Ep. 1: PR Evolution: From Classroom to Workplace

The Bud Network Entertainment The Public Relations Society of the Philippines presents Breaking Down the Buds - Best Practices in Communications and Public Relations Each episode is a crash course in various comms and PR strategies that shape the landscape Join in the conversation with thought leaders and industry innovators Ushering PR into the next generation, be inspired, get connected, and stay updated Don't miss an episode, like, follow, subscribe now, and kickstart your PR career growth with PRSP's Breaking Down the Buds This is brought to you by Miralco Hello students and junior professionals of PR and communications, and welcome to the Pioneer PRSP YouthCon in a podcast This is Breaking Down the Buds, and I'm your host, Matek Villanueva, marketing and communications director at Dataneda Manila University Now, did you know that you're part of history? If you're listening to this podcast, yes you are. The PRSP YouthCon is a podcast that is the first of its kind in the communications industry Breaking Down the Buds is a partnership with a pod network This collaboration really shows how the different entities work together to create innovative ideas to reach more students and young professionals By using platforms like podcasts, PRSP and the pod network deliver learnings to a wider audience Now, Breaking Down the Buds is a 12-part podcast series that tackles one different topic every podcast The 12 podcasts are designed to be relevant to students and practitioners of PR and communications The discussion is current and fresh, and the talk points are direct, easy to digest and very useful for school or your current work In short, suitable for all young listeners, best for all ages, right? So without further ado, let's get started Today, our topic is PR Evolution from Classroom to Workplace, and our guests are of diverse gathering We have Ms. Trisha Kyocho, she's a professor at the University of Asia and the Pacific And Mullen Lowe, Trina, a Mark Managing Director Hello, good morning Morning, Sir Tria, welcome, and Mr. Jossel de Guzmán, who is the Reputation Management and Marketing Consultant of the Manila Bulletin Jossel, welcome Hello, thank you, thank you Okay, let's start this Let's hear from Jossel and Trisha Let's talk about, you know, give us a short introduction, talk about yourself And as usual, Jossel, we will start with ladies Of course Ladies, yes, yes, we are still very, we're still very, how are we like, traditional about this, so Trisha, please Hello everyone, good morning So I am Trisha, I'm currently the Managing Director of Mullen Lowe, Trina, Mark So Mark is the PR arm of Mullen Lowe, Trina So most people would know Mullen Lowe as the advertising agency But throughout the years, the agency has developed different services and capabilities already including digital, production, and then PR So the Mark team was developed in 2018 and I went back to Mullen Lowe to work for Mullen Lowe, Mark in 2019 Oh, that's pretty recent Yes, I just celebrated my fourth year with the company last month, October My God, she's so young, I think I'm okay And then on the side, I think starting 2021, so it was during the pandemic that I started as a part-time professor in UANP So in the University of Asia and the Pacific, I teach specifically the public relations and corporate communications course to IMC students, now I am We'll get to that later Jossel, how are you? I'm okay, I'm good A brief introduction please Yes, well, I'm Jossel Degusman, I'm called Darten kind Okay, I'll take that I'm currently the President and Founder of Truth 360 Inc. It's a startup, reputation, and perception management company I don't actually position my company as a PR Because, I mean, although we are capable of doing PR, so we're really pushing for reputation management for companies to become a niche As a crucial part of not only of corporate communications, but the entire organization as well Also, I'm also the founder and colleague convener of ScamWatch Pilipinas So this is in partnership with Manila Bulletin, Department of Information Communications Technology, Cyber Crime Investigation and Coordinating Center, NTC, and National Privacy Commission So we're basically the national arm of the government to educate the Filipinos against online scams So we founded this last July Only? Well, last July only, and we accomplished so much now, so we're targeting all sectors Interesting All household, so all household by 2028 You know that's a good topic for a podcast For the guys who are doing this, you probably should do a separate one just for that Yes, so that's what we're doing right now And I'm an advocate also of reputation of individuals Of course Of individuals and brands So what you need to understand, the traditional practice of PR in terms of the business, it's always three PR writing, media relations, and organization of press events Of course So we want to go beyond that and being an outsider because I've been part of an organic of globe as the PR and communication strategy head for seven years And I used to have an influence in terms of how the company, how the brand image would go in terms of direction But right now I want to impart that experience to other companies that a PR is just more than the PR releases that you read in the industry Things have evolved actually and we'll go to that part So let's start with Trisha, because really the discussion is about