USE OF PR IN

MANAGING THE
PANDEMIC IN INDIA
 BACKGROUND

M
ankind faced an unprecedented COVID-19 crisis which
threatens the very existence of the human race. We experienced
various setbacks. COVID-19 has changed the way we live,
work and interact with others, like no other disease. In spite of intensive
global and national efforts for more than one year, the pandemic continues
to spread unabated and has taken a heavy toll on human health and
economy.Almost every country was in lockdown since March, and
because of that, the global market is in doldrums and entering a state of
recession. Businesses are facing huge losses and are forced to curb their
expenses in various ways.
With the global market observing a slowdown, most of the industries are
trying to survive. The PR industry is no exception. We all know that the
PR and media industries go hand in hand.The COVID-19 pandemic threw
one of the biggest challenges at the Public Relations community. Consider
the following scenario: There is widespread panic often triggered by
misinformation; as the reported cases were rising, hospitals did not have
capacity to deal with the crisis sending alarm bells ringing; the stress of
social distancing and lockdowns were affecting focus and performance;
employees were being sent on furlough, many were being retrenched; the
questions related to sick pay were going answered; customers in the dark;
and deep uncertainty around manufacturing, travel, supply chains and
public services.

IMPORTANCE AND ROLE PUBLIC RELATIONS DURING

COVID-19 CRISIS
Every business and service has been affected, along with its customers.As
we traverse through the time of social distancing, Indian industries try
their best to stay unscathed during Work-from-Home (WFH) and the
challenges it presents. Like every sector, PR & Communications industry
too is impacted; This is the perfect storm into which PR stepped in and
brought about calm using some crisis and risk communication best
practices mixed with some intuitive solutions. The special Edelman report
called Brand Trust and the Coronavirus Pandemic found that 78% of
respondents felt businesses had a responsibility to ensure their employees
are protected from the virus in the workplace and to not spread the virus
into the community.

Several countries have successfully reduced their COVID-19 infection

rate early, while others have been overwhelmed. The reasons for the
differences are complex, but response efficacy has in part depended on the
speed and scale of governmental intervention and how communities have
received, perceived, and acted on the information provided by
governments and other agencies.

Especially after the pandemic, the need for strong, effective and
differentiated communication using PR and Digital as a tool has become
very pivotal. One study of 300 communications executives and senior
leaders in early March saw 62% respondents saying that the
communication function has been a “very important” factor.

Again, this is predictable: No one could have foreseen a health threat on a

global scale that forced a complete shutdown of entire countries, stopped
all cross-border travel and brought the wheels of global commerce to a
grinding halt. What the survey findings show is that there are gaps in the
PR practitioner’s emergency response playbook. To address the situation
most PR teams will have to use experience and gut feel to strategize, plan
and execute action.

Since early March 2020, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
gradually escalated communications and spent on advisories pertaining to
the Covid-19 outbreak. By the time, WHO had declared it to be a global
pandemic on March 11, the Government of India had already initiated an
awareness campaign allowing the citizens of India access to the latest
news and updates on Coronavirus and be able to protect themselves.

CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS

As we already know, effective crisis communication is critical for

successful crisis management. The following is an attempt to unravel the
public communication efforts of the India government in its successful
Covid-19 crisis management efforts during the first wave of the pandemic.

1. Subsequently, The Times of India (12th March, Mumbai edition),

Hindustan Times (12th March, Delhi edition), Deccan Herald (12th
March, Bengaluru edition), and Indian Express (12th March, Pune
edition) carried either state or central government advisory on
Covid-19. On March 10, India had reported its first casualty from
the virus in Karnataka.

