Importance of Content in Communication in the millennial era

The supremacy of Content in Communication is well established by now. For effective communication there has to be relevant content. So the real question should be “Relevant Content for Effective Communication”. Communication involves a Dialogue and for the dialogue to proceed the content has to be relevant otherwise the Communication becomes a Monologue.

Image Credit: www.finesepr.com

Nobody wants a Monologue. However in the present era with multitude of sources for content, it is a challenge to identify relevant Content. Most of us approach this problem by trying to identify the target audience and the content sources catering to the audience to create relevant content. However this has its own challenges. Multiple streams of the same content have to be created to target multiple audiences. Most of us fail in this challenge especially due to the fact that by the time we create the streams, the audience has lost interest or has moved on. This is because we are living in an era of instant news and gratification. The bombardment of information is so huge that somewhere the information givers have forgotten the capacity of the Downloads.

 Image Credit: www.woodst.com

My suggestion for nimble footed amongst us is to work with the content that we have, instead of churning out streams of content. Every bit if content is relevant to some audience somewhere. All we need to do is identify the relevant audience instead of creating relevant content. Once we upload our available content to the target group, based on the response, we can go ahead with the decision to create or not create further streams of content. In military parlance, I would call the Scud Missile approach whereas what we all are trying to do is undertaking a Carpet Bombing approach.

In today’s fast paced world, what is news now will not remain news in a few hours from now. So instead of chasing news cycles, we should be concentrating on creating something which is relevant to our own ecosystem.Relevance will automatically generate News and that too with credibility. Once the credibility of our content is established we can be sure that our content will always find relevance.

The EU Migration problem and the Indian cauldron...

Across the globe there is talk of massive influx of human refugees into EU nations. Heart-rending images of the body of a 3-year-old kid washed ashore in Turkey have been flashed by the Media across the world.

People seeking asylum have besieged Budapest in Hungary. Many countries in the EU have been forced to take unprecedented measures to stop this massive influx. When we look at the larger picture and try and understand the reasons, we will realize that this was a human tragedy waiting to happen. Fawned by political unrest in the Middle East, decades of poverty in Africa, genocide like conditions being created by the Islamic State: all have contributed to this flashpoint.

At the core of the problem is the inequitable growth across the globe. The rich nations have grown richer while the not so prosperous nations and their citizens have grown poorer. It is not only the monetary indicators, which are defining the rich versus the poor debate. Other factors like freedom vs oppression, health, sanitation and education are dictating the discourse. Even the global economies where there is growth, it is not equal. All across the world, the inequalities are becoming stark.

Herein lies the Indian Cauldron or rather the parallel. There are hordes of immigrant labour, which throng the bigger cities in search of employment and better living. The government has tried through schemes like MNREGA to try and decrease this movement by promising some minimum employment. But rather than this minimum employment resulting in improvement of infrastructure and linkages to the mainland, the scheme has become more of a dole to satisfy the constituents of the politicians.

There are large rural parts where even today there is no electricity, leave alone any other form of development, and these are not even remote, often they abut towns and prosperous villages but it seems they have been forgotten.

Why rural India? Walk to any Tier II and Tier III city in India and there are just no jobs for the youth. If you study the demographics you will find that the elderly population in these cities is increasing since the youth tend to migrate towards the Tier I cities in search of jobs. This is creating immense pressure on the basic infrastructure of the already “bursting at the seams” Big cities. This internal immigration has to stop if we are not to face a catastrophe.

The political leaders of all parties must realize this immediately rather then engaging in one upmanship, before it is too late. The youth is growing impatient, the recent violent demonstration in Gujarat, which is considered to be one of the most peaceful and prosperous states, is just the tip of the iceberg. Everywhere one travels in India, one will find well educated youth either unemployed or doing jobs which have no correlation to their educational background and skills.

Recently a qualified diploma mechanical engineer applied for the job of a driver in our office, which not only shocked me but also forced me to hang my head in shame at the country we are building. When quizzed why he wanted a job of a driver, his reply was telling – he had not found a job for more than a year and did not want to be a burden on his parents. We did not employ him but found him employment as an engineer. And this is not an extreme or isolated incident; you will find thousands of such examples.

