted by their environment while being present in a virtual classroom.
Group assignments have also been a big challenge. There is connectivity problem to start with and getting all the group members together at a stipulated time is an enormous difficulty.

Thus, in my opinion, I would still prefer the idea of a real-life classroom more than a virtual one. The environment of a real-life classroom is way more suitable for learning than the environment of an online class. In this times of turmoil, online classes have been a saviour but under normal circumstances I wouldn’t prefer this option. 

As I lay in my bed, quite deep into the night, I find my mind going round and round on all the COVID-19 talks that I hear all day long. I don’t even remember which day of the week it is and it feels as if life has come to a standstill. It has been more than twenty days now that I have returned to my hometown and the everyday online classes and assignments now feel normal, as if this is how we have been operating since the inception of time and life. When I took my flight back home fifteen days back, all I had in mind was an unexpected one week worth of family time. Today, it has already been twenty days and I still have no idea when I will be able to go back again- more importantly, if I will be able to go back again!

It was on January 30, 2020 that World Health Organisation (WHO) declared Coronavirus a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. After China and Europe, it was India’s turn to fight the deadly virus. The Indian Government was swift enough to take up the necessary measures, lockdown being the most essential of them. Within the 12^th of March, all the places of social gatherings were closed down. Schools and colleges were shut down, places of religion were locked up, malls and movies did not run anymore, corporates were asked to work from home.

Different people have different perspectives on the ongoing situation. As we are almost on the verge of end of a twenty-one day lockdown, everything feels like an overwhelming dream. Nobody knows what awaits us on the other side, not even the government or the doctors or the health experts. It is a game of time and wait. Presumptions like extension of the lockdown till September floats in the air. There is so much communication and yet there’s no communication at all. While the economy of the entire world crashes, the nature of the world revives. China has seen blue skies after a decade, France sees the Eiffel Tower without fog or smog, Mumbai experiences dolphins at Marine Drive after years. Quality family times are being spent, human relationships are being evolved, there is increased creativity, thankfulness and gratefulness.

No matter how many of those memes we make, these are proofs of the world evolving. And when all of this will be over, we will care about our families more, love our jobs more, eat more at the dinning table of the house than eating out and hopefully, there will be more unity and secularism than ever before!

Even a month or two earlier, epidemics and pandemics were only topics of our conversations. Even the beginning of this month did not give the assumption of the scenario of what the end of the month could be. The ongoing 21 day lockdown doesn’t ensure the complete breakage of the disease chain. A statistics report by World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2019 stated that Italy ranks the second best in healthcare and India ranks 140^th. The outbreak of the virus in Italy has already killed more than 6,000 people and counting. It is even unimaginable to think where India stands in this situation ranking 140^th in healthcare.

So, what happens when India enters Stage 3?

Stage 3 is that stage when the source of the virus cannot be found anymore. It is more commonly knows as community transmission as in Stage 3, the virus is known to be attack entire communities at one go. According to experts, India is in the very nascent stage of Stage 3. This comment was made when a 60 year old from Odisha was tested positive without any former travel history.

An article published on March 29 by The Telegraph mentioned that India is between the cross of Stage 2 and Stage 3 as early signs of community transmission has been detected. In Delhi, three patients have been tested positive whose source of infection are unclear.

India entering Stage 3 would mean there would be widespread panic. No proper supply of ration, healthcare, medications will ensure trepidation across the entire nation. Although, Delhi has started taking initiatives to upgrade the health infrastructure in order to handle the situation.

Even if Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has confirmed India being in Stage 2, nothing positive can be presumed. Only time can figure how the next few months will unfold and how India will cope!

Sources:

As coronavirus cases spike, India begins preparations for Stage 3

Covid-19: Govt says report on stage 3 misleading, denied by official

https://photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html

Time passed so quickly that I was barely able to understand when days became weeks, weeks became months and months turned into years. I saw people grow, slowly ageing up and turning into man, falling in love, getting married, having a family, having children, and their children coming to school again. I saw multiple generations of life. Some took their degree from the college and went abroad to study further while some stayed in the country.

Everything was going fine until some people thought otherwise. With advancement in technology and the mindset of the people, they demanded more than what they already had and so in search of betterment, they slowly started moving away from the town. The population of the village slowly started decreasing and with it also decreased the population of the students. Everything that has a beginning, has an end as well. To me, it seemed like my end! Students who went abroad for further studies now returned home to find their Rattory almost empty. They didn’t even like their own birthplace. Once these kids were happy playing in these very grounds, running all over the village and now they were ashamed to live in it as they thought this town didn’t match their standards of living anymore. Finally, I had no other choice but to accept the change that came with the chain of time. Everything had changed, the people, their hearts, their priorities and so did their pattern of visions, thoughts, behaviours and judgement change. Long gone were the people that I once knew. Their eyes didn’t reflect any love for me anymore.

“This must be destroyed, we don’t need it anymore. This place is large enough to build a big factory and we shouldn’t waste so much space for something that we don’t need anymore!”, one of them said. I was shocked. I was even more shocked to see that the others agreed with it. They were ready to destroy the thing that helped them build up their carrier up, gave them a bright future, helped them to see the truth that was hidden behind their lies and their own world of imagination. My roof provided shadow over their head and now they were ready to use that knowledge against me.

Within the blink of an eye, all the necessary steps were taken. All the preparations to break me down were taken in a jiffy. My brother was small so it didn’t take them much to smash him down into pieces. Right in front of my eyes, my little brother was gone within seconds. Pieces of him remained in the ground, lying all over. I was shattered seeing this. Now, it was my time. They looked at me with their merciless eyes. I wanted to cry but I didn’t. I took one last look at the beautiful sun and then sighed.