from classroom theory to practice Let's start with classroom What did you take up in college? And I'll get back to you on that too But I'm not going to ask when you graduated because that's not fair So actually I studied broadcast communications in college That's pretty related Yes, very related, so ever since I was into communications already and then I never left So I studied broadcast communications in college but then Hoping to do PR Hoping to become a news anchor Okay, it's a bit... Closer, actually before one of my role models at that time was Senator Lauren Legarda Coming from a reporter to a news anchor and then she went into politics and became a senator So at that time that's my goal, that's my career path Where did the fork happen? Actually after graduating because of my experience during internships I was thinking broadcast, what do I really want to do? And then of course I went into the traditional Okay, so how do I use now my broadcast communication or communication degree to get a job? What jobs are open for me? So I started applying as a PR or advertising in different companies So I ended up in Honda Cars Philippines as a Public Relations and Advertising Assistant That's why, my experience ever since was really Public Relations and Advertising Okay, we'll get to the bridging later What did you take up in college? Well I took up philosophy in San Bedacal Oh, okay, I took up philosophy in San Bedacal Did you start as PR? No, I just took up philosophy in San Bedacal So at that time it was still San Bedacal and then I was also an active member of the campus publication The Bedan, so I became my editor, associate editor of The Bedan when I was in fourth year But for the longest time I was a news editor So it was your student activity that kind of... And also the philosophy in fairness Because at that time, I think the misconception about philosophy is that If you take the course, it's either you take law, which most of my classmates did But what did you intend about when you took up philosophy? What was your career? Well, I wanted to... At that time there was no really direction So I just wanted to... Don't worry, I couldn't I just wanted to improve my writing And at least for literary, but I did not become a literary person I became more of a journalist, but not all But eventually in my career, I became a PR practitioner since 1998 Okay, I'm not going to ask when you graduated because you might know Yes, yes, yes But was it straight out of college? Did you PR or did you become a journalist? Well, at that time, I was already applying to be a reporter in some publications But a friend because of the bed and network asked me Why don't you try and buy and tell as a corporate communications assistant? So it's the same, right? Interesting, okay So let's go to the part that you're not a teacher in college, right? The theoretical part Kids will always say, "Why do I have to take this up? I'm not going to use it in real life" Yes So, you know, was there a big difference? Was there a huge gap? Was it helpful? I mean, talk about it a bit about that To some extent, it was good to have that communications background Because you were exposed to everything, at least with a broadcast communication program in UP You were exposed to writing, you were exposed to performance, you were exposed to production So in a way, those are still things that I'm still doing now So it was still relevant, especially in advertising because I had background in production Okay, whenever we did radio commercials or TV productions, TV commercials You understood the basics But like for PR, aside from the writing, there are a lot more things that would go into it when you're already applying We'll talk about those other things Yes You, Jocelyn, what did it apply? A philosophy, I mean, did it apply? Well, the theories actually in putting depth into future writing, it did But when it comes to the news, it did not However, I think the most crucial part there is that because in philosophy, we were required When we were in second year to submit five term papers a week, minimum of 25 pages Term papers 10 per pairs, term papers So, and plus the pressure of also coming out a monthly publication with the deadlines I think at that young age, I was already introduced to deadlines So that's why when I was in the corporate work, it was so easy Okay, it's like college, and sometimes it made me think, "My college is so bad" I want you to look at the five term papers, right? Yes, in the 25 pages In various philosophy subjects Oh my God So PR, I think what we need to also clarify to a lot of our students and our young professionals is public relation or reputation I like the idea of reputation management, actually very relevant It's a service industry, right? And what about it, you know, were you surprised when you got there? Was it something that you learned in college or was it something that you already knew? Well, actually, all the time in the classroom, whenever I talk to my students I always intro that actually public relations, I did not study it I did not learn public relations in school I actually learned public relations when I was doing it already Was it difficult? When you were there in the middle of it, it was like, "Ah, this is it" So I was telling them that actually the history of PR, the formal definition of PR the concepts of PR, in a way, I learned it together with them because I learned it when I was preparing my course