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<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.

Trends that will dominate the PR industry in 2022

<ul><li><keyword id="6398864" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mondelez">Mondelez</keyword> India found itself in a soup on Sunday after a few screenshots surfaced on Twitter suggesting that its Cadbury Dairy Milk may contain gelatine derived from beef.</li><li>Cadbury was quick to respond to its row over beef in chocolates clarifying that the screenshots circulated on social media were of the company’s international products and all its Indian products are vegetarian.</li><li>We speak to brand and PR experts to discuss Cadbury’s crisis management strategy and what else should the brand do to win back consumer trust.</li></ul>After screenshots suggesting that Mondelez's Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolates may contain gelatine derived from beef surfaced on social media platforms in India on Sunday, Mondelez India took to Twitter to clarify that its products in India are all vegetarian. It said that the screenshots circulated were of the company’s products sold overseas. Trolls were quick to call for a boycott on all Mondelez products but some users even pointed out that the screenshot being shared is that of Cadbury Australia’s website. <div type="twitter" handle="DairyMilkIn" handlename="Cadbury Dairy Milk" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1327255370444668928/1NjkNhJE_normal.jpg" favoritecount="868" retweetcount="230" status="https://t.co/798qgPozsF" createdat="1626616484000" id="1416758336909840387"></div> After issuing a public statement to soften the uproar, Mondelez decided to respond to all tweets with its official statement mentioning that the green dot on its wrapper signifies that it is 100% vegetarian. However, instead of engaging with the internet users one-on-one and addressing their queries, Cadbury decided to use its templatized statement everywhere. Sharing the best ways to tackle such crisis, particularly when the brand may not be at fault, or ‘has a plausible and believable counter-point to quell the crux of the crisis,’ Social Media Expert and Independent Communications Consultant, Karthik Srinivasan said, “Do not use stock statements and plaster it as a reply to anyone and everyone. Prioritise a few top voices who are causing maximum damage and engage with them contextually and in the form of a conversation on the medium they are active in. This requires good social media monitoring tools (to ascertain who are the top voices causing or worthy of causing most damage) and a cross-functional team consisting of PR and communications (agency and client-side) and Legal. Most importantly, this group needs to be empowered to take decisions in real-time in terms of the brand holding a conversation with its detractors online.” Dilip Cherian, Consulting Partner, Perfect Relations advised looking through the company’s Owned Media first. He said, "Responding a little late, triggers a little panic but eventually, all seems to have been well. It could also be useful for Cadburys to recognize that going forward having more details of its India-specific process and the safety factor need to be built into it. India market product specs could be emphasized on its Owned Media. This is something that we at Perfect Relations have been advocating quite strongly in recent times. With the rise of fake news and it's tremors, the most obvious place for customers or trigger happy influencers all look through the company’s Owned Media. Cadburys need to check even now whether it's India site is strong enough to tackle it's possible problems. To my mind, that's where we should start.” Many brands have become a victim of boycott culture on social media lately and a lot of them bow down and maintain a low profile to cushion the blow. Cadbury decided to address the concerns and face the situation head-on. Gone are the days where a brand could hope for this to die a natural death and wait for consumers to move on. A small trend can snowball, and a little ignorance can lead to a huge amount of audience permanently boycotting a brand. At the same time, logic dictates that brands should not get involved in arguments or low blows since it tends to feed the trolls. Suggesting the best way out of this, Tarunjeet Rattan, Managing Partner, Nucleus PR said, “A measured response is the best route. However, the mark of the measure can only be decided by the brand based on their consumer profile and industry segment.” She said that when a brand finds itself in a PR crisis such as Cadbury, it should go all out on social media. Sharing how Cadbury can further fix the damage caused, Rattan added, “Add Linkedin to the mix so that they can get Corporate Inc behind them. Engage with editorial media to help them share their side of the story with an interesting bite or two sprinkled with nuts and nuggets (no pun intended). Create a statement that goes up on their website and social media pages along with a newsletter sent out to all internal and external stakeholders. Reach out to fact-checking websites/handles and ask them to do their own checks and put it out. Add a dose of sweet humour (in true Cadbury style) by engaging reel influencers and use it as an opportunity to turn this into positive PR for them.” <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="You snooze, you lose" text="You snooze, you lose">You snooze, you lose</cmsannotation> Cherian said that a company should get back to its trolls on Twitter in less than an hour. "Companies, in today's hyper-connected world, can get trolled cancelled or boycotted swiftly, for all the right reasons. But what really constitutes a crisis, and one that strikes from the outfield is when it's totally based on wrong reasons. Cadburys has fallen victim to a classic case of this with the wildcard allegation that its chocolates manufactured in India had beef components in them. There is an element of mischief here but by those trying to create a sensation to ride out with. Speed is the most important ingredient in managing a crisis of this kind given that these issues have been dealt with multiple times before. So, there is no reason why there should be anything even close to an hour's delay in getting back on mischievous tweets that sought to cause commercial and customer confusion. The fact that the company chose to clarify directly to the person pushing the offending tweet is good. But at Perfect Relations, we'd have opted for a quicker but generic tweet. That I believe would have been even better. And the time factor needs to be taken into account. We now live in a 24x7 world and crisis can erupt anywhere at any time. There is no time to pause to ponder and prevaricate. Pushing out the right message very quickly is essential. In my view, Cadburys did manage to stem rubbish from expanding. But some hits were hurting," said Cherian. Srinivasan also said that if a crisis begins and perpetuates on social media, the conversations on Twitter need to be quick and in real-time. “Delays in reacting to specific questions could make it seem like the brand has something to hide. A brand handle on social media is just that - a brand handle, without a human voice. So when trying to add a factual counterpoint, it would be better to name a credible, verifiable (LinkedIn'able!) individual as the person behind the counter-point.” <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Personalisation" text="Personalisation">Personalisation</cmsannotation> When Fortune Oil got caught in a crisis earlier this year, after its brand ambassador Sourav Ganguly suffered a mild heart attack, it immediately released a statement asserting that it would continue to work with Ganguly. After a few days, it launched a personalised print ad penned by its ambassador Ganguly to clarify that there are multiple reasons that can affect one’s heart's health. In Cadbury’s case, it is just a note from brand’s official Twitter page and Srinivasan pointed out that ‘when sharing a factual response as a stock statement, who says it matters. For instance, if the response being used by Cadbury now was attributed to the India CEO, that would carry more weight.’ Due to the vastness of information available on social media, a lot of such crises come and go. Add to it people's perpetually decreasing attention spans. However, a Google search can still bring up stories around such controversies with just one search which could result in people changing their minds about a particular product. So, durable brands, FMCG or luxury brands need to be extra careful while handling a ‘small’ PR crisis. Srinivasan added, “It is important to put forward the brand's counterpoint impactfully so that future readers see both sides of the controversy and are able to make up their mind unambiguously.” He is sure that Mondelez will pull a ‘Maggi’<a href="https://twitter.com/beastoftraal/status/1416989779460190208"> and hire a big celebrity </a>to cover the damage and communicate how safe their products are. For its future communication, Rattan advised, “On a consistent basis, it should keep talking about safety and hygiene. Cadbury is not new to this and has faced a crisis before. But they stopped talking about hygiene in their overall campaigns once the immediate threat was overcome. Brand conversations that touch upon safety and hygiene must be a standard and not a crisis response, especially for a brand consumed by all ages including children. Keep hammering it and then some.”

