Who needs Public Relations?

WHO NEEDS PUBLIC RELATIONS?

Ans.    The diverse institutions and individuals requiring professional Public Relations go beyond the more traditionally defined corporate world. Who are they? And Who are the “Publics” of Public Relations?

Following are the main “publics” of Public Relations:

A College or University: A public relations expert needs to defuse those crisis situations where student bodies could be in revolt over demands, where there is a change in educational policy, where something could be wrong with the examination papers or simply when, in interaction with State and Central Governments, grants have to be sought or when a college organizes intercollegiate festivals.

Case: public relations for college festivals like Kshitij – Mithibai college, Brouhaha of sidnam college, Drishti of Narsee Monjee college.

A Newspaper: Some of the better newspapers have Public Relations Staff quite separate from the advertising department or the marketing people.

A Non-Profit Body: From the point of view of the organisation, whether it is Rotary,
UNICEF, the Institute of Cerebral Palsy, the Red Cross, or any number of charitable and cultural and social service organizations, a Public Relations cell is an integral part of the institution. It has to interact with a number of bodies for its very existence, for the support of its causes, for mis-understandings that can crop-up as, at every stage it is public money at stake.

An Individual: An aspirant to a political post needs it, so does a person standing for presidentship of a chamber of commerce. So does an actor, a producer or a gallery owner, or a nonresident who is seeking to make a mark in the Indian business circle.

            A Cause: The problems exist – AIDS, drugs, population explosion and other environment concerns, slums, poverty of every sort, child abuse, women’s rights on abortion and property and marriage laws, the handicapped, uneducated – and the champions and doers for these causes are only in thousands, not in millions. If PR agencies unite and pool in their resources they can help in tackling such problems.