Here we are…
back with another one the series of interviews with bright PR professionals
from around the world for this blog, “global public relations”,
in-cooperation with the World Communication Forum – #WCFDavos.
This time we had the chance to
talk to a very inspiring, energetic and experienced senior PR
professional from Bulgaria. I have the honour to introduce Maxim Behar.
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| Sofia, Bulgaria |
Maxim
Behar is a Bulgarian businessman, CEO and Chairman of the Board of
M3 Communications Group, Inc. – a
leading Public Relations and Public Affairs company. He is one of the most
well-known and influential persons in the PR business in Bulgaria and Europe.
One of the founders of the World Communication Forum in Davos and person
dedicated 24/7 to our profession. He is also lecturing in many countries,
forums and universities all over the world on Social Media and Modern Communications’
topics.
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| Maxim Behar |
M3 Communications
Group, Inc. has won numerous awards. In 2010, the company won the Stevie Awards
PR Agency of the Year in Europe; the 2011 Eastern European Consultancy of the
Year by The Holmes Report; and in 2011 Stevie Awards Agency of the Year in
Europe. Since 2012, Mr. Behar is also Chairman of Hill+Knowlton
Strategies, Czech Republic. In 2013 Maxim
Behar has been elected Chairman of the World Communication Forum
in Davos for one term and he is currently Vice President of
ICCO, the largest PR community in the world. Mr. Behar is Honorary Consul
of Republic of Seychelles in Bulgaria. M3 Communications is the exclusive
partner-agency of the #WCFDavos in Bulgaria.
1. Dear Mr.
Behar, you founded M3 Communications more than 20 years ago. How has the
Bulgarian PR market changed since then?
Mr. Behar: For 20 years
Public Relations business changed tremendously not only in Bulgaria, but in
fact all over the world. Bulgaria, as emerging market, logically is much more
dynamic one than many others and also - changes are much more visible. Of
course social media, the challenges they introduced, their management and
presenting them to the clients are on the top of the innovations, which
Bulgarian market faces nowadays.
2. How would you
evaluate the Global Public Relations activity in these last 20 years? In your
opinion, which would be the highlights of change and development of the
industry in this period?
Mr. Behar: Changes
globally have been amazing. Now, it is totally new business, new tools, new
relations... Everything has changed in a way that coming back 20 years ago i am
more than sure now we're in a totally different business. The truth is that
Public Relations, public communications at all are on the secondary market and
depend on two important things - business environment and communications tools.
Both hands have changed - so our business changed twice! Although, the main
difference was a result of the total change of the media landscape and
communications which means, mainly, the fact that everyone owns media in the
current times.
A short post on the Facebook or an opinion on Twitter wall might
be much more powerful than a long article in the most influential printed
newspaper. So... the ownership of media had changed entirely and then our
responsibilities and tasks in the PR business have changed too. We put much
more efforts these days to learn how to manage social media to make a client's
project more attractive to the stakeholders than on how to approach media with
client's project. By the way - for all our World's Communications Forum
editions, from the very first one - those changes always have been dominating
our discussions and presentations. From that point of view I think the forum in
Davos is an undoubted a leader of the global communications and PR experts
gatherings.
3. What is the
size of the Bulgarian PR market? How many agencies? How many and which
associations represent PR & Communications professionals in Bulgaria today?
Mr. Behar: Relatively
small, but it is a very fast growing market on the account of the smaller
circulation of the printed media and also on the account of the advertising
expenses, of course. There are 10 to 15 enough large companies, about 30 medium
sized and most probably 200 more "one man show", which called
themselves "PR experts". Anything different from any other country of
the post-socialist markets. Bulgarian Association of PR Agencies, which
Chairman I was and now I am a Board Member, has 17 members and its BAPRA Bright
Awards are the most influential annual PR rating in the country. Almost
all international companies are represented in the market - Hill+Knowlton
Strategies, Fleishman-Hillard, Havas and Publicis are the strongest. The market
is very, very creative as the competition is very strong there and it require
extra efforts with lower budgets to satisfy the international clients.
4. M3
Communications Group, Inc. is an international PR agency, could you tell us a
bit about interesting cases you had nationally and abroad?
Mr. Behar: For the past
20 years, we at M3 Communications Group, Inc. has developed more than 5,200
projects, all of them personally controlled by me, many of them developed with
my participation. We have in our history amazing projects, unique ones, which
all my teams are proud of.
M3 Communications Group, Inc. was the one to introduce
to the local market international giants like Microsoft, Nokia, Cisco, Michelin,
Danone and many others. Very recently we had a crisis management project, which
for sure soon will be in the international PR books. One of our clients - the
French wine and spirits corporation Belvedere Group suffered severe problems
with the Bulgarian juridical system - the court dismissed the local management,
appointed trustee and blocked CEO's access to the offices. Only the huge
publicity of this act, including the French Ambassador's in Sofia appearance in
a TV talk show, but also public and pro-active press events created huge
scandal among the judges and politicians in Sofia, so in a couple of weeks the
judge, who took this decision was dismissed and the winery and warehouses given
back to Belvedere Group. On this case only, I could write probably a book, this is
just a brief. There are much more similar, managed by M3 Communications Group,
Inc. and all of them... successful.
5. M3 Communications Group, Inc. is specialized
in PR advice, event management and social campaign. In these three distinct
areas of communications, what are the most important points to consider when
drafting a strategy be of PR, events or social? Do it vary a lot?
Mr. Behar: Social Media
are definitely prevailing, no doubt about this. The ideas and creative
approaches are sometimes very different, but the tools are mostly similar -
online social places of exchange news and knowledge. You can call them
"social media" but for my judgement they are much. much more than media,
I would call then "points of interactive knowledge".
6. You are a
Committee Member of the World Communication Forum. Could you describe your
activities within this organisation?
Mr. Behar: I am with the Forum from the very first day of its
establishment and it is one of my "children", which I love it very
much. As a Committee member I have various responsibilities, but the most
important one is to take care of the online publicity of the Forum and to help
the office in their daily duties. We are not a typical Executive Committee as
we are on the first place friends, committed to the idea of modern public
communications, particularly Public Relations and Social Media and also we
terribly love our job and assignments. But without being good friends and
professionals the Forum would not be as successful and growing as it is
nowadays.
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| World Communication Forum - Davos Congress Centre |
7. You are one
truly global citizen, travelling and working in many different regions. How do
would you rate the importance of networking for our industry? In that scope,
how do networking events like the World Communication Forum impact our
profession?
Mr. Behar: Networking
gives me the energy and creativity to be better and better every single day. My
job - public relations manager - is a transparent one, which must be implemented
with a very high dose of ethics, integrity and professional commitment. The
World Communications Forum in Davos, my friends, colleagues and partners there
make me happy and make me believe that I am in the front rows of the best
business one can have on Planet Earth.
8. Last year, you gave a presentation in Davos, where
you mentioned that PR is about "telling the truth so that people would
like it", highlighting that truth is the most important... How would you
define Public Relations?
Mr. Behar: Every year or
almost every year I have a new definition. Yes, there is a slight change this
year too. My definition would be "PR is telling the truth in a way
people understand it". Understanding is the most
important category in the modern complicated and though to though to be
understood world.
9. What are your
thoughts about the importance of intercultural communication in the practice of
international public relations?
Mr. Behar: All the
communications now is intercultural. Cultures, habits, languages, experience
have no borders anymore. Local
is totally dead.
A huge thanks to
Maxim Behar for sharing his time and enthusiasm about the PR profession with
us.
Keep an eye here for
future interviews with C-Level PR professionals from around the world and other
topics on Communication, Culture and all in-between.
