Public Relations and Communicators Blog

The #UberShame and subsequent cascading bans on the $40bn valued, cab-hailing app, and the vigilante-or-extortionists #RohtakSisters are the two occurrences that everyone is talking about in the past week across India. Admittedly the sequence of happenings in both cases have been quite extreme, shocking the nation into discussion, debate and argument, on every known platform, by every person who wanted to make a point. I did too. Uber did not do relevant background checks of its drivers while promising ease and safety to its passengers. They flawed, and it is not a easy flaw to forgive - especially for the traumatized girl who suffered the consequences of their 'oversight'. The government did come in and recommended ban of Uber till the proper procedures were put in place and licenses were acquired. Other such cab services also suffered similar consequences. Many states followed through the ban. Uber, the giant which often got away when uttering unutterables was suddenly vul...

Am posting this sitting at a very large retail event in Delhi, pretty exasperated at the phenomena we might casually call 'imps' . We all know how keen a PR professional's instinct needs to be to spot the journalist from a distance - the eye becomes trained by continuous habit and need. Many times, 15 minutes into the scheduled beginning of the press conference or event, the lack of media attendance can cause a small panic attack in PR professionals. So naturally, while one mans the media counter, the PR professional's eye is continuously scouting for the elusive journalist. That constitutes the training by habit part. Another reason that futher helps develop the 'spotting instinct' is because the PR professional is continuously getting thrown into new situations (like new cities for instance), and made to manage media events in places where they hardly know the media. Here, the hardy professional learns to recognize gestures & demeanor, walking styles, conf...