YOGYAKARTA – It is not easy to build the image and reputation of an institution or company. This must be done within long period of time. However, after achieving a reputation, it is not easy to maintain it. We have to rebuild the image which has slumped down due to the negative image building done by individuals in the company.
That was delivered by the Head of UGM Public Relations and Protocol, Drs. Suryo Baskoro, M.S., when becoming a guest speaker in Public Relations Education and Training at UGM on Thursday (12/5). According to Suryo, building image and reputation cannot be done only in 3-5 years, but requiring a long time. The ability to maintain the reputation and rebuild image is needed. "It becomes duty of PR (public relations) to do that," he said.
Suryo exemplified, an American soft drinks company had to rebuild its image after a massive publication about an African kid who got diarrhea after drinking the company's products. "They have to rebuild its image within six years by spending 6 million dollars," he said.
Suryo mentioned a similar case with Citibank, associated with fraud done by its employees. "In my opinion, Citibank will have now to restore its image in a few years," he added.
To build the image and reputation of an institution is not separated from the role of public relations (PR). Suryo said the role of PR is like a chef who mixes cuisines from various available ingredients. "It needs a great and reliable chef who has intuition about cooking ingredients to make superb cuisine," he said.
Building the image and reputation, according to Suryo, can be done by PR through media relations by building human relations. In relation to his role as Head of UGM Public Relations and Protocol, Suryo announced the number of news in UGM published by printed media during 2010 was 3,672 or 10 per day. Meanwhile, the online releases featured on UGM official website were 878 or 2.4 releases every day. "We hope our CyberPRship gets more globalized UGM and increases number of web visitors and enthusiasts," he concluded.