materials when I was preparing my lectures for them But I think in a way, because we are practitioners, it helps ground the theory with the application So in the way that you're structuring your class, for example Yes, you start with the history, yes, you start with the basics But you're already aware of how it happened in real life So you're also able to give them that kind of experience, not just puro definitions and theory or case studies, but because you do it every day you can also make them experience it as if they're going to do a PR plan as if they're presenting, as if they're promoting a brand or a product already I'm really fascinated with Jocelyn because the combination of philosophy and reputation management Did that happen? Did you think the philosophy part, your philosophy training kind of helped you take your career or what you do now from what you call traditional PR to this thing called reputation? Because right now I'm writing a book, it's called "Discover Truth 360" Truth 360 is something that is actually a proprietary reputation management principle that I created So this is the balance of perception building and experience making So right now most PR practitioners are just doing perception building And it needs to be balanced and right now people are talking about customer experience So it needs to be balanced by the experience, so it needs to create that cycle in order to become number one factual, accurate and to avoid misinformation So let's say for example, as basic as company A takes care of its customers That's the perception that we want to build and it must be validated by an experience So the way that we measure, the way that Truth 360 measures is that if company A says, the ideal is high experience and high perception So if let's say Jollibee, so Jollibee is the only company right now with high experience and high perception If let's say you're going to use the telcos, so they're more of high perception But in some cases, in other places where there are no networks, it's low experience So that creates that balance So for me, communications is a problem-solving activity So by applying this, you have to check the brand and their directions and their KPIs and KRAs So what do you really want to fix? Because most of the time, a lot of PR practitioners will just Message in communication Other than that, I need to come up with four stories a month in three publications Metemplate But it should be solving a problem So it's either your problem right now, it's high perception and then low experience When I was in Globe, I already applied this with wonderful PH when they said that the internet was bad So we created the wonderful PH, so the perception is we're improving the internet And then since Dadaya in Murinshap, so why do you call him Dadaya? Because you cannot cover the entire country, so you focus first on where you are strong So at that time, the Truth 360 there, at that time it wasn't yet called Truth 360 So when we applied it, let's say in Metro Manila, particularly in BGC, because that's where Globe is So it's the signal, Globe is strong in BGC, perception is high, experience is high And then we're also creating this perception that we're improving on a poor city level Because Globe was spending this much in network infrastructure and it's partnering with the government So it's just basic as that. And then the good thing also about the Truth 360 right now Because of before you need the media in order to create that perception, in order to bring that experience But a lot of content creators now are discovering restaurants as a message And it's no longer with PR because it was always there was this creature called media And it was such a controlled group. Because of digital, there's no such thing anymore I mean, anybody can be democratic, which is both good and scary And I think what has happened is, I mean personally, I think the digital space, what it did is Suddenly content is anyone's game, right? I mean, I'm an advertising practitioner, I was there for 35 years Then I realized, my God, we can advertise if they don't realize that you know Actually PR is picking up more because content, because PR is about content There's no more line actually when it comes to advertising It's just communication, right? It's just plain communication But the problem is the opportunistic nature of digital, what do you think about it? Because a lot of kids now learn digital communication in college, right? Again, how does it help them cross over to the professional world? Actually taking off from what you said, me also, my background was advertising when I was an agency So advertising, it was really more of your putting out materials coming from the brand perspective But now, PR is like, there's a third party saying those things about your brand What you said about validating the consumer experience, right? So we come out with an ad that comes with the bill, with the perception If you didn't validate the customer experience of whoever, which is a third party not connected to the brand It's a business claim How interesting that you said that communication is really about problem solving Because again before, I think digital just changed the landscape altogether Because everything before was prescriptive, one way Then it becomes, because now the opportunities present itself to digital Communication even became more a real problem solving Or I would like to look at this, opportunity seeking