India Inc had the toughest luck for the inaugural PR Lions. Not one Indian entry made it even to the shortlist of the category despite sending 12 entries. Jury President Lord Tim Bell, Chairman, Chime Communications, said that the Lions this year were not reflective of the state of the PR industry of any market. He said, “This is the first year. There weren’t too many entries. Not everyone was very sure on how to enter either. We should wait for a few Lions to see how this category settles.”
Genesis Burson-Marsteller’s Principal and Founder Prema Sagar, who was also an Indian juror, was very clear on why Indian entries did not score at the festival. She said, “The good thing is that PR Lions is here. India has a long way to go, and has to fight it out to be recognised at a platform like this. We do not have any local PR Awards, and many of the agencies don’t know how to prepare for a global awards platform.”
Like other jury members, Sagar too is of the opinion that the PR Lions would play a significant role in improving the benchmarks of the PR industry, and the quality of the work per se. In a conversation with exchange4media, she drew up a 5-point mantra that PR agencies should follow while entering global awards.
Top in the list is Evidence based Insight (Research). Sagar believes that the beginning of any PR work cannot be based on merely gutfeel and feel-good factor; it has to be rooted in hard facts and insights. This should then lead to Strategy. The big idea, as Sagar puts it, has to be borne from this Insight. The step three of the mantra is setting Measurable Goals. “This is in fact missing in many cases right now. You have to have a target to achieve before you set out in any direction.”
The fourth point on the list is Execution. The execution involves the idea being disseminated from all the relevant mediums for it to make an impact. And the final point is Measurable result on impact. This point links back to Measurable goals, and then ascertaining whether the PR campaign achieved what it had set out for.
Sagar emphasised that the future of communication lies in the big idea, and that it can be delivered from any medium including PR, advertising, direct, sponsorship, event or digital. At the end of it, the precision in focussing on the specific target, and then delivering on that target is what mattered.
She is positive on India in the coming years. Rest everyone surely would be hoping for the same.