It is April 21, 1989. Their work is done. A huge industry now lies on the place where me and my brother used to stand. Rattory is now history. There now lies a huge city with a different name. Nobody remembers me anymore, nobody cares to know or ask what happened to me, as if I’m nothing and I was never there. Industrialization has taken over. The greed of wealth and riches played tricks with people’s minds. Their never-ending hunger for wealth changed them, turned them into something from where there is no turning back.

I was Rattory’s first educational college and my little brother was Rattory’s first primary education school. Rattory has no name of its own now and is a part of Italy’s largest province.

What is life? How do you define life? Is it the regular lifeless motion or the soul within? What makes life worth living? And what is the thing in your life that defines you? Is it how you were created or how you were raised? The story of my life comprises of numerous incidents which are both good and bad, for it is the depth of the darkness that made me understand the beauty of the light.

It was October 14, 1923 when the tiny village of Rattory, somehow, decided to bring in the light of education. And thus, they created me and my little brother. Rattory was a village of farmers and not many cared about education. So, initially I would be all alone and empty because nobody would come to me. As for my brother, there were a handful of people who would visit him.

As days passed by, slowly people began realising the value of what they were given. They slowly understood the value of education and literacy. As a result, kids would not only stop at my little brother’s but come to me too. I was finally feeling alive. People would come to me every day, learn their lessons, try to gain knowledge. They would write on me, create their masterpieces on me and what not! All these tiny little good and bad things made my life whole. I was the sole witness to their entire transformation. Education helped them understand that there was a whole new world for them outside the village, that there was more to life than just cultivating crops. Through me, they could see the reality that was covered by the perfect lies of their illiteracy until now!

To be continued…

On the onset of this deadly virus called Coronavirus, more precisely known as COVID’19, brands all over the world are already suffering from tremendous losses. Quarantine restrictions are keeping people away from crowds, thus evacuating the most socially crowded places like cinema halls, shopping malls and retail stores. But, in spite of business taking a hit, brands cannot stay quite during this situation. While some brands like Hindustan Unilever and Amul have already come up with creative strategies to increase awareness against this deadly pandemic, other brands are yet to figure out what can they do for their part. Here are some of the things that the brands should take in consideration:

• Staying informed and eradication of fake news: In this age of social media, everyone gets to know everything. But, we often do not pay attention to the credibility of the news or its source. Thus, brands should make sure that all their employees are properly equipped with the correct information from credible websites such as World Health Organisation (WHO) or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Also, companies should look into the fact that there is no spread of fake news and panic amongst its employees.
• Taking safety measures: This virus has symptoms that are extremely common such as cough and cold, fever etc. Companies should be strict about the fact that even if somebody has mild fever, that person should stay back and not spread the contamination further. Thus, employees should be given work from home so that there is not much public interaction. Even if there are office hours, then sanitary masks, hand washes and sanitizers should be provided by the company itself. In this context, I would like to mention what Amul did. They came up with an infographic which said “Better saaf, then sorry!”
• Be humanistic: In this time of crisis, brands should be human enough to actually promote awareness by keeping their financial or reputational gains aside. A perfect example of this has already been showcased by Lifebuoy, the medicinal soap brand under Hindustan Unilever where they put out a print advertisement mentioning all their competitor brands as well. The motive behind doing so was that they wanted to spread the message of awareness that people should buy any soap that they have access to because prevention is the biggest key right now!
• Be creative: Brands should also focus on being creative while dolling out a message in a certain format- be it print or digital. For instance, Netflix is using a scene from its extremely popular web series called Sex Education where Maeve, the lead female character is shown saying, “Wash your hands, you detty pig!”

Brands often act as big influences in our life. Hence, in this time of a global epidemic, brands should be the first one to step in and spread as much awareness as they can!

In today’s day and age, an average human being spends at least 80% of his or her life in their offices. The corporate rat race has somehow managed to keep everybody on their toes and to think about it, hoe many hours do you and I spend in our own houses? Well, the race isn’t nearly over and neither it’s showing signs of being over in the next 100 years. If not anything, the hard-press is going to increase. Hence, employers all around the world are trying hard to keep their employees happy and content as long as they are present in their workplace. Different countries around the world have different unique workplace practices.

• France: Unlike in India or U.S, where employees are expected to be active round-the-clock, the French are protected by a law called “Right to Disconnect”. This law simply states that an employee will not be held responsible if he/she does not revert to a work mail or a work call after the stipulated work hours. This law was officially made in order to protect employees from being overworked.
• Iceland: In spite of Iceland being a small country, the place has been setting examples of equality. In Iceland, when the family has a baby, both the mother and the father are given three months of parental leave each. Unlike in other countries where people believe that only maternal leaves matter because the baby needs the mother, Icelandic people understand the importance of the father-baby bond and thus the parental leave comes in picture.
• Israel: Do you know how a typical workweek in Israel look like? For them, Thursday night is Friday night. Confusing? The Israeli work week consists of five days- from Sunday till Thursday. This was done so that people can observe Shabbat, the Jewish Holy day which starts from Friday sundown to Saturday evening.
• India: When we are talking about work culture, how can India be far behind? Well, the work culture of India that is famous around the globe is quite funny. According to a report by The Economic Times, being 15 minutes late for a meeting in India is considered absolutely fine! “Schedules go haywire in India!”, said Makoto Kitai, MD, Mitsubishi Electrics India in the same report.

Source:

10 Ways Workplace Culture Differs Around the World

Argumentative & too emotional – are Indians tough to work with?