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<ul><li>In today's challenging environment, how do you deliver an impactful campaigns? Answers <keyword id="7691814" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Deepshikha-Dharmaraj">Deepshikha Dharmaraj</keyword>, Chief Executive Officer, <keyword id="8878758" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Genesis-BCW">Genesis BCW</keyword>. </li><li>She further shares how we can plan for recovery in this crisis. </li></ul> With businesses and leaders thrown into a time of unparalleled challenges, we are seeing those who are agile and innovative navigating the storm well. Some, we dare say, might be learning to ride the surf with confidence. Their secret? It’s simple: Creativity. The COVID-19 crisis has made many companies re-imagine their communications plans. Some plans may have gone out the window altogether. While everyone is adjusting tactics and driving their programmes online, the question is how do you marry all of the communications plan components together in a way that delivers a creative and <keyword id="9365409" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="impactful-campaign">impactful campaign</keyword>? On-point with data-driven insights There is a wealth of data that can be leveraged during this time. While it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume, it’s critical to tap into trending conversations to gauge consumer sentiment or you risk your communications coming across as tone deaf. To combat this, we need to combine data with human intelligence to derive deep insights into the specific concerns that different stakeholders have. This will play a part in ensuring that creativity goes beyond a tactical level to strike a deeper, emotional chord with your audience. What should you talk about? In the cacophony of conversations, how do you decide what is it that you want to be known for? Prioritizing what you want to focus on is important in targeting your outreach and maximizing impact. The simplest way to do this is to see if it aligns with your purpose, comes across as authentic from your brand and is driven by compassion. Today more than ever, your purpose must speak to your target audience. Brands must move from selling to meaningful and creative engagement, and in that process, elevate purpose-led creativity as the compass by which your brand directs all communications. Employees first Before any external communications, you will need to focus inward. Making sure that your employees feel equipped to deal with the challenges they face will ensure that their anxiety is addressed, and they will have the mind space to innovate and be creative. The only way to do that is to be transparent and open with them and keep the channels of communications open. Virtual engagement activities, regular check-ins with teams, compassionate communication by leaders, sharing best practices of collaboration and mobilizing the workforce towards the purpose of your brand should all find mention in the employee communications plan. Get creative in a virtual world Executing a campaign is perhaps the most difficult part of the communications process at present, given the excessive limitations and logistical challenges that the current situation poses, but that’s where ingenuity comes into play. Virtual product launches and press conferences, the use of virtual reality and other digital technologies, live streaming and webinars, video and animation storytelling and, of course, a slew of social media platforms are being deployed by communicators across industries. Instagram, WhatsApp and Tik Tok are the most popular platforms, with even government authorities and the WHO using them for engaging with large numbers of people. Some creative examples include our client RED FM’s Care Concert, where they teamed up with T-Series for a virtual concert with Bollywood music artists to raise funds for COVID-19; using videos to demonstrate contactless deliveries, like KFC and other QSRs have done; or organizing an online farewell party for employees moving to a demerged entity—which our client GSK CH hosted for its employees who moved to HUL. At every level, effective and precise measurement of impact is essential in a situation that is evolving every day. This will help to establish a continuous stream of data and insights to further guide the next steps of the campaign. Ready for recovery? Planning for recovery is as important as planning for the crisis. When restrictions begin to relax, we will see a frenzy of activity to make up for lost time, and it likely will be overwhelming. At the same time, all indications are that the resumption of work will be staggered. At every stage, your communications strategy needs to reflect this. It will need to be anchored to the prevailing sentiment, so the process of listening to the conversations, analyzing data, deriving insights and from that the big idea, building a campaign around the big idea and measurement, must continuously mirror what is happening around us. And most critically, it will need to address the apprehensions and misinformation in a transparent and regular manner across employees, partner eco-system, supply chains and customers. When there is a gale blowing, finding your true north is tough. Now more than ever, you need to rely on your compass. In this case, the compass for communicators is the basic elements of building a purpose-led creative campaign, one with authentic and human goals, insight-driven creativity, strategy, execution and measurement of the impact. Keep your eye on this compass and you will find your way out of this storm intact. - By Deepshikha Dharmaraj, Chief Executive Officer, Genesis BCW

Challenging times need purpose-led creativity