Cadbury row over beef: Was Mondelez’s crisis management strategy convincing enough to win back its consumers' trust?

<ul><li><keyword id="10618036" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="tarunjeet-rattan">Tarunjeet Rattan</keyword>, Founder, PRPOI decoded <keyword id="10618039" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="owned-media">Owned Media</keyword> with Nivedeeta Moirangthem, Communication Operations Manager, IKEA India; Paul Furiga, PRBI member, President &amp; Chief Storyteller, WordWrite PR, Pittsburg USA and Mohit Balachandran, Restaurateur &amp; Food Connoisseur on the 33rd PRPOI panel discussion. </li><li>Rattan pens down the top eight things you need to know about Owned Media.</li></ul>2020 has been a good year for the <keyword id="7783041" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="PR-Industry">PR industry</keyword> in India. However, 2021 brings with it, its own set of challenges. While brands turn to PR for counsel strengthening their position, the PR industry seems to be losing out on its core strength: Earned conversations in <keyword id="10618038" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="editorial-media">editorial media</keyword>. Editorial placements are getting tougher by the day which is pushing a good chunk of the PR industry to start reconsidering its approach towards brand building and reputation management. One of the key buzzwords that have been floated around ‘Owned Media’. It has been whispered about on the outskirts of the Indian PR realm but is slowly finding its way into the mainstream conversation. Though the question to be answered is if the Indian PR industry is ready to embrace the last pillar of the PESO (Paid Earned Social and Owned) model. We decoded Owned Media with Nivedeeta Moirangthem, Communication Operations Manager, IKEA India; Paul Furiga, PRBI member, President &amp; Chief Storyteller, WordWrite PR, Pittsburg USA and Mohit Balachandran, Restaurateur &amp; Food Connoisseur on the 33rd PRPOI panel discussion on the subject to get you started. Our industry PR Boutiques International added their global insight to the conversation. Here are the top eight things you need to know about Owned Media: What is Owned media? Any platform that is owned by a company and communicates directly with the target audience is called owned media. These can come in the form of blogs, annual reports, brand journalism, research papers, webinars, podcasts, newsletter, Youtube channel, lookbooks etc. The ‘company’ can either be a brand or an agency. Where is it globally? And where are we in India? Globally it has already caught on and a lot of brands have tasked their PR agencies and corporate communication teams with leading owned media. Infact, PR agencies like Wordwrite PR have invested in a platform like Pittsburg 100 that create engaging content for brands. Brands like IKEA, General Motors, Coca Cola have pioneered this on a global platform with different owned media that is enviable. Closer home, the hospitality and fashion industry has taken the lead on owned media. Brands like Myntra, Nykaa, EazyDiner have done a great job in creating owned properties. PR agencies like Nucleus PR has launched its own independent podcast series – All About PR, that showcases interesting conversations from the world of communication that will be a platform they own. It is still in a very nascent stage in India. So, if you get with the program now, you will have the first movers’ advantage. Does it compete with editorial media? Yes and no. Yes, it competes on engaging storytelling front. However, it does not compete in the kind of stories that a brand wants to tell as these stories are usually more customer centric and bridge the gaps between paid and earned media conversations. It helps them create locally relevant original content with a more controlled narrative. Smart PR teams leverage owned media as an opportunity to make varied subtle digital pitches. What about authentic storytelling? Between and owned media, storytelling does not lose its charm. Stories must be authentic and connect with the audience on owned media as well. The volume does not matter. The quality matters. Content must be genuine and relevant on any platforms (digital or traditional). Are we confusing the consumer? No. If you do not try and disguise it as third-party credibility or editorial media then it is fine. Mention and be clear that this is owned media upfront. Authenticity is key. The moment you try and pretend it is not owned media you will lose the trust of your customers. As PR professionals you need to advise your clients/brands to stay the course. What are the skillsets you need to get started? Be good at communication and see the big picture. Have a nose for news, be curious, be teachable, have good writing skills and a keen eye on the fast-changing mediums of communication with the core target audience. Don’t get hung up on the tools and platforms. Focus on the stories that matter to your audience. Create trust and credibility with authentic stories and empathy. If you can do that then that is the only skillset you need. Why should PR professionals handle it? PR professionals are basically trained to create engaging and captivating stories that are authentic. Adept at having a two-way conversation, persuasive (read media pitching) and keeping the audience engaged, are key PR qualities that make a strong case for PR to handle owned media. When do you start? Today. Now. ASAP. The above is by special arrangement via a collaboration with PRPOI Watch the video here: <div type="Youtube" id="3eTuXSC_ijk" title="Ep 33 : Owned Media : The New PR Buzzword" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3eTuXSC_ijk/mqdefault.jpg"></div>