So okay, let's see how excited I am So how do you balance, so when you got there Were you surprised when you started practicing PR or was it something that you had a hard time with And if you did, how did you manage it? Well, the misconception about PR is that they always think it's skill based It's either you have to know how to write well, you have to do research and everything But it's actually the people that you know, it's the people that you create the relationship with In anthropology, we call that social capital Because at the end of the day, especially I was lucky in Senbeda because we have a strong extracurricular culture and brotherhood culture Back at the time, I don't know now, back at the time So the network that you know, particularly the support of the alumni And when you graduated, the support of your batchmate and the higher batches Really created that network So it's not what you know It's the people, you know, even at that time when I was in college writing for news A lot of people, as early as that, because it's an active extracurricular school People in the debating team, people in the scores are already approaching us Because it's a story And you also, me as a campus journalist at that time, I was already changing lives I didn't know at that time that if I feature student A because of his achievements It created that impact and created that confidence so that he can pursue something bigger after the future So it's also the same thing now So right now, it's still valuable to a lot of people that they see themselves in a media outlet That they see themselves being quoted So in a way, that's the power of PR per se It's how you create value for the people that you know, particularly when you need But of course, that's just one aspect So you have to also use, let's say, if you're looking for answers or it's a problem-solving activity Like what she said earlier, it's people talking about you positively So you also look for those sources That's why you partner with other institutions, you partner with advocate groups So that it brings credibility to whatever campaign that you're doing So how did you, were the gaps wide? And what did you do? I'm not sure if the gaps themselves or maybe also, it was how application of it Because for example, I'm kind of OCE, I'm a type A person So this is the process, this is the flow But when you're applying it already, the flow is like this But when something happens, okay, there's a certain event, there's a certain social happening that is going on You can go back to your messaging angles to change it up, to make it more relevant Or you can go back to your media strategy, there's a new type of media or there's a new media channel that we can tap It's not just the way I do it, I'm just going to go on and on No, because it's very dynamic Communication cannot be descriptive, right? So to the practitioners out there, if you think this is an 8 to 5 job, we're already warning you It's not an 8 to 5 job guys, it's actually a, it's a kind of job You get a thrill over the unexpected What's going to happen today? There's an adventure on PR The communication I would like to believe is a much more adventurous kind of a career than usual But the positive thing I think, like what Sir said, is really the relationships that you're able to build Of course, there's always value exchange Of course They will only put out your story if there is also value Of course Value in it So I think that's the way also that the relationships are built Yes, there is the chica part and the "pagiging friends" part, but at the same time It's still a job Yes, it's still a job It's still, content is still king There's still something that needs to Actually that's what I told my kids before in school, when I go to classes Why do media still take on, you know, why are companies and brands important? Because brands do create news Yes, they do They are, you know, they have something new to say and like it or not, media people will not always, will not always have the news ready, right? That's why there are reporters who are waiting for the news Another thing about PR in terms of the channels that you use now It's also a misconception because all malpractice is that your mindset is always a shotgun What do you mean? If I release a story, it should be read by everyone Oh, it's too much So let's say I want these stories to come out in all media outlets The boss will say that But it does not actually solve the problem For instance, you can actually divide these target audience into various stakeholders And then you only communicate with them So if you have a regulatory issue, then just communicate with the government You select Manila Bulletin, you select Inquirer to be the top media outlet And you don't need to come out with others And if you want to talk to your customers, probably you can use your own channels And you can also use the bloggers So that's what we are trying to change now I want to take up on that I think if there's one theory, and I won't call it a theory, I really call it a reality That I'd really like everyone to, our listeners to remember is The principle of the target market Because I don't know why people don't seem to understand the target Exactly, that's not all And I think that's something that they'll have to keep believing and practicing There's a target market, there's a particular medium, there's a particular listeners Yes, or actually, it's also an opportunity