COMMENTATE: Journal of Communication Management Volume 2 No. 2, December 2021 p 185-194 P-ISSN: 2723-3014, E-ISSN: 2774-5856 DOI: https://doi.org/10.37535/103002220217 http://journal.lspr.edu/index.php/commentate Public Relations Strategy in Improving Cinema Company Reputation (Case Study Cinema21) Karina Khairunnisa Safitri1, Putri Sonya2, and Nico Wattimena3 1,2,3 Institut Komunikasi dan Bisnis LSPR, Jakarta, Indonesia ABSTRACT Human beings needs to fulfill their life, entertainment is one of them. In this era of digitalization there are various form of enrtainment, one of them is cinema. CINEMA 21’s is the largest and vast growing group of cinemas in Indonesia with many branches nationwide. CINEMA 21 public relations always try to improve their reputation by providing best facilities to its customers. The purpose of this research, is to analyze CINEMA 21’s public relations activities to improve their reputation. The research method used is qualitative descriptive with primary data collection conducted through in-depth interviews with internal and external corporate sources, while secondarydata through company data (Company Profile), books, Internet (Articles) and Websites. The results of this research found that CINEMA 21’s public relations activities managed to maintain the company’s reputation. Keywords: communication; public relations strategy; reputation; roles; cinema Strategi Public Relations dalam Meningkatkan Reputasi Perusahaan Bioskop (Studi Kasus Cinema21) ABSTRAK Sebagai makhluk hidup manusia memiliki kebutuhan yang beragam guna untuk memenuhi kehidupannya. Salah satunya adalah kebutuhan hiburan. Di era globalisasi ini ada banyak macam hiburan, salah satunya adalah hiburan bioskop. CINEMA 21 merupakan perusahaan bioskop terbesar di Indonesia, sebagai perusahaan dengan jumlah cabang terbanyak, public relations CINEMA 21 selalu berusaha untuk meningkatkan reputasi dengan memberikan fasilitas kepada pengunjungnya. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk menganalisi kegiatan public relations CINEMA 21 dalam meningkatkan reputasi. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah kualitatif deskriptif. Pengumpulan data primer dilakukan melalui wawancara yang mendalam (In Depth Interview) dengan narasumber internal perusahaan dan eksternal. Serta pengumpulan data sekunder melalui data perusahaan (Company Profile), buku, Internet (Artikel) dan Website. Hasil penelitian ini ditemukan bahwa kegiatan public relations CINEMA 21 dapat mempertahankan reputasi perusahaan. Education is teaching on communication issues. Significance of communication skills in teachers is perceived differently in the teacher-student dyads. Following the results we emphasize the need for training teachers in communication skills both in service and pre service. Kata kunci: komunikasi; public relations; reputation; peran; bioskop INTRODUCTION As living things, humans have various needs in order to fulfill their lives. The needs are divided CONTACT Putri Sonya. Institut Komunikasi dan Bisnis LSPR. Jl. K.H. Mas Mansyur Kav. 35, Jakarta Pusat 10220, Indonesia. putrisonyalt@ymail.com ARTICLE HISTORY Submitted: July 2021, Accepted: November 2021, Published: December 2021 Karina Khairunnisa Safitri | Public Relations Strategy... 186 into several types, including the need according to the level of intensity which is divided into three parts, namely primary, secondary and tertiary needs. The needs according to their nature are divided into two types, namely physical and spiritual needs, Physical needs are related to the body, such as food, drink, clothing, and sports, On the other hand, spiritual needs are the needs to provide one's mental health such as sports and entertainment. Spiritual needs that are often needed by humans are entertainment which is also able to provide inspiration and make a person's psychological condition back to normal after working or full day activities and can be a medium by communicating with other social beings. According to Dominick, the entertainment is the most important function and is in demand by the public. The entertainment presented on television is in the form of soap operas, films, comedy, songs and other entertainment (Darmastuti, 2012). Entertainment in general can be in the form of games, sports, movies, music, even opera. As for the activities of traveling as a medium of entertainment by exploring nature or studying culture. Leisure activities such as creating crafts, skills, reading, writing, can be categorized as entertainment as well. Entertainment that has become humans favorite since ancient times until today and includes music and watching entertainment. The entertainment form of watching movies has a different effect than just listening to music or singing. Watching movies can affect the human psyche through images, atmosphere, storylines, and sounds that add to the impression of life in the film. According to Effendi, the film itself has various types, namely; (1) Story Film, (2) News Movies (Newsreel), (3) Documentary Film, and (4) Cartoon Movies (Effendy, 2007). In ancient times people used a large white screen or