Restructuring was HLL's theme for 2004, and everyone is waiting to see what the triumvirate of Chairman M.S. Banga (top), MD (Foods) S. Ravindranath and MD (Home & Personal Care) Arun Adhikari will deliver

In a world where everyone is chasing headlines, image becomes the simple function of three parameters: how you see yourself, how the world sees you, and what you do to get the world to see you the way you want to be seen. The listing on the right, of 50 companies, all big names in the Indian context, is, in some ways, a measure of image management. That a mere five companies of the 50 have a Quality of Exposure (score) less than 100 is significant. The QoE, as explained in the glossary/methodology on the far right that anyone wanting to make sense of this feature must read, is simply the ratio of good press a company receives to the overall press it does. Given that, only five companies fail to make the grade in terms of image management. Of the five, one is Air-India, the national carrier, and its low QoE shouldn't surprise anyone. Another is Hindustan Lever Limited, which almost breaks even (QoE of 98.1, and more on this later in the piece). And the other three are companies belonging to the Reliance Group-Reliance Industries, Reliance Infocomm and Reliance Energy-victims of an internecine battle between Mukesh Ambani and his younger brother Anil, the spiritual Siamese twins who once ran the group together.

Twelve companies, almost a fourth of the listing, belong to the automotive sector, 10 companies are from the information technology sector, and seven, telecom. Reliance Industries, expectedly, got written about the most (visibility), although a fair amount of the coverage seems to have been balanced or negative. Bharti Tele-Ventures got written about only half as much, but the bulk of the coverage seems to have been positive (that explains its QoE of around 150, around the same that of Wipro's).

The clear winner, however, would have to be Infosys. In 2004, only Reliance got more press than it (and everyone knows why), and much of the Infosys coverage was positive (its QoE is a healthy 133). Companies such as Johnson & Johnson (globally, one of the most quiet companies in the business of fast moving consumer goods) may have their reasons for preferring anonymity, but for most companies on the BT-Cirrus list, and many off it, image equals money, in terms of market value, should the companies be listed (or be planning an initial public offering), brand equity, or the simple ability to generate business by attracting customers.

Now for Hindustan Lever Limited. Its QoE of 98.1 isn't all that bad given the sheer volume of press it received in 2004 (third, after Reliance and Infosys). And although P&G, Dabur and Marico boast highest QoEs, their image scores are a fraction HLL's. If there's a moral in this story it is that the image score, not QoE, is paramount, although a very low QoE, like Coca-Cola India's 53.1 is definitely cause for concern. In HLL's case, the fact that everyone concerned, analysts, consultants and the media, decided to take a wait-and-watch approach to its restructuring into two businesses with two CEOs, seems to have worked in its favour.

SECTORS ON A ROLL

High-profile visits from a series of Microsoft honchos, including CEO Steve Ballmer, helped Microsoft India Chairman Ravi Venkatesan keep his company top-of-mind; two launches (the new Zen and Esteem) were all it took Maruti CEO Jagdish Khattar (right) to do the same

In 2004, the world was talking about Indian IT and IT-enabled services firms, and the country's booming telecom market (the second most happening market in the world, after China, as the CEO of a global telecommunications firm put it). Then, there was the fact that everyone expected Indian carmakers to sell over a million units in a calendar year for the first time ever (a factoid that, no doubt, had something to do with the 10 cars that were launched in 2004). Predictably enough, the three sectors accounted for more image points than all other sectors in the top 10 (see Top 10 Sectors on page 90).

A rough back-of-the-envelope calculation would seem to suggest that across sectors, companies that boasted image scores in excess of 30,000 or 35,000 were responsible for much of the good news: there were Infosys, Wipro, Microsoft, and TCS in it; Maruti, Tata, Hyundai, Bajaj and DaimlerChrysler in auto; Bharti, BSNL and Reliance Infocomm in telecom; HLL in fast moving consumer goods; LG and Samsung in consumer durables; and ICICI Bank in banking. The pharma industry, despite its great performance on the bourses-the BT Pharma index moved from 212.77 on January 1, 2004 to 249.86 on December 31, 2004, an increase of 17.43 per cent; in the same period the BT 50 index moved from 220.73 to 253.55, an increase of 14.86 per cent-has not really managed to attract as much attention as any of these other industries.

