Adgully?ÇÖs IMAGEXX Summit and Awards 2024, the premier PR industry event, took place on July 18, 2024, at the Holiday Inn, Aerocity, Gurgaon. This prestigious event brought together industry leaders, professionals, and innovators to celebrate excellence in public relations and communication.The event saw an interesting panel discussion on ?ÇÿThe Future of Public Relations in the Age of AI?ÇÖ, chaired by Bhaskar Majumdar, Co-Originator, CommsAdda. The esteemed panelists included:Dr Navneet Anand, Founder & Director, GreyMatters Communications & ConsultingDr Samir Kapur, Director, AdfactorsManu Kumar, Head of Marketing & Corporate Communications, Hero Electric VehiclesSanjeev Handa, SVP & Head of PR & Communications, Maruti SuzukiVandana Sandhir, Chief Client Strategy Officer, BursonIndiaBhaskar Majumdar started the session by asking a pertinent question, ?Ç£Do I lose my job because of AI??Ç¥ Replying to this question, Vandana Sandhir said, ?Ç£I don?ÇÖt think any of us will lose our jobs if we are smart about how we leverage AI. I think AI has been around for the longest, and we are all bored of talking about AI as a nebulous concept. It is well underway and there are some fantastic case studies of applications, where we are drawing huge value as communications professionals, and public relations professionals. For me, the most telling things are the stories that we see around us. I think it is hands down very clear that AI is very much an integral part, and we at Burson have pivoted ourselves to be a purpose-built agency to create value for our clients through reputation management. We are using a suite of services to be able to identify and listen better through AI to be able to understand the impact of messages, the risks they carry, the amplifications, again very smartly done to have micro experiences, to be able to understand our audiences better, and to have a real measurable impact in what we do as a professional, so that there are no grey areas which historically has been the bane for us as public relations professionals. Thanks to AI and technology our creativity knows no bounds, we are no longer limited by traditional content writing, so I think there are exciting times ahead.?Ç¥Majumdar added here, ?Ç£I completely agree with the creativity part, especially for someone like me who comes from the Orkut age, technology is a big challenge for me, but I?ÇÖm trying to understand podcasts, Twitter chat, and everything. Just a few days back, I created a PowerPoint presentation through AI.?Ç¥Replying to a question on what AI exactly means for communication & marketing, Sanjeev Handa said, ?Ç£What we need to understand as communicators is that the ?ÇÿI?ÇÖ in AI is the intelligence which is nothing but what makes us human. I think that?ÇÖs the quality that humans have, and if that is the ability, then AI is just an extension of that quality, which means we use the quality to make extensions in how we work, and what we do better. Similarly in communications, AI will always be the harbinger of getting into newer ways of doing things, newer ways of measuring things, and newer ways of creating things. I think taking the mundane out of regular work so that people focus on what we are strong at ?Çô relationships, creativity, and doing the new. I think that is the way forward.?Ç¥Majumdar noted, ?Ç£So, the first draft of the press release can be AI and then it has to be checked out by a professional to make it more suitable.?Ç¥Sanjeev Handa added here, ?Ç£I would say the first brief to AI has to be human-led; it?ÇÖs like value in, value out and GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out). So, the first thing has to be the human touch, anything you want them to do is subservient. If you want them to do something, you have to coach them to do it.?Ç¥Speaking on how Hero Electric Vehicles is utilizing AI for multiple campaigns, Manu Kumar said, ?Ç£You can automate the processes, but you cannot automate authenticity. So, the relationship between AI and humans has to be symbiotic. I think there is a debate on whether we will have our jobs or not. I don?ÇÖt think that is going to happen, what will happen is that if someone does not want to take up new technology that has come up, then obviously they are out, that happened when computers came in many years ago. At that time, the debate was similar. AI and technology can help and it is already doing a lot of things ?Çô not only mundane stuff, but very important data that it can pull out.?Ç¥Kumar added, ?Ç£One of the issues in communication is how to measure, how to report, and what are the sentiments that are going around. These are the mundane stuff, some platforms were doing it, but with AI what is happening is that it has become a norm. You cannot say that I can?ÇÖt do that or it is very expensive, etc. Ultimately, the person who is managing the relationship and others needs to understand how to read the data. What is also happening is that the role of a PR person or communicator is changing, and you have to upskill yourself. You have to start reading the data because it can give you great insights. And AI can hunt that data which is across platforms. Marketers and communicators can take great help from AI or any other technology and analyze it ?Çô analyze the sentiments, analyze if there is a crisis growing, and what the competition is doing, etc.?Ç¥On whether AI can substitute the media relations skills that PR professionals have, Navneet Anand replied, ?Ç£As communications professionals, it is something to raise concerns all across the spectrum. There was a study done by Oxford University which ranked the jobs that are likely to be affected by AI, where out of the 702 jobs listed, PR was listed at 634, quite down the order. We are safe for now. We have grown up doing human relations, which I think, is something that AI can never replace. And there are many other facets of public relations ?