what is often called a step-in screen to play films using simple tools carried out in the open field, the existence of a cinema or a plug-in screen was the beginning of the development of the cinema entertainment industry in Indonesia. In Indonesia, according to Effendi, the film industry was first recognized by the public around the 1900s. In 1903 several cinemas were established permanently in the Senen and Tanah Abang areas. The cinemas are named Rialto which has the concept of Art Noveau or decorative art from Europe. According to the history of cinema in Indonesia, the first film was shown in Indonesia entitled "Lely van Java" in 1926. The film in Indonesia with the title "Terang Bulan" was the first talking film. The Indonesian independence on August 17, 1945 changed to the Indonesian film industry and formed Berita Film Indonesia or BFI on October 6, 1945 which was a submission from Nippon Eiga Sha given by film companies during World War two or the Pacific War (Effendy, 2007). In 1951, the cinema located in Metropole or the so-called Megaria cinema was officially in operation. The cinema, which has a capacity of 155 seats, is located in the Menteng area in the Central Jakarta. In that same year, the film institutions was officially formed, one of which regulates is PERFINI (Indonesian National Film Company). Watching movies can be done anywhere, and today, movies can be watched easily through streaming on a personal gadget. The cinema provides a different atmosphere in watching movies and gives different nuances COMMENTATE: Journal of Communication Management| Volume 2 No. 2, December 2021 p. 185-194 187 Public Relations Strategy… | Karina Khairunnisa Safitri for the audience, comfortable seats, dark atmosphere supported by loud sound, large screen and provides its own superb enjoyment for the audience. CINEMA 21 cinema was established by Benny Suherman as the founder in 1987. In 1970 the founder of CINEMA 21 introduced its first cinema, then Benny developed a single screen cinema into a multiplex, two to three screens which was named Studio 21. The name Studio 21 which changed its name to CINEMA 21 was taken from the number of the first cinema building plot on Jalan MH Thamrin number 21. CINEMA 21 has a total of 1240 screens spread across 33 cities in 155 locations nationwide. PT. Nusantara Sejahtera Raya is the company name for CINEMA 21 (researcher processed data, 2016). As a company, CINEMA 21 strives to provide the best innovation for its customers and to serve all the Indonesian people, but of course it should implement a long-term and short-term strategies and a communication strategy carried out by the Public Relations section which refers to the company's vision and mission to achieve the same goals with the company’s objectives and in accordance with the budget and timeline of activities of PT. Prosperous Archipelago. In Indonesia, besides CINEMA 21, there are also a number of other companies, namely CGV Blitz and Cinemaxx. CGV Blitz is one of the close-rival of CINEMA 21. Formed on October 16, 2006 in Bandung. CGV Blitz puts technology forward in every service facility offered, such as the website display and the interior of the cinema facility, CGV Blitz has six different cinema studio facilities, namely 4DX, Screen X, SPHERE X, Velvet, Gold Class, and Sweetbox. Cinemaxx was inaugurated in 2014 by Lippo Group which has Cinemaxx Junior, Ultra XD, Cinemaxx Gold and Cinemaxx Regular facilities. In this era of digitalization, a new phenomenon appears by watching movies online, this makes watching movies an activity that is easy for the public to access because by only using a smart phone or using other electronic devices that can be accessed via the internet. Watching movies online today with so many sites that can be accessed, both legal and illegal. Netfix is one of the illegal movie watching applications where people who watch have to pay when accessing the movies, daily, weekly or monthly. Youtube is one of the means to watch online for free, but usually on Youtube the films presented are films that have been playing in the cinema for a long time. Watching movies online is considered by some to be an interesting activity and more time efficient because these is no need to leave the house to go to the cinemas. This is a new phenomenon, because watching movies today has shifted the way people are thinking, which are usually experienced from home, could be done anywhere as long as there are electronic devices that can access the internet. Public Relations CINEMA 21 views the current viewing phenomenon differently, CINEMA 21 views that today's audiences come to the cinema not only to watch movies, but also have other needs that are desired from the audience at CINEMA 21 such as café, lounge and entertainment services. Of course, this is a new phenomenon for COMMENTATE: Journal of Communication Management| Volume 2 No. 2, December 2021 p. 185-194 Karina Khairunnisa Safitri | Public Relations Strategy... 