Finality

Creative Crest

AADHAR AGGARWAL

4506

ANKUR JAIN

4502

PRACHI KHANEJA

4490

SHRINJAN KHOSLA

4488

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Creative Crest

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We express our sincere gratitude to Ms. Anuja Mathur whose mere presence provided immense support and without whose cooperation the present work would not have been possible. She laid down such a strong base of Public Relations that helped us in the completion of this project. She always kept us on our toes and was a source of inspiration all through. We are thankful to her for her continued guidance and invaluable encouragement in the making of this project.

Thank you.

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Creative Crest

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. OBJECTIVES……………………………………4 2. WHAT IS PR?........................................................5 3. ABOUT CREATIVE CREST……………………6 4. CASE STUDIES…………………………………11 5. CONCLUSION…………………………………..25 6. BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………..26

OBJECTIVES -3-

Creative Crest

1) To study the functioning of a Public Relations Agency 2) To study how a PR firm performs various PR activities for its clients 3) To understand the kind of expectations that clients have from a PR Agency

WHAT IS PR? -4-

Creative Crest

The term Public Relations was first used by the US President Thomas Jefferson during his address to Congress in 1807. One of the earliest definitions of PR was created by Edward Bernays. According to him, "Public Relations is a management function which tabulates public attitudes, defines the policies, procedures and interest of an organization followed by executing a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance." Examples/users of public relations include: 1) Corporations using marketing public relations (MPR) to convey information about the products they manufacture or services they provide to potential customers in order to support their direct sales efforts. Typically, they support sales in the short to long term, establishing and burnishing the corporation's branding for a strong, ongoing market. 2) Corporations using public relations as a vehicle to reach legislators and other politicians, in seeking favorable tax, regulatory, and other treatment. Moreover, they may use public relations to portray themselves as enlightened employers, in support of human-resources recruiting programs. 3) Non-profit organizations, including schools and universities, hospitals, and human and social service agencies: such organizations may make use of public relations in support of awareness programs, fund-raising programs, staff recruiting, and to increase patronage of their services. 4) Politicians aiming to attract votes and/or raise money. When such campaigns are successful at the ballot box, this helps in promoting and defending their service in office, with an eye to the next election or, at a career’s end, to their legacy. Today "Public Relations is a set of management, supervisory, and technical functions that foster an organization's ability to strategically listen to, appreciate, and respond to those persons whose mutually beneficial relationships with the organization are necessary if it is to achieve its missions and values." (Robert L. Heath, Encyclopedia of Public Relations). Essentially it is a management function that focuses on two-way communication and fostering of mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and its publics.

ABOUT CREATIVE CREST -5-

Creative Crest Introduction In a nation of over a billion people, PR has recently emerged as one of the significant professions. Creative crest signifies the progress and triumph of the Indian PR industry. Each activity of creative crest is keenly observed and emulated by many to follow. The quality of creative crest's solutions is an industry benchmark that most strive to achieve. With a presence around the country, and a reach that spans across the entire world, creative crest is one source of all PR requirements globally. The scale of solutions and services, offered by creative crest, are some of the landmarks of the industry not just in India but around the world. Leading global networks such as Worldcom Group, Public Relations Global Network, Bandwidth, and others have realized and validated the significant contribution of creative crest in the Indian subcontinent. Their agency is the exclusive partner of these networks. Over 100 more agencies from across the globe have also forged a strong working relationship with them. Practices Creative crest has built significant experience across many practice areas. Their team has extensive experience in servicing clients across almost all categories. Some of strong practice areas include: Apparel Auto BPO Celebrity Consulting Consumer Durables e-Business Education Entertainment Events Exhibitions Fashion Finance Financial Consultants FMCG Government & PSUs Healthcare Hospitality And many more.. Solutions

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Creative Crest Creative crest provides a whole gamut of solutions around PR. Each one of the solutions is thoroughly developed and customized according to clients. Some of popular solutions include: Strategic Planning Corporate PR Advertising PR Consumer PR Internal PR Online PR Financial PR Technology PR Product PR Industry Relations Crisis Management Public Affairs Media Strategy Research Content Development Training Media Management Event Management And many more.. Clients Some of their recent clients and campaigns include:

