How Beijing handles public relations (and where it needs improvement)

MANILA, Philippines -My PR colleagues and I attended the 18th International Public relations World Congress (IPRA) in Beijing last year from Nov. 13-15. IPRA is the largest organization of senior PR professionals in the world and the theme was “The Role of PR in Building a Harmonious Society in the Era of Globalization.”

Our delegation included Max Edralin, PR consultant of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas; Rene Nieva, president of Perceptions, Inc.; Romy Virtusio, chairman of Virtusio Public Relations, Inc.; Edd Fuentes, president of Fuentes Publicity Network; Millie Dizon, first vice president, Marketing Communications Group, SM Inc.; and myself, the chairperson of the IPRA Philippine chapter. Romy, Rene and I brought along our family members, so the “extended” group included Lulu Virtusio, Arel Virtusio, Dessa Virtusio, Geny Nieva, Adrian Buensalido, Monique Buensalido, Jason Buensalido and Nikki Boncan.

My secondary reason for going to Beijing was personal: I wanted to see for myself the second largest city in China, site of the recent Beijing Olympics which, to me (and to most of the world), had proven to be one of the finest executed public relations campaigns in recent history. I was going to be with my professional colleagues and at the same time I had my family along with me; how can a journey like that not be motivating?

Well, Beijing turned out to be not only remarkable but appealing in many ways. This seemed to be the best time to visit Beijing because all the evidence of the city’s extreme makeover and facelift was still highly noticeable. I call these my “B” impressions or moments (all starting with the letter “B”) — things that showcased the most positive components of a public relations program to promote Beijing to the world.

1. Briefing on PR by AcrossChina Communication Group: On our first day in Beijing, we were invited by a local PR agency called AcrossChina to visit their office located in the premier part of the city called Soho. Right after checking in, we were picked up by two agency representatives who took us from our hotel across town to their modern offices where a welcome sign and their agency officials greeted us warmly. For more than an hour they took us through China’s big-budget campaigns which sufficiently impressed upon us that public relations here is of massive proportions and quite advanced in this country of 1.5 billion people.

2. Big, wide roads and black powerful luxury cars: The most striking sign of progress in this city were their big and extremely wide roads, which led someone to remark that their regular roads were the equivalent of our expressways in the Philippines. Jack, our Chinese tour guide who was quite articulate in English, told us that there is an eight-lane highway of 50 kilometers from north to south. As we drove along those roads we couldn’t help wishing our own Philippine roads could be like theirs soon.

Black luxury cars greeted us everywhere, looking like something out of a Mafia movie. These sleek Audis, we were told, were the ubiquitous official vehicles of the government officials, along with BMWs. We found out later that Beijing sells more BMWs than the entire Europe, quite a clear indication of Chinese prosperity. Where were all the bicycles? we wondered. They seemed to have disappeared, replaced by private cars, many of them SUVs.

3. Beijing Friendship Hotel: This was the venue of the congress which also served as our residence for our stay. It is said there are scarcely any major buildings in Beijing that do not have at least some national historical significance. Our hotel consisted of several buildings contained inside a tree-lined compound which reminded us of shaded university campuses like Harvard or even Ateneo on a smaller scale. We found out that Beijing Friendship Hotel used to house the Russian soldiers who supported Mao Tse Tung after the Communist takeover in 1949. With such a history, this hotel immediately assumed a special ambience for all foreigners and guests. Beijing has many more “friendship” hotels and historical buildings in the city, a veritable source of substantial public relations topics.

4.  Beijing duck (otherwise known as Peking duck): Max Edralin deemed it a success: our search for the best Peking duck in the city of 18 million people took us to a restaurant called Quanjude on Wafujing St. There, we were lucky to grab the last available table in a packed place. It was Rene Nieva’s birthday treat for our entire group of 13. The roast duck was served in extremely delicious slices inside thin pancakes with onion and cucumber; we savored it as we dined with Rene and his wife Geny. We noted that this famous dining place has been roasting duck since 1864 (the third year of Tongzhi, Qing dynasty), enjoying a history of over 140 years.

5. Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium: We were dropped off at the Olympic Village a little after 5 p.m. and we all had to rush because the Bird’s Nest was closing at 6 p.m. We walked briskly because the weather was rather chilly and made it inside to gaze upon the stadium that had held a capacity crowd of 100,000 people last year who had come to watch the Olympic games.

6.  Bonding with friends and family: Five days in Beijing gave me the chance to bond not only with my daughter but with my six colleagues from IPRA Philippines, with whom I attended several sessions on various topics regarding the PR profession, as well as got to tour the beautiful city.

For my own family, bonding came in the form of a close-to-freezing trek along the Great Wall of China, all bundled up in our winter clothes to protect us from the blowing winds, which got stronger with every level we ascended. We reached as far as the middle portion and decided that was enough; we headed back down. We had seen for ourselves this amazing architectural marvel which, again, could be enough of a reason for so many people to visit Beijing.

7. Bob Grupp, president of IPRA 2008: Bob also heads his own Grupp Global Partners, and took time to meet with us and discuss some questions we had such as “How do we make Asia more important in the world of IPRA?” and “Is it possible for the Philippines to be a future venue for IPRA conferences?” Romy Virtusio, who chaired the IPRA Philippine chapter for many years and knew many of the longtime officers of IPRA, arranged the meet. Our group suggested that the Philippines would be an ideal site for a regional conference, then perhaps it could take on a future international world congress. We designated Edd Fuentes to make the pitch and entice the world’s leading PR people to come and visit Manila. In 2010 IPRA’s World Congress will be held in Lima, Peru. Who knows? Maybe the next one after that can be held right here in Manila.

8. Blessings at a historic Catholic Church: We attended Sunday Mass at a historic Catholic church, the church of the Immaculate Conception of the Southern Church, built by the Jesuits in the 16th century. We thanked God for the many blessings of this trip.

9. Bargaining at the Silk Market: Travel to any place has to include a visit to a bargain marketplace and for Beijing, this is the Silk Market on Silk Street. It’s a four-story building crammed with stalls selling silk, cashmere, sweaters, jackets, rainwear, blouses, pants and designer labels/brands with impressive fakes and factory seconds, much like our Greenhills shopping center.

10. Barrier to communication: My last “B” refers to the only obstacle to our total enjoyment of Beijing — the language gap. The theme of our PR congress was “Building a Harmonious Society in the Globalization Era” and yet, the Chinese speakers all spoke in their own language, leaving half the audience to decipher their speeches via poor translation through earphones. It was clear to us that their message was: “We will contribute our part to the betterment of society by contributing to global initiatives but leave us alone… globalization is not Americanization; it is not Westernization.” The entire conference, we concluded, was designed to heavily favor the Chinese participants.

Two unforgettable signs that I noted down were these, seen in a public park: “Mind yourself restraint so you can mold your well mannered imagination,” and “A single act of carelessness leads to the eternal loss of beauty.”

When you go to Beijing, be sure to find a good English-speaking Chinese guide so you can better appreciate your impressions of this wonderful city. If they ever ask us to do PR for Beijing, that’s the first thing we would recommend: Put up well-written signs for tourists and visitors.