188 cinema entertainment companies where initially visitors who came to the cinema just to watch movies, but today they have shifted to different needs as well. The cinema which supposed to be a place for film screenings, today turned into an entertainment spot for all ages, not only to watch movies but also to meet friends, co-workers and for family gatherings, thus making the role of public relations. requiring cinema entertainment companies to observe and develop strategies to improve the reputation of CINEMA 21. This is what makes the researchers interested to raise this phenomenon and undergo a research on the process of public relations strategy stages in improving the reputation of CINEMA 21. Formulation of the problem: What is CINEMA 21's Public Relations Strategy in Improving the Company's Reputation? The purpose of this study was to determine the public relations strategy and to find out the obstacles faced by the public relations of CINEMA 21 Lasswell defines propaganda as the management of collective attitudes with significant symbol manipulation. Propaganda is an attempt to change people's point of view to support a movement or destroy the opposite. A method for managing public opinion. Propaganda, the purpose of persuasion is necessary and useful to persuaders but often not to the benefit of those individuals who are persuaded. Advertising, public relations, and political campaigns are forms of propaganda. In forming the concept for the strategy, adopting the nine stages of strategic public relations planning written by Ronald D. Smith a. First Phase: Formative Research The first phase in the strategic planning process according to Smith is formative research, namely preliminary activities carried out to obtain information and analyze the situation to be faced (Smith, 2013, p.19). In this first phase has three stages; Step 1: Situation Analysis The situation is a state of activity that is still planned and must be faced by the organization, so what is meant by situation analysis here is how a company can investigate an event to find out the actual situation which includes causes and effects that will be obtained by the company (Smith, 2013). Step 2: Analyzing the Organization In the second stage, namely the strategy in influencing the public relations audit, which means analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the company or SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats). In analyzing the organization is influenced by three aspects, a. Internal Environment: this aspect analyzes that activities are in accordance with the mission of the company, how the resources are owned by the company and how the performance of employees in completing the work (Smith, 2013). b. Public Perception: public perception or how the public assesses the company, the state of how the company's activities can be known by the company (Smith, 2013). c. External Environment: analyzing the external environment has a function to be able to find out competitors or competitors and also parties who do not support (Smith, 2013). Step 3: Analyzing the Public COMMENTATE: Journal of Communication Management| Volume 2 No. 2, December 2021 p. 185-194 189 Public Relations Strategy… | Karina Khairunnisa Safitri At the public analysis stage, it begins with how the organization or company knows who its public is. The public is divided into internal and external, which is meant by the internal public, namely employees, employees' families, management, and also investors. External publics are media, government, consumers, communities and NGOs or non-governmental organizations (Smith, 2013). b. Second Phase: Strategy Phase The strategy phase is the planning of the entire organization. This phase includes how the organization determines what the organization wants and how it will be achieved (Smith, 2013). Step 4: Establishing Goals & Objectives This fourth stage focuses on the top position to be achieved by the organization for its product or service. In this step, helping organizations build clear, specific, and measurable goals in determining what the organization wants and will achieve, by determining company goals and objectives can help and facilitate organizations in managing the reputation of the company (Smith, 2013). Step 5: Formulating Action and Response Strategies At this step the organization can consider what steps will be taken in various situations. This communication action can be proactive or reactive depending on the situation required (Smith, 2013). Step 6: Using Effective Communication PR knows who its publics are and considers some elements of effective communication to talk to its publics. To communicate with the audience, it is necessary to determine who will deliver the message, what kind of message the company wants to convey to the public (Smith, 2013). c. Third Phase: Tactic Phase The third phase is the approach that will be most visible. At this stage the researcher will consider various communication tactics that can be used to achieve organizational goals (Smith, 2013). Step 7: Choosing Communications Tactics There are three categories in choosing communication approaches, namely: Interpersonal Communications, Organizational, News Media, and Advertising and Promotional Media. The choice of communication tactics can make it easier for organizations to market products (Smith, 2013). Step 8: Implementing the Strategic Plan This stage determines the budget and schedule to implement any programs that will be run by the organization. (Smith, 2013). Step 9: Evaluating the Strategic Plan At this last stage, the right method to measure the effectiveness of activities is using evaluation output, evaluation of awareness objectives, evaluation of acceptance objectives and evaluation of action objectives (Smith, 2013). COMMENTATE: Journal of Communication Management| Volume 2 No. 2, December 2021 p. 185-194 Karina Khairunnisa Safitri | Public Relations Strategy... 