Owned Media: What you need to know

<ul><li>The year 2020 has been an unprecedented one, but it's been a great teacher. </li><li>And as we inch closer to 2021, we at Ad and Media Insider, want to enter it with a few learnings from 2020 that will help us navigate 2021 better.</li><li>In our latest series, we look at different industries to understand what was 2020 like for them and to crystal gaze into the upcoming year, and identify some of the trends that will set the tone for 2021. </li><li>In our first story, we discuss how Public Relation firms are helping Indian companies navigate the coronavirus pandemic and some of the trends that would take the centre stage in 2021. </li></ul>2020 is coming to a close and what a year it has been! It’s been a year full of ups and downs, triumphs and defeats, good and bad PR stunts. As brands stepped back from overt selling and their communication focused on making consumers feel more comfortable with the changing environment due to COVID-19, they finally started understanding the importance of Public Relations. The industry has finally taken on newfound importance and is in a position to spearhead brand creativity rather than being consigned a supporting role. During the COVID-induced lockdown, CEOs of all companies were scrambling as they tried to manage internal damages and address their stakeholders’ concerns. However, 2020 has given brands an opportunity to prove that they are doing good by their employees and society. Marketing campaigns had to be done with genuine sincerity, compassion and humanity but treading that line between genuine and opportunistic has been a difficult task and many brands turned to their Public Relations firms to navigate the challenges. Throughout 2020, the headlines were dominated with COVID-19 coverage and the media industry was hungry for positive stories. Brands that managed to offer a light-hearted story that felt genuine, were recognised in the industry and won their consumer trust by being in the news, which is where public relations came into play. At a time when how companies treat their employees could affect their ability to attract and retain stakeholders and a slightest miscommunication could damage their public image for years, PR will play a key role in 2021. So, while 2020 was PR’s year to shine and 2021, as experts predict, will be when PR flourishes. We reached out to experts to understand what kind of role will PR play in 2021. Here is what they said: <keyword id="2606" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Dilip-Cherian">Dilip Cherian</keyword>, Consulting Partner and Founder, Perfect Relations: <div type="image" title="Dilip-Cherian1" msid="79956585" hostid="261"></div> Among the many big changes expected in the world of Corporates in the coming year, is the new recognition of the power of dynamic messaging. This is a complex business but simply put, it's the ability to listen and respond on multiple platforms simultaneously. Static messaging will gradually wither away and more dynamic messaging will instead dominate. Voice may be the new surprise entrant. Modulated, translated and if needed enhanced, watch for how this changes, communication techniques this next year. <keyword id="644283" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Archana-Jain">Archana Jain</keyword>, Managing Director, PR Pundit: <div type="image" title="Archana Jain - Horizontal" msid="79956641" hostid="261"></div> No one knows what a post-Covid-19 world might look like, but what companies, brands and institutions have done to support jobs, communities and societies in rebounding successfully, will be with us for quite some time. The time has come to make capitalism better. Companies, brands and institutions of all kinds must connect with their communities through truthful, authentic human acts. PR in 2021 will have to guide organisations to exhibit authenticity, help articulate and manifest the purpose of the organisations as an extension of their values, and then communicate this to both internal and external audiences. Purpose-driven customer playbook has to be adopted to demonstrate true purpose. Brands are going to be left behind if they don’t have purpose. Thus we have to broaden our definition of what makes the world better. We have to put a human face on campaigns that leverage cultural flashpoints to form an emotional connection with consumers. It is an opportunity for companies to take action that matters — to help solve real societal challenges." Ameer Ismail, President, Lintas Live, MullenLowe Lintas Group: <div type="image" title="Ameer Ismail" msid="79956668" hostid="261"></div> REIMAGINE AND COLLABORATE The PR agency ecosystem has been in need of a significant evolution for some time in order to keep up with rapidly changing realities. There has been a complete shift in the media landscape and the pandemic has further accelerated this change, especially the move to everything digital. More consumers are searching for information and sharing opinions online than ever before. Shifts we had imagined happening over a period of years have panned out over months! Even though the ecosystem has known about these big changes, this sudden shift in momentum has caught many in the PR agency off guard. All this has made the need for reimagining PR agency models even more critical. There have been so many attempts to get this right for PR firms but this year was the first time many management teams and leaders in the industry have had a chance to actually think this through and some have taken bold action. This is giving rise to innovations that weren’t even imagined before. We already are seeing such wonderful hybrid work models emerge as completely new opportunities for employees; this is just the beginning. The next big issue is the scramble of PR agencies to be everything, and to expand offering with allied competencies like creative, experiential and social media capabilities. Agencies can be good at what they do, not at everything they would like to do! Therefore, in my view, new collaborative models will emerge fueling a more consolidated agency ecosystem of partnerships that will be centered around client needs and consumer truths. <keyword id="3573569" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Akshaara-Lalwani">Akshaara Lalwani</keyword>, CEO &amp; Founder, Communicate India: <div type="image" title="Akshaara Lalwani, Founder, Communicate India pic 1" msid="79956676" hostid="261"></div> “In the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity,” said Albert Einstein and this year has taught us just that if nothing else. As the world went through rapid modifications, we identified the need to better understand the evolving milieu of clients and markets across sectors. Throughout history, the crisis has caused paradigm shifts and galvanized new innovations to suit the new order. In such situations, it is critical to have a young and proactive workforce that is agile, talented and willing to go the extra mile. With a strong understanding of traditional media one also needs to adapt to new age media and strategy to deal with the constantly changing competitor landscape. Market intelligence is imperative to build and sustain client relations especially in a world where one needs to navigate uncharted waters like social distancing and remote working. Tarunjeet Rattan- Managing Partner, Nucleus PR: <div type="image" title="Tarunjeet Pr" msid="79956683" hostid="261"></div> The PESO (Paid-Earned-Shared-Owned) model has been whispered about in the shadows for the last couple of years. With the current state of the media industry, this work and business model of working will come out of the fringes and take prominence. PR professionals will have to upskill and evolve with the model if they don’t want to finish familiar. Sonam Shah, Founder and CEO, Treize Communications: <div type="image" title="Sonam Shah - horizontal" msid="79956698" hostid="261"></div> The year 2020 has surely seen an upward trend in the demand for PR services and clients too have started realizing the value of earned media and the long-term benefits of having a sustainable PR strategy in place. This demand is definitely going to continue in 2021 and one of the key trends I foresee is the importance of Focused PR. With the media landscape evolving drastically, and the consumption patterns of news changing rapidly, agencies will have to come up with a Focused PR approach to provide value of money to clients. Since ROI is not easily measured in Public Relations services, and budgets are stringent, following a Focused PR strategy will be a win-win for both sides. Having a Focused PR strategy implies two things: Concentrating on building thought-leadership and expertise in the respective field and/or concentrating on any campaign and getting media coverage around it. Transparency and clarity will be very important and PR agencies will have to come up with time-bound solutions, with a focus on long-term strategy.

