"Static and Ben-El entered into a crisis when I was in the heart of Yam, so I acted from there."

Zavik Dror on the relations between the public and the new media

Wolf Wolf: With brands we hang out with, and with famous friends he hangs out with - Wolf Sparrow is a media predator whose extinction or retirement are concepts that are not in its jargon.

We sat down for a conversation about the position of PR in a socio-technological era, about Dennis Lloyd, Agam Bohbot and Gigi Hadid

Another Yaron

25/09/2022

Sunday, September 25, 2022, 1:38 p.m. Updated: 2:26 p.m.

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The group where they talk about what is happening in the world of marketing.

Sneak in. (Photo: Unsplash)

It seems that the public relations branch, although it is active at full steam (in a dream), has been required to fight for the definition of its slot for years.

In truth, he is not the only one, because the industry as a whole has not defined clear boundaries for the various "professions", including those that have emerged only in recent years.

But if we examine it, we will find that in an era where we concentrate more on harvesting demands instead of sowing them, creating them - public relations, the old player, actually belong to the second part, and it is important.

They are part of the set of tools that influence positioning, but also something that marketers tend to forget: removing barriers.

We often trust our shooting ability (the target) but forget that they can also shoot at us, and when you swing, you probably hit less well.

When organic exposure is also more difficult to achieve (more exposure to the sponsored, and much more fast, "hockey" and "wild" content that flies on the net, on Tiktok, Instagram, YouTube, on every platform and on every occasion,

I went to hear from Zavik Dror, who is behind a long-time public relations 'institution', one of the fodder of media relativity if you will - what is really going on, at least in the big offices.

"Tell me, what do you answer to those who ask you, or ask to be updated - about the fact that public relations are already less relevant in an era where we hold data and market by technological means to customers who already know us?"

"I was told to prepare for a conversation with you, that you will make it difficult for me, but you start easy."

He stretches after a personal training session in his impact office.

On his floor, in a huge office building that issues entry certificates to visitors like they issue entry visas at the identification machines in Israel - there is on one side a standard glass door with a standard inscription announcing the (standard) office next door, and on the other side there is a massive, dark door reminiscent of an armored and protected entrance to security institutions that guard Strong on the information inside. But next to the door there is an inscription, as if casually indicating that another headquarters is located inside. That of "Zavik Dror - Public Relations and Media Strategy", and when the door opens I am pushed back a little by surprise and it seems to me that someone planned this too as a move aimed at influencing The consciousness of the viewer, when I find myself in a beautiful lounge, with a bar that is designed in balance and with a precise dose, smiling wildly, Zavik's personal assistant - a New York smile that she acquired in acting school, but it really doesn't look fake,

As well as the rest of the facilities in the office, and the relaxed atmosphere that can be seen through the glass-only offices.

Zavik Dror's "system" looks like it enjoys what it does.

A designed bar and a New York smile that you acquire at the acting school: Bar Nir, a personal assistant who does not act, at least not without a script that the boss is in favor of (Photo: Zavik Dror)

"He talks to us at eye level. Always gives the feeling that everything is under control. When there is no unnecessary hysteria and the atmosphere is really good in the team - you give work as it should be given," Talia tells me who saw me through 3 transparent walls from her office which is in the middle of the room complex, and came to clarify that she is here too .

She was a great student who produced creative projects without shouting it, when she studied with me and we worked on the final project in the communication degree a few years ago.

A pleasant surprise, and a good choice of the office.

"Public relations is aimed at both new and existing audiences, just like marketing doesn't just come to attract the casual and excited shopper to our store."

Zavik Dror, who founded the office that bears his name 20 years ago, answers questions like Talia described, with ease.

"But they have many more roles. If the entire business world changed its approach and tools with the digital revolution - the world that was then defined under the heading of "public relations" - it was not left to wait its turn in the makeup room. It progressed, expanded, became more flexible. And as marketing is looked at differently today, You also need to give a proper assessment to this world.

I see that the marketing world tends to measure itself in immediate results.

It is against the laws of nature.

Even in sponsored campaigns, because everything needs an infrastructure and a "framework" in which the consumer operates, feeds into it his insights and attitudes, those who actually accompany him when he comes to purchase.

And in public relations, which are supposed to be part of the communication-marketing strategy of the organization, they work like this.

It's Sisyphean, sometimes the moves are very long, just like changing a customer's position towards his bank can take years - and we cannot be measured by the impact of a single move but by the strength of the object of the work over time.

In general, I believe we are

.

We shape the image and perception around our customers.

And this is similar to what marketing as a whole tries to do among consumers, which is one of its main tasks.

As such, we always emphasize how important it is to involve us in advance and in as many moves as possible, and not to perceive the role of the PR as someone who will only

a move.

