Interview with Zohare Ali Shariff, CEO Asiatic Public Relations Network: 'Analyst briefings by listed companies can be good PR'

Zohare Ali Shariff is the CEO of one of the s biggest public relations and communications firms in Pakistan. Aside from introducing global PR practices in the country, Zohare's contribution to Pakistan's PR landscape includes reputation management and corporate image building, advocating greater understanding of CSR and sustainability, crisis communication strategies, and social media strategies. Under his leadership, APR has executed various media events, conferences, seminars and campaigns of media advocacy, behavior change communication, stakeholder engagement and event management for a diverse set of local and international clients. An alumnus of London School of Economics, Zohare is an opt-in member of the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council.
In this interview, Zohare talks about the PR landscape, its history and its future in Pakistan. He also talks about Brand Pakistan, the recent Black Friday saga, CEOs' fear of media, as well his thoughts on Chinese brands. Below are edited transcripts of a long conversation at his vintage-looking office in Clifton Karachi.
BRR: Let's start with brief history of PR in Pakistan.
Zohare Ali Shariff: PR used to be a small section of the marketing industry 25 years ago. It was an unknown word and even globally it was not really big. Even in our parent firm at the time, we were called Asiatic Advertising, and of the 150-200 people that worked back then, only two people were in the PR section and their job was to deal with the odd press release of a client, or once in a while arrange a media briefing. In those days advertising was everything.
But the owners of Asiatic Advertising, especially my Chairman, Anwar Rammal, who is an icon of the industry and received a lifetime achievement award as well earlier this year, were true visionaries.They saw that down the line, PR is going to gain ground in Pakistan as well. In 1992 they decided to convert this small section into an independent company and that's when we were established as Asiatic Public Relations Network, a privately-owned company, affiliated internationally with the global PR firm, Hill & Knowlton.
The business saw very slow growth in the first eight years, before it started picking up. On the whole, the practice of PR came into Pakistan through multinationals because their parent companies wherever in the world were already practicing PR for a long time. They advised their local counterparts to adopt PR practices as an ongoing business function. Today I'd like to say that we are the leading PR agency in Pakistan, though my chairman insists upon calling it as one of the leading PR agencies (chuckles!).
BRR: Who is to decide who is the biggest or one of the biggest. Are there any numbers to substantiate such claims?
ZAS: All the PR agencies are privately owned which is why no one knows the finances. But you can determine that in the terms of the number of people, the type of clients you have, and the spread of your operations- like we have offices in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, and representatives in Multan and Quetta.
BRR: How has APR evolved in all these years?
ZAS: Over the years we have evolved tremendously. Besides the traditional PR which is media outreach and media relations we are now deeply involved in stakeholder engagement, CSR counseling, issues and crisis counseling, and lately, in digital communication. Since digital communication plays a huge role in PR today, we have a dedicated wing called PR CONNECT. And in fact on December 9th, we have a major conference that PR CONNECT is organizing on the subject of digital influencers in partnership with IBA's Center for Excellence in Journalism, with our client Coca-Cola as the title sponsor, and if any brand understands the potential of digital influencers, it is Coca-Cola!.
We also do audio visual productions because video is now a very important part of your communication. We started that off 15 years ago by making corporate documentaries. But now the world is not ready to watch 8 to 10 minutes documentaries; now these videos have to be 3-5 minutes, and for social media they are even shorter say, 60-90 seconds.
Then we also offer a lot of trainings for our clients in areas like crisis management. It has become very big now, not because the companies are having more crisis than before but because they are getting more publicity nowadays because of social media. We also do trainings in media management, and media relations. I personally train CEOs for example on media interviews.
We had also started a magazine called Triple Bottom Line because there was a tremendous misunderstanding of what Corporate Social Responsibility means. It is now an online CSR and sustainability advocacy platform.
BRR: Is it true that most corporations still think that having a press release issued is the end all and be all of PR.