Public Relation trends to look out for in 2021

<ul><li><keyword id="6359039" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="sourav-ganguly">Sourav Ganguly</keyword>, BCCI President and Former India Cricket Captain, suffered a mild heart attack last month.</li><li>Netizens happened to re-discover his old ad endorsing Fortune's Cooking Oil, which then triggered a slew of tweets and jokes with people questioning the effectiveness of the oil and also wondering how the brand will tackle this crisis. </li><li>On Valentine’s day, the brand published an honest print ad clarifying that there are many factors that can affect our heart's health.</li><li>We speak to PR experts to find out if communication like this is enough to win audiences over. </li></ul>After BCCI President and Former India Cricket Captain Sourav Ganguly suffered a mild heart attack in January 2021, Adani Wilmar’s Fortune rice bran cooking oil, that is endorsed by Ganguly, got caught in the middle of the crisis. Twitterati had re-discovered Ganguly’s old ad with Fortune Oil that said it is ‘a healthy for heart oil’ and the irony was not lost on people. They were also quick to jump to the conclusion that Fortune oil is unhealthy and its old ad even started making rounds on WhatsApp. To soften the uproar coming in its way, Fortune Oil deleted the ad from its official website and social media handles. It had also immediately released a media statement asserting that it would continue to work with Ganguly. <div type="twitter" handle="arifaajakia" handlename="Arif Aajakia" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1335345211610963969/_YB6QF_R_normal.jpg" favoritecount="191" retweetcount="18" status="Dada, get well soon. We love you. You are a tiger, you will come back roaring. @SGanguly99 https://t.co/F5rkPAlmNE" createdat="1609734280000" id="1345949241093586946"></div> <div type="twitter" handle="aliusmani" handlename="AYU" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1335760850393526272/u2_LBHPy_normal.jpg" favoritecount="1" retweetcount="0" status="@beastoftraal WhatsApp forwards are already making rounds 😀😀 https://t.co/ouMXMTxcwW" createdat="1609678780000" id="1345716459503161344"></div> Post that, netizens, including brand experts and consumers, had eyes on Fortune’s next move for it was going to take a lot of come out of this huge PR crisis and win its consumers’ trust back. As an FMCG brand that caters to a mass audience, how do you deal with this cloud of resentment coming your way on social media? Fortune Oil has given us a case study with its latest move. On Valentine’s Day, when the whole brandverse got mushy and there were hearts splashed across the newspaper ads, Adani Wilmar decided to have a heart-to-heart conversation with fans. It launched a personalised print ad penned by its ambassador Ganguly to clarify that there are multiple reasons that can affect one’s heart's health. <div type="twitter" handle="FortuneFoods" handlename="Fortune Foods" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1230878437541371904/69ad0EW2_normal.jpg" favoritecount="10" retweetcount="2" status="Dada made a healthy comeback, as he always does! Here's a 'heart' felt message from him on Valentine's Day. Let's h… https://t.co/Je2cGatoz8" createdat="1613277036000" id="1360808636755320837"></div> Titled, ‘Today seems like a good day to talk about the heart,’ the body copy read, "You don't expect a fairly young and fit person like me to have a heart-related ailment. But here's the thing, there are just too many factors that can affect our heart's health. One of them could be family history of heart ailments, as it was in my case." It further shared a few tips to keep one’s heart-healthy. In a personalised note, Ganguly openly talked about his heart condition and what consumers can learn from his episode. “Love your heart. Take good care of it,” he concluded. Fortune Oil appointed Ganguly as its brand face in 2020 to target mid-age people with its campaign ‘Welcome to the 40s,' which aimed to promote maintaining heart health and good lifestyle. The campaign backfired a year later and it was a blow hard to forget. However, when a brand faces a huge crisis related to their brand ambassadors such as this, the traditional PR advice is to maintain a low profile to cushion the blow. Adani Wilmar, on the other hand, decided to address the concerns and face the situation head-on. It also waited for the right amount of time to launch a piece of communication -- long enough to give its consumers some space to process the news and but not too long before it is a distant memory. And it seems to have won brand experts admiration. Albeit, will a brand ambassador coming to bat for a brand and talk about the health benefits it serves, be enough to regain its consumers' trust? Here is what experts had to say: Dilip Cherian, Founder and Partner, Perfect Relations: <div type="image" title="Dilip-Cherian1" msid="80928599" hostid="261"></div> There is no doubt that some response would have been expected from any consumer products company which is also substantially consumer-facing. So I guess, Fortune really didn’t have too much of a choice or perhaps was facing image pressures to explain its stance. This actually is one of the huge consequences of having an extremely popular and visible brand ambassador. The price you have to pay is often that, anything that happens to the ambassador actually happens to the company. So rather than entering a situation where a stent within the company would be necessary, I think that responding was smart. Opting for a print advertisement allowed the company to actually communicate at many levels. As we tell our clients today, owned media and paid media can be multiplied appropriately to reach the audiences you want in the ways you want. Taking a print advertisement was only one of the options. It could easily have been addressed far more cheaply and just as effectively by having this content put on the Fortune website. Would it have worked? The answer is yes, if properly promoted. Owned media can very often play the role that conventional media has played in recent times. This is one of the huge advantages that we have been able to get companies involved in understanding during the year of lockdown. Now that the advertisement is out, clever digital manipulation and propagation is the answer if that is done then the point will be well taken amongst many more stakeholders than just those who happened to read the print copy. The lessons a brand can learn from this are quite clear. There is no doubt that large consumer facing brands need to be conscious of who they choose as a brand ambassador and recognise that along with huge gains come the pains. The second lesson would be that responding is smarter than smarting in silence. Third lesson is that using your owned media would have been infinitely cheaper as a means of responding. Lesson four, clever use of social media and aggressive use of traditional media can very often multiply what you choose to put out on owned media. Archana Jain, Managing Director, PR pundit <div type="image" title="Archana Jain - Horizontal" msid="80932970" hostid="261"></div> There is no 'one size fits all' strategic response in a crisis; two identical scenarios can have different responses as they may be taking place at two different times, in two different domains, or with varied company cultures. A crisis always merits a response – as they say, 'Feed the shark before it feeds on you!" The key points to have got across swiftly would have been on how the company feels about the incident as its important to be humanly concerned, first, last and foremost. A lesson that brands can learn from this: When good health is the claim, it’s important to monitor the health of the brand ambassador just like insurance companies do each year of the insured. This was capture in the T of the HEART message in the advertisement Tarunjeet Rattan, Founder and Managing Partner, Nucleus and Co-founder of PRPOI <div type="image" title="Tarunjeet Pr" msid="80932780" hostid="261"></div> Absolutely, it was a good strategy. In fact, they should have done that when Sourav first got the attack. If I recall correctly a lot of personal branding experts at that point of time had recommended that Sourav drop the brand. On the other hand, they also urged the brand to take a stand and leverage this opportunity to educate everyone on the various causes of a heart attack. Fortune shied away from it at that point. To me, that was an opportunity lost. What if Sourav had not recovered. It would have ensured the loss of customer trust forever. Good that he did, and it gave the brand an opportunity to address it. It is great to see them take this up now and in such a sweet and toned down manner. In today's day and age, it does not work if you choose to lie low. Apart from it being a wasted opportunity to connect with your audience, the silence will backfire. Crisis needs to be addressed head-on with a smart strategy when the fires are the hottest. I do believe they've hit the sweet spot with a heartfelt message and on an appropriate day. Using a single medium is in line with their cautionary wait &amp; watch approach. Not too massive but at the same time reaching just about enough audiences. What I am sure they would have anticipated and counted on was that the same branding experts who pulled them up for not addressing the crisis earlier would be impressed enough or have an opinion either way to give them more space on their social media real estate. Lo and behold ! It worked out just as planned. Some lessons that brands can learn from this crisis and its management: Never ever waste a good crisis. Every crisis is an opportunity in disguise so use it. When you do choose to address it make sure you are aware of the circumstances around the crisis so that you can choose the right medium for the message. This awareness will help you use your budget wisely. Amplification is essential. Identify the people and channels who will be most apt for it before deciding on your response. Respond to a crisis with facts and a lot of empathy. A situation like this would have worked really well for the brand and earned it a lot of goodwill if it had stood by its brand ambassador on the day of the heart attack. Be human. Whether now or later …whether the individual is your brand ambassador or not…being human won’t hurt you. It will only earn you loyalty points and love. Don’t make outright claims that you cannot control. They will come back to haunt you. Temper all claims with a dose of reality. Akshaara Lalwani, Founder and CEO of Communicate India: <div type="image" title="Akshaara Lalwani, Founder, Communicate India pic 1" msid="80928629" hostid="261"></div> Firstly, we have to understand Mr. Sourav Ganguly’s case wasn’t an anomaly. Scores of athletes and sportspersons across the world have had heart attacks when in the prime of their careers and lives. So this really was an unexpected event in terms of public relations because Sourav Ganguly was always the right fit for the brand and he is a national treasure, but it was just unfortunate that this happened to him. Having said this, from a PR perspective, when something like this happens, conventional wisdom does suggest that a brand lie low, retract all their communication and pull out adverts, as was the case with Fortune. This is understandable because no brand would not want to alienate its customers or lose out on revenue. However, we have to understand that we’re part of a more evolved digital economy today and that a brand need not necessarily hide behind a crisis. Bringing the issue to the forefront and addressing it head-on, is the best suited strategy for a modern PR and communications landscape. Without being insensitive to a brand ambassador’s health situation, it is an opportune moment to reiterate messaging around heart health eating and the importance of eating well and living well. This is not to say that a brand should use someone's misfortune to push sales and marketing, but it is about communicating and engaging with customers in an honest manner, and telling them that the risk of heart attacks is real for everyone. In a crisis situation like this, there has to be an acute understanding of brand sentiment and a two-way-communication model has to be adopted. Customers and brands need to work together to identify messages because at the end of the day, customers understand risks of a product and it is the duty of any company to educate its customers about these risks. Making the customer your partner and working in a symbiotic relationship is the key. Therefore it isn’t advisable to have a knee-jerk reaction of retracting communication and adverts during an unprecedented situation like this. In fact, creating honest communication, addressing the situation directly, and working through issues is advisable. It’s all about responding to your customer and providing them with the most correct, accurate, and valuable information.