Partners

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Creative Crest Leading Public Relations networks, international PR agencies and domestic companies have forged alliances with creative crest. Some of the global networks that are associated with them include:

Many large international PR agencies have also done direct collaboration with them. Some of their recent associations include:

In addition to these, creative crest has over 167 partners that they work in close association with. Presence Creative crest has a strong presence in each part of the country. They also cater to global clients and campaigns through their worldwide network. Team Creative crest has a strong team that comprises of a wide variety of experts relating to Public Relations. Their team comprises of best talents in the industry that combine together to provide all the vital skills precisely required for each project and client. Each member of their team is chosen to represent and visualize the true image of their core values and ethics on the global platform. Based on the professional qualifications, expertise and image compatibility of the client, the creative crest team has been selected to match their standard as one of the leading names in the industry. They have gathered the top names from all the major sectors to outline the services desired to their specific requirements. With some of the biggest names from Media, IT, Fashion, Corporates, socialists, Celebrities, etc, their board is a collective panorama of senior practitioners dedicated to attaining constructive results for their client. They have setup a special division of analysts and researchers dedicated towards continuously evaluating and enhancing client campaigns.

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Creative Crest Creative crest works with a wide variety of clients across the world. Global practitioners also regularly contribute to their team and campaigns. A Brief Snapshot

Establishment Creative crest was established on September 27th, 1999. In little over 5 years, the agency has emerged as one of the leading agencies in the region. Core philosophy "Yato Dharmah, Tato Jayah" - where there is dharm (truth), victory is there. What makes them different? Creative crest is a PR agency with a difference. They work with their clients as partners rather than an agency. Their success has been attributed to the strong focus towards success of their clients. They nurture each activity of a client with compassion and care, and they grow with the growth in their clients. They also extensively use IT to manage and synchronize activities around the world. Offices Creative crest has a strong presence in each part of the country. They also cater to global clients and campaigns through their worldwide network. Employment They are keen to recruit both fresh and new PR professionals. They look for good team players, fast learners, and those who can dedicate their lives for others. -9-

Creative Crest

CASE STUDIES

Melitta Client Brief: Melitta is a German firm which is a world class producer of Coffee Makers and has recently diversified into Vacuum Cleaners. The brand is well known and accepted all over Europe and even in North America. However, it has also been bitten by the Emerging India bug and is thus planning an entry to the Indian market. It plans to begin by launching its brand in New Delhi. Year: 2007 Retainer: Rs.1, 25, 000 per month/-

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Creative Crest Relationship with Creative Crest: For the aforementioned purpose Melitta hired Creative Crest to carry out Market Research for them. What was done by Creative Crest? Creative Crest’s CEO Mr. Kapil Rampal held a meeting with the concerned people from Melitta to know more about the product that the company was willing to offer to the Indian market. He understood the intricacies and specifications of the Coffee Makers being offered. Melitta’s Coffee Makers were going to be a novelty for the Indian market as they followed the process of grinding beans to prepare coffee. This is totally different from the process used by the existing Coffee Makers which at the moment are present in the Indian market as they do not grind beans but make use of sugar, coffee powder, etc. to prepare coffee. As a result Melitta’s Coffee Makers would be high priced according to Indian standards and would fall in the range of Rs.16, 000-Rs.20, 000. Also Melitta as a brand was unknown even to the Coffee Maker dealers in New Delhi and as a result Melitta also wanted to know their preferences. The next step was the briefing held by Mr. Kapil Rampal for his employees at Creative Crest. Mr. Rampal assigned three people the task of collecting primary information by getting questionnaires filled from the target market. He explained the concept of Melitta and its coffee makers to them and thus defined the target market for them as the upper class of Delhi who can afford a Coffee Maker priced this high. Since Mr. Rampal did not want to delay things, he gave them a week to perform the job assigned. He also specifically emphasised that they should interview at least 200 people from different backgrounds with the condition that the respondents should be affluent along with at least 100 dealers from all over New Delhi. He also assigned one person to carry out the secondary research which he explained as searching out information about the contemporary coffee industry in India. The employee was suggested to compile this information using a wide variety of sources such as books, official data compiled by confederations such as FICCI, the internet, Govt. data, etc. As instructed by the boss employees started work the next day onwards. The first group which had to collect primary information started out by drafting a questionnaire each for both users and dealers and sending it over to Mr. Rampal for ratification. A number of e-mails were exchanged since Mr.Rampal hardly took calls from his employees and at last the final Questionnaire was drafted four hours later. On the other hand the employee who was collecting secondary data went to the FICCI headquarters in New Delhi to find out if any information was available on the coffee drinking habits of urban Indians. The first group now drew a plan as to what sections of the market would it target, i.e. how would they segment the target market for the purpose of research. The sole precondition they had in mind for the users was that the respondent has to be rich or in other words should have the purchasing power required. They decided on the following segments -: 1) Homemakers- 40

