What Mallya's PROs should have told him

BS :Malavika Sangghvi / Mumbai Feb 25, 2012, 00:20 IST

I wonder how much of Vijay Mallya’s troubles have to do with his public image. Perceived hedonists make pretty soft targets when the chips are down. Don’t believe me? Ask Dominique Strauss-Kahn who is a copybook case for the adage “give a dog a bad name and hang it”. Today, anything that is sleazy and of a sexually perverse nature can be attached to DSK’s name by his political rivals — regardless of whether it’s true or not.

It’s a funny business, this thing of public image and in India, it is a gravely misunderstood one. After all my years in the media, my advice to people who want to create a public profile for themselves or their companies is to first strategise what they want to communicate and why — before they venture into the public domain. Because contrary to what PR agencies and personnel tell you, PR is not about getting your mugshot or your company name in the papers, but involves far more nuanced thinking.

There was a time when the best corporate PR emanated from Bombay House. This was in the days when the Tatas paid their PROS to keep them out of the press, not in it. I call it the “BN” (Before Niira) days. Yes, before she came on the scene, the group had a fuddy duddy, slightly inaccessible and aloof image — but it worked well for it and what’s more, it was true to its intrinsic nature. Radia came in and changed all that in a frenzy of activity. Suddenly Ratan Tata became accessible and familiar, issuing statements, offering opinions and giving interviews.

And we all know what familiarity does. Which brings me back to Mallya and his current crisis. For years, we have been watching Mallya live out his Richard Branson-fixation. But that’s where nuanced PR comes into play. While it’s all very well to fashion your style on Branson’s perceived flamboyance, Mallya’s spin doctors ought to have told him that Branson’s swashbuckling public image was anchored in a very wholesome, appealing and statesman-like persona that worked in tandem with his flamboyance. Branson associated himself with world leaders like Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu in their search for solutions to global conflicts. He established the Branson School of Entrepreneurship in South Africa to improve economic growth and hosted a high-powered environmental gathering at his private island to discuss global warming. His support of African nations was not lip service. He established schools in Kenya and sat in a hunger strike in protest of the Sudanese government’s expulsion of aid groups from the Darfur region. He was a champion of Global Zero, a non-profit international campaign for the elimination of all nuclear weapons worldwide.

Even in his businesses, he is associated with many cutting-edge science and technological enterprises like space travel and the setting up of umbilical cord banks and the search for alternative green fuels. And his sporting image comes not from owning race horses or motor racing or cricket teams, but from daredevil and personally challenging extreme sports that showcase his courage and fearlessness through his attempts to break world records in ballooning, sailing, swimming and golfing.

And for those happy to call Mallya a desi Branson, it should be pointed out that unlike Mallya, Branson’s public image is of a perennially fit, lean, mean and tanned tycoon. Public image. There’s so much more to it than meets the eye.