Young PR Guru Goes From Kant to Shampoo

With his longish hair, silver earring and exuberant sense of humor, Alexander Nechayev may be taken for a student. But looks can be deceiving. At the age of 25, Nechayev is still young indeed, but he is already responsible for marketing Russia's third-biggest television network, NTV.

When he was studying Aristotle and Kant at Moscow State University's philosophy faculty, Nechayev had little inkling that he would end up as the deputy head of marketing for NTV. But, as his career path demonstrates, talent and creativity are sure to be noticed.

Along with his interest in philosophy, Nechayev had always had a penchant for acting and singing, which materialized in a student rock band he set up together with a few fellow students. Aside from writing lyrics and music, Nechayev was the group's manager and producer, responsible for finding premises, organizing concerts and promoting the band.

"Then I felt that one rock band wasn't enough for me and with a friend of mine I started managing a number of other student music bands," Nechayev recalled.

He came up with the idea of holding a major rock concert with 30 famous and not-quite-so famous rock bands. The festival -- "Found Generation '97" -- was supposed to be a launchpad for beginning musicians, but also make a profit.

Nechayev put together a savvy promotion package for the concert, which involved a major beer producer printing posters for the event and providing each spectator with a free beer. However, at the last moment the beer sponsor pulled out and Nechayev, a third-year philosophy student with a monthly stipend of less than $50, found himself, together with his friend, owing more than $4,500.

"This is when my peaceful and unburdened existence as a philosophy student all of a sudden acquired a practical goal: I needed to make money to pay off the debt."

Nechayev spread the word among his friends and acquaintances that he was in need of a job. Shortly after he was hired as a receptionist at a Western company based in Moscow, for the modest salary of $300 a month. Quite by chance, the company was providing public relations services.

Nechayev did not remain a receptionist for long. A week later, in an improvised presentation to the company's management, he fired away, "Based on my observations of this company, this is how things are currently being done. Now let me show you how they should be done." Persuaded by such eloquence, the managers entrusted Nechayev with his own PR project. His salary rose nearly threefold.

"That first month at the company I didn't eat much, I didn't sleep much, I didn't study much either. Almost all my time was devoted to work. And I loved it."

His long-time passion for acting came in very handy.

"Like with acting, it's all about playing a role. Unless you truly convince yourself that this particular shampoo or hair spray is the best on the Russian market, there is no way you can convey that to millions of other people."

Nechayev went on to become one of the company's leading PR specialists until the August 1998 financial crisis, when the company was downsized from 40 to only eight people.

In his quest for another job, Nechayev said he could have used the ample recommendations and connections he had acquired at his previous job. However, he had always taken pride in "being hired as a total stranger."

Fond of reading Afisha, the glossy Moscow arts and entertainments magazine, Nechayev came across an ad saying it was looking for a PR manager. "I knew that they were looking for me," he said.

Competition for the job was tough in the fallout of the financial crisis, yet few of the other applicants could have matched the resume that Afisha's management received from Nechayev.

Nechayev's application featured a reprint of Afisha's initial job ad, with another announcement next to it saying that Afisha magazine had already found their perfect PR manager under the name of Alexander Nechayev, with such and such qualifications and a list of a dozen of his innovative ideas.

Ten minutes after he sent out his resume, he was called for an interview.

Nechayev spent over 18 months working at Afisha, focusing mainly on the magazine's web site, Afisha.ru, which has come to be Russia's leading online entertainment resource. But as someone who is relentlessly seeking greater challenges and more opportunities, in 2001 Nechayev left Afisha and went to work for NTV, where he was lured by an old contact.

Today, Nechayev is responsible for all NTV's off-air marketing, which involves the press, online publications, billboards, public relations and other promotions. Working 12 hours a day and often on weekends, he is engrossed in his job. "What I am doing here at NTV is something I would want to be doing in life, even if I wasn't getting paid for it.

"Here I don't have to make myself believe that I am someone else, because I am the channel's target audience. And since I enjoy watching NTV I can make other people feel the same way."