In the meetings I hold with clients, including meetings with a very senior management and decision-making chain, I find that quite a few times I am listened to not as a public relations representative, but as a communication-marketing-business consultant.

I tell them that on the face of it I may not be armed with Excel but with mind-penetrating tools, communication tools - but business is first of all communication.

with customers, with partners and finally with suppliers.

And the field we are dealing with is communication in a broad sense, not Morse.

You, for example, told me that the task of marketing people is also to market to themselves real insights, that they also tell themselves stories that make them feel good while they don't always think about what will happen after they finish calculating the

"The disruption is intentional. I call it ras, because it's like eating the ras, if that's what we're considered all day long. There are quite a few metrics that can be used, but if you look at history you'll find that even with the great generals, the medals were counted only in steps, looking at The whole campaign, and they always talked about how you can't win with tactics alone, because for that you don't always need generals, and about how strategy is the compass, it's the way that helps the soldiers understand who and what they're working for."

"That just like the tasks of the marketing world (which, by the way, as I claimed: we are an inseparable part of it), which should be written under an overall strategy: of the brand, of the organization - we too are supposed to manage a communication strategy. For example, I haven't seen a "normal" item for more than a month. I don't get into them. I'm constantly looking to do things that will make a difference, that will match what my client wants to convey, and work continuously."

"Is that your main

"

Business connections are required, and dealing with crises that can drop the needle, and of course - digital and social. But you have to understand that this is not an easy responsibility, this "star" communication, which should communicate with several directions at the same time. The world of public relations has changed its skin over the years, shaped and changed Today the world is also faster: each story only takes a few seconds and people have no patience."

"People have no patience for more than a few seconds of a story": Zavik Dror and Titi Ainau. (Photo: Zavik Dror)

"The publications also reach the headlines faster"

"and precisely this speed causes them to weaken. The faster it makes its way to the media, the more items change, and the memory is short. When there is so much information, in order to make a big statement and manage to burn memory - we are required Be much more sophisticated and creative.

There used to be less accessible information.

What dictated the type of information was the platform.

Today it is more democratic, there are no filters and it is difficult to hide things.

So in order to shape and shape consumer opinion, you have to act in a broad and creative way and constantly bring (at the right time) the new and interesting thing.

Note that today, the content often takes on a lesser meaning, and sometimes, unfortunately, its writing is treated that way, and not carefully.

People don't go to the depths they went to before.

And if that wasn't enough for us - then the corona virus that arrived at the beginning of 2020 also destroyed the cards, in almost every aspect of our lives and shook the world of public relations as well.

Only those who knew how to reinvent themselves survived."

"Like I said: you should always strive for things that will make a difference.

If it works, probably enough people miss good content.

If you serve it right, it probably helps you fight 'laziness', or 'shortness', whatever you choose to call it.

Zavik Dror, who has been around for the past three decades, who worked in the world of public relations then and lived the world of public relations today, says that he was among the first to recognize that social networks are emerging as a PR tool in the new era. He is full of ideas, each of which could easily be a community trend or Municipal, and it seems that the corona was just an excuse for him to reinvent himself and the office.

"But there is another bang on the way.

The world of influencers is also going to change.

The audience, who picked up products off the shelf that made them feel like their idol - learns quickly, because it's impossible to do otherwise at the rate things happen on social media, and they no longer believe every "recommendation".

Only those who are authentic and true to their audience and customers will survive.

When I started working in the field 25 years ago, there were no emails.

I would fax messages, one by one, to each journalist.

Sometimes I would copy the names of journalists manually page by page, then send.

It's funny and it's crazy.

Technology changed the platforms, email arrived, and new mass communication tools arrived, and look: we do everything on the iPhone and WhatsApp - even at the level of issuing a recall notice.

So a lot has changed, but nothing has changed either."

American Express, Club Med, Lancome, Azrieli Malls, YSL, Renoir and Carline are just some of the approximately 60 clients that his firm handles, which can be grouped under an expanded category of lifestyle worlds: Real Technology, retail and consumerism, fashion, beauty and care, culinary (including chefs such as Segev Moshe, Miki Shmo and Raz Rahab), tourism and also entertainment, with quite a few artists such as Moshe Peretz, Static, Margi, Agam Bohbot and Nasrin.

When he realized that social networks would grow and grow from the content of new stars and stars who would take a share of the PR and advertising activities - he opened a department for managing network influencers and digital campaigns that became part of the services that the office likes to talk about.

"There is another bang on the way, and the world of influencers is going to change": Zavik Dror and influential companies (Photo: Zavik Dror)

"More than once I had the chance to talk to students who mentioned your office as their first destination for work in the field, and from what I know, it doesn't seem like you make an effort to be at the front desk or stay in the studios. How do you build a name for yourself?"

