25 winters ago, on Wednesday, January 12, 2000, I started my professional career as a PR Trainee in Bombay. It was the time when the world had just entered the new millennium (the 2000s); the Y2K (Year 2000) scare, which kept software engineers across the globe on their toes towards the end of the 1990s, was gone without much of an impact; India had just heaved a sigh of relief with the release of the IC-814 hostages…just in time for them to join the millennium bash; Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister of India and Shri K. R. Narayanan the President; pagers were on their way out and mobile phones were a costly affair with even incoming calls being obnoxiously priced; there was widespread excitement about the release of Rakesh Roshan’s son’s debut film as the male lead on January 14, 2000…the lad was touted to be the next big thing in Bollywood after Shah Rukh Khan; and a colleague whom I would meet in Chennai 21 years later in 2021 was waiting to be born towards the end of January 2000.
The Entry
Mine was a by-chance entry into PR. I had just completed my MBA from the University of Pune, with HR as my specialisation. The placement scenario was bad and I actually went for scheduled and walk-in interviews basis job ads in the newspapers. It was one such ad that brought me to the interview with the first company (a PR firm) I worked for. Luckily for me, I had done a presentation on Public Relations in my final MBA semester. This hand-written (with coloured sketch pens) presentation was done on ‘transparencies’, which was the most impressive way to present back then. I remember blabbering a lot of things that I remembered from that presentation in the interview…and landing the job. My thought process (which I didn’t reveal during the interview for obvious reasons) was clear…that I am going to quit as soon as I get a good HR role somewhere. But I guess God had already written the PR script for me…a role I have been essaying to the best of my capabilities over the past 25 years.
The Lure
Before joining, I wanted to check out the local train route from my paying guest accommodation in Nerul to JVPD Scheme, where the office was located. I had gone for my interview in a ‘Kaali Peeli’, which definitely was not an affordable proposition for regular commute. So on Sunday, January 9, 2000, as part of the recce, I got down at Vile Parle Railway Station. As I walked towards the office based on the directions given by passersby, I saw a big crowd gathered outside a bungalow. I didn’t quite understand the reason for the ‘tourist spot’ kind of crowd. I asked a gentleman who was part of the crowd, “Kya ho raha hai?” (What’s happening?)
Gentleman: Pata nahin aaj niklega ki nahin. (Don’t know whether he will come out or not)
Me: Kaun? (Who?)
Gentleman: Arrrre…Amitabh ka ghar hai. (Hey…it’s Amitabh’s house)
Me (couldn’t believe my eyes & ears): Kaun Amitabh? (Who Amitabh?)
Gentleman: Kitna Amitabh ko jaanta hai tu? (How many Amitabhs do you know?)
Me: Amitabh Bachchan?????
He gave me that typical ‘Mumbai mein nauvva hai kya’ (Are you new in Mumbai) / ‘Alibag se aaya hai kya’ (Have you come from Alibag) kind of look and nod. I couldn’t believe that I was standing in front of THE Amitabh Bachchan’s house with a possibility of even seeing him. I was now already in love with my first job, which I was yet to join. Well, that day the ‘Darshan’ did not happen as he had gone to ‘Bahargaon’ (as communicated to me by another bystander). But my excitement was at its peak when I figured out that my ‘would be’ office was just 200 metres away from Amitabh Bachchan’s residence. This indirectly became the pull factor for me to the PR firm…and into the world of PR.
Seeing PR Evolve
I have seen PR in India evolve over the past 25 years. There was a time when it was mostly limited to press release disseminations, press meets, media one-on-ones and developing media relations. But with the growth of the digital medium and the growing need for sustained reputation management, PR has become more of a strategic and diverse function today. PR today covers a larger ambit that includes Digital PR, crisis communication and also influencer marketing. Even the role of PR professionals has undergone a paradigm shift and become more strategic than ever in the present scenario. Also technology, data analytics and AI (artificial intelligence) are increasingly gaining importance in PR…these are actually helping PR professionals reach and engage with their target audiences more efficiently.
Manoeuvring Myself
I have always been an introvert…someone who never generally initiates a conversation; and responds just as much as is required. In fact when I told my sister back in 2000 that I was getting into a PR job, her first reaction was “Public Relations…aur tum?” (Public Relations…and you?)
There’s an anecdote by the late Khushwant Singh wherein he talks about having a South Indian friend during his school days. Once, during a visit to his friend’s place, the friend’s mother served him something which looked like ‘Karah Prashad’, a sanctified offering made of wheat flour, ghee and sugar served at Gurudwaras. He took a spoonful into his mouth, and spat it out immediately…it tasted horrible and was salty. That was his first encounter with Upma. After this incident, he gradually started developing a taste for Upma, and it went on to become one of his most favourite dishes.
This is exactly how my relationship with PR began. I hated it in the beginning. But as I started understanding the nuances of PR, I found it to be not so bad. In fact I started finding it interesting and enriching…and it’s now two and a half decades into the profession.
As I started maturing into PR, one thing I decided was that I am not aspiring to be the ‘Best’ guy in the profession…instead I worked towards becoming the ‘Reliable’ guy. Let me explain.
I occasionally get calls from ex-client representatives (who have now moved on to different companies and elevated roles) asking for a proposal for the PR mandate. They don’t need elaborate pitch presentations…just a two-page proposal outlining the deliverable numbers and commercials. Some of them have even jokingly gone ahead to say that a major part of PR pitch presentations (PPTs) is ‘gas’ and only a small part actually gets delivered. In many such re-connect instances, it’s not that I have done some phenomenal work during my earlier relationships with them. In quite a few cases, I have even messed up bigtime on their mandates. And yet they have that big heart to come back to me, just because in my own simple way, as a reliable PR partner, I had stood by them during good and challenging times…and somewhere this made a difference to them.
These returning ex-client representatives are very well aware of my strengths and weaknesses. So much so that they have even lightly pulled me up on several occasions in the new relationships. Let me narrate a funny instance here. Once as part of a monthly plan for a client, I proposed one-on-ones with two English Mainline dailies. I put forth the names of four English Mainlines, i.e. A (most preferred mainline with highest circulation), B, C and D (least preferred among mainlines) and mentioned that we’ll do any two from among these four. While I was discussing the plan with the client, he quipped, “Dei (Tamil slang for ‘Hey’)…I know which two you are going to do…you’ve put ABCD, but you will end up giving me only CD…then why all this drama…might as well remove AB.” And we had a hearty laugh…sign of a classic relationship.
Last Word
I was lucky to have few wonderful seniors and colleagues who taught me almost everything I know today on the work front. During my formative years, they guided me through the nuances of PR…and most importantly good storytelling. Now when it is my turn to lead, I have been blessed with a fantabulous team that makes me feel proud and privileged as their leader. Quite a bit of my efforts at work are aimed towards ensuring that they grow in the profession (and life) with broader perspectives.
In a nutshell, after 25 years in the profession, I still continue to be a ‘Work in Progress’ on both the professional and personal fronts.
The views and opinions published here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the publisher.
Vijay likes to watch old Hindi classic films and listen to old Hindi film songs, and has an enviable collection of both of these. He enjoys reading autobiographies and biographies, and also short stories, his favourite authors being R. K. Narayan, Munshi Premchand, Leo Tolstoy and Guy de Maupassant. Vijay also has a hobby of collecting news clippings (from newspapers and magazines) of important events across the globe…events that can be truly classified as ‘Breaking News’ or ‘Front Page News’.
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