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Creative Crest 2) 3) 4) 5)

Students- 20 Professionals- 40 Businessmen- 50 Senior Citizens- 50

No distinction was made with regard to the dealers. These segments were then presented to Mr. Rampal who seemed content with this break-up and gave the go-ahead. Meanwhile the other employee could not find any relevant data at FICCI but was directed towards the website of the Coffee Board of India. He was told that he should surf through their website to find all kinds of tables, diagrams, forecasts, etc. Following the ratification of segmentation the first group started getting questionnaires filled. They went to the field to areas such as Priya Cinema Complex, malls all over New Delhi and NCR, etc. They also used their personal contacts (keeping the target market i.e. the economically forward strata of the society in mind all the time) but ensured that at no point of time discrepancies creep in to their research due to the non –seriousness of the respondents. Following is the questionnaire which was used to interview the users.

Questionnaire (Users) Q1. Which hot beverage do you take? Coffee Tea Chocolate Malt Others _________ (please specify) Q2. How often do you have coffee? • Several times in a day • Once a day • Few times in a week • Occasionally Q3. Are you brand conscious? Yes No Q4. How do you like your coffee? Filter Coffee Cappuccino Espresso

Others _________ (please specify)

Q5. Which brand of coffee do you drink at home? Nescafe Bru Tata Coffee Unbranded Others __________ Q6. Do you like Cold or Hot Coffee? Hot Cold Q7. Where do you have your coffee? Home Outlet Office

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Creative Crest

Q8. Would you try anything other than the coffee brand you are already loyal to? Yes No Can’t Say Q9. Do you use a coffeemaker (not a vending machine) at home/office? Yes No Q10. If yes, which brand? _____________________ Q11. What is your perception about coffeemakers? ____________________________ Q12. Would you like to have a coffeemaker which would give you filter coffee/bean coffee instantly? Yes No Can’t Say Q13. Which are your favourite coffee outlets? Barista Café Coffee Day Costa Coffee Others _____________ (please specify) Q14. What comes to your mind when you hear: 'It's a German Brand '? _____________________________ Q15. What comes to your mind when you hear the brand Melitta? _____________________________ Q16. Do you use a vacuum cleaner? Yes No Q17. How often do you use your vacuum cleaner? • Several times in a day • Once a day • Few times in a week • Once a week • Once a month • Never Q18. What kind of a vacuum garbage disposal bag do you use? Disposable Reusable Don’t know Q19. Which brand do you use at home? LG Eureka Forbes Panasonic Nova Others (please specify) Q20. What does the word ‘Swirl’ mean for you? ________________________________________

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Creative Crest The other employee also kept at his work. He went on to the website of Coffee Board of India and collected as much data as he could. He then edited and reformatted the data as per the needs of the client. He also tried to find out some data from books and went to the Delhi Public Library but could find nothing pertinent to the need. After five days of hectic research the first group came up with 200 filled questionnaires by users and 100 filled questionnaires by dealers presented them to Mr. Rampal who seemed pretty happy with the effort. He now sat with them and directed them on how the data is to be tabulated to bring it in a presentable form. A number of tools were decided upon such as pie charts, bar diagrams, etc. A deadline of two days was set by Mr. Rampal for this work. The secondary data collected in all this time was also verified by Mr. Rampal who asked the employee to delete some information which was not needed and unnecessarily cluttered the document. Mr. Rampal also announced a performance bonus for all four employees for their timely work. Conclusion/Impact: A couple of days later all the information collected were printed and couriered to Munich, Germany. At the same time Mr.Rampal also called up the concerned people at Melitta to inform them about the completion of the research and was informed that the company would get back to him once they study the results of the research.

