W-11 What made me consider PR as a career choice?
To be honest, until a few years back I had a fairly negative outlook towards the Corporate world. I always felt that the larger Corporates, which had enough capital to initiate social change, were not contributing enough towards the community. This is when I got exposed to the subject — Public Relations and Corporate Communications. I vehemently believe that Public Relations brings a humane side to the Corporations by not only maintaining positive relationships with all stakeholder, but also by acting as enablers of social change. Public Relations plays an important role in forming public opinion. For example, as a kid, when I had first come across the Real Beauty Campaign by Dove, I felt empowered in a way to see representation of all kinds of women in an industry which was otherwise dominated by European beauty standards alone. Such is the power of PR. It is the efforts which PR firms put in research and setting the tone of communications that leads to successful Ad campaigns Issues like sustainability and inclusion have come to the forefront due to the extensive campaigns implemented by PR firms.
Here is the thing about me, I was my school’s official storyteller. I used to narrate stories to my classmates in all my free hours. I have been listening to stories, reading stories and narrating stories since I was a kid. I believe that using the space of Public Relations, I can strategically continue the art of storytelling to gauge the attention of the audience and to influence their opinions and thought processes. According to psychology, people tend to have affinity towards people or organizations that reflect the same belief system as theirs. Storytelling is one medium which breaks the wall that separates the audience from the brand and penetrates the message effortlessly.
Considering my past inclination towards debating, writing and holding leadership positions, I am confident that I will be able to build the premise leading to campaigns, and will be able to maintain the reputation of the brand by effectively communicating with the stakeholders. Public Relations is more organic than advertising, as it makes a genuine effort towards building a relationship with all stakeholders — internal and external.
