Role of Creativity in Public Relations, presented by Parekhit Bhattacharjee, Student Executive, The Delhi School of Communication

1. Role
of
tiv it y
C rea
in
PR

2. Please Remember…
Vs.

3. What inspired me?

4. A peek into the topic
- Creativity
- Creativity in advertising & PR
- Role of Creativity in PR?
- Suggestions

5. My Journey
In
Four phases

6. Phase 1
Water
-What is Creativity?
- Creativity in
communication
Methodology
-Secondary
Research
-Internet

7. Land
Phase 2
Creativity
In
Advertising & PR
Methodology
- Secondary research
- Books & Movies

8. Phase 3
Sky Role of
Creativity
in
PR
Methodology
-Primary
Research
- Focused Group
Discussion

9. Phase 4
Earth
Conclusions
drawn
- Based on Primary
and Secondary
Research

10. Phase 1
Water
Creativity – an inner meaning

11. Creativity is much like pornography, which
Al Ries said, "I can't define it, but I know it
when I see it"

12. - Creativity is a mental and social
process involving the generation of
new ideas or concepts, or new
associations of the creative mind
between existing ideas or concepts
o
ity. N
reativ
c
ccess to
s his su d for it.”
“Ma n owe the nee
s
one doubt ono, 1971
B
Edwa rd D e

13. Creative words!!!
- “Creativity is allowing yourself to make
mistakes…Art is knowing which ones to
keep.”
Scott Adams
- “True originality consists not in a new
manner but in a new vision”
Edith Wharton

14. - "I couldn't find the sports car of my dreams,
so I built it myself."
Dr. Ferdinand Porsche
- "I have no special gift; I am only passionately
curious."
Albert Einstein
- "Anyone can make the simple complicated.
Creativity is making the complicated simple."
Charles Mingus

15. Creati
vity
In
Comm
unicat
ion

16. Creativity in communication
- Communication, not something one would
instantly equate with creativity
- Something that we do throughout our lives,
but often don't give much thought to how
we're doing it
- But in today’s communication industry, it is
necessary to find creative solutions

17. - And offer opportunities to recognize,
practice, and apply creative expression
- In order to remain competitive and to
advance sales, retailing, public relations,
advertising, and brand management
- To explore the relationship of creativity to
speaking, writing and presentation skills,
- As well as to listening, sensual awareness and
nonverbal expression

18. - And how all of these are combined to aid in
interacting with clients and customers
- Thus in this changing world of
communication where a consumer has
choice of hundreds of brands in each
product category
- Creativity becomes a very important tool in
this industry

19. Creative Myths…

20. “I am not creative”
- The truth is that we are
all creative
- The problem is, as we
grow older, most of us
learn to inhibit our
creativity for reasons
relating to work,
acceptable behavior etc.

21. “That's a stupid or silly, or ridiculous
idea”
- No idea is stupid, silly or ridiculous
- Never censor your ideas by telling yourself
they are stupid
- Ask yourself how you can improve an idea

22. “Creative people always have great
ideas”
- Creative people always have ideas whether
good or bad and they share it with others
- Of those ideas, a precious few are great
- Many are good, many are mediocre and a
few really are stupid ideas

23. “That's a good idea, let's run with it”
- Don’t stop looking and start implementing
with the first good idea that comes to mind
- Any great ideas you might have had, had you
spent more time thinking, are lost
- Good ideas can often be developed into
significantly better ideas with a little
creative thought

24. “Drugs will help me be more
creative”
- Drugs can never help you be more creative
- alcohol will loosen our inhibitions to the
extent that we do not criticize our ideas
- But to people watching you, you will just
seem like someone who is very high

25. Phase 2
Land
Creativity
In
Advertising
&
PR

26. Creativity- the mantra of Advertising
- Advertising always honored creativity by
constantly clutching on to it in order to save
a sinking brand
- Creative department termed as the most
important department, which runs the
entire show
- Plays such an impact that the creative
directors become larger than their agencies

27. Creativity- the unsung hymn in PR
- A buzzword that is thrown around with little
consideration for what it really means or
how one might achieve it
- The ground reality is creativity is an often
ignored tool in PR
- Requires being a keen observer and
constantly looking for clues or idea-starters

28. - The PR professionals are so busy working on
what the client commands
- That the whole thing to doing something
uniquely different gets lost in the way

29. The Value of Creativity
- To a great extent creativity is an over hyped
tool in advertising
- Need to run advertising that “resonates”
with consumers
- Need consumers to think, Yes that’s what
the brand stands for!!!

