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When it comes to PR it’s not an easy job! Trust me I have done it before – its pure fun but super madness at the same time. Three girls who have been taking the PR world by storm have been rocking the clients list and well it’s no surprise that the roster they own are some of the biggest names in Tinsel Town!
Divya Tejuja, 29, Meghna Chadha, 33, and Divya Chaturvedi, 30, are founders and partners at Bazinga Entertainment based in Mumbai and all three have a background in PR and Entertainment. Here is what they said about the world of PR in India!
We all come from PR backgrounds and we met each other while working at Eye D Communications – The PR wing of CAA KWAN. We focused on entertainment PR specializing in film and celebrity PR, handling both established and upcoming celebrities. After four years on the job, we decided to take the leap and start our own agency – Bazinga Entertainment. From our very first client was Freida Pinto, right around the time when the Slumdog Millionaire fever was at its peak to now, co-founding and running our own agency with 23 clients, including Kangana Ranaut, Nargis Fakhri, Sid Mallya, Shruti Haasan, Lara Dutta Bhupathi, Abhay Deol and more, and amassing this vast experience of film and individual PR, the journey seems almost surreal.
The Indian film and entertainment industry has evolved rapidly in the past decade. Earlier, people on a film set just made a film and its fate was decided by the audience alone. Nothing other than the final product would draw audiences into the theatres. But now, each film is treated like a product, more so a brand and marketed like one where it’s the promotional strategy and its effectiveness that define those crucial opening weekend numbers. Each star today, from new to established is viewed as a brand too, and has a USP, a niche. The strategic and a tailor-made approach along with its execution using both mainstream and new age digital mediums is expected, is almost the norm. So, the role of a publicist is no longer just a support function but is that of a strategic marketer, making very important from a brand and image building perspective.
Our job demands certain attributes. It’s important to be a good listener, an out-of-the-box thinker and to have the ability to come up with a solution in the thick of a crisis. You also have to be true and honest with your clients in terms of expectations and delivery. It’s essential to have your finger on the pulse of the entertainment industry and to be able to turn trends in favor of your client. Of course, good media relationships and interpersonal communication are at the heart of being a good publicist.
In this job, no two days are ever the same. An average day begins with reading newspapers across regions and analyzing and reporting coverage to our clients as well as planning and pitching stories to relevant media. We write and craft daily strategy notes to plan the days and weeks ahead covering all the relevant timely conversation crests and troughs and of course the immediate and long-term objectives. Not to forget, the impromptu, unplanned damage control, which is so crucial to our jobs.
The perception game is a daily challenge that needs constant action because it is the process of appropriate messaging through every medium that helps build and rebuild a desired image. A few years ago, we were faced with a certain personal crisis of a client – one when a client’s marriage was ending. Personal and domestic disputes are some of the most difficult situations to handle when it becomes a matter of public chatter. The client suffered a severe backlash because of how things panned out and were made out to be. But in that moment, when the going was at its roughest, we advised him to keep a dignified silence until the matter was coming to a close. He was very anxious at first, because people thought his silence represented his fault in the matter, but once things got calm and the truth was revealed, we got him to do just one straight talking interview where he spoke from the heart, without making any accusations. The perception overnight changed from him being guilty to people respecting him for keeping his household squabbles private and for speaking when he had nothing to prove or gain. In moments of crisis, sometimes silence matters more than action and that’s key to know and remember.
In the future, To see the Bazinga brand grow beyond the realm of what it is in every way – consider overseas operations and projects thereby see it having a formidable global footprint. And we’re gung-ho about doing all it takes to make Bazinga a name to reckon with.
Well these ladies aren’t stopping yet as they are taking over the universe! I mean who wouldn’t want Female Power recognition in the universe! I know I would! Till then if you are ready to join the PR world be sure to read the facts above and you might just be able to bag your favorite stars or clients!