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Creative Crest

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Tolmol.com Client Brief: TolMol enables shoppers to compare and find the best deal on product and service offerings from thousands of online and local sellers. In single TolMol search, shoppers can find information on thousands of products and services from popular shopping websites and local sellers across major cities in India. Shoppers can compare product features and prices side by side. Unbiased product and seller reviews and ratings further help shoppers make an informed buying decision. Year: 2007 Retainer: Rs.70, 000 per month/Relationship with Creative Crest: Tolmol.com wanted their launch as a website to be widely covered in the Indian media for which they hired Creative Crest as their PR Agency.

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Creative Crest What was done by Creative Crest? For the successful launch of Tolmol.com Creative Crest took a number of steps. They were-: 1) Inviting Media to the Launch or Pitching the Media Creative Crest compiled a database which spelt out the people who covered technology related news at various publications and news channels. All these people were called up by employees at Creative Crest to invite them to the launch of the website. They were also e-mailed the invitations which were prepared by the employees at Creative Crest using software such as Adobe Photoshop and Corel Draw. Adequate follow-ups were taken from those who confirmed and it was ensured that a good number of regional as well as national publications and new channels grace the occasion. Here is an example of such a pitch which was developed and used -: The development of information Technology(IT) and internet as a modern means of mass communication has brought sweeping social and economic changes to our society.IT enabled services are the “in” thing today. The Internet has ushered in yet another tool to help people save time and money.Online shopping,once itself a rage,has ushered in yet another tool to help people save time and moneyCOMPARATIVE ONLINE SHOPPING. Catching up with this trend is TOLMOL.com.TOLMOL is India’s first and leading comparison shopping solution.In a single Tolmol search,shoppers can find information on thousands of products and services from popular shopping websites and local sellers across major cities in India.Shoppers can compare product features and prices side by side. Tolmol uses “web aggregation” technology,which undoubtedly is the success mantra today.For those not clued in to what exactly web aggregation is,a service that transparently collects information from multiple sources on the web and performs useful analysis to add value to the collected information.Thus,in more simpler terms,it brings home the required data of all products,vendors and attributes in the a simple and clear way,easy for the consumer to understand,especially those not so tech savvy. Truly,the USP of tolmol is the comparative aggregation it uses.Beign India’s first comparison aggregator,Tolmol has become an intermediary between retailers and consumers,that too in a market as big as India. Comparative aggragation at Tolmol has largely benefited both consumers and vendors at large.This technology of Tolmol has reduced search costs,increased product variety leading to lower prices.In a country like India,where there are thousands of small and big vendors,Tolmol has given the smaill and big ones a fair access to potential consumers. The feedback too has been mind blowing.Vinod Sharma,a consumer has written in the feedback section of the site that it not only helped him find air tickets quickly but helped him save a lot of money.

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Creative Crest Tolmol has cashed on the comparasion aggregation and has been able to achieve a distant dream-an open interaction between consumers and vendors across India. 2) Preparing Pre/Post Event Releases The employees at Creative Crest wrote a brief about the event such as the itinerary, the people behind the website, etc. and mailed it to all media houses as well as individual publications. This generated pre-event publicity and also ensured that adequate information is available with the concerned people. After the event happened, Creative Crest wrote post event press releases and once again e-mailed and faxed them to all sorts of media. This ensured that the event is actually covered or published in media. Following publications/channels/websites thus covered the launch-:

Publication/Chann el Nikkei (Japan Economic Journal) Amar Ujala Sandhya Times Uditvari Bihar Observe Headlines Today DD News Zee Business Dig.com search4i.com Startups.in Eindians.com valuewebindia.com

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Date June Edition 08.5.200 7 16.5.200 7 16.5.200 7 16.5.200 7 15.5.200 7 09.5.200 7 09.5.200 7 12.5.200 7 13.5.200 7 12.5.200 7 11.5.200 7 12.5.200 7