ZAS: Yes, a lot of companies think that. In fact, let me tell you a very interesting incident. A client of ours, I won't take the name but it is a leading company. The communication manager of that company was a die hard believer in press releases, and his total concept of PR is not public relations but press release. He would keep pushing the account manager to get his four press releases per month, even though we advised him against that.
One day that company invited me to a one-day workshop for their team of marketing managers, brand managers communication mangers etcetera; like PR 101 for about 30 people. The first thing I did was to ask them if they have read the newspaper that day; only 8 out of 31 people raised their hands. Then I asked those eight people if they recall any press release of any company that was published that day. Not one of them could recall. I turned to the communication man ger and said, look this is the impact of a press release.
BRR: Is the trend now improving within local corporates as well?
ZAS: Yes! There is more awareness nowadays among big local corporations. But obviously at the mass level when it comes to medium sized companies, I don't think they are still that bothered by PR.
But the big ones at least, now they understand that all of us are suffering from tremendous information overload. It's always competing with our minds and at the same time audiences; the consumers are much better educated than they were before. The consumer won't accept advertising claims at face value.
If that consumer sees a celebrity on one billboard selling a shampoo and selling a cellphone on the other they know that he's a paid endorser and they know that she probably doesn't use the shampoo herself! Now the consumers are critical; they question the claims. They want to check the product and check out the reviews on the internet before buying.
Previously, it was the want or need; the availability and pricing that were driving consumer decisions. But now there is another critical factor that is subliminal, but it is there.That factor is the consumers' perception of that company or brand. And that's where PR comes into the picture. The PR's job is to maintain the brand's solidness. People need to trust a brand or company and this is what the job of PR is - building the trust.
No PR company, the ones that have been working for 20-25 years will ever project what in the Urdu language we call "dou number company". The premise to start with, the company or the brand, has to be solid.
BRR: What's the PR industry's sales pitch to corporations not focusing on PR?
ZAS: The discipline of public relations has to be an essential component for all business companies, because at the end of the day your reputation is made in 25 years but you can lose it in five minutes. There are so many ways your reputation can get battered, so you really need your policy to be in place to protect it rather than being relaxed about it and trying to fight when it becomes a crisis. Trying to manage it after the crisis is very difficult but if you have a solid reputation already built through PR, even if there is some scandal or misconception spread about you a lot of people will give you the benefit of the doubt.
BRR: What's the size of Pakistan's PR industry?
ZAS: It's hard to say. But if you take all the companies who are using either in-house PR or corporate communication department or external agencies, that would amount up to perhaps 200-300 companies in total.
BRR: What's your thought on the growing trend of micro influencers?
ZAS: I think this has become a real double-edged sword. With a vibrant social media, everyone has become an expert on everything, and everybody has to have an opinion that they must share since they can't keep it to themselves. I don't know if this is an inherent human weakness to seek recognition to get your 15 seconds of fame or what, but this is what's happening.
The audience today is largely the youth and this population is not inclined to go into the depth of any subject especially in our country where social sciences as a discipline is on a heavy decline. And the same people are now becoming influencers and shapers of commercial society.
BRR: Then you see it more as a challenge rather than an opportunity?
ZAS: No! I would say that it's 50-50. It's a challenge in terms of trying to counter disinformation but at the same time since the reach is so big - there are about 34-35 million people on Facebook in Pakistan-so it's also an opportunity to get your message across from a corporate perspective of your clients.
BRR: What about this Black Friday? Now we are getting these Mega Friday, Soulful Friday, Green Friday, Blessed Friday. Is it not a PR disaster?
ZAS: Black Friday is an international phenomenon and logically you follow it here. And I don't think anyone thought that it's going to be taken in the wrong way. It happened even last year, and nobody had a problem with it. Only this year people started talking about it and that's how it continued. This is pretty much like everything else in this country where people just raise this sensitivity on non-issues.
BRR: But as somebody who is engaged with the society and the firms, what would be your message to corporations. Next year should they go with Black Friday or with Blessed or Peaceful or whatever they make up? Because the culture will not catch on if there are 100 firms announcing mega sale under 20 different slogans.