We all must realize that if this continues then we are heading for a flashpoint as has been seen in the EU immigration problem. Here I must also highlight the irresponsible role being played by a certain section of the Indian Media. One particular publication which is widely read, has almost 25% of the paper devoted to “ blahblah.com gets $100 million, blacksheep.com valued at $1billion, 20 year old sets up a $10 million startup etc”. When one reads this publication one feels that he/she has wasted his/her life compared to these so-called millionaires and billionaires. Bombarding readers with these super success stories, day in and day out, hides the fact that for every one of these new age entrepreneurs who has made it, there are thousands who have failed.

They make it sound like Indian roads are paved with Dollars waiting to be picked up. The youth of today inspired or rather misled by these stories want to become millionaires and billionaires without any hard work or trying to learn on the job. This leads to unreasonable expectations and creates further unrest.

In our office we have had youngsters leaving the jobs because they did not find enough glamour, or because they did not like the coffee or they were asked to be properly dressed, etc. In our times we could not think of staying without a job after our educations. These youngsters all belong to the “haves” category, who have never seen any hardships and whose parents are willing to foot all their bills – including an expensive but largely “useless” education!

Today there is so much dichotomy – those who have jobs do not want to work and those who want to work have no jobs. And it has become a serious issue!!!

We must all, in our own way, try and address these issues. As parents we must tone down our kids expectations, as teachers we must teach our students the value of hard work and learning, as youth we must realize that for most there are no shortcuts to success, as leaders we must realize that we have a larger responsibility to the society as a whole, as the media we must make it a point to give a balanced view of life rather than highlighting just a few blips and raising sky high “wrong” expectations of the youth.

If we all collectively do not address the issue of inequitable social fabric in the country then we must all be prepared to face the consequences. What is happening in EU today can very well be the story of India tomorrow!

Dr. Abdul Kalam: The People's President or a Visionary???

Ever since Dr. Kalam, India’s 11^th President passed away on the 27^th of July 2015, there have been reams written on him. Both in the Virtual World that is the Social media and Twitter and the actual world i.e. the media, paeans in his praise are being sung by the minute.

Rather than being carried away in the heat of the moment and going on and on about the virtues of a person who undoubtedly excelled in whatever he did, one must analyze the legacy that he is leaving behind and understand the importance of it.

What is it that made people like Swami Vivekananda, Gandhiji, Annie Besant, etc. become immortal?? If we find answer to this we can safely address the importance of Dr. Kalam and the potential of his becoming immortal rather than just occupying space in the history books as the “People’s President”.

If you look at the common thread between Swami Vivekananda, Gandhiji and Annie Besant, they all have been harbingers of Social Change. They all stand for Ideas and Values which, when propagated, were before their times and were considered Radical but slowly they found acceptance and today form the core of the values that make our society.

Dr. Kalam was indeed a Great scientist, a Good President who opened up his Presidency to the People like none before him had done, a Great motivator of the youth particularly the Students. What else??? 

Has Dr. Kalam consciously or unconsciously talked or bought about any Social Change?? Is there a larger message that Dr. Kalam has given to the society?? Work is Worship, an age old saying has been eloquently promoted by Dr. Kalam, "Dream is not that which you see while sleeping, it is something that does not let you sleep".

Has Dr. Kalam's philosophy reached the hinterlands of India, amongst the poorest of poor?? Do or Can people at the Base of Pyramid really relate to Dr. Kalam??? I am not trying to run down the accomplishments of Dr. Kalam, I am just trying to understand if  will Dr. Kalam become immortal??

Dr. Kalam is an inspiration to this generation. Be it the odds against which he rose to occupy the supreme chair in India, be it his unflinching Nationalism, Be it the devotion to the Student Community and be it the Value System that he followed, Be it the religious divide that he conquered, all are unparalleled in Modern Indian History.

So the importance of Dr. Kalam at the present moment cannot be denied. But whether he will serve as an inspiration to the generations to come, is a big question mark. I daresay unless his legacy is carried forward, there is a real danger that he will just be another name in the History books eventually.

Has he impacted the Society so much so as to bring societal changes?? I am sorry to say that the answer is an unequivocal No. Will he become immortal?? I would say the jury is still out on this and will remain so for sometime despite UN deciding to christen his birthday as the “International Students Day”.

