Dale Bhagwagar ADMITS to stealth and guerrilla PR tactics

Fake it to make it!

THE CONCEPT OF SELLING FAKE CELEBRITY NEWS TO MEDIA AGENCIES ARE TRENDING THESE DAYS. WE DELVE INTO THE DEPTH OF THESE NOTORIOUS ACTIVITIES AND KNOW WHAT TOP- NOTCH PR PEOPLE HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THIS GROWING TREND. JOGINDER TUTEJA TAKES ALOOK

Has Saif lost his stardom? While every actor in Bollywood is rushing to enter the Rs 100 to 200 crore clubs, there's one actor who seems to be losing the race.' Is Kill/ Dil going down in a major way with no revival whatsoever?' You want to know the complete truth about this superstar's extra marital love affair? Read on' T hese are extracts of some of the e- mails that have been floating around for quite some time now.

Shared as bulk in the garb of press releases, what makes them these e- mails unique is the fact that they are all anonymous with no PR, media, marketing or promotional body attached to them. They, for one, emerge out of nowhere, they don't really carry any credentials, any further queries on these go answered and no one really takes the ownership of the content.

Confirming the notorious trend, a fellow journalist informs, " Yes, even I have received such emails and initially I bought in to those content for some time. Their emails IDs have mischievous names like gossipXXXpr@ gmail. com, bollywoodtruthXX@ gmail. com, celebrityXXXbollywood@ gmail. com, bulletinXXX@ gmail. com, superXXXcelebritygossip@ gmail. com etc.

A few of them also indulge in sending out some leaked MMS clips ( which is still understandable, considering they could be directly for a film's promotion), most of them have a single point agenda of harming a celebrity's reputation or a film's fortune." This disturbing trend has caught on in a big way and the advent of social media has just added to the advantages of the trend.

Such anonymous e- mails, which is sent out to hundreds of journalists and media houses, has only ended up bringing in further negativity into the business of film PR and marketing.

Parag Desai, one of the well- known PR people in the industry and the CEO of Universal Communications, hits the nail right on the head as he reveals, " Initially, when social media came into being, few actors in the industry began this trend.

They started creating many fake IDs to put down films of other actors. Soon enough, the ones about whom negative stories were being written, got hold of the same arms as well. No one realised that they were just killing each other." His point seems valid as, barring a few actors who have traditionally stayed away from any controversies, practically everyone is hit by this storm. They were soon joined by the eager- to- please media professionals, who felt that by writing negatively about rivals, they could satiate the requirements of their clients. But this couldn't have been done through official channels due to obvious reasons and so e- mail IDs like the ones mentioned were put together, resulting into mayhem.

Says Ebrahim Contractor, a relatively new entrant in the industry, who has grown from being a PR representative to now being the owner of Pearl Media Communications, " There are a few publicists who believe in this trend to grab attention but little do they realise that it does more damage to their clients in the long run as the reactions are hardly conducive to anyone's reputation. So even though the trend is growing, one needs to be aware that the outcome may have a backlash." His point does make sense because at the end of the day, while harm is certainly done, those with talent eventually end up coming out unscathed and after a point in time are hardly bothered about what is written about them. The veterans in the industry believe that PR tactics are understandable and acceptable as long as they are done in an innovative way.

" I have been using stealth and guerrilla PR tactics since ages, but I don't send out mails with fake IDs. Instead, I have used more intelligent and innovative ways to plug and plant, which is an intricate part of PR influence and manipulation, in a world where perception is reality. Of course, I cannot expose my tactics in print, because they will then stand the risk of losing their effect in the future," says Dale Bhagwagar, Bollywood PR guru, who is currently covering certain celebrities in the ongoing season of Bigg Boss.

He goes on to add, " If some PRs are using fake IDs to plug and plant news, I can only say that they might not be good at their job, because these are clichd and boring methods. The PRs using fake IDs to achieve a somewhat similar effect, are like immature kiddos in the profession of spin, not worthy of being called spin doctors." The real work to do would have a much better way to go around with their profession instead of planting negative stories with no sense and purpose whatsoever.

Agreeing to which Parag says, " Honestly, I hardly find time to think about a PR strategy of my own films, how can I have time to sabotage others? If someone out there is doing that and that too anonymously, it is clear that he or she doesn't have talent and time to get good work and is vella' ( worthless) enough to pull down others." His thought gets a nod of approval from another senior PR professional in the industry who doesn't wish to be named.

However, he did throw in a couple of interesting points. " I will tell you something, some of the perpetuators of such e- mails are those failed distributors who call themselves as trade analysts, trade pundits or critics. They don't know anything. If they don't like a film or the collections are falling, they would keep e- mailing the same articles and reviews while tweeting them till the end of the film's run. They do all to damage a film." There is massive disappointment that has started building up from those who are within the industry. The ones in charge of PR and marketing of corporate houses have been left wondering if this is another battle that they should start combating now, other than the usual challenge that anyways accompanies the right placement of a film.

" It is so crazy when someone tries to sabotage a film or a celebrity. It is a planned and deliberate campaign. Such negative stories do not help in keeping with the spirit of the film fraternity. You can't just run someone down, whether an individual or a film. It seems things are only getting nastier as people are struggling to get into the Rs 100 to 200 crore clubs," says a Marketing Manager at one of the top production houses in the country.

Thankfully, there are people within the industry who believe a change can be brought around if those within the fraternity began to unanimously take a call and stop encouraging any such anonymous stuff in the offering. T- Series' PR Sonal Chawla, who comes from a journalistic background and has seen the other side of the world where those with the responsibility of delivering news have daily targets to fill, believes that it is a matter of time when the bubble would burst.

" The media fraternity can easily recognise if news that is sent out carries a special agenda against a movie or a celeb. I am sure just like you, other esteemed journalists too realise the motive behind the negative news which is sent by these fake IDs. If they ( the anonymous IDs) are floating news about some particular celeb, tomorrow there will be news floating around about their client ( celeb) as well. But fortunately, most of the journalists have a mind of their own, for not giving leverage to such negative news which carries a special agenda.

This is no trend and should not be given any kind of importance," she adds.

Adds Parag, " Yes, journalists should be alert and responsible enough, to gauge what is fake news and what is real news. Because of so many websites and blogs floating around, kid writers just pick up stuff and post without even verifying. I think people should block such anonymous IDs and stop creating monsters by giving them importance.

There is a lot of work in the industry that needs to be done and they should concentrate on being creative and innovative, instead of copy- pasting the garbage that comes to them. They better work hard." Or perhaps smart, as Dale would like us to agree. " A true- blue spin doctor uses tactics that can never have others pointing fingers at him, and also, where he is legally safeguarded. The fun of guerrilla tactics in PR, is the other person not knowing when the opponent would come, how he would come, in what disguise he would come, where he would come from, which media ( print, TV, Internet, radio, mobile space, industry gossip, social media) he would use, what he would do via the media and where he would disappear. That's real stealth," Dale says.

While this is indeed a fair point, those who have seen the industry up, close and personal too believe that this too shall pass.