If you Google the letters VBS, the first thing that comes up is the Venda Building Society Mutual Bank. Up until about two weeks ago, not many knew this bank, and certainly, it would not be on top of the search list.
And last week President Jacob Zuma handed the bank its biggest public relations scoop of its existence since it was established in 1982 in the forgettable tiny former homeland of Venda.
It is common cause now that President Zuma borrowed R7.8-million from the VBS Mutual Bank to make good on the debt he had to settle with Treasury resulting from the infamous Nkandla saga.
I do not know how much VBS has ever invested in publicity before, but I am sure that what they got from last week’s events, pales into insignificance any past investments in PR.
VBS can never repay President Zuma for this windfall.
Public relations is a craft made more difficult by the fact that in its perfect form, it is unpaid publicity. To get a story published in a newspaper, to have a mention on radio or to appear on TV, is hard.
For you to get free publicity, you practically have to walk on your hands. If you can do it half naked, the better.
If all you are is a rural bank, it is even harder to make news, unless of course you suffer a robbery or your CEO steals money or indeed, a state president applies for a personal loan from you.
It makes therefore why VBS milked the opportunity. I cannot remember the number of interviews VBS corporate affairs gave last week. Every business show I listened to, was all about VBS.
In their own way, the VBS crew proved right the maxim that no publicity is bad publicity. Besides, they could always argue that theirs as a bank is to lend money and therefore, they could not be bothered how controversial the borrower is.
I suspect I would have advised them the same. If advancing the loan to the president was nothing illegal, then VBS had nothing to worry about. Or is it?
The flipside of any publicity is scrutiny. It was only natural that once VBS made news, it was inevitable that questions would be asked about who the bank is, who are the shareholders and directors, who are their other clients and much more.
No self-respecting media would not find out more about VBS. It comes with the package of good journalism.
Frankly, I believe some of the scrutiny on VBS was prejudicial. I think that the bank was already framed negatively just because it made a loan to our controversial president.
However, that should not distract us from the rightful journalistic practice of asking questions. These questions are about context. Until last week, VBS was virtually unknown. It was incumbent on the media to tell us more about it. Nothing wrong with that.
Sadly for VBS, the scrutiny has already revealed potentially unsavoury stuff. Take for instance the allegations published in the City Press on Sunday that VBS directors advanced a loan in a company they hold shares in.
For the record, VBS has since disputed the allegations and distanced themselves from this.
But that does not change the facts. Publicity comes with scrutiny. And VBS will have to take the joy of publicity with the pain of scrutiny. The two are bedfellows.
Publicity is like wealth. Once you have it, people want to know why you have it. And true to human nature, there is always someone close to you, who will spill unknown beans about you.
For now, while riding the wave of this sudden fame, VBS will have to work hard to make sure that it stands the test of scrutiny. It is no longer an unknown bank anymore.
The website must be up to standard. Their books must be clean. The directors must be upright. If not, the media will find out and it will publish.
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