An overview

Introduction to Public Relations

What is Public? A public is any group that has an actual

or potential interest in or impact on a company’s or a person’s ability to achieve its objectives.

What is Relations? It is the result and outcome of mutual

understanding derived from the process of sharing common interests.

What is Public Relations?

Public Relations (PR) involves a variety of programs

designed to promote or protect a company’s image

or a person’s or individual products.

Defining Public RelationsPublic relations, according to the Institute of Public Relations (IPR), is about reputation.  The result of what you do; what you say and what others say about you.   The PR practice is defined as the discipline that looks after reputation with the aim of earning understanding and support, and influencing opinion and behaviour.  It is planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain good will and mutual understanding between an organization and its public – i.e., a company's staff, suppliers, shareholders, customers, etc."

Origin of PR in the world

PR found itself originating in the media & publicists who specialized in promoting circuses, theatrical performances, and other public spectacles.

The First World War also helped stimulate the development of public relations as a profession.

1900s…Public Relations evolved from individual

‘press agents’ and publicists to counseling firms that offered their services as experts in the field

America’s first publicity firm, The Publicity bureau was founded in Boston in 1900

In 1906 the railroads made these bureaus more prominent and soon they had their own PR departments

Ivy Ledbetter LeeThe early public relations practitionersHe helped develop many of the techniques

and principles that are followed today in PRHe believed in open communications with

the media and he was candid and frank in his approach to the press

He understood that good corporate performance was the basis of good publicity.

Ivy Ledbetter LeeHis major contribution it is said was to

humanize wealthy businessmen and to cast big business in a more positive light

Lee was earlier a Wall Street Reporter who became a public relations counselor with George Parker in 1904

Edward L.BernaysHe is credited with coining the term public

relations counsel in his first book on the subject, Crystallizing Public Opinion, originally published in 1923. In 1928, he published Propaganda, and in 1952, Public Relations

PR in the world

In Europe, too, professional public relations mushroomed after World War II as diplomacy and mass communications became central to the stability and reconstruction of scores of countries

In the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the growth of public relations became evident in the formation of national professional associations in South Africa, Australia and Western Europe

Common PrinciplesThere was general agreement regarding

the basic principles and practices of public relations; e.g., the power of public opinion, the need for relationship-building between institutions and their publics, the influence of the press as a force for free speech, and the value of corporate citizenship

Common PrinciplesPublic relations increasingly borrowed from

and redefined philosophical concepts such as human rights, fairness and social freedom

Evolution of Public Relations Industry in India

A systematic and organised practise of public relations in India began with the Indian Railways.

During the first World War (1914-1918), the Central Publicity Board was set up in India. This was the first organised PR/Information set-up in the then British ruled India.

Evolution of Public Relations industry in India contd…After Independence (1947), the

government of India set up a full-fledged Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Soon after freedom, multi-national companies operating in India for several years felt the need to communicate with the Indian people more meaningfully led to Tata’s setting up a Public Relations Department in Mumbai in 1943.

Retrospective…Businessmen and industrialists preferred

staying out of mediaProfit was a dirty wordNo significant growth of business media in

the country - Business India was launched in 1976 .Financial papers turned pink only by 1989

Industrial houses engaged liaison officers- mainly family retainers - retired bureaucrats

Retrospective…They were fixers (spin) - They knew the

style. They could manipulate and manageTheir task was to look after bureaucrats,

politicians and journalistsThey were relationship managers.Wining and dining was an art - Nothing was

impossible

Retrospective…Professional PR came in with process of

liberalisation. 1985 onwards….Profitability became sign of successIncreasing competition in the open market

needed strong brands ,good marketing skills

Booming markets changed the face of business journalism

PR managers were needed for crisis management

Retrospective… Good communication skills became corner

stone of success Influencing opinion makers/ journalists,

acquired more importance than merely managing crisis

Professional PR separated from advertising - event management skills matured

Fixers were replaced by good communicators

Professional PR stills continues to be a mixed bag

Retrospective…PR was largely restricted to

management of new issues in the new liberalised economy 1980-90

Advertising agencies offered PR free initially and then for a fee

Companies started looking at PR as a long term strategic need---Corporate Communications

PR could influence opinion makers, ensure change in policies - lobbying

We need to…Evolve uniform practices - code of conduct

- strengthening of professional bodiesPrinciples are the same - honesty, integrity

and transparency : Adherence to corporate governance

Long term professional integrity is more important than short term organizational advantages

PropagandaPropaganda: "... the manipulation of

symbols as a means of influencing attitudes on controversial matters" (Harold D. Lasswell)

Unlike PR, which is often described as objective and extensive information of the public, advertising and propaganda are associated with manipulative activities.

Influence of PropagandaPropaganda techniques were first codified

and applied in a scientific manner by Walter Lippman and Edward Bernays

Many of the first PR professionals, including Ivy Lee, Walter Lippman, Edward Bernays, and Carl Byoir, got their start with the Committee for Public Information (also known as the Creel Committee), which organized publicity on behalf of U.S. objectives during World War I

PropagandaBernays coined the terms "group mind"

and "engineering consent," important concepts in practical propaganda work

World War II saw continued use of propaganda as a weapon of war, both by Hitler's propagandist Joseph Goebbels and the British Political Warfare Executive

The Communications Model by LasswellIn 1939, Germany’s

frighteningly effective use of propaganda prompted President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to create a group of "top men" to start working on an American version of propaganda – just in case it was needed

The Communications Model by LasswellDuring World War II, US Federal agencies

used Lasswell’s secret model to test a variety of propaganda techniques and to create some very powerful propaganda posters, films, and radio broadcasts

For example, it was discovered that "help win the war" wasn’t the most effective slogan to use for selling war bonds. It appealed to men, but not women. This led to the development of a more effective slogan: "Help win the war and bring the boys home"

The difference between publicity and public relations …The terms public relations and publicity are

often misused or confused. They are not interchangeable. Publicity is only one function of public

relations. It is media coverage — news stories, feature articles, talk show interviews, editorials and reviews

Basic Functions of PRPress or Media RelationsProduct PublicityCorporate CommunicationsLobbying (is the act of attempting to

influence decisions made by officials in a government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies.)

CounselingCrisis ManagementInvestor Relations

Specialty PR

Foodservice PR Healthcare PR Technology PR Entertainment & Lifestyle PRFinancial PR

Books for reference:-Public Relations- The realities of PR by

Newsom, Turk, Kruckleberg Principals of Public Relations-C.S Rayudu &

K.R.Balan Public Relations -Diwakar Sharma Public Relations Practices- Center & Jackson Effective Public Relations in Public and Private

Sector by BanikThe Corporate Peacock-Rita Bhimani lations for your business- Frank Jefkins The Art of Public Relations by CEO of leading

PR firms