RaGa’s First TV Interview:

What a Coup!!! Both for the PR agency which managed to convince Rahul Gandhi to do a one on one TV interview in front of the whole world and for the News Anchor – Arnab Goswami. 

But was it really a coup for the PR agency???

There are serious lessons to be learnt here - politically as well as from the Public Relations (PR) perspective.

Let us talk about the PR perspective first. Being now a PR practitioner for more than a decade, let me try and explain how the one on one interviews are structured. 

Before you put your client for a one on one and especially on TV, you first try and get a brief from the journalist as to the areas of discussion on which the client is supposed to be speaking. I am sure given the importance of this interview, the media team of Rahul Gandhi must have got a brief.

Once you know the areas  on which the journalist is supposed to be questioning the client, you do a client briefing. The briefing involves trying to come up with all the questions in the area that can probably be raised and answering those so that the client is well prepared. With these in place, the chances of the Client being surprised are slim, provided the homework has been well done.

Also the client is told to stick to the answers as briefed. If the journalist goes beyond the "brief",  then the trick lies in trying to bring the journalist back to the area of interest.

Before dissecting the interview and how Rahul Gandhi fared, we must admit that from a PR briefing perspective Rahul did a remarkable job – he stuck to four practiced and briefed issues: RTI, Women Empowerment, Bringing youth into the political system and political reforms. He tried to bring Arnab Goswami back to these four topics, going so far as to even ask Arnab why he wasn’t asking him questions on these four topics. Arnab’s cheeky response was that if I do then I will be hearing the political speech of Rahul Gandhi.

So where did the script go wrong??? I am sure there was a script. Was is that Arnab told Rahul’s team something else and posed different questions? Or was it that he just told the RaGa team that he would talk about general topics and the RaGa’s high profile team were so gullible that they fell for it. 

I call the team high profile because the poor Man is spending close to Rs.500 crores(rumoured) and for this amount he has, I am sure, been guided to the so called best.

Even if the journalist exceeded the brief, Rahul and his team should have been well prepared. Arnab, after all, has a reputation of being a sharp journalist and everybody knows he will go to any length to protect that. Then why is it that Rahul appeared as a Sacrificial Lamb in front of Arnab. 

If Rahul was not prepared to address issues and topics other than the four topics, then why have him on TV? This was a an unpardonable mistake on part of Rahul’s handlers.

The biggest asset till date for Rahul was that people felt that he is sincere, "Reluctant Prince" is how Arnab put it. Yesterday that facet was completely ripped apart. Rahul appeared evasive and despite what anybody might say was literally squirming in the chair. 

If you observed his stance during the interview, he was sitting almost at the edge of the chair and appeared to be tense. The posture was not relaxed at all. And the fact that he was sweating was clearly visible to all viewers. 

What the hell were Rahul’s handlers doing? Didn’t they train him on how to conduct himself in the interview? Rahul has got a beautiful dimpled smile – where was the smile yesterday??? If only had the handlers told Rahul to smile whatever be the circumstances, I am sure he would have got a lot more female followers.

I feel sorry for Rahul and my sympathies really lie with him. 

If I were him, I would immediately replace my Media handlers. For PR practitioners there is an important lesson: Just to justify your fee and get media coverage, Never, ever sacrifice your client!!!

If there is even an iota of doubt in your mind that the media coverage could well boomerang on your client, then despite whatever the client might want, stick to your guns and do not expose the chinks in your clients' armour.

Politically, the lesson that the politicians need to learn is that a Media interview on TV is not a monologue but a dialogue. One should never jump into the limelight without being prepared. After all “Newshour by Arnab Goswami” is one of the most watched programmes on TV and one should have had prior experience of handling tough questions to have even thought of being there. 

I will give you an example – Arnab pointedly asked Rahul again and again as to why the Congress leaders accused of 1984 Sikh riots not been prosecuted as yet? Rahul was fumbling and sweating. He could have answered very easily that he had full faith in the Indian judicial system and believed that eventually the guilty will not go unpunished. If further probed as to the delay he could have taken shelter saying that the matter was sub-judice and he would not like to comment on this and could have agreed that we require judicial reforms to hasten justice. This would have sounded so much better and would have made him appear confident.

