Public Relations Council of India Salutes Mr. K.S.Neelakandan

A god ‘s gift to Indian PR industry. Mr. K.S. Neelakandan was honoured and felicitated by the PR council of India in Bangalore on 26the March 2008 by the Governor of Karnataka. Several distinguished luminaries of PR and Communication fraternity were present to grace the occasion. Mr. Neelakandan has immensely contributed with untiring efforts to the PR industry for over last 5 decades. There are several feathers to his cap when you think of Mr.Neelakandan and Public Relation activity in India. Some of the notable and memorable ones that I remember is organizing the World Public Relation Congress in India way back in the early 80s. He was the Chairman of this World Congress and PR professionals in India were highly privileged to meet several great Public relation leaders and practitioners from the globe. The most notable one was the Father of Public Relations Mr. Sam Black who was one of the keynote speakers at the congress.

Mr. Neelakandan has to be credited for several PR milestones, as he has been the industry spokesman on PR affairs for several decades. His major forte being the Pharma industry where he represented the Industry on several forums and meetings with the Government and the Ministry. He also represents several music and cultural bodies and was one of the early founding member of Fine Arts Society, Chembur. (A music and cultural society in the suburb of Mumbai) and a core member of the Indo- American Society in Mumbai.

One must appreciate the enthusiasm and energy levels of Mr. Neelakandan even today.
Very recently he was instrumental in felicitating the two great singers Hariharan and Shanker Mahadevan for their significant contribution to music. The Governor of Maharashtra Shri S.M.Krishna felicitated the music duo at his new house. This was followed by another felicitation event, this time it was the sheriff of Mumbai Dr. Indu Shahani a leading educationist also held at his residence in Chembur on 28t March.

A great PR professional , innovation, perfection and style has been his hallmark of excellence

Holi and brands. Major disconnect ?

Festivity in India occurs almost every month across religion and across the year. Each festival stands for something and brands try to cash on the same. The most famous and auspicious festivals that most brands connect to push their sales are Diwali, Dussera and Christmas. Media spends rocket with high decibel advertising shouting with huge offers and discounts with all brands.

There are also some other festival such as Raksha Bandhan and Holi where brands try to connect and get some mileage. Brands such as Bravia from Sony has very interestingly captured the power of colours that the brands offers through their quality vision is credible and associates with the brand perfectly. As we all know it is great pictures and natural colours that pleases one's eyes when watching television especially in India where we have rich culture and heritage that is amplified with fascinating festivals and colours.

However I was a bit amazed to look at IDBI bank trying to bring some connection with holi which to me is sheer waste of money. Is it because the festival of holi comes in the month of march and banks are compelled to exhaust their budgets ? The connection with holi and bank was totally missing to me ? What are they trying to communicate ? Are they giving special rate of interest or disbursing easy loans during holi ? Banks need not follow the FMCG and Consumer durables to be top of mind as it is difficult to measure the results for the bank by using festival as a platform to build the brand. Public and Semi public sector banks need to revist their thinking and strategy and get their brand values in perfect shape to get maximum buck for the money spent.