A halfway decent mathematician, willing to invest time and some serious effort, can surely arrive at an equation linking a company's image score and QoE to its stock price. However, this magazine would advise against such an approach. While it is true that the future performance of a company's stock is based on its performance and potential, both factors that are, in turn, reflected in its image score, linking the first to the third would be stretching things a bit. Still, if fundamental, or technical analysis bores you, try this.

		A blockbuster initial public offering, eventually oversubscribed 7.69 times, helped the country's largest and, arguably, oldest software firm, Tata Consultancy Services make the most news in the 'financials' dimension. Tata Sons Chairman Ratan Tata and TCS CEO S. Ramadorai (right) have reason to look pleased as punch
Tech glimmer twins Infosys and Wipro (the first's CEO Nandan Nilekani is on the left, the second's CEO Vivek Paul on the right) stayed in the public eye, courtesy their financial performance, media-interest in their growth strategies and the charisma of their leadership

IN THE PUBLIC EYE

Marketing companies may be rapidly losing ground to information technology, consulting and financial services firms on B-school campuses across the country, but in terms of coverage (in the media) and the consequent public interest, marketing, sales and everything to do with the two, rule. The fact that product launches are not part of this classification (product launches in at #4; see Top 5 Themes) only lends credence to this line of reasoning. However, although marketing and sales boast an image score of 795,094 points, the company ranked first in this theme, Maruti, accounts for a mere 28,256 points. In contrast, although the personalities theme boasts an image score of 217,011 points, Infosys, the #1 in this category accounts for 22,451 points. In effect, coverage in the marketing and sales category is scattered among hundreds of companies, while those in the corporate, personalities, product launches and financials categories are concentrated among far fewer companies. For instance, the top five companies in the marketing and sales category account for 14.66 per cent of the total image points (for this category), while the top five in the corporate category account for 23.2 per cent of total image points, and the top five in the personalities category account for 31.33 per cent.

THE QUIET BILLIONAIRE

If power is a function of wealth, India's richest man Azim Premji, the Chairman of Wipro, is the most powerful businessman in the country (as indicated by his presence in Fortune's power listing). Not surprisingly, he is among the most written about (and he always gets great press)

Azim H. Premji, the 59-year- old Chairman of Wipro Limited, does not have as public a persona as, say, his counterpart at that other Bangalore-based software giant Infosys technologies, N.R. Narayana Murthy. The latter speaks candidly, and at length, and at every available opportunity on the poor state of India's infrastructure, the need to have large cities directly governed by the central government to prevent them falling prey to political quirks of the local government, and just about anything else that has a bearing on the development of the country. The former speaks as well, but he speaks less. He is also far more reclusive (although that term can be used only in a relative way for both gentlemen; neither is a recluse really) than Murthy and, at one time, his paranoia about security manifested itself in an electrified fence around the company's corporate headquarters (this magazine isn't sure if it is still around). Like Murthy, Premji is a philanthropist, but the one thing that makes sure he gets written about almost as much as the former (and enjoys a much higher QoE) is his holding (83 per cent at last count) in Wipro Limited, which makes him, by far, the richest man in India. He is rich beyond imagination, austere in his habits, articulate and runs one of India's most respected companies. That helps.

Editorials reflect the mood of the media and often seek to shape popular opinion. Given that, Infosys (Chairman N.R. Narayana murthy is pictured here) has reason to cheer. P.S: The company doesn't fare too badly in terms of front-page coverage too

THE FRONT PAGE

Everyone's enduring obsession in 2004 was (and continues to be, as this article goes to press in February 2005), the spat between Reliance's Mukesh Ambani and his younger brother Anil Ambani. That could explain why Reliance made the front pages more than any other company (and how). Thus, while Reliance's visibility score was 43,813, Infosys' was 8,624 and Wipro's 7,155. The spat (as one would have expected) had its echoes in the editorial page too, with the company coming in third in terms of visibility score, after Infosys and Wipro. However, much of the coverage the company received, both on the front page and on the editorial page, was negative, which explains the QoE of 75.2 and 77.7 respectively. The stand-out performance came from Infosys (#2 in terms of image on the front page and #1 in terms of image on the editorial page) and Wipro (#3 and #2). Clearly, much of that has to do with the fact that both companies are leaders in one of the most happening sectors in the country, and both have very visible leaderships (N.R. Narayana Murthy and Nandan Nilekani in the case of Infosys, and Azim Premji and Vivek Paul in the case of Wipro). Given that the Indian it services industry is expected to do even better in 2005, this state of things is likely to continue. Unless, of course, the Brothers Ambani spend the better part of the year kissing and making up.