190 The role or task of a public relations officer is to build and develop good relations between the organization and its publics, both internally and externally with the aim of instilling understanding, growing motivation and participation in efforts to create favorable public opinion for the organization (Nova, 2011). Reputation requires Reputation Management. In theory, reputation there are several approaches to building a reputation, namely: a. Reputation Analysis: reputation analysis activities are concerned with identifying issues, challenges, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for the organization in the eyes of the public. b. Strategic Planning: strategically designed work programs are prepared to be applied to the public. This work program must be in accordance with the vision and mission of the organization c. Stakeholder Relations: maintaining ongoing relationships with stakeholders is very important as a good way to convey information related to building a reputation. d. Corporate Philanthropy: in the form of direct contributions or assistance in the form of funds or services to those in need. e. Corporate Volunteering: the organization involves employees directly in CSR activities during working hours and still gets paid. f. Social Responsibility Business Practice: it is an initiative of the organization to adopt and regulate business practices such as work systems and investments in an effort to improve people's welfare and protect the environment (Gasiing & Suryanto, 2016). Figure 1 Conceptual Framework Source: Researchers Notes METHODS The research method used is descriptive qualitative method. Qualitative research (qualitative research) according to Sugiyono is, "Qualitative research methods are research methods used to examine the condition of natural objects, (as opposed to experiments) where the researcher is the key instrument, the data collection technique is done by triangulation (combined), data analysis is inductive, and the results of qualitative research emphasize meaning rather than generalization (Sugiyono, 2015). RESULT AND DISCUSSION CINEMA 21 public relations in an effort to improve the company's reputation, carries out activities that can support the achievement of its goals in improving the company's reputation. Researchers have conducted interviews and obtained primary data from the main resource COMMENTATE: Journal of Communication Management| Volume 2 No. 2, December 2021 p. 185-194 191 Public Relations Strategy… | Karina Khairunnisa Safitri person, namely Catherine Keng, Corporate Secretary of CINEMA 21 and based on the results of researchers' observations. CINEMA 21 does not only carry out external activities to the community such as Corporate Social Responsibility activities or organize events such as the Short Film Festival. Through facility services as the main step for CINEMA 21 to improve reputation. As for other activities are program events created by public relations CINEMA 21 such as corporate social responsibility, short film festival and national film day, these events are carried out to help the growth of the national film industry and improve the company's reputation. Step 1: Analyzing the Situation As stated by Catherine Keng as the Corporate Secretary of CINEMA 21 in providing: the best service products to present a good cinema through all good facilities and keep abreast of technological developments and affordable prices and good service are very important. Opportunities, always strives to provide the best service facilities, affordable prices and also provide services so that it helps to achieve in providing the best facilities to Cinema 21 audiences. Weaknesses experienced are technological challenges so that tools must always be upgraded if they don't follow it will be left behind by the times and the challenge is that everyone can watch streaming using a cellphone or Netflix. The lifestyle of today's society is simple, watching at home is a new challenge. Step 2: Analyzing the Organization a. Internal Environment: CINEMA 21 makes VISION and MISSION as guidelines in working, so that the work done will be in line with well. This is applied by the owner or all employees of CINEMA 21. b. Public Perception: Erlita Bebby, one of the visitors to CINEMA 21, expressed her opinion on CINEMA 21's affordable price and comfortable facilities. c. External Environment: The technological challenge is that film screenings in