After Fortune Foods' recent PR crisis after Sourav Ganguly's heart attack, is the brand’s latest print campaign enough to win back its consumers' trust?

<ul><li>From talking about shadowbanning to calling out Twitter for its 'manipulative' algorithm, Tesla CEO <keyword id="6355315" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="elon-musk" source="Orion">Elon Musk</keyword> has revealed quite a few loopholes in Twitter's algorithm.</li><li>If <keyword id="364027" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="musk" source="Orion">Musk</keyword> backs out now, the social media platform Twitter will never be the same.</li><li>With Musk putting the spotlight on Twitter’s weaknesses, users are also questioning its credibility as a platform.</li><li>So, if Musk abandons, the platform will have to focus more on damage control, and improve its algorithm.</li><li>Here’s what brand and public communication experts have to say about it.</li></ul>Weeks after Tesla CEO Elon Musk <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/elon-musk-to-buy-twitter-for-44-billion/articleshow/91083311.cms">announced </a>publicly that he is planning to buy the micro-blogging platform Twitter, there are signs that he might be hesitating now. On Tuesday, Musk tweeted that his proposed <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-twitter-deal-could-crumble-tesla-stock-420-2022-5?r=US&amp;IR=T">$44 billion buyout</a> is on hold now. He is waiting for Twitter to provide more information on the number of spam accounts that exist on the platform. Should the platform fail to provide proof it has fewer than 5% fake accounts, the deal might fall through. "My offer was based on Twitter's SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) filings being accurate," Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1526465624326782976">tweeted</a>. He added that the number of fake/<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/international/news/more-than-70-of-elon-musks-twitter-followers-are-spam-or-fake-accounts-research-groups-say/articleshow/91633318.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">spam </a>accounts on Twitter could be more than 20%. Musk <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2022-05-16/elon-musk-hints-at-negotiating-down-price-on-twitter-purchase">hinting </a>at negotiating a lower price is another sign that he may be getting cold feet. The billionaire had offered $54.20 a share but the stock was trading at around $37 on <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/05/16/longtime-elon-musk-backer-says-twitter-deal-will-close-at-lower-price/">May 16, 2022</a>. Musk didn’t just call out Twitter for underreporting its spam accounts. Since he announced his intentions to buy Twitter, Musk seems to be taking an aim at the platform’s algorithm and has revealed quite a few loopholes in Twitter's overall modus operandi. Musk indicated the default Twitter feed, which shows tweets based on popularity and users’ interests, needed to be replaced and is ‘manipulative.’ "You are being manipulated by the algorithm in ways you don't realise," Musk tweeted. He later <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1525738556102164480?s=20&amp;t=SP0BSSwCfQeu4qi5dyX-Ng">clarified </a>that he wasn’t suggesting malice in the algorithm but it ‘inadvertently manipulates/amplifies your viewpoints’ without informing the user. Shortly later, he warned the users of "potential bugs" in Twitter’s code. In the past, Musk has also casually joked about <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/social-media-platforms-deny-but-content-creators-and-tracking-websites-confirm-that-shadowbanning-or-silent-censorship-is-real/articleshow/91589975.cms">shadowbanning</a>, which is the secret censorship of a person, community or a topic on social media, confirming that it is real. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="If Musk abandons, here’s what it’d mean for Twitter and how it can win its credibility back" text="If Musk abandons, here’s what it’d mean for Twitter and how it can win its credibility back">If Musk abandons, here’s what it’d mean for Twitter and how it can win its credibility back</cmsannotation> If Musk backs out now, after bringing several issues at Twitter to the limelight, the micro-blogging platform will never be the same. “His pointing to fake users and bots, will force Twitter to clean up its user base, that may be a setback in the short term but will make the platform far more credible over time,” says Lloyd Mathias, business strategist and independent director. Mathias added that Twitter might benefit from his exit after all. “If he does back out, it may seem like a setback, but I think Twitter could benefit from him opening up the possibility of a series of new monetizing opportunities and enable its move from being purely advertising dependent. There is little doubt that he has changed how people and investors see Twitter, before his current engagement.” Independent communications consultant and social media expert Karthik Srinivasan says, “Twitter had its share of issues and controversies long before Musk brought them to the limelight through the proposed acquisition. Facebook has seen a lot more such controversies and yet, they are chugging along fine.” From breaching users’ privacy concerns to manipulating election results, all social media platforms have had their credibility questioned. However, after Musk and Parag Agarwal’s public feud, there has been a constant reminder of these shortcomings. “The moment any social media platform becomes all too powerful and has the ability to influence global politics, sway election outcomes, distort public opinion, misrepresent facts and tamper with news feeds, there are immediate concerns about credibility and their role in society. These concerns have always been there in the background and have once again resurfaced, only this time, they are a lot more stronger and corporates cannot suppress or subvert the narrative,” says founder and CEO of communications and PR agency Communicate India, Akshaara Lalwani. If the deal falls through, Twitter will have to pick up the pieces and change the narrative — shift the spotlight from its weaknesses to strengths. Suggesting the best way out of this potential crisis, Tarunjeet Rattan, managing partner of public relations and communications agency Nucleus PR, says, “Crisis management is often not about the crisis itself but how you react to it and the narrative you can replace it with. Every crisis is an opportunity for you to take center stage. The spotlight is on you. Now, what you say in that spotlight can change the whole narrative. Apart from all the statements and clarifications they issue which should adopt a non-emotional matter-of-fact tone, Twitter can use its own platform to repair any cracks in its reputation.” Should the billionaire back out, Twitter can use the opportunity to address and set some fundamentals right, says Mathias, and also examine some of the monetisation opportunities that Musk has hinted at. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Can Elon Musk back out now?" text="Can Elon Musk back out now?">Can Elon Musk back out now?</cmsannotation> Well, not easily, as both parties have signed an agreement that gives Twitter more power. It gives the platform the right to sue Musk to follow through with the deal, a legal clause known as “<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/twitter-says-its-committed-to-enforcing-elon-musks-44-billion-buyout-deal-even-as-he-appears-to-hesitate/articleshow/91632012.cms">specific performance.</a>” If either party backs out, they would have to pay $1 billion as a termination fee. Paying $1 billion for a man who has agreed to pay $44 billion to buy Twitter and whose net worth is $230 billion, may not be a big deal. However, it won’t be as simple as paying his way out of it. Twitter is committed to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/twitter-says-its-committed-to-enforcing-elon-musks-44-billion-buyout-deal-even-as-he-appears-to-hesitate/articleshow/91632012.cms">enforcing </a>Musk’s $44 billion buyout and is seemingly willing to sue for specific performance. Through a lawsuit, Twitter can get Musk to close the deal if there's already financing in place and all conditions are met. If Musk still walks out by settling the lawsuit and paying the termination fees, the microblogging platform will have nothing to worry about -- as far as its brand image and users’ trust is concerned. Srinivasan says, “I'd think that if Musk backs off, it’d be perhaps a great moment for Twitter to start thinking afresh, in terms of reconstituting its board and look at ways to do things differently.”

What would happen to Twitter if Elon Musk backs out now?

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Melia Robinson/Business InsiderSalesforce co-CEO Marc Benioff</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Analysts say Salesforce's stock had been slowing down, but <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/salesforce">Salesforce</a> brought good news when it announced earnings.</li><li>Analysts are optimistic about Salesforce's $15.7 billion acquisition of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/tableau">Tableau</a>.</li><li>They say that although Salesforce's organic growth is slowing down, its acquisitions will diversify it product base. </li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summary">Click here for more BI Prime stories</a>.</li></ul>Before Salesforce announced earnings this week, analysts tell Business Insider that Wall Street was getting nervous about its core business. Its stock price has been languishing in recent months, taking a big hit back in May as the Salesforce platform itself faced a 15-hour outage. But analysts say that Salesforce's better-than-expected earnings report on Thursday, in which it raised its full-year revenue guidance to $16.9 billion, are helping put those fears to rest. Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/salesforce-earnings-q2-2020-2019-8">Salesforce's stock is up 7% after beating Wall Street's expectations</a>"The market was watching with anticipation as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/salesforce-is-a-bargain-wall-street-analysts-say-2019-8">Salesforce</a> stock hadn't performed quite as well," Daniel Elman, an analyst at Nucleus Research, told Business Insider. "People weren't expecting high performance."Plus, investors were nervous about Salesforce's $15.7 billion acquisition of data analytics company Tableau, which closed earlier this month. However, Salesforce co-CEO and chairman Marc Benioff cited the Tableau acquisition for one reason it raised its guidance.<h2>Tableau will be a 'really big boost'</h2>Elman says that organic growth for Salesforce seems to be slowing down. But in light of this slowdown, Elman says acquiring Tableau was a "smart, strategic move." Tableau also runs on private data centers, which complements Salesforce's cloud software business, opening the door for new customers."The revenue numbers [of Tableau] are going to be a really big boost," Elman said. "It's huge for showing growth as organic growth slows down."The big question is what Salesforce will ultimately do with Tableau, says Pat Walravens, director of technology research at JMP Securities."The bull case is they're going to use the smarts and the technology and the knowledge of Tableau to create a really good analytical application that uses Salesforce's data," Walravens said. "They haven't really pulled the curtain back on that yet. For now, they say they're operating as separate companies but at some point that's going to change."Because of this acquisition, analysts expect to see higher than expected growth for Salesforce going forward. Besides Tableau, Salesforce is also diversifying its offerings through other acquisitions, such as of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/one-year-after-salesforce-acquired-it-mulesoft-has-its-biggest-quarter-2019-3">MuleSoft</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/r-salesforce-in-talks-to-buy-clicksoftware-for-15-billion-report-2019-1">ClickSoftware</a>. All told, analysts say, these moves show that Salesforce is expanding in ways that could prove to be smart. "We continue to like the stock as the fundamentals of the business remain solid and the demand environment is strong," Bhavan Suri, partner at William Blair, wrote in a note. Salesforce has a strong record of integrating acquisitions and generating inorganic growth, which leads us to believe there is upside to Tableau numbers in the second half of the year."Got a tip? Contact this reporter via email at <a href="mailto:rmchan@businessinsider.com">rmchan@businessinsider.com</a>, Telegram at @rosaliechan, or Twitter DM at <a href="https://twitter.com/rosaliechan17">@rosaliechan17</a>. (PR pitches by email only, please.) Other types of secure messaging available upon request. You can also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-tip-business-insider-securely-guide-signal-securedrop-2017-6">contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop</a>.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/banking?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=ctgr_bii&amp;itm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;itm_content=wallstreet&amp;itm_campaign=banking"></a> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/taylor-swift-net-worth-singer-millionaire-makes-spends-money-wealth-2019-4">Taylor Swift is dropping a new album. Here's how the world's highest-paid celebrity makes and spends her $360 million.</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

