Even PR agencies need publicity

The role of a public relation agency is to promote its clients. Promoting itself is usually not within the normal scheme of things.

But Clea PR is probably the first public relations agency in India to launch a TVC to promote itself.

While this could be scoffed at as a desperate attempt, according to Vinod G Nair, managing director, Clea PR, the need was to put an end to the rumours that have been floating around for a few years now – that Clea is dying.

In fact, the rumours about Clea closing down have been rife for years now. As Nair says, “We wanted to say to the world that we are very much alive and in the business.”

Clea PR has come up with a series of five TVCs, each of 15 seconds’ duration. The first TVC reaffirms the fact that Clea has made it from the death bed and is now sound and healthy.

All the five TVCs are in the form of presentation slides, playing with words.

The first TVC of the series starts with a slide that says, ‘For ten years, they have been saying ‘Clea is closing shop’… ‘Clea is losing clients’… ‘Clea is dead and gone’. The word, ‘dead’, is shown hanging, but does not fall, signifying Clea’s resilience. It ends with the sentence, ‘Celebrating 10 years of life and death’.

Nair says, “We categorically decided to have a TVC instead of going the regular PR route or using the print medium because we felt that the visual medium would have a greater impact and create the buzz that we needed desperately.”

Another interesting aspect of the TVC is its music, which has been created by Mumbai-based duo Gaurav Singh and Rohit Sharma. They have used 73 different tracks to create the music. Nair says, “We didn’t use any pretty face or eye-catching visuals to convey our message. So, it was very important to have music that would hold the viewers for 15 seconds.”

Nair says, “There was a time when Clea PR used to be the preferred public relations agency among corporates, but then it reached a position where no one even wanted to talk to us. In the process, we lost both clients and employees. We have seen the extremes. However, finally, we have survived. And we just wanted to put an end to the rumours that Clea is dead.”

Nair claims, “The TVC represents Clea’s personality, which is maverick – the tone is irreverent and path-breaking.”

The campaign is currently being aired on the English business channel, CNBC. But very soon, the agency plans to include the other general interest channels in its media plan.

The second series of TVCs will be aired sometime in January and will focus on Clea’s way of functioning, which Nair claims is different from its competitors.

© 2005 agencyfaqs!