“We are story tellers in the public relations industry and our stories are always based on truth. The difference between public relations and advertising is that we are non-fiction and they are fiction. They make fantastic things out of something that is imagined. In our case, it’s based on the good stories of our clients, their own experiences,what are their challenges, what are their business objectives,” elucidates Junie del Mundo, chief executive of EON and former career diplomat with 13 years in foreign relations in France, Portugal, and UNESCO, in an exclusive conversation with adobo magazine.
Aptly enough for the globetrotter, the occasion was to celebrate a partnership agreement of ENGAGE, a member company of the EON: The Stakeholder Relations Group, with Ruder Finn Asia, a subsidiary of Ruder Finn, Inc. with offices in Beijing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Singapore, led by chairman Jean-Michel Dumont.
Synergy
Del Mundo says that the partnership is significant for EON’s ENGAGE: “What we want to happen is to be able to tap into the knowledge base of Ruder Finn. Also, to be able to tap into the wealth of clientele of the Ruder Finn network. Plus there are certain training workshops where we could send our people. Ninety-nine percent of our people are millennials. That’s what they always craved for.”
He also explains the benefits for Ruder Finn Asia. “One of the areas of specialization Ruder Finn is rich reputation management, and I always tell them, ‘well you know I think we here in the Philippines we can give you the very best case studies in reputation management.’”
Del Mundo notes, “The Philippines is one of the most promising economies in the region, but also one that takes experience and expertise to navigate. ENGAGE takes pride in its years of experience handling clients in highly regulated and sensitive industries, and we look forward to sharing our expertise in this area as we also learn from Ruder Finn’s extensive risk management knowledge base.”
Dumont attests, “The Philippines is very important in the region for many of our clients, and we also see many Philippines-based companies looking to expand in the region. This partnership will further extend our regional reach and strengthen our network. I have known EON’s founder, Junie del Mundo, for more than 20 years and through the years, he and his team’s professionalism have always been at the highest level.”
“Jean Michel is one of the pioneers of the PR industry in China. I think he arrived in China when PR was not even known to exist. He’s one of those who developed the industry,” notes Del Mundo.
Forward looking
With over 30 years of experience in the industry, the two veteran public relation savants look forward to an exciting future of collaboration.
“I think one of the good things, having been in PR for 30 years, is you know where it is coming from. Now, it is a pure consolidation and merging of everything. We changed PR the way we did with media relations, and messaging and like that is what we have is a consolidation of advertising, marketing, and whole other elements of communication industry, culture and everything that is in line, so that makes it much more interesting, and that makes it also much more challenging because we need to understand the technology behind the changes. Social media has already changed everything over the last 5-10 years,” reveals Dumont.
Clickbait
Now that both public figures and the public at large are on social media posting and commenting directly and unfiltered, globally and round the clock, public relations practitioners are needed more than ever. Simply put, the same technology now allows public figures to embarrass or implicate themselves instantaneously also allows the public at large to vilify or discredit them with just a few taps on a touchscreen.
“We need to be much more ready today than we were before. So preparedness is very important for any corporation or product that you might have. More importantly we engage with the people upfront, making sure that we really keep the conversation going, engage them in different ways. Because when something goes wrong, we need to make sure we put all the good things around you to protect your reputation,because one person today can have the damage that it’s almost impossible to think about years ago,” Del Mundo notes.
Among EON: The Stakeholder Relations Group of companies, it is ENGAGE that specializes in public affairs and government relations consultancy. “As a matter of policy, EON doesn’t handle politicians. We handle government, but not politicians,” clarifies Del Mundo.
Nonetheless, when asked about his opinion on incumbent Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, he has this to say: “On the President, I think, this is really where PR advisers should work overtime because he really has to be told that there are certain things that are best left unsaid. There are certain things wherein you just do the action, then you have to be very careful in opening your mouth. Also it’s because President Duterte’s always been a mayor, a tough talking local government official. Now that he is in the international scene, any word that he utters would have an impact on the stock market, credit rating, bilateral relations, standing in the international Commission on Human Rights. I think it’s a tough job to be the handler of the President.”