Creative Crest 123youth.com

15.5.200 7

Cyber Media

3) Invitation to Chief Guests at the event Creative Crest invited dignitaries, film stars, sportspersons, etc. to come and grace the event. Invitations were sent by post, were emailed, and also delivered through phone calls to ensure that the event does not fall short of any star power. Follow-ups were taken timely from the guests too. Following is the letter and invitation card that was sent to ministers-: Letter Honorable Minister, The development of information Technology(IT) and internet as a modern means of mass communication has brought sweeping social and economic changes to our society.IT enabled services are the “in” thing today. The Internet has ushered in yet another tool to help people save time and money. -COMPARATIVE ONLINE SHOPPING. Catching up with this trend is TOLMOL.com.TOLMOL is India’s first and leading comparison shopping solution.In a single Tolmol search,shoppers can find information on thousands of products and services from popular shopping websites and local sellers across major cities in India.Shoppers can compare product features and prices side by side. The USP of tolmol is the comparative aggregation it uses.Being India’s first comparison aggregator,Tolmol has become an intermediary between retailers and consumers,that too in a market as big as India. This technology of Tolmol has reduced search costs,increased product variety leading to lower prices.In a country like India,where there are thousands of small and big vendors,Tolmol has given the small and big ones a fair access to potential consumers. This idea has been incepted by Anuj Kanish, Co- Founder and CEO,Avake and Ramna Sharma,Co-founder and president,Avake.Avake Technology Group,Inc. is a leading information Technology company that’s serving its clients globally to meet their business critical needs. On the momentous occasion of its launch,we take great pleasure in inviting you to this event.Your presence at the event will not only add to its glory but make it a affair to remember. The launch of TOLMOL.com is on the 9th of May,2007,10:00 a.m at TAJ Ambassadors,New Delhi.We will be highly obliged if you decide to grace the - 18 -

Creative Crest occasion. Keenly awaiting your reply Regards Vikrant Chhabra Creative Crest

Invitation Card

4) Arranging interviews/media coverage for the Top Brass of tolmol.com A profile of the CEO of tolmol.com was prepared and e-mailed to all the media contacts that Creative Crest had garnered over the years. Following is the profile that was prepared.

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Creative Crest

Anuj Kanish Mr. Anuj Kanish is the Co-Founder and CEO of Avake Technology Inc., a Sacramento (CA) based Technology Company. At Avake, he is responsible for operations, finance, marketing and business development; he builds the right team and also leads collaboration initiatives with academic institutions. He sets the vision and keeps the team focused. \ Anuj has an MIS degree from and BS from Delhi College

University of Texas at Arlington of Engineering, India.

Anuj has over 12 years of industry experience in business development and engineering positions; Earlier, Anuj was the member of business development team of India Power Partners (IPP), and successfully completed the business development milestones for three power projects. Anuj also worked in the customer support division of SABRE (American Airlines) where he got good exposure to travel industry. Based in Sacramento, California, Avake continues to bring a new age of e-Business Products and Solutions with its innovative outlook towards the challenges and trends of the business world. Contact details: Email: [email protected] Mobile: +91-9999105350 Also a half hour special was telecast on Headlines Today at 2130 hours about tolmol.com and what it means for the Indian consumer and all this was arranged by Creative Crest using its personal contacts in the channel. Conclusion/Impact: Tolmol.com received large scale publicity. Here are a few examples -:

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Creative Crest

All India Management Association (AIMA) Client Brief: The All India Management Association (AIMA) was created as an apex body of professional management with active support of the Government of India and Industry in 1957. AIMA is a group- a body to pool management thoughts in the country, a forum to develop a national managerial ethos, an organisation to facilitate the furtherance of the management profession in the country. Year: 2006-07 Retainer: Rs.1, 25, 000 per month/Relationship with Creative Crest: AIMA is one of the major clients of Creative Crest. The organisations have been associated for a couple of years now. Creative Crest (CC) handles all the major mandatory functions of maintaining relations with the various publics for AIMA’s routine course. What does Creative Crest do? Creative Crest carries out a number of functions for AIMA. Some of them being: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

strategy planning corporate PR online PR media strategy content development event management