"In 2002, I was a young communications consultant, admittedly, but with a lot of experience, and I decided to establish my own office, which would specialize in creating buzz and media noise in any media that could provide an echo. What is called today's social did not exist then. There were forums, but no one about what is happening today I didn't dream. My approach was to combine the relevant channels in order to focus attention on my client in any way that would contribute to the purpose of the activity that was decided upon. Since then, a lot of water has passed. I think I simply knew how to read the path that the media has taken, what has it gone through? Hittala - in the last decades , and adapt the office, every time anew. So in the current incarnation (there will be more) it is easy for me to combine traditional communication, social networks and working with influencers.

My office operates in a method of active and proactive work, apart from creating an echo of existing activity.

The firm initiates, stimulates and entices the media every time anew and seeks to produce content that will sweep the web.

This way is part of the expertise we have developed in building brands and personalities, then, over time, strengthening and establishing their status, with the help of tools such as creativity, professionalism and familiarity with the media and social networks, with influencers and celebrities from all fields.

Everything contributes to the moves, because today the forces that act on the exposed audience are mixtures of the "field", which can also be ordinary users who help the wave to the top, of influencers who grew out of the field, and of "systemic" media.

We've managed hundreds of influencer campaigns on every social network and every relevant tool, whether it's Tiktok, groups and communities on Facebook, Instagram or YouTube, and in every step we check what's right for our client, and whether the platform has an audience he's looking to reach at all."

"For size, for experience, for connections, for ideas. We accompany clients from various fields in all phases of the client's life, including from the idea phase, through building the image, the strategy, the product, its launch, marketing and even until the closure of the activity or transition to a different activity. It is impossible to handle a wide range So many critical issues for business without appropriate experience. As there are serial entrepreneurs who have made an exit and then the experience, the connections and the record of success help them succeed in infusing and also lead to the success of another venture, which an entrepreneur with a less strong resume will have much more difficulty leading there. And if you want more A connection point for entrepreneurship - so the ability to persevere despite the upheavals, and the ability to reinvent what you offer - according to changes in the market."

"In the end, you ask overlapping questions: Who is the audience he wants to address, and can he reach? Who is the audience he would like to be exposed to? What are the communication skills of the artist himself? Then there is the story around him. And there are the places that "let us intervene in the brand", Whether it's the styling processor or the artist's spouse.

Moshe Peretz was the first artist we treated, and it lasted 15 years, and maintains interest, with ups and downs, but his strength is preserved, and as evidenced by the past year, he is ranked among the 5 most played singers on radio stations In Israel. I am very proud of the successes with artists, such as the meteoric growth of Bohbot Lake, the image change of Margi or the way we did with Statik and Ben El. You have to remember that the artist himself creates "noise" by nature, for good and sometimes for less good, and the taste of the audience is something very elastic There is quite a challenge here. I like it. By the way, Static and Ben-El or complex challenges - handling their crisis is a good example of a challenge that requires diving in.And all this happened when I was on a family vacation in the heart of the sea.

"A crisis that requires diving, which happened precisely when I was in the middle of the sea": Zavik Dror with Static and Ben El Tabori. (Photo: Shay Bozaglo)

In general, crises are a test in which a communicator discovers his resilience and that of the system he has built around him.

During the Corona period, because many of the clients we handle are businesses that have direct contact with consumers - we found ourselves in a situation where they have no business.

Everything is closed.

From the side of the artists - there were no performances.

In the malls - the stores were closed and the malls did not receive crowds.

And there are the hotels, the restaurants.

In fact, most of our customers froze their work in an instant, and as a result, so did we.

It was very stressful and disturbing, we understood that we were going to go through a long and difficult period."

Artists as brands that target the right audience for them: Zavik Dror in a natural environment. (Photo: Shay Bozaglo)

"Suddenly you've dealt with your own crisis. How's that?"

"I wasn't to blame for Corona, of course, but it stressed me out a lot. Suddenly you realize that you have to send an entire team home, Halat, it's not pleasant.

You don't know what will happen to the business, to the world, payments that continue to decrease while there is no income, as a result of this we even moved to new offices because we did not receive any benefit or consideration for the rent payment.

It was not an easy time.

What kept us going were customers who started working online.

We developed sales capabilities, social commerce, we took advantage of the crisis to dive into things we didn't focus on.

When the Renoir branches were closed for example - we started to strengthen sales on the site and strengthened specialization in the worlds of sales, of influencers who promoted online sales and thus compensated for the lack of malls.

We actually established an ecommerce team of influencers who worked authentically and built a story beyond a beautiful garment.

This thing produced stars who make a living from it to this day, and thanks to this they realized their selling power.

It's crazy to me."