He was asked as to would he apologize for the Sikh riots of 1984 and his response after repeated questioning was "I was not there". What a stupid answer is that and that to from the leader of one of the oldest political parties in India and a Prime Ministerial Candidate, no less? 

He could have easily said that I believe the Congress party stands for being non-communal and this can be seen from the fact that we have a Sikh Prime Minister. How can  you then accuse us of being anti – Sikh?? He could have also gracefully added that the 1984 riots were wrong as are any other riots. He could have said that the PM has already apologized for the 1984 riots. And he is the head of the Country so what more can you want?

Politicians should learn not to blindly trust their handlers and use there public life acumen to conclude what is right for them. As for Arnab, it was a feather in his cap as a journalist. He has reinforced his image as a tough journalist! Alas if he can only let others speak as he did with Rahul yesterday, he could become a great journalist!!! As they say, give them enough rope to hang themselves!!!

Days ahead for AAP

Now that Arvind Kejriwal and his party have bitten the bullet and finally agreed to form government in Delhi, the question in everybody’s mind is what next?

I had met Arvind for dinner at a friend's place almost 10 years ago and he was idealistic then too. But not in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that I was meeting the future Chief Minster of Delhi. 

I personally supported AAP and was also a contributor to the fund raising by his party. Many of my friends and colleagues wondered and asked me the reason for supporting AAP. Their question was very pertinent – What is it that you want in Delhi that AAP will do and the other parties have not done?

When I pondered over the question, my immediate, on the spur answer that would have been  "development", did not hold valid. Development in Delhi has happened irrespective of the party at the helm. We, sitting in Delhi, crib but just stepping out of Delhi will give one the idea of what a privileged lot we Delhiites are. We get almost uninterrupted power, most parts of Delhi - at least the authorised ones - get water, the roads are by far well maintained, we are close to having a robust public transport system in the next three years, there is proper sanitation and the list can go on and on... 

So why AAP and not the regular political dispensation?

Well, I did not have a proper answer but I still wanted AAP. It is like a whiff of fresh air, true they still seem too idealistic in  today’s time and people believe they have a magic wand, they speak a language which nobody else speaks. Their idealism strikes a chord with, I guess, every well meaning Indian.

The deciding factor is the feeling of empowerment that people in Delhi feel today. For the first time perhaps, they have a class of politicians who belong to the common class. The people of Delhi believe that the elected representatives of the AAP party will actually be their representatives and not their lords and masters. 

A true example that I heard today was when one young lady of 22 yrs was assaulted in Mukherjee Nagar Area and the police refused to file a FIR. The husband who resides in Pitampura area called up the MLA of Mukherjee Nagar (who was not known to him, but whose number was on the AAP website) and the MLA immediately went to the Police Station and forced the SHO there to file a FIR.

These are however lofty benchmarks for the AAP party and its supporters to uphold. Only time will tell whether these incidences where just a flash in the pan or it is something which will dictate the political discourse in the future.

The days ahead for AAP are going to be challenging, indeed daunting. The biggest being that there is only one  Arvind Kejriwal. The others faces are known yet unknown. Most of those who have supported AAP have done so because of Arvind. Would I have voted for say Manish Sisodia or say Prashant Bhushan were it not for Arvind? - Very unlikely. So the question before Arvind and AAP is how to build the next level of leadership and how to give the organisation a shape. The beauty of AAP lies in the chaos, the spontaneity and the unstructured form of politics. However if AAP has to increase its geographic footprint and go national, then these are the questions that have to be resolved.

Many AAP supporters believe that it is going to be a cakewalk in rest of the country. The belief has also led Arvind Kejriwal to announce that AAP will fight the Lok Sabha election in Gujarat against Modi. This could be very ambitious and a dangerous strategy. To fight against Modi is not going to be easy, more so because I believe that Gujarat will vote for him whole heartedly for the fact that they would want one of theirs to be the Prime Minister.

I think AAP is on the right path of going National because their ideas have universal appeal. Also unless they go national, they will fall in the trap that other regional parties have fallen – being confined to specific territories. However, they will have to have a more definitive approach to issues besides the Corruption plank if they want to fight the Lok Sabha poll. Unlike the local elections, National elections should be fought on a policy plank which covers larger National and International issues e.g. What is AAP’s stand over the ongoing India – US diplomatic row over strip search of an Indian diplomat.

