In a first-of-its-kind bold and daring interview to the business channel “ET Now’, celebrity publicist Dale Bhagwagar has revealed some of his manipulative PR strategies that went behind publicizing the stars Shilpa Shetty and Vivek Oberoi, two of his many controversial clients.
As the channel completes a year this week, the anniversary special episode of their show ‘ET Insight’, will explore the topic of film and celebrity PR, providing an in-depth objective analysis.
For three years after Celebrity Big Brother, Dale’s aim was to keep Brand Shilpa hot and happening 24×7. While Kareena Kapoor and Katrina Kaif had all the hits to their credit, the publicist strategically made sure it was his client Shilpa Shetty who managed the best Page 1 stories and hit national headlines almost every week.
“The media loves controversies, and I’d centered my strategies on their need for scoops and scandal,” the PR specialist has audaciously admitted in his interview. “But mind you, each and every news and gossip story has been genuine. Though I highlighted and suppressed certain aspects of the news, I never made up a single story.” Luckily for the publicist, Shilpa kept falling into trouble, while Dale had a knack of making the media lap up her plight to the PR advantage.
The publicist has also revealed the PR tactics he used to bring about the turnaround in Vivek Oberoi’s image last year. It can be recalled, that VO was the media’s favourite punching bag, before Dale was hired for a makeover. To start with, the publicist conducted numerous interviews, where Vivek apologized for his past mistakes. After this, the publicist harped on the various interesting banners and movies in VO’s kitty, apart from his undisputed versatility as an actor. Within a few months, perceptions changed. “After all, what is PR, but a perception game,” said the public relations expert.
For the first time in this interview, the publicist has also openly talked about the remuneration he receives from celebrities for personal PR as well as for the publicity of the films he handles. All this straight talk and more would definitely make this episode of’ET Insight’ an interesting watch when it is aired this weekend.
Image courtesy: Dale Bhagwagar Media Group
