Using Special Event as a Powerful P R Tool

Using Special Event as a Powerful PR tool

An Evening of Ghazal Maestro Jagjit Singh on the occasion of Oriental Bank’s 60^th Foundation Day

I have learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

- Maya Angelou, an American author, poet, historian, songwriter, playwright, dancer, stage and screen producer, director, performer, singer, and civil rights activist.

Create events ‘with heart’ that the audience can emotionally connect with and evoke an emotional reaction. And when an emotional response is achieved brand’s message will get shared.

-      - Mandy Sharp, Founder Tin Man Communications, a P R Agency

As per Mandy, live events are one of the most powerful tools to achieve our objectives. She suggested that every event PR activity has to follow five golden rules. First of all it is about knowing your audience, their demographics and what type of activity will appeal to them. It also has to be a new and innovative activity. Secondly, it is essential to have an eye for detail and is not only about logistics and organisation, but also from PR perspective such as branding. Thirdly, identify picture and headline that will go to major media outlets. Fourthly, make it sharable by making it visual, using hashtags and social media platforms such as Twitter. Last but not least, evaluate your event - only then you can measure its success.

The Case

OBC was founded in Lahore (now Pakistan) on February 19, 1942 and was to complete 60 years of its foundation on 19-02-2002, a great moment in the history of OBC. Someday during the month of December I was with the bank’s CMD and ED and some discussion was going on about bank’s upcoming Foundation Day. I was listening to their discussion with keen interest, and when their discussion was over, I asked both of them- Can I also give suggestion on how should we celebrate the foundation day? They said, if you have any good idea, please do share. I said- bank can think of organising an entertaining evening for its customers and staff at Delhi. They asked me to be more specific. I said that bank can think of organising a Ghazal Evening by Ghazal Samrat Jagjit Singh, because he is the most after sought Ghazal Singer of country and all his shows goes jam packed and houseful. He, being a legendry singer, his brand size matches with our bank’s brand too.  They immediately liked the idea, but then there were a volley of questions…How to contact the singer, what he will charge for the show, whether he would be able to give us his show on 19^th Feb’ 2002, where the show will be held, etc. etc. etc. (Here I wish to add that I was personally known to late. Jagjit Singh since 1997) I requested them to give me a day to come back to them with all the answers to their questions.

Objective

Objective was to celebrate completion of 60years of the bank and share this happiness with the customers and employees the bank, which will further strengthen customers and employees relations of the bank and create a strong brand image.  

Budget

As per the actual expenditure.

Planning and Execution of the task

Tasks to perform were as under;

1.   To organise a Ghazal Evening of Ghazal Maestro Jagjit Singh in the evening i.e. 6pm onwards on 19^th Feb’ 2002 for the bank’s customers, staff of the bank working in and around Delhi and the local media.

2.   Estimated guests 15000  

3.   Decide and finalise the appropriate venue for the event in and around central Delhi.

4.   Decide and finalise the sound and lights equipments provider for the event

5.   Decide and finalise the Tentage etc. provider for the event.

6.   Decide and finalise snacks and tea / coffee / soft drinks vendor to provide the same for the guests attending the event.

7.   Decide and finalise event invites / standees / banners/ posters/ hoardings/ back drop/ stage design / press advertisement/ pre and post event press release

8.    On screen relay of the show

9.    Decide and finalise names of VIP guests

10.                 Distribution of the invites

11.                 Booking of air tickets/ train tickets/ hotel reservations/ hospitality/ local conveyance for the Singer and his accompanists’ i.e. 6 musicians.

12.                 Finalising the Master of Ceremony for the event.

13.                 Permissions from various govt. departments i.e. Delhi Police including Delhi Traffic Police,  State Entertainment Tax Dept. , Delhi Fire Dept., to hold the event.

14.                 Event tear down

Task 1

First task was to call Jagjit Singh ji to check his availability for 19^th Feb.2002 because everything else was linked to his confirmation to perform on the requisite date. Accordingly I made a call to him the same evening and told him my purpose of calling. He asked me to wait for a minute so that he can check the availability of the date from his diary. Next moment he confirmed to me that the date is available and he blocked the date for our show. He also told me to get in touch with his Delhi based manager, who take care of his events at Delhi and NCR, and shared his mobile number. He also told me that he would also give him a call about blocking of the date.  I immediately made a call to both the top bosses to inform them about this development, and they were extremely happy that we got the date from Jagjit Singh.

Task 2

Next day I called the manager of Jagjit Singh Ji who informed me that certain formalities are to be completed in relation to the event. He asked me to write a formal request/proposal addressed to the company he manages seeking official confirmation of the date. After seeking internal approvals from the bank we issued a letter of request for booking of the date to the concerned gentleman. Who, in reply sent us a list of do’s and don’ts in / about the event and the letter of contract agreement.

Task 3

Total audience for the show worked out around 15000 and the next big question was selection of the venue where such large audience can be seated in comfort. Since I knew that Jagjit Singh ji prefer to give performance in auditoriums instead of open stadia because of sound and lights requirements and outdoor noise etc. our main problem was to locate a suitable venue in the heart of Delhi. Someone suggested me to check IG Indoor Stadium at ITO. I along with my colleague Sh. P K Das, visited the stadium and met the administrator. 

