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Recreating
the Philippines' Public Identity
By Michael Alan Hamlin
January 01, 2001
Once the political carnage with which
we greet this New Year is over — and it will eventually end,
of that we can at least be certain — for whoever is left standing
recreating the Philippines’ public identity will be a top priority.
While despite the present crisis certain key sectors — mostly
having to do with technology — have continued to do well, the
steep decline overall in foreign investment, the dramatic decline
in the equity market, and the tragic slump in local and international
perception of the "worthiness" of the Philippines are
obvious indicators that conditions could be spectacularly better.
Of course, there are always those that ask, "Why
communicate?" and "Why spend money doing it?" Effective
communication is important because the Philippines exists in a global
economy characterized by fierce competition for foreign investment
and jobs. It’s not enough to have advantages over competing
nations and regions in terms of intellectual resources, for instance,
or a relatively stable, maturing if somewhat wild-eyed democracy.
Advantages must be regularly and effectively communicated so that
the investment community is knowledgeable of them.
It’s necessary to invest in communications because
effective communications — like any product or service —
requires professionals will solid track records who know what they’re
doing. But more to the point, it’s necessary to invest to make
a return. If the investment isn’t made, like everything else
in life, there’s no return.
Over the past several months, I’ve been at work
on a book called Marketing Places Asia. This is an adaptation of
Marketing Places originally written by Philip Kotler and Irv Rein
of Northwestern University. A key component of effective place marketing
in the research we’ve undertaken to adapt this book to Asian
priorities and circumstances is regular, effective communication
to key publics. That means good public relations. Here’s some
of what we have to say.
Public relations is the effort to build good relations
with an organization’s publics by obtaining favorable publicity;
building up a good public image; and handling or heading off unfavorable
rumors, stories, and events. Major public relations tools include
press relations, event publicity, and lobbying. The appeal of public
relations is based on its three distinctive qualities:
1. Highly credible. News stories and features written
by independent journalists seem more authentic and credible than
ads do.
2. Indirect. Public relations can reach many prospects
who might avoid salespeople and advertisements. The message gets
to the place buyers as news rather than as a sales-directed communication.
3. Dramatic. Public relations has, like advertising,
a potential for dramatizing a place.
Marketers tend to under-use public relations or use
it as an afterthought. Yet a well-thought-out public relations program
coordinated with other promotion-mix elements can be extremely effective.
The craft of public relations is segmented and specialized.
There are financial public relations, employee public relations,
government public relations, and so on. The branch we are interested
in is called marketing public relations (MPR). In the hands of a
place marketer, MPR can contribute to the following tasks:
1. Assist in the launch of new products. Each time
McDonalds or Jollibee establish a new restaurant, they launch a
public relations campaign with special events, press releases, etc.
2. Assist in repositioning a mature product. The whole
country of Singapore, with its mature tourist image, is ambitiously
using public relations to reposition the place as a regional business
and financial center. The long-term goal is to build up and enhance
the city’s service sectors and investment in them.
3. Create interest in a product category. The Asian
telecommunications industry — and now also telecommunications
companies — are struggling to survive in a newly but highly
competitive global market. These companies and have sponsored public
relations campaigns in conjunction with places — especially
those targeting business travelers — to attract attention to
this industry. This effort is particularly pronounced in Singapore
and Hong Kong, but is also characterized by competition from multinationals
such as AT&T.
4. Influence specific target groups. And even the Philippines,
in its efforts to build up more tourism, implements special campaigns
directed towards Filipino communities in the United States called
"Rediscovery Philippines." India does the same to promote
investment to its Non Resident Indians around the world.
5. Defend places that have encountered public problems.
Many Asian places in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis
have undergone severe political upheaval. These places are initiating
public relations programs aimed at convincing investors that they
are stable and growing. With new foreign direct investment down
across the region, this is a high-stakes effort.
6. Build the place image in a way that projects favorably
on its products. The reorientation in Taiwan towards a manufacturer
or original, value-added products — especially technology products
— creates a new place for image initiatives. For example, the
government has initiated slick campaigns that communicate the diversity
and originality of Taiwan-designed and produced products, from bicycles
to scanners to sophisticated software.
As the power of mass advertising weakens due to rising
media costs, increasing clutter, and fragmented audiences, marketing
managers are turning more to public relations. Often public relations
can create a memorable impact on public awareness at a fraction
of the cost of advertising. The place seller does not pay for the
space or time obtained in the media. Instead, it pays for a staff
to develop and place stories and to manage certain events. Sometimes
the community pays the public relations company only when a story
is actually accepted in a newspaper. If the place develops a story
with an interesting angle, it could be picked up by all the news
media and be worth millions of dollars in equivalent advertising.
Furthermore, it would have more credibility than advertising. Some
experts say that an audience is five times more likely to be influenced
by editorial copy than by advertising.
An effective communications — or marketing public
relations — program can serve to quickly shift perception of
the Philippines as an Asian political backwater to a dynamic player
in key value-added sectors. Because the Philippines is once again
playing this game from a comeback position, it’s vitally important
that a program be put in place fast.
(Mr. Hamlin is managing director of the consultancy
TeamAsia and the author of two books on Asian economies and managing
in Asia. His latest book is The New Asian Corporation: Managing
for the Future in Post-Crisis Asia. His e-mail address is mahamlin@teamasia.com.ph.)
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