30. - Creativity is the last thing a brand needs
once a brand has been established in the
mind
- Instead to defend a brand you need to
“reaffirm” the brand’s core values

31. - It’s PR that needs to be creative
- It’s PR that needs to be new, different and
original
- The best way to establish a brand is to create a
new category
- Creating a new category requires creative
thinking of the highest order

32. The Creative issue
- Any brand considering an advertising
program doesn’t need a too “Creative
advertising”
- Advertising is the cheerleader that repeats
words and ideas that already exist in mind
- The true function of advertising is to
reinforce an existing perception in the mind
- As long as agencies are selling advertising to
clients, instead of products to consumers,
the pressure will be on for “creative
advertising”

33. - Analytically, what needs to be new, different,
and original is the perception of the product
- This is the task of the PR person
- PR takes a product or service skillfully position
the brand so it achieves the perception of
being new, different and original

34. Creativity- a hidden tool in PR
- Creativity belongs in the PR department
- Needs to be original in the sense that it needs
to position product or services as new and
different
- The TOI, and the other media outlets, doesn’t
want to write about better products or services

35. - They want to write about “what’s new”-
original, different, and creative
- The tasks of PR are to take the latest
product improvement and with a generous
dose of creativity turn into something really
new and different
- Creativity is that ‘x-factor’ which can make
a PR programme sparkle

36. - Creatively written news release can seize a
journalist’s attention or imagination
- A creative stunt or photo opportunity can
gain front page coverage
- A creative message can communicate with a
new audience, or engage an existing
audience in a new way

37. PR Like a Virgin
- Richard Branson
understands, that the media
doesn’t get many interesting
photos
- Here, he promotes a book
which promotes his brand

38. - Richard Branson
understands that the
media doesn’t get many
interesting photos
- Here he is in his balloon

39. Phase 3
Sky
Role
Of
Creativity
In
PR

40. PR Industry analysis 2008-09
- 96 percent of PR professionals agrees that
creativity is important to the PR process
- 44.4 per cent of journalists felt that PR
pitches were “dull” with “little spark”
- 57 per cent of PR practitioners do not risk
assess creative ideas
- 50 per cent stated they did not evaluate the
success of the creative aspect of a campaign

41. - 19.15 per cent claimed to be at their most
creative while commuting
- 8.74 per cent were found to use
brainstorming alone as a technique to achieve
creativity
- The pressure of time, noise and distractions,
resistance to creativity from co-workers and
client's lack of openness to creativity were
named as the biggest barriers to creativity at
work
Source: Parker, Wayne and Kent-2008-09

42. Therefore
the time has
come
to inject
creativity
into PR…

43. - Create 'idea banks‘: Be comfortable in re-
using used material and ideas, be masters of
'creative recycling‘
- Make you and your team creatively
accountable : Don't just expect creativity
somehow happen
- Know the ultimate creativity question: Are
you asking the right questions?
- Harness your 'incubation' - as long as it is not
an excuse for procrastination
- Just say 'Yes' more often, Yes Yes Yes !!!

44. - Always go the extra yard: Aim higher than
what is expected of you and what you
expect of yourself
- Be and remain curious: A commitment to
gather information, conduct research, and
analyze the conclusions
- Delay the selection of an idea or a plan of
action until you have multiple options or
solutions to the same problem

45. Focused
Group
Discussion

46. - Each group consisted of PR Professionals
- 8 respondents per group
- There were 30 minutes discussion time
- Each member contributed in the discussion
- The idea was to make it more interactive so
that respondents could contribute in the
best possible manner

47. Creativity in Advertising Vs PR
Findings
- Advertising showcases creativity to the best
possible manner wherein in PR the creativity
is hidden
- Creativity in PR is limited to the campaign
thought process only
- Things like the creative writing for press
releases, creative media pitches is often
ignored to choose the same old formatted
transcripts

