Changing Dynamics of Public Relations

Let’s start the piece with the adage, “A PR’s job is thankless.”

If you have been in the profession of Public Relations, either you have been tenacious enough to go through the labyrinths of the job to emerge a winner or on the contrary, thrown your hands in despair and looked the other way.

Yes, it is a thankless job, but the concept of PR has undergone a sea change and it is now a powerful tool in building brand image. We will come to that later. Let’s take a trip down the memory lane so far as PR is concerned.

Why Thankless?

Ten-fifteen years back, a call from a PR Executive to a journalist was exasperating. Be it in any field, the moment, a scribe was approached, the former had to endure barbs and rough behaviour. “Uff! Again, this man has called. Don’t want to talk to him,” was the common notion.

Impressing a journalist was an arduous job. Hardly PRs got to meet a journo whether an editor or a trainee. If you have been associated with journalism, you would know and endorse how tough a task it was a decade ago.

There has been a flurry of PR Executives who have shifted to some other field just to avoid the ignominy of being insulted. Yet they were precious for journalists when the need arose. But looking at the larger picture it was humongous for PRs to get a journalist’s nod in the affirmative.

But Hold On…

However, things have changed over the years. Getting direct access to a corporate honcho or a celebrity is a big deal for most media persons. Things have changed so much that media personalities are heavily dependent on stars’ PRs for quotes and bytes. A PR’s job is like building the bridge between the stakeholder and client and with the advent of technology especially the social media, their status has changed manifold.

 No star or a corporate leader would take a step without consulting his or her PR team. Take for example Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan, his manager is an indispensable part of his professional setup and she at times exudes more power than the man himself.

Or say for example, champion cricketer Virat Kohli – even the stalwarts of the sporting media would not be able to directly reach out to him. He has his own PR team that handles his image building or interactions with the media.

And it rolls on

There are specialized PR agencies all over the country which have also been far more fastidious and religiously going about things that was missing earlier on. Hence, the growing era of technological innovation and improvement has been a blessing for them. Nowadays there is too much dependence on PRs who have also diversified to marketing and advertisements apart from image building.

If you have a look at the press releases, the language has also changed and it is far more mellifluous than in the past. The news point is hit right at the very outset and there is no exaggeration.

With social media handles like X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and others, news comes in a flash and the Public Relation Agencies play a pivotal role here.

So, next time if you think of browbeating a PR, think twice because they are no more objects of disparage.