Çô we do a lot of public policy campaigns at Grey Matters Communications. Now there is nuanced, specific research that needs to be done. I have attempted a couple of times to get ChatGPT to respond to my queries about what the textile policy is going to be or what the policy is like from the 1990s and 2000 and so forth. It has failed me miserably, and that is where human intervention is necessary. I think you would always want to go back to the human side, the research side, and Google will remain relevant.?Ç¥Dr Samir Kapur said, ?Ç£There will be certain jobs that will be eroded by AI. IT jobs are getting eroded due to the advent of AI. If it?ÇÖs happening in IT, it?ÇÖs just a matter of time before it will come in PR. What we do not realize is that AI has been there, the only part is its version 3 and version 4 that has disrupted the entire market. It?ÇÖs a matter of time before you look at videos and other images that AI can listen to, read, and all of that. The routine work can, of course, be pre-empted, and the entire aspect can be put onto AI. But the human part is something that has to be worked on, which will have human intervention. For instance, you are a journalist, through AI I will get to know what kind of stories you have been writing, and what your stance is on certain issues. And unlike the current way of doing media relations, which is just issue a press release and that?ÇÖs it, people will understand that this journalist is covering a particular sector, AI will tell who is the journalist who is doing that and it will equip you better. It is not going to take your job, but people who know AI will take your job.?Ç¥These are edited excerpts. For the complete panel discussion, please watch below:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbdDQAcX6wk

The eighth edition of Adgully?ÇÖs flagship event ?Çô DIGIXX Summit and Awards 2024 ?Çô was held yesterday (March 22, 2024) amid the presence of who?ÇÖs who of the Digital and Marketing Universe. Each year, DIGIXX has been raising the bar, recognising the visionary leaders and groundbreaking campaigns that are shaping the future of digital marketing. This year has turned out to be even more exciting, exploring the newest trends, strategies, and insights that are transforming the digital landscape.A panel discussion on ?ÇÿHumanizing the Feed: Crafting Digital PR Strategies with Empathy and Trust?ÇÖ saw some leading names in PR and corporate communications stress on strategising empathy and credibility amid the rapid digital transition. The session was chaired by Dr Tripti Dhote, Assistant Prof. Head Corporate Communications, Symbiosis Institute of Digital and Telecom Management, and the distinguished included:Akanksha Jain, Head - Public Relations & Corporate Communications, BharatpeManu Kumar, Head - Marketing & Corporate Communications, Hero Electric VehiclesRohit Dubey, Vice President, Reliance JioSanjeev Handa, Senior Vice President and Head of PR & Communications, Maruti SuzukiNikhil Dey, Executive Director, Adfactors PRDr Tripti Dhote commenced the discussion by stating that as we navigate into a space that is defined by technological innovations, and while competence has sped up, digital transformation is undeniable, and undisputable. She said, ?Ç£In this entire digital shuffle, the typical human element may likely be lost, therefore when it comes to strategizing empathy and credibility, at one point of time it might have seemed like a necessity or a feel-good factor, but now I would say more than ever before it is a must-have for organizations if they ever wish to thrive in this particular digital context.?Ç¥She then went on to ask Rohit Dubey about the role of empathy in his sector, in identifying the audiences, especially at a human level.Rohit Dubey responded by saying, ?Ç£The very basic thing is that unless you understand the pain points of the consumer, you cannot have your product designed and that is the difference Jio brought into the whole telecom market. If you look at the tariff structure pre-2016, it was so complicated that you can get a PhD on that! When we were doing our study, we thought that this needed to be simplified, because there were so many wheels within wheels. So, that was one consumer pain point that came to us, and our idea was why not address this pain point? That was the first step we took in addressing the pain point of the consumer and that?ÇÖs the way the whole tariff was designed. Today, it has become an industry standard, now everybody copy-pastes that, whether it is 5% more than us or 10% more than us. However, the structure is by and large the same and that is something that has remained.?Ç¥?Ç£Being born as a digital company, our very focus was on designing every part of the process which was easy for the consumer to use, so be it a self-serving app like My Jio, you can do anything and you don?ÇÖt need to go to a shop to recharge or anything. Every aspect of the consumer was very well thought through and brought into the design and processes of the company. That?ÇÖs how the whole empathy aspect of the consumer was brought into the processes of the company, rather than being forced at a later stage,?Ç¥ he added.When asked how Maruti Suzuki blended empathy seamlessly into the business operations, Sanjeev Handa said, ?Ç£Data today has a lot of limitations, one has to go beyond algorithms and metrics that you collect. For example, a person might be saying that they buy Maruti cars because of the fuel-efficiency. But the reality is that we have gone deeper enough and that?