There is some mix up amongst PR practitioners and students, about what exactly 'Public Relations' is. The layman generally assumes that PR is about developing a rapport with clients by running up extravagant entertainment account bills. If it were ever so, it certainly is not merely that today. Apart from that PR is, also not, paid for coverage in the media, even if free. It is not the distribution of brochures, leaflets, inserts, posters, labels, tickets, dispensers, counter displays and such like; it isn't propaganda, of the type Hitler and his protégé Goebbels indulged in, nor is it manipulating the client company's CEO, by doing or getting done one's chores. But a word of warning: PR can have all the elements mentioned above. The scope of PR is pretty comprehensive.

However, one can define PR rather succinctly: ' The positive presentation of an organization to all its audience.' To wit, the manipulation of your image is PR. To control/ sway people's idea of you or controlling the way in which people look at you is PR. PR cannot be limited to the public [this term will be explained, in detail, later] or external bodies; it includes in its ambit, employees, suppliers, associates, partners, media, trade organizations, industry monitoring bodies, financial institutions and the entire gamut of groups of individuals, namely, ' Target Audience'.

PR is used to build up the image and reputation of individuals, groups, companies and organizations. It is also used to create public awareness of the goods and services of a firm, and awareness of the firm itself. PR generates the plausibility of a position taken by an organization; the value of that organization. Otherwise put, PR is a tool to persuade people, to have a better opinion of you and / or your organization/ group/ association/ society etc. The Institute of Public Relations defines PR as '…. a planned effort to establish and improve the degree of mutual understanding between an organization or individual and any group of persons or organizations, with the primary object of assisting that organization or individual to deserve, acquire and retain a good reputation' this definition clearly shows that PR is not merely 'appearing to be nice.'

Nomenclature notwithstanding, whether we call it Public Relations or Corporate Communication, the performer of this function is a great contributor to the Company. He/She builds up the brand equity of the company. It is due to this icon that a company's script commands a whopping price at the bourses. In many cases the market value is even more than 100 times the book value, which can largely be attributed to the skills of this brilliant interface between the Company the world.

Our initiative is not just to acknowledge the people who are in the limelight, but to recognize those who have made achievements and those who are on their path to success. Our welcoming note to the achievers who believe that progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be.

Hence, Icon Publications is a portal encompassing sites that are dedicated to individuals from various arenas, all towards communicating to the world that these icons deserve to be saluted for all they have rendered to the global society with commitment, integrity and hard work. Our endeavor has been to strive to achieve something close to comprehension across the spectrum.