48. How important is creativity in PR? How has
PR evolved in the last 4-5 years, where do
you see it in the future?
Findings
- Creativity is a very important part of PR
- Today a PR agency cannot just provide a
successful campaign just by using the
normal methods of Media Releases,
Conferences and Events
- It needs to be creative to raise attention of
not just the target groups but the stake
holders as well

49. - Public Relation has travelled a long way in
the past 4-5 years
- Influenced the marketing, advertising and
communication strategies more than ever
- New techniques and concepts like Online
PR, Virtual events, Web 2.0, CSR etc. has
made PR the most sought after
communication tool today

50. Creativity not given its due importance in PR
Findings
- Although the PR practitioners agree to it that
creativity is an important phenomenon but
very few of them use it extensively
- Creativity is mostly used to design an overall
campaign
- But in case of the different stages, creativity
is almost hard to be seen in press releases,
media pitches, and innovative publicities

51. - One respondent made an interesting point
saying, “Often the person being creative is
not credited with the idea further down the
line”
- This raises an interesting point
- It is rare that ideas are solely the product of
a single person

52. Discuss the most creative PR campaign done
by your agency/company?

53. - Campaign Name: The Scullers Designer
Search
- Campaign handled by: Brand
Communications, Bangalore
- Background: - Challenging task of launching
the first Scullers Women wear Store in the
Country in Bangalore
- A very limited budget
- And without the use of any advertising

54. - Objectives: Create awareness and word-of-
mouth
- Resulting in footfalls within the first two
weeks of the launch of the store
- Power of Insight: Scullers Women wear was
viewed as a premium brand
- But those who bought Scullers Womenswear
stayed loyal to the brand because it
provided a great fit

55. - Women have a few things in common
- They love fashion and
- Have their own unique set of ideas when it
comes to dressing themselves up
- They also found out that women love to
talk!
- Hence they are great word-of-mouth brand
ambassadors
The idea was to get women involved with
the brand…

56. - So…they introduced “The Scullers Designer
Search Contest”
- Set up branded Scullers Women’s Wear
kiosks across Bangalore
- Invited women to come in and register their
designs
- The kiosks were manned by fashion
designers who would prompt women to give
ideas
- And then would design it for them in front of
their eyes

57. - For those who participated, they received a
scratch card which guaranteed discounts
from 10%-100% at the Scullers Womenswear
Store
- Response: An overwhelming response
- The designers at Scullers chose one design
out of the lot which was developed and
marketed in the Bangalore Scullers
Womenswear store

58. - The event resulted in great walk-ins during
the first weekend of the store opening which
generated in lakhs of rupees in sales
- The Unique Contest/Event generated great
excitement in the media
- With coverage in all relevant publications,
including the most coveted Economic Times,
Brand Equity Page

59. In Summary
- Awareness amongst target audience
- Involvement and Interaction with Target
Audience
- Walk-ins to the store
- High sales during the first weekend store
opening
- Fantastic interest among media that
resulted in excellent PR coverage worth
lakhs of rupees!

60. - Campaign Name: Launch of Whisper Ultra
sanitary napkin
- Campaign handled by: Genesis Burson-
Marsteller, Mumbai
- Background: P&G decided to launch its
global top-of-the-line Sanitary Napkin
Whisper Ultra in India in early 2000
- Genesis-BM had the task of creating
excitement around the launch and ensuring
top of mind recall to drive trial

61. - At that time there was very low market
penetration of this product category
- Even in urban, educated India, only two out
of every ten women used sanitary napkins,
the other eight-used cloth
- In this scenario, Whisper Ultra a premium
product (5 times thinner than any existing
napkin) was being launched as the most
expensive product in the category

62. - The launch campaign was planned and
executed in two legs:
Leg I
- Pre Launch: A three-stage teaser invitation
for news media around the concepts of
'Revolutionary Technology' and 'Thinness‘
- Invitation 1- Abacus v/s calculator
- Invitation 2 - Three telephone directories
v/s a CD ROM Telephone Directory

63. - Invitation 3 - A Final invitation in a
conventional format
- Launch Day I: Whisper Ultra was launched
at St. Xavier's Institute of Communications,
Mumbai Campus
- The launch was made a part of the PR
course and the students organized their first
Press Conference
- They were also the key Target Group for the
product

