Integrated Centre for Consultancy Private Limited: Public Relations in India

Integrated Centre for Consultancy Private Limited (ICCPL) was a small company operating in India’s public relations (PR) industry. ICCPL was a successful and established company in this industry, with a focus on a niche segment of the market—real estate firms that offered affordable housing and operated on thin margins. ICCPL’s strong client relationships had resulted in an excellent track record for executive brand building and a client retention rate of above 75 per cent, which the company boasted as the highest in the market. In December 2018, one of ICCPL’s clients requested that the company lower its pricing or risk losing the contract to either a new in-house PR department or a small competitor that was offering a similar service at half the price. ICCPL refused to lower its price and, in June 2019, the client announced its plan to cancel the contract. ICCPL was analyzing all data for client satisfaction and loyalty to determine what went wrong. Should the company attempt to retain this important client? If so, what strategy can the company use?

This case is suitable for undergraduate- and graduate-level courses in customer relationship management, pricing, marketing analytics, and marketing strategy. The case allows students to apply analytical, qualitative, and strategic decision-making skills, as well as their knowledge of multidisciplinary marketing approaches. <br><br>After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to accomplish the following objectives:<ul><li>Discuss the many issues a small business faces such as applying a differentiated pricing negotiation strategy, acquiring new customers and retaining current clients, navigating business-to-business marketing, assessing PR strategies in comparison to the marketing mix, and evaluating success factors of PR in serving a niche market.</li><li>Discuss the importance of data to evaluate customer satisfaction and loyalty, and discuss the difference between these two factors.</li><li>Consider strategic implications to make incremental improvements in a company’s service offerings.</li></ul>

• lost customer
• customer loyalty
• satisfaction
• PR strategies
• marketing mix
• business-to-business marketing
• multidisciplinary marketing
• differentiated pricing negotiation
• PR strategies
• service offerings
• customer relationship management, pricing, marketing analytics, marketing strategy