<ul><li><keyword id="7691814" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Deepshikha-Dharmaraj">Deepshikha Dharmaraj</keyword>, Chief Executive Officer, <keyword id="8878758" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Genesis-BCW">Genesis BCW</keyword> writes how there could be a better understanding of the needs of women in the workplace if we let them lead. </li><li>When a company largely has men in the top management, women drop out faster, because they don’t see role models or a career growth path for themselves. She further tells us how this can be flipped by inspiring more women to continue working and why it is important for companies to build a safe work environment. </li></ul>We live in an unequal world. Nowhere is that more apparent—besides economic inequality—than in the gender equation. The Global Gender Gap Report 2020 by the World Economic Forum says it will take 99.5 years to achieve gender parity. A century is a long time—past our lifetimes and our children’s. There is good news hidden in this gloomy scenario, though—in two years, the outlook has come down from 108 years to this. That means, we are doing some things right. Representation matters One of the most important pivots is, and will continue to be, better <keyword id="1557537" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="representation-of-women">representation of women</keyword> in leadership positions. The percentage of women in senior leadership in India is dismal—ranging from 13-19 per cent, depending on which report you refer to. My organization is one of the most unique ones, with a 7:3 women to men ratio. Our leadership is 85 per cent women. These two statistics are deeply connected. When women lead, they inspire other women to join and want to grow. When a company largely has men in the top management, women drop out faster, because they don’t see role models or a career growth path for themselves. Unique style of leading Empathy, participative decision-making, inspiration and people development—these are just some of the leadership traits that future global challenges are going to need, according to a recent McKinsey study of leadership behavior. These are the traits most women leaders apply, according to the same study. And this is not the only report that says this. Women are naturally wired to make more connections and be more inclusive and collaborative. That leads to a fertile ground for innovation and therefore, growth. What’s more, the fact that women are better at making connections means a more holistic approach to growth. Making the workplace easier for women When women lead, there is a better understanding of the needs of women in the workplace. From policies like flexible timings, work-from-home, safety and specific leaves (we have miscarriage and bereavement leaves, for example) to women-friendly facilities in the office, an organization led by women is more likely to have them. Resilient and motivated Any woman who is in a leadership position has reached there beating some odds. Whether it is leading in a largely men-dominated industry, balancing work and home or dealing with public perceptions of women in leadership, women achievers and leaders have to constantly prove themselves. The thing that keeps them going is resilience and the ability to stay motivated and focused on their goal. That makes them sharper, better able to handle crises and more driven to beat even more odds. Former chief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde once said, if women contributed as much to the workforce as men, India’s national income would rise by 27 per cent. For that to happen, we need more women in the leadership, both in the corporate space as well as in politics and other spheres of life. It’s important for women, important for men, important for industry, country and the world.

When women lead

<ul><li>2021, a year full of controversies saw brands turning to <keyword id="255227" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="public-relations" source="Orion">Public Relations</keyword> and Communications experts to save their reputation and regain consumer trust.</li><li>We look back at how PR evolved in 2021 and catch up with a few experts to discuss the trends that lie ahead.</li></ul>This year, we witnessed many brands become a victim of the boycott culture on social media and each of them adopted a different Public Relations and Communications strategy; while some decided to give in to the pressure, pulled off campaigns and maintained a low profile to cushion the blow, a few others stood their ground and fought back. Gone are the days where a brand could hope for social media controversies to die a natural death and wait for consumers to move on. Now, a small tweet can snowball into a boycott trend and a little bad PR move can cause a company’s stocks to plummet drastically or lead to a huge amount of audience permanently boycotting a brand. At the same time, some experts also advise that brands should not feed the trolls. So, in a year that saw numerous controversies, Public Relations and Communications experts proved their prominence yet again. They acted as the brand's anchor when needed and also helped them reach the shore successfully through tumultuous seas. During the initial stage of the lockdown, <keyword id="562730" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="pr-agencies" source="Orion">PR agencies</keyword> had to think on their feet, engage with editorial media to help brands share their side of the story with interesting nuggets, offer positive stories, work on personalised pitches, ensure internal and external stakeholders were updated frequently with utmost honesty and transparency. PR experts also pushed brands to connect with their communities on a personal level through truthful, authentic human acts. The crisis also caused paradigm shifts in the industry and digital PR took the center stage. Experts were required to monitor