ÇÖs where empathy comes in. What does fuel efficiency stems from? Is it because he wants value for money or likes longer journeys without actually stopping for refueling or is a sustainable environment on his mind? Those answers are still not there, therefore what we do to be empathetic about consumers is that we go very deep and research. For example, first-time buyers have a lot of anxiety ?Çô they wonder if it is the right car for them and their family, will they get the delivery on time, will finances be available. We take all those nuances into account when we are designing our marketing strategies and, more importantly, our digital footprint. So, today out of 26 touchpoints that we have identified the consumer takes while buying a car, 24 are digitalized at Maruti. Except for taking a test drive or getting a delivery, everything is digitized, and one can take finance or anything, that gives peace of mind. That is empathy.?Ç¥When it comes to electric vehicles, it is about category creation and essentially the objective, whether one is at a nascent stage or it is a little cluttered scenario. It still boils down to creating awareness or educating. Sharing Hero Electric Vehicles?ÇÖ experience in creating empathy, Manu Kumar said, ?Ç£I think one of the things that we need to take care of when we talk of digital PR is that it is a little different from social media, because the lines get blurred whether one is doing PR or they are talking of their regular social media feed; ultimately they are going to use that medium, or one of the mediums, to use that social media. We have to go beyond algorithms, that is, how many likes and reach one gets on social media. But when you are talking of PR and empathy in PR, and humanizing the whole thing, we need to get away a little bit from the advertising and marketing fields that one puts out. Especially when you are talking of a new category that needs to be created, one needs to create a lot of awareness about how does an EV work, the benefits of EVs, and how long will the battery charge last.?Ç¥Akanksha Jain added here, ?Ç£We work with offline merchants, who are small or emerging merchants and have been left behind in this e-commerce race, but they play an important role in the overall economy. The reason why BharatPe was born was to provide them with credit access and give them new-age fintech products that are simple and easy to use. We ran a campaign, called ?ÇÿTransforming Bharat?ÇÖ, which was started around three years back, at the time of Covid when retailers were the most impacted. The idea was simple ?Çô we took the risk of going out and getting compelling stories from these guys who are the unsung heroes of the economy, who are there day in and day out for all of us. Over the last two and a half years, we have covered merchants across 15 cities. These are short two-minute stories that we put out in their language. One has to remember that they are not camera-trained, we don?ÇÖ't use any optics, and there is no makeup or DOP out there.?Ç¥When asked whether compromising on brand purpose is possible to translate the brand purpose when we are speaking of inclusivity and diversity, Nikhil Dey elaborated, ?Ç£There are two circles in my mind when I look at any campaign or idea; one is the inside-out circle ?Çô what?ÇÖs honest and true to that brand, and there is the outside-in circle, both these at some point need to intersect. The intersection, if done well, is where content meets context. So, the content that a brand stands for, if it can breathe well in a particular context, then you have attention. If not, then there is noise, so when we look at the larger topic, we are talking about the algorithm and technology that we want to embrace. I think the algorithm helps us in getting a better reading of the context of what?ÇÖs going on in the world because there is so much going on. There are so many platforms, and audiences using technology smartly to get a sense or read of that context is a very powerful use. But sometimes one only plays the game of ?ÇÿLet?ÇÖs ride the way of what?ÇÖs trending, getting on the bandwagon of where the attention of the trend is, without being true to the essence of the brand.?Ç¥

The Public Relations Consultants Association of India (PRCAI) held its first-ever PRCAI Regional Dialogues in Ahmedabad, India, on February 23, 2024. The event brought together industry veterans, academicians, and communication specialists to discuss the evolving landscape of regional PR and its critical role in shaping effective communication strategies.It was held under the theme "Scripting The Tomorrow of Regional PR."The focus was on the growing importance of regional PR in engaging diverse local audiences and building successful communication strategies.Sanjeev Handa, SVP of PR and Communications at Maruti Suzuki India, highlighted the crucial role of local and regional media in amplifying brand messaging.Panel discussions:"Inside Out of Regional PR": Narayan Bhatt (Reliance Industries), Neeraj Sharma (AM/NS India), Vibhuti Bhatt (One Advertising), and Ajay Umat (NavGujarat Samay & Ahmedabad Mirror) discussed regional PR's contribution to holistic communication and business growth."Talent: New Hunting Grounds and Change to Lead": Shailesh Goyal (Simulations PR), Pradeep Mallik (PDEU), and Deeptie Sethi (PRCAI) explored the potential of tier-2 cities for talent acquisition and strategies for preparing students for the evolving PR industry.PRCAI felicitated pioneers and senior professionals in Ahmedabad's PR and corporate communications sector.The PRCAI Regional Dialogues are expected to become a platform for fostering meaningful discussions, promoting innovation, and shaping the future of communication in India. The event was supported by Apollo Hospitals, Ahmedabad.