NK Satish, General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Spice Communications Ltd, Karnataka

Having started his career in the early 1980s in a nationalised bank, Satish has come a long way across industries and disciplines to head Corporate Affairs in Spice Communications Limited, Karnataka. As one of the earliest cellular phone industry professionals in India, he has seen and has contributed to the mobile phone industry at every stage of its growth. When he moved to Spice Communications in October 1996, cellular telephony in India was still in its embryonic stage. After eight long years of being at the helm of various relationship functions, Satish moved on to Corporate Affairs in February 2003. Satish’s key responsibility now includes advising the senior management at Spice on corporate, regulatory, purchase and legal issues, besides monitoring the image of the organisation. Over this conversation with Shubha Kumble, he shares his views on the importance of extending the scope of corporate communications and more.

Q. What role does corporate communication play in building a brand like Spice?

Spice is a highly customer-oriented brand and, it alongside gives out different kinds of messages to different people. At every juncture, operators run the risk of falling prey to misrepresentations born out of rumours and wrong messages going around. The prime responsibility of Corporate Communications at Spice is to keep up a conducive atmosphere to conduct and execute the plans in a transparent way that has a positive influence on all activities of the company. Be it with dealers, channel partners, existing and potential customers or the government and regulatory bodies, communication per se has a very big role to play.

Though PR or Corporate Communications is one of the front-end tools in any business, the role includes providing a blueprint for the entire communications activity of the organisation. Our PR activities become much more challenging with us being Karnataka-specific, making it important to understand the market and people across the state. Geographically, culturally and socially, our knowledge of the region is very necessary.

Q. What kind of innovative communication initiatives have you taken up that does not belong to the conventional advertising and PR?

We have been conventional to the extent of linking our sales and marketing functions to advertising and brand communications directly. This is to keep the key departments in sync with the developments in the market and requirements of the marketplace. Besides that, we are non-conventional in most other things. Recently, when we opened our new technology and customer care centre we were the first operator to arrange a guided tour of the new technology centre comprising the latest switch, new servers and the new 24×7 Customer Care centre. We feel that for a serious analyst or an industry observer, this approach was totally different and most of the participants appreciated this. We also regularly target our radio listeners and have formulated different interesting means to communicate to them using local flavour and language.

Q. PR has mainly been used in association with media relations. What attempts have you made to expand its scope?

Out of fear or complacence, or both, some agencies have stopped thinking beyond media relations. I feel there are some activities like feedback to clients on the market dynamics, industry-specific overlapping that require clarifications, etc. that shall help make a shift in perceptions.

Also, tie-up with academic institutions is something we are seriously considering. Information disbursement through alternative sources is another area we are planning to introduce. Added to this, exploring PR’s role in product development, internal communications and technology deployment are certain areas we are currently working on.

Q. Could you tell us a little about your association with different media?

We have been working with Radio City from the time they started and, together we conceptualised the popular ‘Lingo Leela’ programme. After the review of the same, we felt it was becoming repetitive and now, we have changed it to proverbs. Likewise, we were the first operator to encourage local artisans through our ‘Cellothsava’ held during Dussera. We also have a tie-up with Deccan Herald Avenues for job alerts by SMS to our ‘Uth’ customers. We feel the market is full of cross-functional tie-ups and logos of brands featuring everywhere, relevant or not, and that is something we try and avoid.

Q. Do you agree that corporate communications was initiated in bursts? How has Spice ensured a steadier stream of communication?

I feel, it is always a steady stream interspersed by brief intervals of period to take stock and renew. It’s most effective when conducted intensively in a gradual and steady process. In Spice, constantly we review and redesign the internal process and we strongly believe that any new approach and initiatives will be as per the market dynamics.

Q. How do below-the-line activities complement your corporate communication strategy?

Community Relations is an important aspect in Spice. Being a socially responsible corporate, it is increasingly becoming an indispensable tool for image building. Be it our contribution towards Terry Fox run or Pro Vision’s activities or the more recent tie-up with an NGO that works for women and children, our participation is always beyond sponsorship.

We also raised money for Helpage India, Manipal Heart Foundation, etc. and donated it for their medical facilities for the under privileged. I feel, if a segment of people are shown the way there will be a day when they will meet yours’. Take for instance, the Future Strokes Cricket academy that Spice started with the Karnataka State Cricket Association to spot young and talented cricketers in smaller towns across the state.

For us, it is continuous strive to understand our subscribers’ needs. ‘Uth’ and ‘Disha’ are the two most innovative products in the telecom industry. Disha’ (only specialised membership card for women) subscribers have a club of their own, for whom we provide opportunities to meet regularly and interact on various issues. We invite experts in various fields and get them to exchange views with the members.

Q. Spice seems to be going on the promotional overdrive with both the Indo-Pak cricket series and your own range of Spice Sizzler promotions. Could you tell me more about them?

For the Indo-Pak cricket series, we have brought in Javagal Srinath to offer his comments on the match for all Spice subscribers. In his own voice, in both English and Kannada, he is giving regular and live updates on crucial junctures of all the matches. We chose Srinath because he was in the team till recently and he knows the conditions well. Also, I feel he is the best person to feel the pulse in the dressing room. Another major plus-point of having Srinath’s expertise is that he is from Karnataka, which goes well with our proposition of being Karnataka-specific. The system of updates in Kannada is a big draw as well.

Spice Sizzlers is a new series of entertainment-based parties we have devised to target the youth. For our ‘Uth’ subscribers we are already offering job alerts, m-coupons (for discounts in major retail outlets) and other incentives. Spice Sizzlers parties will be yet another addition to their wish list, where they get to enjoy theme parties in happening spots around town with popular RJ Rohit Barker and DJ Ivan. Spice subscribers in the party will also get to enjoy special offers and discounts. The first of such parties we had recently in ‘Spinn’ with beach, as the theme, was a big hit.

Q. Today, PR or Corp Comm comes to the foreground mainly during crisis situations. Could you give us an example and tell us how this has helped you tackle a crisis situation?

Thankfully, we haven’t been hit by a serious crisis yet. Continuous growth and overwhelming response from people of Karnataka has made Spice Telecom one of the strongest regional cellular service providers in the state and our business has been pretty smooth. However, we believe in prevention of crisis and are always prepared for that. In the last one year, the industry has seen many changes due to regulations. We adhered to all regulatory policies and even during the first IUC implementation in May 2003, we had all the details of the IUC Regulations for the media.

I think it’s a part of any business to face changes in the shortest time and thereby, avoid crisis. Public Relations, if handled properly, can address any problem. I strongly believe, an image, built over a period of time based on goodwill and efficient services, does always come effective, irrespective of the kind of crisis.

Q. How do you assess the results of a PR campaign?

I feel it is difficult to assess PR in its entirety. There are many intangibles that come with the business and, may be, we cannot measure all these things. The general perception on image is nothing until one tries to fit sales forcibly. Still people get down to calculate media space occupied and begin to quantify it, which I think isn’t a perfect way to do it. It fails to consider important aspects of goodwill, perception, image, familiarity, recall, niche audience and more psychological attributes of loyalty. I think one should not go by the ABC figures of circulation or readership and believe to arrive at the reach. We should always understand PR from the impact and the effectiveness.

We are in the process of implementing an evaluation format that breaks away from the normally accepted forms of measurement and gets closest to capture the true picture.