cinemas are no longer using celluloid tape but using digital cinema pages or DCP so that they must continue to upgrade to keep up with the times and people who watch movies online. Step 3: Analyzing the Public Segmentation of the target audience of CINEMA 21, namely big cities, the selection of this target audience is based on the location of the cinema, the company before carrying out the construction of the cinema chooses the location first by considering an adequate area both from the population or based on the community's economy. Step 4: Establishing Goals and Objectives a. Positioning: CINEMA 21's positioning is the market leader in the exhibition or cinema industry, as seen from the number of cinemas in Indonesia. b. Goals: Become one of the best cinemas in the world. Step 5: Formulating action and Response Strategies Proactive strategy is a communication action for CINEMA 21, which occurs because of the company's awareness to strengthen the relationship between the public and the company by COMMENTATE: Journal of Communication Management| Volume 2 No. 2, December 2021 p. 185-194 Karina Khairunnisa Safitri | Public Relations Strategy... 192 providing service products and providing affordable prices and providing good service. As well as developing products owned by the company in accordance with consumer needs. Step 6: Developing the Message Strategy CINEMA 21 uses social media as a means for companies to communicate with their consumers, this can be proven by the CINEMA 21 website, twitter, facebook and instagram which contain informational content. Step 7 : Selecting communication tactics CINEMA 21 uses social media as a means for publication and interaction with the public, as well as being a measuring tool to get a response from the community or its consumers. Step 8 : Implementing the Strategic Planning CINEMA 21 in providing expenses for activities is not stipulated, if there are activities that require spending costs, they will be processed, but for sure there is no budget included annually. From this statement, it can be concluded that CINEMA 21 directly chooses activities that can improve reputation, but does not determine costs in a month or year period. Step 9 : Evaluating Evaluation by collecting news sources both from print and online, so that it becomes an assessment for the company to find out the situation and circumstances that occur. Reputation Reputation as the goal and end result of the company’s objective, the authors implement the results of observations on reputation analysis: a. Reputation Analysis: Opportunities, always strives to provide the best service facilities, affordable prices and also provide services so that it helps to achieve in providing the best facilities to Cinema 21 audiences. Weaknesses experienced are technological challenges so that tools must always be upgraded if they don't follow it will be left behind by the times and the challenge is that everyone can watch streaming using a cellphone or Netflix. The lifestyle of today's society is simple, watching at home is a new challenge. b. Strategic Planning: PR CINEMA 21 has program activities such as CSR and also SFF or Short Film Festival. c. Stakeholder Relations: Maintaining ongoing relationships with stakeholders is very important as a good way to convey information related to building a reputation. There are many ways that PR CINEMA 21 does in establishing relationships with stakeholders, namely, by carrying out activities with the production house as a distributor of films to be shown, the media, one of which is relations with the government. d. Corporate Philanthropy: CINEMA 21 in carrying out activities that are contributing to other parties or CSR activities, namely the existence of several activities, namely CSR in the form of watching with orphans, Short Film Festival activities which are held to screen the talents of the community who are talented in the field of film. The funding activities provided for those who successfully pass to take part in international festivals will be funded if they meet the predetermined criteria. e. Corporate Volunteering: The organization involves employees directly in CSR activities during working hours and still gets paid. Based on the observations of researchers, the COMMENTATE: Journal of Communication Management| Volume 2 No. 2, December 2021 p. 185-194 Public Relations Strategy… | Karina Khairunnisa Safitri 193 CINEMA 21 company in holding events always involves its employees as the committee of the event. Like SFF activities or other CSR activities, employees are included by the company as a committee, because they are considered to have understood what CINEMA 21 wants. f. Social Responsibility Business Practice: It is an initiative of the organization to adopt and regulate business practices such as work systems and investments in an effort to improve people's welfare and protect the environment. CONCLUSION The nine steps used by researchers in analysing CINEMA 21's public relations activities in improving reputation. The outcomes as a result from these activities will be one of the alternatives in developing the