ZAS: At the end of the day, you have to work in the market according to the various limitations and sensitivities. We have to take into account all of these sensitivities whether you agree with it or not; this is the reality.
And I suppose it can over a period of time, depends on how you market it and how much effort you put into it. For instance, Daraz can take the lead, and announce months in advance that the first of July is going to be a mega sale day-forget about Sunday or Monday or Friday.It's the first of July, mid-summer sale for example and create buy-in from other stakeholders.
BRR: Brand Pakistan. What PR campaign does it need?
ZAS: I already said this earlier; the product has to be good to start with. People want to promote a soft image of Pakistan. My reply is that we should first fix the law and order before we promote anything. You just can't hide it anymore; you can't just rely on how good your intentions are.
BRR: What is your opinion of Chinese brands in this regard? From a PR and brand perspective, do they stand to challenge the existing players in the market, say in FMCG sector.
ZAS: In some areas the Chinese brands have taken over the market. For example, in cell phones, except for Samsung all other brands are Chinese. But in the FMCG sector, I don't think Chinese have a hold, and I don't think they even can. Because of some of these established brands, they are too much a part of people's lives for the past three generations. Frankly speaking, I don't think that even on a global level there are very strong Chinese brands.
BRR: You think Chinese will bring their own PR machines; is APR eyeing Chinese business in the long run, and is there a difference between PR styles of the Anglo-Saxon world and the Chinese world?
ZAS: Well so far the Chinese (under CPEC) are primarily involved in infrastructure projects, working with our government. So unless they branch out into consumer business, they might not feel the need for PR. Nevertheless, APR is evaluating the developments constantly to see where business opportunities may emerge, and if these do, I am sure working with the Chinese will be quite different than working with as you say, the Anglo-Saxon world, although many fundamentals of the business will remain the same.
BRR: You talked communication managers pushing press release for their nth product variant. How about you nudge those firms - at least the public listed firms - to engage with the financial analyst community at the launch of new products or investment plans. Only a handful firms do that of the 500 plus listed firms. Is it not good PR?
ZAS: Yes, certainly. If more companies can be transparent about their financials, their audiences and stakeholders will trust them more.
BRR: Since APR offers media training to the CEOs, our submission is to advise those CEOs not to ask for questions in advance. It looks very bad on them that senior C-level people want to have questions in advance. Why? So they can prepare for it? C-level executives should be bold enough; shouldn't they?
ZAS: I think this behavior directly arises from an inherent fear of the media by the corporate sector. In the media training that we do,I show CEOs this matrix of nine animals. And we ask this question: if the media was an animal, which animal do they think it would be? I tell them there are these options, but you can go beyond the given choices. Ninety percent of the people reply 'snake' or 'lion' or 'fox'. CEOs assume that media's prime motive is to catch you on the wrong foot. But in your case, this should not be happening because you have a specialized unit based on research analysis.
BRR: You talked about corporate documentaries earlier and how it is losing audience attention. What are your thoughts on virtual tours. Is it too expensive for corporations in Pakistan to offer virtual tours - say of their factories?
ZAS: It's a great idea! This could be very interesting for us too to take up. It shouldn't be an extremely costly affair, not when you consider large budgets for newspaper advertisements and television commercials.
BRR: Do you think the PR industry failed to PR its own self?
ZAS: To some extent yes. In fact, a couple of years ago there was an attempt by three or four old agencies to see if they can get together to form an association. The idea was not only to promote the PR industry but to also set some ground rules about ethics etcetera. But that never materialized.
BRR: Anything that keeps you up at night?
ZAS: Reading keeps me up. But if you are asking what keeps me up in terms of stress; nothing does. When we take new people in the PR business, one of the key things we assess is whether this person can take stress, and has a very high level of energy. This business requires a lot of energy, multitasking capabilities and so many things. It's not like a bank job; everything is different every day.