Qatar has jumped on to the PR bandwagon. A QT report on how well it has fared
When they hired public relations' advisors in 1995, Jerry Yang and David Filo never imagined they would be on the cover of Time magazine. Their aggressive PR campaign, achieved much more. Today Yahoo! needs no introduction. Public relations has the power of achieving the impossible. Again and again. But it seems to be going unsung.
People have read a great deal about Yahoo! and its founders who have appeared on the covers of magazines like Forbes, Wired, Business Week, UPSIDE and USA Weekend soon after their site was born. But how many have heard of Niehaus Ryan Wong Inc, the South San Francisco public relations agency behind Yahoo!'s PR campaign?
The agency had been happy to work behind-the-scenes as the first step it took in the campaign took the media by storm. "The first strategy meeting was about positioning," Ed Niehaus, co-founder and president of the agency, had said. "We concluded that the goal was to position them as a Web directory, not a search engine... Very early on, before the launch, we were talking about making Jerry and David poster boys for the Internet." The media was instantly hooked to the line: "charismatic boy-founders who could put a human face on a new, sizzling-hot technology destined for the masses".
With more corporates realising the power of PR, the industry is seeing revolutionary concepts. Consider what Al and Laura Ries write in their book The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR... "Advertising, while a part of branding, is a better brand maintenance tool... In fact, a company should spend nothing (in advertising) to launch a new consumer brand. Rather, it should spend considerable amounts of money in public relations to do the job."
In their quest for visibility, wellknown multinationals, especially in countries like the USA, have been striving harder for those 'big ideas'. There is a lot of buzz about these concepts. So much so that, when a conglomerate in a developing country was about to launch its technology foray, it had asked its PR agency for a note on Microsoft's PR campaigns.
The note had been an eyeopener for the corporate house as it could gain invaluable insights on how such campaigns are planned. Whether it is Yahoo! or it is Microsoft or for that matter any other company, the key words are: positioning and strategy.
Several professionals say the Qatar too has been doing well. Particularly praise-worthy are efforts of the Government in showcasing its achievements. Today the country is not only considered one of the fastest growing economies in the world but its initiatives in sectors like oil and gas, sports and tourism have been widely appreciated. So also Qatar Foundation's commitment to bringing about sparkling changes in the Middle Eastern education scene.
A lot of good work has been done by Qatari organisations like Commercialbank, Qatar Airways, Qatar Tourism Authority and eGovernment. A PR agency executive executive had praised the professionalism of several Qatari companies. But are there any areas that need to be looked at so that more Qatari companies can emulate the West?
"Qatar has to pay more attention to planning/ strategy," says Qatar Liquefied Gas Company Limited Public Relations Manager Abdulla M Hijji. "This is a difficult task as it involves dovetailing a company's PR plan into its objectives, identifying its target audiences, tailoring key messages, using the right media, etc."
"It is appropriate that someone at the managerial level will be responsible for the organisation's communications strategy," says McConnells Heneghan Advertising & PR Agency Director Nigel Heneghan. Yet strategy is the first step in launching a PR campaign. The five important steps are: putting together and analysing existing data (in case the data is insufficient, research may be done); drawing up objectives; strategy and planning (deciding how the objectives would be met), implementation, measurement/ evaluation (during and after). Why during the campaign? So that assessments can be made as to whether a campaign is on the right track and, if not, appropriate steps can be taken.
Does Qatar follow all this? "An important aspect of PR is to keep yourself abreast of all the latest trends and technology," says Promoseven Weber Shandwick Public Relations Head Andrew Swan. "Technology changes every day, particularly in the communications industry. So the channels of communication are changing/ being upgraded all the time. Besides public relations professionals have to understand what the media wants."
"PR is an incredibly powerful marketing tool but you only get out what you put in," according to PR professional Catherine Warne. "Share all information with your PR team, they can decide what is relevant. Keep them up to date with what is happening happening on the brand, make sure you tell them about any change in strategy and the reasoning behind it, and share market research plans with them - also allow them to include questions in the market research that can be used for benchmarking, evaluation or even as a news hook."
There is painstaking work involved at every stage of PR including implementation. From the straight-forward press release to holding mega events to organising exclusive interviews to media events... execution calls for a lot of expertise...
A celebrated American PR professional shared his secret of success in selling his ideas to hard-nosed journalists. He would call journalists for a bash on the condition that they would not write anything about his company or its executives... Then as the party progresses, he would recount his wealth of anecdotes and jokes... Rolled into those jovial times are irresistible news pegs which, the PR professional ensures, the journalists would discover on their own...
So carefully are these leads targeted that the journalists stop partying. And instantly jump on to news-gathering with the American 'reluctantly fixing meetings with his top execu tives' for the journalists.
Such stories, according to the American, would have greater 'positive punch' as the journalist feels they are his own 'scoops' - not 'plants' that he finds boring to handle.
Another way of ensuring punch is to craft the story fully as per the publication's requirements and pass it in on to the journalist's so that it is published as an exclusive.
A word of caution would be appropriate here. All PR communication should be factual. This would ensure that the PR campaign would build credibility while creating buzz.
After ensuring that a PR campaign has been implemented well, a professional moves on to the last stage of his campaign: communication audits. These do not always seem to get due importance.
