PR isn't the same in all pockets of the world and since the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, the PR that's cropped up in Russia is light years away from what's happening in the United States and other foreign countries. What PR execs and specialists working in Russia are learning is that before PR can gain a foothold there, a business communications infrastructure has to be in place and a lot of mentoring has to happen.
For now, PR in Russia, specifically in Moscow, is primarily a focus on media relations - which remains an enlusive concept for many companies not used to Western ways, sources say. But the impact of PR varies throughout the former Soviet Union, including in the Baltic States and the Commonwealth of Independent States, which includes the oil-rich region of Azerbaijan that borders the Caspian Sea. What it remains contingent upon is the power of the press and how natives view everything from crisis communications to consumer relations.
American corporate execs looking to maximize their operations in Russia are going to have to realize that PR is in its infancy. Succeeding in Moscow, where there are about 50 PR companies, no longer means having ties with certain government officials. Instead, it calls for being able to ready oneself for constant change and accept that there isn't any distinct or systematic approach.
It also calls for realizing that in Moscow, it's common practice for some media outlets to barter for payment for stories, according to Tatiana Berls, managing director of the Moscow office for APCO Associates Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm specializing in public affairs and strategic communications.
"PR in Russia is about implementing professional standards and teaching journalists that we won't pay for articles," said Boris Rybak, executive director of Infomost, a firm in Moscow that specializes in high-tech PR for companies, such as Rockwell Collins, GE Aircraft Engines and Airbus Industrie, in the avionics industry. "We have journalists and professionals who have no idea what it means to live in a new environment - in a capitalist society."
Rybak is Russian and heads an office with 12 employees who handle about $500,000 in annual PR fees. He said that PR makes up about 5 percent of present-day integrated communications in the Russian marketplace, with advertising claiming the additional 95 percent.
And Berls predicts that as more Western companies enter the Russian marketplace and trust in advertising continues to decine in Moscow, PR will become one of the leading ways corporations build confidence among Russian consumers who have been somewhat cynical.
"Public relations is poorly understood in Russia," Berls told PR NEWS. "APCO must spend an enormous amount or time working with journalists, developing a personal relationship of trust and demonstrating the value of information."
Russia on the Cusp of Change
Unfortunately, what has transpired in Russia - in both PR and the media - mirrors the plunge the country has taken since Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikstan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan became independent countries.
Today, the terms "black market" and "mafia" pepper stories that appear about the former draconian power. Those who have dealt with PR in Russia or have worked with Russian clients in the U.S. say that the country's tumultuous political and economic climates have affected the status of communications.
"Part of what we do is explain what PR is - about sending news releases; having stock photos on hand; making sure the press has access to senior executives; and schooling them about meeting with journalists in the United States," said Agnes Huff, senior VP of Fraser/Young Inc., a Santa Monica, Calif.-based PR, advertising and marketing firm which took on its first Russian client, Transaero Airlines, in March.
Fraser/Young will guide the Moscow-based company in PR in the U.S., including making crisis communications recommendations - a novel concept in some parts of Russia.
Still, Rybak said PR began to receive more attention during the recent political elections when Boris Yeltsin, in a savvy Western way, maximized his campaign with the help of PR. That, in turn, has focused more attention on government and media relations.
Both Rybak and Berls said that schooling the media in Moscow is a major part of what they do on a day-to-day basis.
Why? Because the Western system of a free press trying to reach a balance between generating revenue and keeping journalistic credibility has yet to be equitably meted out - or even broached in a business sense - in Russia. According to Berls, the press in Russia is "highly fractured," with dozens of Moscow-based newspapers representing differing political ideologies.
"After the collapse, we had this new press - newspapers, magazines, TV stations that weren't economically oriented and enjoyed this mass uncontrollable freedom until about 1995," Rybak said. "After that, more and more financial organizations [i.e. investment banks and holding companies] took shares in publications. These editors and reporters knew how to write stories but there was a lack of commercial experience so they had to form these alliances."
It's those alliances, in part, which have set up a marketplace where PR lags behind advertising, the darling of communications. And ironically, it's the PR specialists - who in America have long been regarded as spin doctors by many in the media - who are espousing the virtues of journalistic ethics in Moscow, according to Berls, and helping companies make inroads with the media.
"We are the educators," Berls added. "The ones who are teaching what corporate image building is all about." For Berls that means making sure her clients, such as Procter & Gamble, IBM and Mars, know they have advocates for PR in the Russian business world.
Part of that means establishing a rapport with reporters and editors at leading Russian publications, including Commersant Daily, a business newspaper; Ekspert, a magazine; Segodyna (Today), a daily business newspaper; Argumenty i Fakty (Arguments and Facts), a daily newspaper; and Interfax, a wire service. (Infomost, 011/7095-245-4946; APCO, 202/778-1000; Fraser/Young, 310/451-0300)