for you to widen your story For each target market, for each media channel, you can have a different angle You can have a different message of the same story That is relevant to them And it makes your story more hardworking, or easier to accept And richer Because then, I guess there will be more inputs eventually If more people were to participate and find it relevant Rather than a generic one Yes, I mean usually, if you're among the students The students out there, I think the first thing that you will do is that they will ask you to write a PR story And then they have certain styles, but at the end of the day, reality check The story that you write may not really come out the way that you wrote it Because editors have preference, and somehow, let's say for instance, if you really want to get to the national news Writing an event, let's say for instance, I'm going to launch a product I'm going to launch this new phone And the story there is Company A launches new phone So it's an event-based PR If you want to really create value You have to find a story, or part of your strategy On how to be creating that social good for that particular product Let's say for instance, this new phone has a capability to block scams So suddenly, it's not just the usual features, product benefits So you have to create that value that can be unique and nationwide in scope that the editors would appreciate And I'd also like to believe that because their editors have been there, they kind of have a feel already of what works and what doesn't work What their readers would want Exactly What do you think? Okay, the pandemic Yes Okay, so what do you think changed, or what do you think happened to PR in this last 3-4 years where people were locked down? So let's start with you Joseph, what happened to PR as a result of the pandemic? Well, a lot of them, PR evolved into, well they will always say social media or digital channels One thing you need to understand is that it's also scary for our business Because everyone right now can be a PR practitioner because they can create their own channels So in that stuff, it's either, a lot of directions of the media outlets right now are focusing on personality base Because the pandemic, let's say for instance, I used to report, I'm a reporter before the pandemic and I was reporting this, this particular industry And then suddenly because of the pandemic, I discovered that I needed to be seen and created my own channel and started to cook So I'm creating a new dimension in that personality So most of this, everyone in the industry, whether they're the journalists or the practitioner, they were able to maximize the available channels at that time And we call it the acceleration of digitalization So all your life right now, you want to share it because you're locked down in a house alone or with some families for X number of years And the only channel that you have in making them know that you're still alive or that you're still sane is through digital sharing What you cook on Facebook, your exercises, methods, so it became more personal And that's the challenge right now, if my content right now is not as personal as the way I project it on Facebook Then it's not interesting to the readers because, I mean, YouTube, let's say, reached 60 million, Facebook reached 80 million So there's really this acceleration in terms of media use And people like a lot of content creators in the Philippines became more interesting Not because of, let's say, I'm going to feature a food, all the ingredients of this is unique That won't sell, it will sell I like this food because it's my experience, and that's what people would want Suddenly, PR now became subjective, which is totally the opposite of... What it should be, which is about truth and yeah Yes, and so, I mean, now that it's subjective and people like subjective content, it's also dangerous It is, it's not dependent on the power of the personality And that's the unintended consequence of those content creations, of those collective content creations I mean, even abroad, and that's also the time where fake news really thrived True, what do you think happened? I think me, I'll speak, coming from, because almost all of our clients are more consumer and lifestyle Yeah, advertising Yes, because our PR agency or our PR team is connected to an advertising agency So I think at the surface level, it was really more of the format in the medium It's a well-known event, so we learned how is it to do an online event, a hybrid event, right? There are clients who are very open to going back to complete face-to-face There are clients who are still a bit wary So okay, hybrid, there are a few face-to-face, but a bigger audience can still be reached online So, at the surface level, I think we were able to develop new capabilities to adapt to the, because these were the relevant platforms during the time of the pandemic But I think what we appreciated more also was the way that you were communicating, it became more sensitive You were also considering the context of that time, so you didn't have a hard sell, you didn't have a very product product product Or you weren't able to start the content You were also taking into consideration what was important to your audiences during that time What would be of value to them, what would help them during that time It's so so good that you were talking about that Yes, and it was more of a community, because of the Facebook