Big brands such as BMW and HSBC have turned to DABO & CO for public relations and event management in the Middle East. Camilla d'Abo, the company's managing director, talks about what it takes for businesses to put their best face forward.
q How has the public relations (PR) industry changed from 2004, when your company launched?
a In 2004 it was the beginning of the boom in Dubai. The one big difference is now, after the recession, businesses are being forced to be strategic. It's not just about throwing a lot of money at things and trying to do the biggest, shiniest, sparkliest event. I would say people are valuing a more strategic approach.
What do you mean by strategic?
Talking directly to your audience through a strategic event that can be a conference or seminar. It could be corporate hospitality. For a lot of companies, 80 per cent of their business comes from about 20 per cent of their client base. But how much time and investment do companies give to retaining those clients and nurturing them? You've got to look at retaining your business rather than just having the big-bling fireworks.
But haven't companies cut their PR budgets?
We saw in the downturn that clients of ours would cut off their advertising retainer but kept their PR retainer. We recently did a survey among consumers and the number one reason for choosing a product was a brand's reputation. That's where PR is so important - you can't build a reputation through an advert.
Aren't public relations and advertising basically the same thing?
They are very different. Sometimes we'll say to a client, "You need advertising, you don't need PR," because if they're selling a product and want to ship a lot of units then advertising would probably yield a direct return, because it's a call to action. PR is about reputation, credibility and building a more in-depth story behind just that product. It's about why and how that product was created. It's really about trying to build a perception.
Sounds difficult for businesses to track in terms of how successful a PR company's efforts are.
Measuring return on investment is difficult. If you want to measure reputation, that just needs investment. What we advise is at the beginning of a year or contract you can do a study - a survey - among your current audience to see what is the perception of the brand. Then see what they think later. We can measure in other ways, too. If we have online campaigns you can see the number of hits and click-throughs. But it's not going to be in terms of units sold in a certain store.