"It is important to measure the effectiveness of all PR campaigns," says Hijji. "This will show where we are, how many people know about us, what they are thinking about us, etc."
Word-of-mouth important
McConnells Heneghan Advertising & PR Agency Director Nigel Heneghan
On PR in Qatar: In the West, public relations is central in the development and implementation of communications strategies for companies and organisations. Public relations is a highly regarded profession and is valued at board and senior management level.
This differs somewhat from the role of the PR in the Gulf, where sometimes PR can be seen as a 'quick fix' solution...
As Qatar develops as an economy, this is one area of commercial best practice that will become available to Qatari companies.
On access to top management: What is important is that there is a clear line of communication between the client organisation and the PR professional, and that there is a clear PR brief relating to the communications requirements of the organisation. It is appropriate that someone at managerial level will be responsible for the organisation's communications strategy. Therefore contact at managerial level should be ongoing. Access at chief executive level should be available when a major decision is required.
On interpersonal communication: Word of mouth communication is very important. For example, if you are in the market for a new four-wheel drive vehicle and observe an advertisement in a newspaper or an article about a vehicle, it will interest you. However, if you hear directly from a friend or colleague about the benefits of the vehicle, it will have a far stronger effect and is more likely to influence your purchasing decision.
Qatar is beginning to market the country as a tourist destination in Europe. Public relations will be central to promoting Qatar in Western markets. However, the real PR will happen when holiday-makers who have visited Qatar return home and tell their friends "what a great holiday they have just had in a great country". This positive word of mouth endorsement is something that cannot be matched by the most sophisticated level of public relations or advertising.
On PR and marketing communications: While not as high-profile as advertising or sometimes promotions, public relations can play a central role in marketing communications. When a marketing communications programme is put together it should have a number of components - market research followed by advertising, promotions and public relations. Much emphasis will be placed on advertising and this is wholly appropriate. The role of public relations will normally be at the 'launch' phase, where an event will be planned that will create the maximum impact. Thereafter, public relations will be used to communicate developments for the product or service including excellent sales performance, or product developments such as a new flavour or packaging design.
On PR tools in Qatar: There are three daily Arabic language newspapers and two English language newspapers. Combined with this there is a very high level of newspaper readership in Qatar. Furthermore there are a number of publications including Qatar Today. Therefore, the tool of media relations is obviously one that is effective in Qatar.
This is the case throughout the Gulf. However, one area where media relations needs to be developed in the region is the broadcast sector. Sponsorship is a popular PR tool used in Qatar in the area of sports, recreation, arts, culture and education that enables firms to interface directly with consumers. Without any formal market research, it is difficult to gauge the effectiveness of some of the sponsorships. However, my personal observation is that consumers seem to appreciate the sponsorship support that is provided by commercial companies.
On PR agencies: In some large organisations, it is necessary to have a dedicated in-house public relations staff. The benefit of an external consultant is that they bring a broader perspective to a company's public relations. For, they are independent and not constrained by the internal rules or culture of the client organisation. The PR firm can also apply its experience and general knowledge that it has learned from the marketplace and indeed from servicing other clients. Furthermore, the external consultant can be more a cost-effective means to develop a positive profile for the company. In many instances external consultants work closely and successfully with the in-house PR and marketing operation.
On the areas that need improvement: For marketing professionals to properly service their clients, it is important that there is a competent professional research capability to effectively ascertain the attitudes of consumers. Both qualitative and quantitative studies are done to evaluate a campaign. The simplest is the quantitative study where the coverage is measured (in case it is an event, the number of people who attended it).
Another way of looking at effectiveness is measuring the awareness the campaign has created. However, the most difficult is understanding behaviourial/ perception changes.
To do all this, putting in a place a professional team is important. Outsourcing or hiring a PR agency seems to be one of the options. However, both PR agencies - more international agencies are expected to come to Qatar soon - face the same problem: dearth of professionals. The problem would be redressed in the long term as Qatar has already taken the giant leap in the education sector.
As Qatar makes rapid strides in most areas, PR too is keeping pace. Perhaps the need of the hour is a good PR workshop where all the best practises are discussed/ showcased.
Strategy is the key
Qatar Liquefied Gas Company Limited Public Relations Manager Abdulla M Hijji
On the PR profession: PR professionals are gaining more and more importance in Qatar. However, how systematic are we in our approach is the question. Besides, there seem to be a lot of misconceptions about PR. People think it is just organising events, others feel it is all about advertising. PR goes beyond all this.
On the areas that need attention: Qatar has to pay more attention to planning/ strategy. This is a difficult task as it involves dove-tailing a company's PR plan into its objectives, identifying its target audiences, tailoring key messages, using the right media, etc.
Also efforts must be made to ensure that news releases we create are readily acceptable to the media. Qatar has been doing well in all these areas. But some good role models would propel Qatar's PR initiatives to a new level.
On access to top management: I have been very fortunate as the top Qatargas management is always helpful.
On the excellent PR initiatives: Qatar Foundation has been doing an excellent job. So has Qatar Tourism Authority been in its efforts at reaching out to the world.
On surveys: It is important to measure the effectiveness of all PR campaigns. This will show where we are, how many people know about us, what they are thinking about us, etc.
On the resources: One of the major challenges facing the industry is dearth of professionals. Particularly difficult is finding people with bilingual abilities.
© Qatar Today 2004