Wall Street wasn't expecting much from Salesforce earnings, but its results and its $15.7 billion Tableau acquisition proved them wrong

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images<ul class="summary-list"><li>Salesforce and other cloud software companies are well-positioned to withstand a financial crisis, like the one we're now facing due to the coronavirus pandemic, analysts tell Business Insider.</li><li>While Salesforce may feel some near term pressure as corporations cut back on spending, it has a business model and market opportunity that should withstand a recession.</li><li>Salesforce's model of recurring revenue from large customers means even if bookings are slightly up or down between quarters, the company benefits from a longer term financial stability.</li><li>Additionally, the companies Salesforce has acquired recently have expanded Salesforce's market opportunity and customer base.</li><li><a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/trending">Click here to get BI Prime's weekly 'Trending' tech newsletter in your email inbox.</a></li></ul>As the coronavirus crisis wreaks havoc on the global economy, tech companies, their employees, and investors are questioning how their businesses will be impacted. While tech companies that make hardware or depend on supply chains may have a tough time, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cloud-software-economic-uncertainty-recession-coronavirus-2020-3">cloud software companies like Salesforce are better positioned to withstand a financial crisis</a>, experts say.Salesforce might find it tougher to sign on new customers and expand deals with existing ones while companies cut back on spending, but in the long run its business model and market opportunity should be strong enough to withstand a recession, analysts told Business Insider.Like many other software vendors, Salesforce depends on a roster of large customers for much of its revenue. These big customers sign long multi-year contracts, which means they've have already budgeted for spending on Salesforce software. It's something CEO Marc Benioff <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/salesforce-marc-benioff-coronavirus-impact-business-2020-2">told analysts on the company's last earnings call at the end of February</a>. "93% of our revenue is deferred, so that just gives us tremendous visibility into the future," he said, describing the company's model of subscription software as a "key architecture of our accounting" that illustrates "our deep contractual multi-year relationships with our customers."If Salesforce's bookings are slightly up or down between quarters, the company's longer term contracts provide a reliable business that ensures stability.<h2>Short term struggles as customers cut costs</h2>In the short term though, as companies try to cut costs and save money, there will be less demand for Salesforce's products. Projects to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/salesforce-lower-demand-digital-tranformation-wedbush-analyst-2020-4">modernize and upgrade a company's IT infrastructure will likely be put on hold during this economic uncertainty,</a> several analysts said. "In the enterprise market, among large customers, these CRM digital transformation initiatives are still very high priority," Steve Koenig, an analyst at Wedbush, told Business Insider, "But decisions to actually spend on them or go to the next phase, or initiate them are getting delayed or are at imminent risk of getting delayed." Additionally, Koenig said his team has heard from Salesforce partners and consultants, who resell Salesforce software, that as smaller companies look to renew their software contracts, they're looking to cut spending costs.So although those large companies won't get rid of the software entirely, they may not expand its usage throughout the company as fast as originally planned. And since Salesforce sells software that's meant to help companies generate more revenue from customers, it could be more at risk from slowing sales than some other software vendors.A big focus for Salesforce is how its technology can help companies selling consumer goods better understand their customers. Now those retail stores and brands are struggling to stay afloat as people stay home and spend less money, said Rob Oliver, an analyst at Baird. "So those are very real issues that undoubtedly will play out over the next few quarters for Salesforce. And so I would view those more near term to medium term, but that's going to continue to probably weigh on Salesforce I think for a little while here," Oliver told Business Insider. <h2>Salesforce will bounce back quickly</h2>Daniel Elman, an analyst at Nucleus Research, agreed that Salesforce might have a harder time acquiring new customers and that existing customers would slow down in expanding their existing subscriptions, but said in the long term it will bounce back faster than other companies. Salesforce is helping businesses go through the process of modernizing their IT and software tools, which makes it a critical partnership for many companies, even if those modernization efforts are put on hold for a while. So in general, customers will stick around, even during times of economic uncertainty. "Salesforce has been shown to consistently deliver value to all their customers," Elman told Business Insider. "They're providing a pretty essential service when B-to-C brands are looking to stand out in a crowded marketplace, Salesforce lets them do that."Additionally, in recent years Salesforce has acquired many companies and expanded its product offerings, including its $15.7 billion acquisition of data analytics platform Tableau last year. This has expanded Salesforce's market opportunity because those companies also bring their customer base to Salesforce and now Salesforce has new types of software to sell, Elman said. "That presents a huge cross sales opportunity for Salesforce with those Tableau customers. Given that it's like you're already using Tableau, you're already paying Salesforce in a sense, so you might as well just turn on the other aspects of it," he said. Another big advantage Salesforce has is its free online learning platform, Trailhead. It's a way for people to get new skills for free, at a time when many companies are having to lay off workers. It also expands Salesforce's network of customers and offers another piece of value. "It expands the whole network of Salesforce professionals and therefore grows Salesforce's whole ecosystem," Oliver said. Got a tip? Contact this reporter via email at <a href="mailto:pzaveri@businessinsider.com">pzaveri@businessinsider.com</a> or Signal at 925-364-4258. (PR pitches by email only, please.) You can also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-tip-business-insider-securely-guide-signal-securedrop-2017-6">contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop</a>. <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/electric-planes-future-of-aviation-problems-regulations-2020-3">Why electric planes haven't taken off yet</a></h3>

Salesforce could see lower demand right now, but its fundamental business model makes it well-equipped to withstand a recession, analysts say