"Precisely in this period, when nothing stays in place for too long, are there still friends in the industry? I ask you as someone in whose milieu you find Moshe Peretz, Bar Refaeli, Stella McCartney or Gigi Hadid."

"I am not Gigi's friend. Although we had quite a few interesting meetings. There was also a conversation about Israel and the conflict and I even felt that she understood me. I explained to her how it works, I talked about our democracy, about liberalism, about the pride parade , and I tried to explain that if it had happened a few meters from us, across the line, in areas under other control - it would not have happened. My feeling was that she understood.

I have a lot of friends in the industry, but there are different types of friendships. There are differences in depth. Not everyone I am Working with him I fully open up to him. In any case, even with thousands of friends I've gotten close to over the years, whether they're media people, clients, or artists - I always try to keep a positive and clean attitude. It helps."

Lots of friends in the industry, but there are different types of friendships: with companies from the industry. (Photo: Zavik Dror)

"PR offices work with retainers and regular clients, usually.

But in the different agencies you can see turnover, or work for a one-off or occasional project.

Do you have any?"

"Mostly we don't take projects.

We do work with clients on an annual basis that becomes multi-year, and not per month.

And the first reason is that it is a process.

But there are also clients who come for a single project such as Dennis Lloyd's album and concert.

This was possible because he is not active in Israel and therefore does not continuously manage public relations here.

He is also less connected to the world of spotlights.

But suddenly there is a new album, and there are performances and Menorah needs to be filled - so we do a project.

Study the material, understand the scope of the phenomenon and the media reactions to it, what it wants to give and also where the limits are.

With him specifically, we also did media work, Linkton for everyone (materials that need to be sent with the songs, such as texts and photos from the album), and we followed the activity, the playbacks and the interest around him on an ongoing basis.

In terms of the media, we arranged for him one media interview on television and another article on one of the websites - but mainly we brought in influencers."

"It was the time of the Corona virus and we had just come out of quarantine, to promote the show at a time when it was difficult to bring in people in any case.

Then stars came to promote the show, like Bar Refaeli who got her own private box with refreshments and everything, because we knew she loved Dennis and his music.

We checked what she needed, because for her it is not easy to come to such a show and enjoy privacy, and we built a customized package so that she could come, and she in return uploaded a lot of content to social networks and helped to really boost the response to the performances that followed.

By the way, it's not that we told her 'if you go up then we'll get you for free', but it happened more in the form of collaborations that today are very much taken for granted in the field.

Except for the "Shibtsno" bar

"There are too many. At the consumer level, I think it's easier for companies to advertise, more accessible and there is a democracy of information. And this does not take away from our relevance, on the contrary. I have more tools to play with. It may be more difficult and requires more effort and more sophistication to penetrate correctly, But on the other hand, it allows me to communicate with my client in diverse angles, in channels of exposure that used to not be part of our work. We have

adopted an updated box that contains tools such as Instagram, Tiktok, and a channel that is like a busy main road, called WhatsApp. We all use it, it is as immediate and fast as which is required, and is the first application we log into on a daily basis. It replaces most of the times the telephone conversation, which on the other hand provided interpersonal closeness, and unfortunately when we don't always have a less mediated conversation - we find that emoji is enough to convey 'a sign of an atmosphere, or an attitude'

"We are already in high-tech. Because in our activities we talk about and use quite a lot of technology and interfaces around us, we have no choice but to consider the tech side that is relevant to every company. The world of high-tech as defined is in decline, not only for us: a decrease in wages, a decrease in willingness to enter into investment on the part of large funds, But more and more companies are entering the tech world from their side. The world of tourism has long since adopted technology and leads trends, in the fields of beauty there are various developments. As far as I'm concerned, I've been in it for a long time. Take an example: "Pizza Hut", which is our client, is in the process of developing a restaurant that will operate without Human touch. From the moment the dough is kneaded, the order from the customer to the delivery to the customer through a drone, even in take-away. It will be as tasty as it is made in low-tech, but it relies on running forward with technology, which turns our lifestyle the way you turn an omelette, to the side that gets a good color. "

"High-tech? We've been in for a long time": Zavik Dror in another event center. (Photo: Zavik Dror)

"So what do you have left to complete before retirement?"

"I'm not retiring. I have no other life besides work, so I'll probably only be taken out of here in an intensive care unit. In short, come in 10 years and you'll find me in the same place, only smarter, and always relevant. I love what I do, and I I will always work to stay relevant and catch things in time. If you love what you do - there is no reason to make a separation between what we call 'life' and our work."

"Send a summons to the next program."

Yaron Achar is an entrepreneur and responsible editor of the Marketing Channel, author of the book "Marketing in the Digital Age" and leads the way for business or human brands.

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