trends in real-time, find various consumer touchpoints through social listening and offer predictive analysis. As we move forward, PR agencies are working towards expanding their offerings with allied competencies like creative, experiential and social media capabilities. They have also been helping brands to find the right balance between profit, people and the environment. So, the future of PR is in strong storytelling in the digital world. The future is also unpredictable and PR professionals can’t rely on annual calendars anymore. With the news cycle changing every day, PR experts are required to be more flexible and agile. We reached out to experts to look back at 2021, discuss a few trends that lie ahead in 2022 and understand what kind of role will PR play next year. Here’s what they had to say: Archana Jain, Managing Director, <keyword id="12776689" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="pr-pundit" source="Orion">PR Pundit</keyword> The sway of top celebrities has diminished as was the case back in the days. With the advent of digital and social media, people have begun to trust recommendations from peers far more. Audiences find authentic content or recommendations by actual consumers to be more honest and believable than other forms of promotions and advertising by brands. This is reason enough for brands to actively nurture a community of advocates. PR will be required to work with brands to shape and foster a community of brand advocates. A set of loyal and vocal customers who can help humanise the brand in addition to boosting brand appeal &amp; trust, promoting its products &amp; services to new cohorts, providing invaluable user-generated content (UGC), word-of-mouth recommendations, and social media chatter. Community-led storytelling is more acceptable and authentic rather than a direct brand-led communication. Community advocacy will need to be consciously harnessed and not left to chance. 2022 will see many more brands structure a meaningful brand advocacy strategy. Ameer Ismail, President, <keyword id="10059988" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="lintas-live" source="Orion">Lintas Live</keyword> My biggest takeaway from 2021 is that agency brands and professionals have learned to be resilient and this is based on the multitude of challenges everyone has faced. Smart PR agencies have managed to reinvent themselves with offerings that are built for new realities and collectively have made sure that the relevance of PR is as strong as ever. While a move to everything digital will continue and a lot has been spoken and written about that, I feel that ‘collaboration and consolidation’ will be one the most important trends in that will emerge in 2022. This will be fueled by a few factors, first, resources will be deployed judiciously and talent will continue to be in short supply, the churn agencies have been experiencing at mid and junior levels will continue in 2022. This will lead to a need for agencies to find collaborative ways to deliver on client briefs and they will tap the vast pool of independent talent and specialized agencies and we will see newer collaborative models emerge. Second, clients will be in a hurry to get solutions from agency partners that can get their brands back in the mindspace of consumers and other target audiences. They will want to deal with fewer, better established partners which will lead to a need for consolidation. Deepshikha Dharmaraj, Chief Executive Officer, <keyword id="8878758" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="genesis-bcw" source="Orion">Genesis BCW</keyword> If there is one word that will be at the centre of everything in 2022, it is ‘people’. With the world—India included—teetering between recovery and anxiety around ever-evolving COVID variants, people will need to be communicated with, engaged, assuaged, motivated, retained, developed, and more. These people include every stakeholder a company has—customers/consumers, employees, partners, the government, the community at large. And public relations is the only marketing discipline that touches all of them. Digital will continue to be the medium of choice, and within that, metaverse will be flavour of the year. While the Indian industry still has some distance to cover in that, there is curiosity about this next big thing. No matter what the medium though, the message will have to be aligned to the company’s purpose. And delivered creatively, with authenticity. Akshaara Lalwani, Founder &amp; CEO, <keyword id="3573568" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="communicate-india" source="Orion">Communicate India</keyword> Over the past decade, PR has been moving away from traditional business models towards a more holistic and integrated approach. Whether it is the shift from pure media relations to content or the migration from print to digital, there is a marked change in the way the PR landscape functions. In 2022, this trend will further solidify its presence. There will also be a blurring of demarcation lines between PR, marketing and advertising, digital and offline, eventually leading to PR &amp; Communication professionals to further value the importance of integrated communications. Agility and the ability to pivot will thus be key attributes that will enable the industry to thrive. Also, since the protracted fight against the pandemic still continues, companies and organisations need to prioritise responsible communication over all else. We live in a world where the spread of disinformation and misinformation is not uncommon, hence, agencies need to be able to work in tandem with their clients to help them steer a middle course between capitalistic desires and ethical communication. Mayank Sen, Co-founder, Moe's Art For the longest time, ‘content’ has been the flavour of the season. At first, it began