REUTERS/Baz RatnerMicrosoft CEO Satya Nadella<ul class="summary-list"><li>Earlier this week, Microsoft announced a new version of its Teams chat app, aimed at consumers - an app that will go on to compete with Zoom, which has become the video-chat standard for everything from boardroom meetings to yoga classes amid the coronavirus crisis. </li><li>Analysts say that despite the app's success in the workplace, Microsoft will be hard-pressed to get consumers to really embrace Teams, when they're already using everything from Zoom to WhatsApp to chat with friends and family. </li><li>At the same time, one analyst says that consumers might turn to Microsoft 365, the cloud productivity suite that includes Teams, to keep all of their email, calendaring, and chat needs in one place, given that both professional and social lives have moved online amid social distancing mandates.</li><li>Experts also expect that ongoing scrutiny of Zoom's approach to user privacy could also benefit Microsoft, which has a more established and transparent privacy policy.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summarymary">Click here for more BI Prime stories</a>.</li></ul>With social distancing mandates in place across much of the world, people around the world have turned to video chat apps to both stay productive at work and hang out with friends and family. The main app they're using: Zoom, which started as a tool for businesses, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zoom-popularity-coronavirus-video-calling-microsoft-google-cisco-2020-3">but is now something of a standard for schools, virtual happy hours, yoga classes and other social engagements.</a> Amid the hype, Zoom's usage and stock price have both soared. And in a <a href="https://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/2020/04/01/a-message-to-our-users/">blog post published Wednesday</a>, CEO Eric Yuan said usage had increased by 1,900%, with 200 million daily free and paying users in March, up from 10 million at the end of December.Now, Microsoft is looking to get in on the action. Earlier this week, it announced a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-365-teams-consumer-version-teams-video-calling-2020-3">consumer version of Teams would be available later this year</a>, as part of a consumer-friendly version of its Microsoft 365 productivity bundle. The announcement comes after <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-modern-life-devices-win-back-consumers-2019-12">job postings over the past few months for the team</a> an executive once explained as a part of Microsoft's vision to "win back" the "magic" it lost with consumers.It's not the first time that Microsoft has raced to reach parity with Zoom: Earlier this month, Microsoft Teams added new features that its rival already offered, including background noise suppression in video calls and a way to virtually raise your hand when you want to say something in a video call.The problem, experts say, is that Microsoft may struggle to attract consumers over to Teams, given that there are so many free options out there already in people's hands - the Microsoft 365 consumer bundle will be priced starting at $7/month; Zoom has a free service tier, and apps like WhatsApp and Apple FaceTime are entirely free. Even Microsoft's own Skype, which used to be the standard for video-calling, is free for most calls. "I would guess most of the big spikes [in Zoom] with all these new use cases like socializing, and then the classes and all that stuff, is free users. I can't imagine why they would want to switch to Microsoft," Rishi Jaluria, an analyst at D.A. Davidson, told Business Insider. At the same time, another analyst says, Microsoft may yet pull this off. If Microsoft can market it correctly, consumers might turn to Microsoft 365 to keep all of their email, calendaring, and chat needs in one place, given that both professional and social lives have moved online amid social distancing mandates.<h2>Why Zoom is beating Microsoft</h2>Microsoft dominates in the workplace with its productivity software, and has racked up <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-teams-coronavirus-daily-active-users-2020-3">44 million daily active users for Microsoft Teams as of March 19 </a>- with huge growth amid the coronavirus-driven remote work boom. A big part of Teams' enterprise success is that it comes bundled with the Office 365 suite, which includes cloud-based versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and other ubiquitous business software standards. If you want just one, you need to subscribe to them all. The same will be true of Teams for consumers, which will come in this new Microsoft 365 bundle. In the workplace, this approach has been challenged by the likes of Slack, Airtable, and even Zoom, all of which have seen some degree of success by offering a very specific tool, on an a la carte basis. That's similar to the problems that Microsoft will face when going after consumers, where it'll have to pitch its comprehensive suite against purpose-built chat apps, again like Zoom. "The question regarding Microsoft's success with families is the same as the corporate world: Will families embrace a product that provides multiple ways to collaborate or are they happy switching between apps and won't bother changing," asks Larry Cannell, an analyst at Gartner.Another thing is that Microsoft Teams isn't entirely new, given that its video-conferencing technology is based on the legacy Skype for Business, which it replaced for business users. Zoom, meanwhile, was built from scratch for this very specific purpose. D.A. Davidson's Jaluria expects that this is just one more factor that helps Zoom and hampers Microsoft when it comes to winning over loyal users.<h2>The value Microsoft offers</h2>Some analysts argue that Microsoft's position is actually stronger than it may first appear - if the company can nail the marketing. With everybody out to find new ways to socialize while being stuck at home, having a whole bunch of apps that covers both their professional and personal lives could be appealing, said Dan Newman, an analyst at Futurum Research."With the rise of COVID-19 and the at-home economy and social distancing people are trying to find ways to continue to engage in multiple platforms. And maybe part of what we've come to realize is we have so many disparate platforms. How do we streamline it?" he said.To that point, Microsoft Teams integrates with all the other Office 365 apps, from Excel to Outlook, so you can chat with your family, track your personal calendar, and manage finances all in one place.Besides, if people already use Teams or Office 365 in general at work, the consumer suite could draw them in, he said. But he acknowledges that the challenge will be getting people to pay for the suite.Trevor White, an analyst at Nucleus Research, added that recent controversies over Zoom's stance on privacy might be to Microsoft's benefit.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-zoom-faces-questions-over-security-amid-surge-2020-3">Security experts have highlighted concerns about a lack of clarity over Zoom's privacy policy</a>, even as trolls or hackers infiltrate Zoom calls to share indecent images or other spam, in a phenomenon called 'Zoombombing," has become a concern. Earlier this week, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zoom-new-york-attorney-general-privacy-practices-2020-3">the New York Attorney General sent a letter to Zoom</a> with questions about its security measures. In response to the criticism,<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zoom-ceo-sorry-privacy-security-2020-4">Zoom CEO Yuan apologized for the videoconferencing service's many privacy and security issues</a>, in a blog post published Wednesday, saying that the tool was originally built to service businesses with dedicated IT departments, not millions of consumers. He outlined a series of steps Zoom will take to make the platform safer.Microsoft, meanwhile, has the advantage that its privacy policy is well-known, and has been refined over a number of years, making it a known quantity and perhaps ultimately a more trusted brand.Got a tip? Contact this reporter via email at <a href="mailto:pzaveri@businessinsider.com">pzaveri@businessinsider.com</a> or Signal at 925-364-4258. (PR pitches by email only, please.) You can also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-tip-business-insider-securely-guide-signal-securedrop-2017-6">contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop</a>. <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/melissa-maker-clean-your-home-quickly-cleaning-expert-2017-4">A cleaning expert reveals her 3-step method for cleaning your entire home quickly</a></h3>

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