64. - This led to two news pegs for media stories:
a. The launch of the new product and
b. The First ever student organized product
launch

65. Leg II
- The First Ever Employee led Trade Launch
where P&G employees gathered at 6:30 am
in Central Mumbai
- And set out in branded vehicles to cover
6000 retail outlets along 110 routes on
which they conducted product demos
- And placed 50,000 packs of the product in
the market on Day 1

66. Response
- Substantial media coverage in consumer and
business print and electronic media
- The Financial Express - India's Leading
Financial Daily, wrote two consecutive half
page feature pieces
- The credible editorial endorsements for the
launch resulted in a Return on Investment of
100:1

67. - Whisper Ultra market share increased to 44%
value share and 28% volume share within
two months of the launch

68. Would you ride the campaign in any other
way today
Findings
- One of the best ways to introduce a
campaign today is through online PR- a
virtual world wherein Public Relations and
publicities has a much faster impact
- Web 2.0 : Contributed a lot to exercising
faster public feedbacks through Public
Relations (communities like facebook, orkut,
linked in form a part of Web 2.0)

70. At which stages in PR is creativity possible,
impactful, relevant & necessary?
a. Analysis
b. Evaluation
c. Strategy
d. Objectives
e. Tactics/Implementation
f. Publics
g. Resources

71. Findings
- The area of tactics has been the most popular
area where creativity is used
- Creativity has been used in the area of tactics
and implementation
- And also extensively in the areas of messages
and strategy
- Creativity is used at the start and foundations
of a program

72. - Utilized heavily during the mid-point of a
programme - during the messages and
strategy
- And peaking at the area of tactics
- Its use then tails off towards the end of a
programme

73. PR agencies in the future would require
separate creative departments as in the
advertising agencies
Findings
- It won’t be long when, creativity would take
over as the corporate value of the PR
organization
- Like R & D helps to develop, create a better
product in the Pharmaceutical and
technological sector

74. - In the same way separate creative
department would help to analyze, study
- And develop more creative tools of Public
Relations
- Which would help it create successful
propositions
- It won’t be long that a separate creative
department is set up in all the PR agencies

75. Phase 4
Earth
Suggestive
Conclusion

76. - My research has identified the importance of
culture and environment in the management
of creativity
- PR workplaces should be made more
conducive to creativity
- To improve and nurture the creative output
of the PR Practitioners

77. - PR Practitioners should learn how to
maximize their own creativity through
theory and practice
- And through a self-analysis of where they
are most creative
- In order to make creativity a ‘must have,’
its true value must be known
- Which can be done only through the areas of
risk assessment and the evaluation of
creativity

78. - The "Aha" moment represented by that
elusive light bulb is as much a product of
perspiration as it is of inspiration
- Creative writing is a very important tool for
generating favorable responses from the
media

79. - Any one who works for a PR agency has to be
jack of all trades
- They might need to do planning, budgeting,
report making and a dozen other tasks
- None of these tasks should divert our attention
from the core objective of our specialty…..
In the case of public relations, that’s
creativity

80. On the international front, the success of
brands like Microsoft, Linux, Red Bull, Body
Shop, Harry Potter, Zara, Google and
Starbucks, can largely be attributed to the
reams of media coverage generated for each
of them by innovative and sustained PR
campaigns

81. Golden Words
Mr. Nikhil Dey, Genesis B-M
- “However though creativity is a very
important factor but it must be closely
associated to measurability
- If a creative PR campaign does not measure
success than there is no place for such a
creative campaign
- How much ever creative the campaign be!!!

82. - Creativity is acknowledged after all only
when it helps to increase the brand value
and ultimately the sales of the product it
has been campaigning for
- Rest is all null and void”

83. Gratitude
Forgiveness
Blessings

84. - Almighty
- The Delhi School of Communication
- Prof. Ramola Kumar, Dean
- Teachers
- Ms. Anupama Mohan
- Ms. Sushma
- Mr. J.C.Chaddha
- Mr. Amulya Barik
- Ms. Rupanjali Lahiri

85. - Ramkrishna Sir
- Sukhinder Bhaiya
- Vijay Bhaiya
- Chander Bhaiya
- My Classmates (Including seasonal student
PONGI)
- Freshers  !!!!