1. Subsequently, The Times of India (12th March, Mumbai edition),

Hindustan Times (12th March, Delhi edition), Deccan Herald (12th
March, Bengaluru edition), and Indian Express (12th March, Pune
edition) carried either state or central government advisory on
Covid-19. On March 10, India had reported its first casualty from
the virus in Karnataka.
2. On March 19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had the nation's
attention with his first speech on the threat of Covid-19. He
requested citizens to maintain order, avoid overcrowding hospitals,
minimise travel unless absolutely necessary and initiate a self-
imposed or Janta Curfew on Sunday, March 22.
Until then, most of the government communication had come through the
mass media via television and newspapers, and statutory mentions in AIR
and Doordarshan.
“Despite the clout of AIR and DD, in the age of private news channels and
FM, urban India has been rallied around mostly by private news channels
and government advertising in newspapers,” observes Dilip Cherian,
Founder & Managing Partner, Perfect Relations.

DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION USING DIFFERENT

TYPES OF MEDIA
At the central government level, the Ministry of Health and Family
Welfare advertised on TV, print and digital mediums to raise awareness on
the virus. At the state levels, COVID-19 announcements and campaigns
have been promptly deployed by the Maharashtra State Government and
Delhi Government leveraging print and OOH mediums.
Advisories have been issued by various institutions of public service. In
Maharashtra, the Public Health Department, Maharashtra State, the
Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), and Mumbai
Police.
In Delhi, the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of
NCT of Delhi, Committee on Peace and Harmony, Delhi Legislative
Assembly, and Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government
of India.
The address by PM Modi galvanised the government into action and till
date Print, Radio, Digital, Mobile, OOH and TV have been leveraged as
part of the 360 degree awareness campaign.

 When the pandemic began, it was realised that words and phrases like
Quarantine, Social Distancing, Lockdown need to be communicated well.
Most people didn’t know what these terms meant. Social distancing was
an alien concept. Epidemiologists and health experts came up with Do’s
and Don’ts for preventing the spread of the Virus. Fake News and Myth
Busters was another challenge that MyGov had to deal with. We had all
kinds of conspiracy theories ranging from Wuhan Lab experiment gone
wrong to use of hot water and garlic to kill the Virus. There was a need to
bust these myths and focus on making interventions like use of Masks and
washing hands for 20 seconds, the norm. This was done with explanatory
infographics and videos that helped explain all these in simple language.
Towards this objective, MyGov India, the citizen engagement platform of
Government of India launched several initiatives on its MyGov.in
platform as also its dedicated COVID19 page — corona.mygov.in to
support the communication efforts of Ministry of Health & Family
Welfare. MyGov has a presence on almost all social media platforms that
include not only the conventional ones like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter,
YouTube, LinkedIn but for COVID19 campaign, MyGov is also using the
unconventional platforms like Telegram, TikTok, Helo, VMate, Likee with
an objective to reach out to all sections of people by leveraging all
channels and platforms. Content was created in multiple languages as also
the sign language to ensure that everyone becomes part of the
communications. Videos from reputed doctors were made to ensure clear
and correct messaging. MyGov also launched its MyGov Saathi Chatbot
that is available on WhatsApp & FB Messenger and is also available
on https://mygov.in and https://self4society.mygov.in . MyGov Saathi is a
mobile enabled platform and uses a menu-driven approach, allowing users
to select available options such as “Latest Update on Coronavirus in
India”, “State level Status”," “Useful Alerts” and “Where to get help” to
access information. It provides ready access to Covid-19 related resources
such as latest updates, helplines, advisories from various central and state
government departments as well as access to Self4Society initiatives
including donation and volunteering opportunities.
Another key feature of the communications in COVID19 campaign is the
ability to ensure adherence to lockdown regulations which are amongst
the strictest in the world and has contributed greatly in limiting the spread