The venue was under renovation, but on our repeated request the administrator showed us the stadia. The indoor stadia  is very huge and have capacity to seat 25000 persons. As our estimated guests were around 15000 we thought that we can use a bigger portion of the stadia for our event subject to the approval of the Sports Authority of India. We checked from the office that the stadia is available on 19^th Feb. 2002 we came back to office and put a proposal to hold the event at IGI stadium. 

The venue was approved on our recommendations and accordingly necessary request was moved to the Secretary, Sports Authority of India, New Delhi with a copy to Administrator & Executive Officer, IGI Stadium and The Minister of Youth Welfare & Sports, Govt. of India, and other related Govt. Bodies for seeking approvals. My task was to ensure that we get all the requisite approvals well in time so that we can hold the event without any problem.   

  

Task 4

After finalising the venue, my next task was to finalise sound, lights, stage equipments and tentage provider. I contacted the manager of Jagjit Singh ji to enquire who would be the right person for this job as he was having experience of holding Jagjit ji’s events in the past. He suggested me few names of the service providers who mostly provide these services for his events. I also met those service providers and invited them to see the venue and based on their real time assessment tell us the total requirement of the sound, light, stage and Tentage requirements. Their suggestions were submitted for approval to the bank management which were approved.

Task 5

As expected audience was around 15000, and duration of the event was around 3-4 hours, it was suggested that the audience should be provided with some heavy snacks and soft drinks / hot drinks during the event. Accordingly vendors for providing packed snacks and soft / hot drinks were finalised. As Jagjit Ji never allow service of food etc. during his concert hence a break of 30 minutes was suggested for distribution and eating the snacks.

Task 6

Next task was to finalise design of event invites / standees / banners/ posters/ hoardings/ back drop / press advertisement/ pre and post event press release, and live on-screen projection of the event. I asked all the empanelled advt. agencies of the bank to prepare the respective designs which were to be approved by the top management. The work was completed well in advance as time for the event was approaching fast.

Task 7

After completing some of the important tasks related to the execution of the event, the time was to finalise names of VIP guests and distribution of the invites. The top management suggested us the names of the VIP guests and other audience to be invited. Accordingly lists of the invites were prepared to ensure smooth distribution of the invites.

Task 8

As event date was approaching fast we started the task of booking of air tickets for Jagjit Singh ji, Rajdhani train tickets for his accompanists artists, hotel reservation for Jagjit Singh and his team and vehicles to ferry the entire team i.e. Jagjit Singh ji and his accompanists’ i.e. 6 musicians from Hotel to the venue and back and next day drop at the airport/ railway stations as and when required.

Task 9 

Next important task was to finalise the Master of Ceremony for the event. I was looking for a emcee who should be fluent in hindi, expert in shayari and capable to handle such a huge audience. One of my friends from media suggested the name of Ms. Manisha Dubey who is a very famous RJ with AIR FM Gold. I invited her to our office and introduced her to the top management. Everyone liked her style and approved her name as emcee of the event. Its’ important to mention here that it was Ms. Manisha’s first ever anchoring of such a huge show and  even Jagjit Singh ji very much appreciated and liked her stage anchoring. Later on Ms. Manisha anchored most of his shows held in Delhi.

Task-10

The final task was to obtain permissions from various govt. departments i.e. Delhi Police including Delhi Traffic Police,  State Entertainment Tax Dept. , Delhi Fire Dept., to hold the event. I must say that every department of Govt. was prompt in according permission for the event.

Event Day -19^th February 2002

I G Indoor stadium was all set to host the event.

Sound system , Stage Lights, video camera for replay/projection of the event on two strategically placed large screens and equipments were checked before the event.

Five gates, duly manned by OBC staff, to be used to allow entry/exit to/from the stadium.

Near every entry/exit gate Cold/Hot Drinks dispenser machine (with an operator) were placed for the use of audience. 

Parking of the stadium was properly lit and a car mechanic / tyre puncture repair person was made available for the convenience of the audience.

Fire brigade and Ambulance van were stationed in the parking area to handle any emergency.

A room was used to store food packets to be distributed to the audience. A food counter was created for distribution of the food packs.

A green room was created for the use of Jagjit Singh ji.

Emcee Ms. Manisha Dubey was all set to rock the audience with her melodious voice.

Audience started pouring in from 6pm onwards and Jagjit Singh Ji arrived with his team at 7.45pm. The show begin at 8pm. Jagjit ji enthralled the audience till over midnight. For the first time Jagjit ji sang soulful ghazals and Punjabi tappe  for over 4 hours. Around midnight 0.30am the show came to an end.

Evaluation / Results /Learnings

Over 15000 audience i.e. bank’s target public i.e. customers, clients, staff, their families and friends , govt. officials praised a lot the ghazal evening and the way it was organised and executed and managed. 

The entire top management praised the efforts of PR department in successful execution of the event.

This event helped the bank officials those involved in creating the event greatly as they learned how to plan, execute and manage an event of such a huge size successfully in a given time frame because none of the team members, except myself, were experienced event professionals.

Suresh Gaur

Visiting Prof. of PR

SPCC&M - Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan, Delhi Kendra

IMSIT-YMCA, New Delhi

   IIMC, New Delhi 
ASCO – AMITY UNIVERSITY, Noida