Ahmedabad, February 12, 2011: “Public Relations Officers should take lead of the media crisis management. The PRO should be a part of the top management and should have access to the top boss round the clock”, said Mr Anuj Dayal, Chief PRO, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) while delivering his key note address on the subject: ‘Delhi Metro-Learnings for the PR Professionals’, organised by Public Relations Society of India (PRSI), Ahmedabad Chapter.
Mr Dayal said, “PR personnel responsible for the PR management should have full knowledge of different sectors of the organization besides access to top management. This brings him into a position where he can promptly respond to queries of the media with factual details. Today, when electronic media has cut throat competition for the news, media cannot be made to wait. Otherwise, rumors can ruin the reputation of the organization”.
“To build a brand and have a successful brand management in a crowded capital like Delhi is a challenging task. This brand management required quite innovative PR tools and direct communication with masses.”, he added.
Today, when the numbers are increasing in media at a great pace, it is difficult to respond to media in a limited time. To manage this media crisis, Mr Dayal said that he has a team of PROs and each PRO is assigned some members of media. However, PROs get the same brief and are asked to adhere to it. All information must come from one source with same details even if it is given to media from different points.
Talking about brand management of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, Mr Dayal said, “It all began with the conceptualization of the project in late nineties. Since the first phase started from the areas where literacy was poor, DMRC used nukkad nataks to tell people what Delhi Metro is and how it would work. Escalators were explained as bijali kee sidi. To build up confidence of people of the area, officers of the DMRC interacted directly with them saying that they should be contacted for anything that would go wrong”.
Spelling his formula of successful brand building and brand management with good media crisis management, Mr Anuj Dayal listed four important points. First of all there should be a single point communication followed by good media relations. For this, PR personnel should have good knowledge so that he can give out technical information in jargon free simple language. To do all this at the time of crisis management, PRO should be part of top management able to take important decisions. Brand building of Delhi Metro project is a proof of the success mantra of media crisis management.
On this occasion, Mr. Vivek Shah, National Vice President (West) was also present and spoke about the activities carried out by PRSI chapters. Mr. B L Yadav, former Chairman, PRSI Ahmedabad chapter briefed about the subject. Mr. Vipul Shukla, Chairman; Mr. Unmesh Dixit, Vice Chairman; and Mr Shailesh Goyal, Joint Secretary also spoke on this occasion.