They will also have to project other people who the public can trust as much as they trust Arvind Kejriwal. I am sure Arvind Kejriwal who is as astute as anyone else will already be weighing these in his mind. We wait to see what will come out of his fertile brain.

I must admit he is right in at least one aspect that people of India are looking for a credible alternative which can really empower them or at least leave them feeling empowered!!!

Is Modi’s Campaign headed for a PR disaster?

Recent events have cast a shadow on the Modi juggernaut. First, repeated wrong quoting of facts and figures and then, the invasion of privacy of a Girl have all put a question mark on Modi campaign managers and his PR team.

I am a Modi supporter but that does not make me deaf and blind. Obvious repeated mistakes on first data and then history: looks like the Modi campaign is not very well prepared. It is true that Modi has great oratory skills and is able to connect to the people and ignite their imagination, but that does not mean that we turn a blind eye.

A cross section of his supporters would say that the mistakes are due to the fact that he does not orate prepared speeches but speaks extempore. But a man whom we see as our future PM cannot have a seemingly casual attitude and accept such lame excuses.

Besides this, the recent controversy of keeping tabs on a Girl using government machinery makes one queasy. The reaction of the BJP  is along expected lines. They have blunted the allegation by showing that the tabs were at the behest of the Father.

However the whole episode when linked to others like Godhara, intolerance towards other senior leaders, over the top self propaganda, etc. leaves one feeling and asking whether we are right in our equivocal support to Modi. One is forced to think if we are sure that we are not making a mistake in electing a person whose personality shows signs of being Machiavellian and who sometimes appears to show the traits of being a Narcissist.

Herein lies the challenge for the Campaign managers and the PR team of Modi. 

It might be true that the communication team may be aware of these issues but Modi might not be listening, but then again if they do not tackle these challenges they might appear to be winning the battle but will risk loosing the War. 

It is time Modi looked at his team of professionals and sought and followed their advise.

The Campaign Mangers must make sure that every speech the Modi makes from hereon must be thoroughly vetted allowing for no more Faux pas.  Modi must be careful that in his zeal for going extempore, he does not lose sight of the ground reality.

The PR managers have so far done a great job in capturing the mind space, but this advantage can easily turn into a disadvantage. With increased mind space, they must realize that every action and word of Modi is open to the greatest scrutiny. They have almost created a Demi God with an image in people's mind that Modi is infallible and he has a cure for every ill that plagues India. This is a highly risky proposition. 

It would be better for Modi and his supporters if the PR machinery toned down the Modi image to a more human level. Because if they manage that, then mistakes will be overlooked and forgotten by the people. If they succeed in this then Modi will become truly unstoppable.  They should remember that “God’s are not expected to make mistakes whereas to make mistakes is being Human”

Application to the incubation cell of DLF

Letter to Mr. K. P Singh, Chairman, DLF Limited:

Dear Mr.Singh,

Greetings!

I am a small time businessman from UP. Have been engaged on my own fro the past 20 years and been decently successful. Now I want to emulate you and become a successful realtor.

Since DLF has an existing incubation cell where you encourage people to apply for funding, I am wanting to put in my application. I want an interest free refundable loan/deposit into my private limited company of USD 15 million. I will use this to buy land in the NCR region which will be then sold to DLF. The balance money will be used to buy DLF properties which you will of course give me at 50-90% discount so that I can resell these and make profits.

Alternatively it will help increase the net worth of my company against which I can then borrow money. DLF's $15 million are 100% secure as the amount will be repaid through profits that I make on reselling the land to DLF or the profits from selling the discounted DLF properties at market prices or through loans taken against the net-worth of my company.

This will also become a successful case study for your incubation cell as to how they have created yet another successful entrepreneur. I am sure it will help DLF secure many more such applications and create many more successful entrepreneurs.

This will generate tremendous goodwill for DLF and I am ready to become your Brand Ambassador.

Looking forward to an early disbursement of the advance amount I am giving below my bank details:

Swiss Bank a/c no. : XXX123India
Branch : Zurich
Bank : ABCD

Regards
A. Gandhi

(Since name profiling makes sense, name has been changed to suit interest level...)