Will PRs have to work harder? As seen in PR week

Farewell the BBC Asian Network, unless outcry from celebrity fans can change Mark Thompson’s mind.   Wherever you stand on the issue, the story should shake up a PR industry too often complacent about the UK’s growing Asian community. 

For too long, the BBC Asian network provided a tick box answer for clients outside their comfort zone.  With 360,000 listeners and the BBC logo it’s easy to present the network as a catch all solution. If your client’s story is covered then every Asian in the UK heard about it, right?

Wrong. With or without the network, PRs need to work harder and smarter to target the Asian community.  Understanding and celebrating the diversity of audiences and media is the key to success.  First, ‘Asian’ isn’t enough.  Clients need to understand the cultural and religious sensitivities of different groups and the way in which their messages will be received.  Second, the one size fits all approach doesn’t work.  Good PRs need relationships with many independent, local radio stations that serve particular communities and a sound understanding of community specific print titles that most databases ignore. 

Communicating with two million UK Asians requires a dedicated work programme, not a single radio schedule.

Ashnoor Pardhan, head of diverse communities, Linstock Communications

www.linstockcommunications.com