ANATOMY OF A CONFLICT

Mutually Assured Destruction is a cold war term that has now been consigned to storage. We dug it out because it best illustrated the fallout of the battle between RIL Chairman & MD Mukesh Ambani (right) and his brother, Reliance Industries Vice Chairman & MD, Anil

Since late 2004, reliance Industries' Chairman Mukesh Ambani, and its Vice Chairman and his younger brother Anil have used the media to make each's position vis-à-vis the other clear. However, while the media (especially newspapers) have written extensively about this, much of the coverage has been negative (and justifiably so). Thus, the image scores and Quality of Exposure of almost all companies in the Reliance fold, Reliance Industries, Reliance Infocomm and Reliance Energy, have suffered, both overall and in the individual categories in which they appear. Still worse, despite their best efforts, neither brother looks good. Thus, Mukesh Ambani's QoE (in the context of this conflict and the moves made by him and his camp) is 59.2 and Anil Ambani's 44.8. More proof that the spat between the two was, and is, bad for business comes from the combined QoE of the group, a mere 8.1. That would mean that much of the writing has focussed on alleged violations of good governance practices by the group's companies. The scores seem to indicate that in their battle for control, and their desire to arrive at a settlement that is equitable in either's mind, the two brothers have embarked on an internecine fight.

GUEST COLUMN N SOURAV DE, HEAD/CIRRUS Taking PR To The Next Level

The debate on advertising versus public relations (PR) refuses to die. Some have even predicted the end of advertising as we know it and the emergence of PR as the most effective tool of mass communication. Will the world look any better without the razzmatazz of advertising? We do not know. What we do know, however, is that PR has started playing a key role in the building of brands. A look at the more successful global brands of the last decade, Google, eBay, Amazon, Wal-Mart, who are definitely not among the top spenders on advertising is a pointer to this fact. What has worked for them is a well-orchestrated PR strategy. Take boy wonder Harry Potter, or our very own Infosys and Wipro; a keen focus on managing public perception has made these brands what they are. PR as a discipline has also evolved very fast. It is no longer touchy-feely. It is scientific, research-based and competing hard with advertising-led communication for its rightful place under the sun. Sadly, India Inc. is yet to harness the true potential of a well-oiled PR machinery. Managing 'perceptions' and 'image' through PR is yet to be a priority area for many of them. For instance, consider the Indian pharmaceutical sector. It's hardly surprising that there is only one pharma company (Ranbaxy) in the CIRRUS Top 50, considering that some of the leading Indian drug manufacturers are better known in the West than they are in India. Even though the US pharma industry was shaken to its roots by the unprecedented price war unleashed by these companies, in their effort to help African countries fight the AIDS menace, their heroics went almost unheard in India. In contrast, the Indian IT industry is managing its reputation well. Insurance and asset management companies are also showing increasing professionalism and maturity. For them PR is the most credible, efficient and economic option. Despite widespread acceptance of its effectiveness and credibility, PR budgets are still a small part of overall promotional expenses in corporate India. Corporate communication strategies seldom make it to board meetings. What has held back PR as a subject is the lack of scientific tools to measure the efficacy of a PR plan, and evaluate and benchmark such activities to derive value for the rupee spent. Interestingly, work on PR evaluation, media analysis and competitive benchmarking started in India quite early. PR outputs were measured and quantified in the most elaborate and analytical ways. The evaluation models and deliverables are gaining wide appreciation and acceptance from the biggies in the IT, pharma, insurance, consumer durables, FMCG, automobiles, banking, mutual fund, cement and retail industries. The industry is also working on the unpredictability of PR efforts and very soon we will be able to forecast the outcomes of each and every PR exercise. We are doing our part and the PR industry is doing its own to take corporate communication to the next level. It's time for corporate India to pitch in with funds to attract the best talents to the industry. The return on investment in PR has traditionally been high and can only go higher. It's time to rethink and review budgets. CIRRUS is a Delhi-based monitoring agency and part of agencyfaqs.com. Feedback to bt-cirrus@cirrus.com