groups It was a big drive during the pandemic Oh my God, it was a vibrant moment And also just during the pandemic, a lot of companies realized the value of corporate communications Because it adds crisis communications, because at that time, corporate communications is under marketing, it's under HR, it's under legal Suddenly, they don't have anyone to report how many, because corporate communications and PR, they're not just the media It's total communications in terms of managing stakeholders So when suddenly that you need to report the number of COVID cases that you have, no one knows how to do that No one knows how to create that, are you going to report entirely that you have 100 cases? And that will create a crisis for that company, because it's down You're creating your own crisis So how do you manage? Well, I'd rather create my own crisis, because that means you kind of know how to manage it Okay, we need to wrap up pretty soon, and so before we wrap up, I'd like to hear your fearless forecast about PR That, you know, you've been there, we've gone through normal times, pandemic, post-pandemic So what's your forecast? Let's start with Trish I think from our end, at least based on what's happening, or the trend of what we're doing now Data is becoming more and more important in supporting your communications So before, most of the data will come at the start when you're doing your inciting, when you're preparing your communications And then the reporting was more output-based, like what Sir Jossel mentioned earlier, I need to release 4 press releases this month And then each of those 4 releases, I need to have 10 pick-ups, so it's just like output-based Okay, I released the 4, I got 10 picks up, check But, and then what? What happened to those pick-ups? So coming from output-based, more and more, it became more outcome-based Where in your stories, how did it, what, yes, what effects, what happened to them? In a more consumer type, did they lead to more people knowing about the brand? More research, more sales, if you're going to sales, but at the same time, there's also What's the value, or what's the outcome coming from that, the brand score is getting more positive So I think at least they... It's more difficult More difficult, yes, because the measurements are becoming more sophisticated in a way Wherein, it's not output-based, it's just really number of pick-ups and media values But also, how, and then what, aside from those numbers, what benefit did it really bring back? What value did it really bring back? ROI, no? Yes Okay That's why, that's what we're learning now, how to really bring that, how to make our communications More data-driven at the same time, at the end of the campaign How can we present it more, okay, it was effective Yeah, well, yeah, at the end of the day, yes Joseph Yeah, well, from me, I think after the pandemic, a lot of companies and communications practitioners Suddenly realized the value of a purposeful communications or a meaningful campaign So I think there will be more, or a lot of advocacy campaigns That will be coming out because it's answering the question What does your brand stand for? So right now, the acceleration Beyond what it is Beyond what it is, beyond the product benefit And how can it create more value to the person in terms of contributing not only to the society But it's creating that social good without being an activist So I think you have to really distinguish that Yes, yes, I agree, yes, yes, yes, I agree Interesting, that's very interesting So that's why when I started ScamWatch Pilipinas, this advocacy was offered to a company And as an advocacy pitch, they declined it Okay They declined it because when I was in Global, I did the same framework It's called Stop Spam during the era where a lot of spams are happening So I created the same framework and offered to a company, they turned it down So because they don't believe in advocacy And when I created this and I said let's do Manila Bulletin So that a lot of companies can participate So a lot of companies right now are starting to talk to the joint So advocacy you think is the future? It's the future, so it's more of my brand has this purpose And this is how we help not only our customers, but the society in general So it's beyond the product benefit, but it's creating that meaningful relationship With our customers, with the consumers My God, there's so much more to discuss But that's a wrap for this episode of Breaking Down the Bus The PR/SPU squad in a podcast in partnership with the Pod Network A Pioneer 12 episode series designed for students and young practitioners of PR and communication We hope that you have learned something from this podcast Join us for the next episode as we continue to create online discussions on the topics and touchpoints that matter Thank you very much to Professor Tishara Kyocho and Jossel Pegusman for a wonderful contribution discussion of PR Evolution These learning sessions are created and organized by the Public Relations Society of the Philippines Education Committee For further information on this podcast series, visit prsp.ph Again, thank you to the huge channel for the speaker's tokens Wonderful surprises await podcast listeners Find out more on prsp.ph Finally, PR/SP and the Pod Network thank all the podcast listeners We hope we shared some value to our choice of professional PR and communications This is Matic Villanueva wishing you a good day