as an accessory, gradually ruling as a king on a kingdom. In 2020, content and its marketing became an undeniable powerful tool for businesses of all sizes. The evergreen axiom of marketing – ‘delivering the right content, to the right people, at the right time’ – took a redefined meaning. And for the times to come, the fundamental aspect of the content ecosystem will be founded on a framework of a performance driven-model, driven by contextual marketing. Within the emerging framework, data and technology will take a strong precedence. The industry will focus on delivering optimal consumer experience while capitalising on the opportunities in hand. Attention will be paid to provide more personalised and relevant content. Measuring the performance will make sure that the experience is scalable. It will present a continuous assessment of how the content is performing, and from that perspective, make decisions on what to do with the content in the future. Measuring success, building a cohesive brand story, and fostering a transparent, interactive consumer loyalty will be the ‘WIN-WIN’ strategy for the year to come! Asif Upadhye, Director and The Dark Knight at <a href="http://www.sprd.co.in/">SPRD</a> If 2020 and 2021 have taught us anything, it’s that moving forward at a snail’s pace is undoubtedly the quickest way to get left behind. While pre-pandemic, the public relations and communications industry was already making significant strides in technology by analyzing data to craft a better customer experience, the pace of digital adoption and the advent of a digital-first PR approach have been accelerated. From my own experience, a key ingredient across PR strategies, content marketing, corporate communications, and media coverage that will rule the PR roost in 2022 is the crucial need to customize bespoke services and products, every step of the way. From unified communications (UC) that are employee-centric to personalizing media pitches, customization sits at the heart of nearly every PR and communications trend. Customers are growing tired of the ‘media universe’ and now look for frameworks based on behavioral and business insights that truly put their needs front and center. Eventually, this is what will separate the mediocre brands from the greats. Case in point, the State of PR 2021 report points to the fact that flexibility, agility and attention to detail when it comes to personalizing something as simple as a pitch email is 96% more likely to grab a journalist’s eyeballs, rather than sending out a generic email blast. While consumer habits and employee working patterns that have been developed over the past year and a half are likely to continue well into 2022, hyper-personalization will bear fruit and result in more contextualized communication and inevitably greater conversions.” <keyword id="10618036" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="tarunjeet-rattan" source="Orion">Tarunjeet Rattan</keyword>, Managing Partner, <keyword id="12776690" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="nucleus-pr" source="Orion">Nucleus PR</keyword> There are three very distinct trends that we will see in the coming year: <ul><li>While the models of working and mediums will undergo a change, what will remain strong is the need for strong storytelling. What will change however is the degree of authenticity in storytelling. It will take a hard turn towards stark reality …almost raw. Consumers want to know why the brand matters, why they should care about it and what is the brand impact? How are you adding value to the life of the consumer? Authentic storytelling will win over aesthetics.</li><li>The role of the founding or leadership team will become even more crucial. One cannot hide behind a faceless brand persona or logo anymore. You will have to put yourself out there to create a strong, credible and believable story about your brand that brings out its authenticity. This also brings in a lot more accountability that brands will have to guard their reputation on. Consumers want to pick up brands that walk the talk. You cannot be a CEO that promotes mental health and fire your agency on twitter. You cannot be talking about environmental sustainability and create a toxic work culture for humans. It just won’t fly anymore.</li><li>Community Building will take Center Stage. We saw a strong glimpse of this across 2020 and 2021. This will gain more ground in the coming year where communities around a brand vision will be created and drive conversation around a challenge.</li></ul>Sonam Shah, Founder and CEO, Treize Communications 2021 saw high demand in PR, especially in the area of influencer marketing. Brands, big and small, capitalised on this rising trend in the first half of the year. But, once the ASCI guidelines came into place from June 2021, there was a downward slip observed in the engagement. Instagram algorithms underwent a great uphaul as influencers had to win against AI algorithms. This phase again got brands and companies to focus on creating news and building brand recall. While demand has been high for PR, there have been some apprehensions also noticed when it comes to being out in the open/media. The second half of this year, saw print media come back, as newspaper circulation started, and people started reading it like before. This behavioural change instigated a need to be present in Print media, via editorial articles, and this will be the biggest trend in 2022. The need to present in Print media. Print media has always been a factor in bringing in trust and authenticity and clients do require to build that kind of strong trust within their stakeholders to continue businesses in a post-pandemic phase.

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Challenging times need purpose-led creativity

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