of the pandemic and bringing down the rate of doubling of cases, which is
essential for flattening the curve. This was made possible by the calls
made by Prime Minister for the Janata Curfew, cheering doctors with
clapping, 9PM9Minute lamp lighting, showering of petals , etc.. Some
may not find any merit or value in these initiatives, but through the
sentiment analysis of the social media posts, it was found that a vast
majority of people supported these measures. Also Pledges were
introduced around these campaigns – Janata Curfew Pledge, Stay Home
Stay Safe Pledge and Fight Against Corona – which saw participation of
lakhs of people. The Citizens Ideas and Suggestions page on
COVID19 saw more than 100,000 suggestions coming from citizens.
The Innovation Challenge for tech solutions launched on MyGov led to
brilliant ideas and solutions – including those on Contact Tracing which
has now evolved into Aarogya Setu app. Quiz on COVID19 has
seen almost 100,000 entries. These initiatives help people get
involved and once they are engaged, they feel part of the overall
solution to the COVID19. It has been very important
part of our
communications strategy.
The launch of the Aarogya Setu app is an important part of the COVID19
campaign. Given the questions raised by some with regard to privacy
issues, it was essential to communicate clearly about what the App does,
why it is required and how Privacy is built into the App by design. This
was done by innovative use of graphics and videos. Even celebrities like
Ajay Devgn helped in creating the #SetuMeraBodyguard campaign which
was also endorsed by similar videos by regional language superstars like
Nirahua in Bhojpuri and Anuj Sharma in Chhattisgarhi. Top cricketers
helped in the #TeamMaskForce campaign that promoted use of Masks.
Campaigns around these hashtags were launched on Social Media
platforms that helped in getting user generated content even in
regional
languages that contributed to carrying the message far and wide.
The Lockdown instructions were a major challenge for us. Feedback was
that many people were finding it difficult to interpret the directions and
there was confusion on what to do and what not to. Immediately, MyGov
demystified the directions and instructions by coming up with simple,
easy to read and understand infographics which became very popular.
These were also translated in various languages with help and support of a
volunteer group who did it pro bono. With Lockdown, came the challenge
migrants and there was a lot of issue regarding Shelter homes and feeding
centres for the poor and urban homeless. MyGov collaborated with
Google Maps and Map My India and put details of Shelters and Feeding
Homes of around 750 cities on Maps so that they become easy to find and
locate. Google also launched a messaging service for MyGov on Google
Maps which has been integrated with the Saathi Chatbot to answer queries

instantly.
When the Myth Busters infographic was released, it became viral and
millions of people shared it. A suggestion was received to make it
available in audio format. Accordingly, these as also COVID19 updates
were converted into Audio Podcasts as part of MyGov Samvaad. These
podcasts were also shared with more than 200 Community Radio Stations
who translated the content and helped expand the outreach of COVID19
messaging. Further, it was felt that we also need to address anxiety, stress
specially for people during the Lockdown. So, an initiative called Positive
Harmonies was launched in which prominent musicians from across the
country created special numbers for MyGov along with their messages to
help manage the crisis. This has become very popular.

One key feature of all these endeavours have been that all of this was
managed by our teams – working from home. Team members collaborated
across cities and came up with brilliant innovations. We were greatly
benefitted with collaborations with top tech companies, media, volunteers
and various Government departments. Innovation & Collaboration seems
to be our strength that has not only helped us in our communications but

will ultimately help us tide this crisis also.

REFERENCES
1. https://www.pr.co/blog/ten-reasons-pr-became-more-important-during
-covid-19
2. https://www.mygov.in/campaigns/
3. https://www.mygov.in/covid-19
4. https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/transparency -
communication-and-trust-the-role-of-public-communication-in-
responding-to-the-wave-of-disinformation-about-the-new-
coronavirus-bef7ad6e/
5. https://scroll.in/article/1001703/to-fight-covid-india-needs-a-
communication-campaign-as-effective-as-the-one-for-polio-eradication
6. https://www.prmoment.in/opinion/how-the-state-of-kerala-is-using-
communication-to-calm-the-public-while-fighting-covid19
7. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10810730.2021.
1871791
8. https://journals.lww.com/jfmpc/fulltext/2020/09080/importance_of_
effective_communication_during.1.aspx
9. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8246135/