These can be explained as follows: 1) Strategy Planning Formulating the basic Public Relations strategy that the organisation needs to adopt with the media as well as the public. The communication of major decisions, newest policies and added functions that the company decides to undertake. CC has provided AIMA with a professional spokesperson who communicates all the above. This ensures avoiding duplication in the message communicated, as well professionalism in dealings. 2) Corporate Public Relations

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Creative Crest

Devising and suggesting newer ways to maintain desired mutual relations with different publics is the most crucial part of corporate PR. CC provides a basis for such interaction by banking on opportunities such as events and seminars wherein executives of AIMA can meet and be helped to promote their name and business. Also, the public, in general, needs to be kept informed about all that is happening in the organisation. They need to feel connected with the co.’s activities. 3) Online Public Relations To promote online relations and take them a step further, CC suggested to AIMA that they introduce new features in their website and make it more informative and friendly for usage. Also, a blog is a good way to attract people and get them interested in issues by starting discussions. An employee at CC also forwarded the idea that a media news-space be opened, to which many other companies may subscribe. The subscribers be sent regular updates of what is happening at AIMA, what are the major, upcoming events etc. other such news. 4) Media Strategy Devising the correct kind of media strategy becomes a major concern, for it is extremely important to present the right picture to the public. And considering the growing importance of the media, it is required that proper relations be maintained. At events such as the AIMA national management event the PR agency takes up the responsibility for inviting and ensuring adequate media coverage. 5) Content Development Not only inviting the media to cover events and act as a bridge for communication but also preparing the right kind of content for communication is a responsibility lying with the PR firm. So CC develops the pre-event as well post event reports to be published n the various newspapers/ magazines that are to carry AIMA communication. The kind of advertisements, announcements, event publicity declarations etc. need to be dealt with very professionally. And CC manages all this for AIMA. Below is an example of one such invitation that Creative Crest drafted on behalf of AIMA. INVITATION

RELATIONSHIP STRATEGIES All India Management Association (AIMA) takes great pleasure in inviting you in a Lecture Series on “Retaining Talent for Organizational Excellence” on June 20, 2007 at AIMA Auditorium, AIMA, Lodhi road from 6p.m onwards. As business is gaining flesh and soul day by day; as only smart people are the architects of the smart business; All India Management Association is all set to break the ice on the hot topic of current scenario in Lecture series on “Retaining Talent for Organizational Excellence”.

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Creative Crest

AIMA has been making sincere effort to bring together such innovative ways to come out with a unique solution for enhancement of managerial skills as well as better employee retention. Your Presence will be greatly acknowledged. Media Relations; Hemant Deswal Head, Media Relations Creative Crest # 9910887244

6) Event Management Inviting delegates from other companies, as well eminent people from the industry and media, is all done by CC. They use their experience and appropriate contacts to get the required, aimed-for coverage in the right newspaper/ magazine, at the right time. Also the media at the event is handled by people from Creative Crest on behalf of AIMA.

CONCLUSION During the making of this project a number of unknown facts came to the fore. Firstly, we pretty clearly understood that India is a long way from being called a mature PR market. The reason for this is that the Indian client still expects a lot more from the PR firm it hires in the form of event management, marketing, etc. and often mistakes a PR agency for a Marketing or Ad Agency. For instance- Creative Crest did a lot more for its clients than just manage PR. When asked about this the Creative Crest employees said that this is essential for survival. Another thing which struck us was the clinical professional which was on display by Creative Crest. Professionalism in books was brought to life. However at the same time one got to know that PR can never be a 9-to-5 grind. It is a 24*7 job as keeping the client happy is all that matters and that too round the clock. Finally as the industry is still in its nascent stage here in India so the margins are understandably comfortable. In other words if you do well, you get paid well. But this comes with a rider which says that the client must see value for the money he is spending all the time.

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Creative Crest

BIBLIOGRAPHY Following are the sources used for completing this project:

Internet     

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relationsl http://www.creativecrest.com/about.html http://www.creativecrest.com/clients.html http://www.creativecrest.com/practices.html http://www.creativecrest.com/soultions.html

People spoken to  Ms. Urvi Goyal, Ex-HR Manager, Creative Crest  Mr. Hemant Deswal, Ex- Head, Media Relations, Creative Crest

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