company’s PR strategic planning sand at first is to analyse the situation of the company. At this stage, its showed that there were advantages and disadvantages for CINEMA 21. The obstacles were the vast technological developments and CINEMA 21 cinemas is always following and keeping the pace with the existing developments, as well as discovering new symptoms, namely the culture of watching movies online which can be accessed wherever users want to watch so that this also makes people's interest decrease. to watch in the cinema, however, CINEMA 21 considers it also a challenge to improve quality, services and appropriate prices, as well as provide a different atmosphere from watching movies online. The motivating factor has innovated both to beautify interior facilities, improve services, prices that are in accordance with the community and improve technology services so that they are in balance with what is needed by the community. Technological developments that are always evolving make CINEMA 21 continuously trying to keep up. The technological facilities provided by CINEMA 21 are expected to persuade people come to watch movies at CINEMA 21. The next step is to analyse the organization, in this case the environment becomes one of the main factors is to know about environment. Employees’ performance is an asset for CINEMA 21, and with the implementation of SOPs or Standard Operating Procedures makes the activities of CINEMA 21 employees uniform based on the company vision. The researcher realized that there were briefings held every Mondays to start the week that contained directions to divisional employees for the short and long term and briefings were also conducted on Friday afternoons to evaluate what activities were carried out during the week. Public perception is important for CINEMA 21, because what the public thinks will have an impact towards CINEMA 21 that affects the reputation. The surrounding environment or competitors are also an obstacle for CINEMA 21. The cinema industry in Indonesia is now growing and amongst the largest are CGV and Cinemax, while watching movies online the on gadgets that everyone can access the internet is today a challenge for CINEMA 21. Realizing the goals and focus of the company and support CINEMA 21 to achieve the ideal CINEMA 21. CINEMA 21's positioning is as a market leader among the cinema exhibitions in Indonesia. COMMENTATE: Journal of Communication Management| Volume 2 No. 2, December 2021 p. 185-194 Karina Khairunnisa Safitri | Public Relations Strategy... 194 CINEMA 21 has a desire to become among the best cinemas in the world and the pride of Indonesia. In undergoing activities, a strategy is needed, and a proactive strategy is chosen by CINEMA 21 is to create awareness and strengthen public relations for CINEMA 21. Service facilities, the interior and facilities in the studio and provide superb services for the audience comfort. The communication channel chosen by CINEMA 21 is online media, most effective in today’s digitalization era. Website, twitter, facebook, instagram are the media used by CINEMA 21 to communicate to the public, as well as the internal magazine owned by CINEMA 21 which is distributed at the beginning of every month at ticket sales to inform the public what films will be shown in the coming months. The film schedule is the main menu that is most often downloaded by the public, while other online media are used to provide information on activities and to interact directly with the public. In carrying out the CINEMA 21 strategy, it does not have a special budget for the activities. Based on the results of the observations made by researchers, activities such as CSR in the form of watching together with orphans who are expected to provide education to children are given directly without a definite budget. As for other activities run by CINEMA 21, namely the Short Film Festival, which is a searching event for talented amateur filmmakers, which aims to screen talent so that in the future they will be able to build and create the pride of Indonesian cinema. In evaluating CINEMA 21, collecting data published in newspapers and posted in social media with the aim of getting comments or suggestions on CINEMA 21 which is expected to measure consumer satisfactions and become a benchmark for CINEMA 21 to improve better and achieve its goal , CINEMA 21`as the most reputable cinema in Indonesia. REFERENCES Bungin, B (2008). Sosiologi Komunikasi. Jakarta: Kencana Cutlip, S. (2007). Effective Public Relations – Ed. 9. Jakarta: Kencana. Darmastuti, R. (2012). Media Relations Konsep, Strategi & Aplikasi. Yogyakarta: ANDI Effendy, O, U.(2007). Ilmu, Teori, Dan Filsafat Komunikasi. Bandung. PT. Citra Aditya Bakti Gassing, S. S and Suryanto (2016). Public Relations, Yogyakarta: C. V Andi Offset Nova, Firsan. (2011). Crisis Public Relations, Jakarta: Rafagrafindo Persada Smith, R. D. (2013). Strategic Planning For Public Relations 4th. New York: Routledge Sugiyono. (2015). Memahami Penelitian Kualitatif. Bandung: Alfabet COMMENTATE: Journal of Communication Management| Volume 2 No. 2, December 2021 p. 185-194