We are in a new era of Public Relations. In the last few years, the importance of reputation management has undergone a sea change. More brands and clients, especially from the leadership teams, are viewing Public Relations from a close range. The industry has undergone a radical change with the advent of social media, which has to a large extent changed the approach to Public Relations. We have a relatively new and young audience that we need to face in the coming years so there are bigger challenges for brands and PR practitioners, who have to be more agile and proactive in their thinking to draw up business solutions for clients.In our exclusive weekly column ?Çô PR Conversation ?Çô Adgully interacts with leading business leaders and obtains their exclusive views and insights on the various trends in the PR and communications industry.In conversation with Adgully, Sonali Sokhal, CEO and Founder, Intelliquo, delves into the inspiration behind starting the company. She discusses how Intelliquo balances the perspectives of both ?Ç£old-school traditionalists?Ç¥ and ?Ç£digital natives?Ç¥ to create integrated communication strategies that resonate across various platforms.Sokhal also shares a success story where Intelliquo significantly impacted a client?ÇÖs brand or reputation. Additionally, she speaks about Intelliquo?ÇÖs approach to reputation management in today?ÇÖs fast-paced digital age, the key challenges the PR industry faces in attracting and retaining top talent, and more.What inspired you to start Intelliquo Integrated Communication? What gap in the market did you aim to fill with your agency?I started Intelliquo in 2012, because I had begun to feel a need to change the way PR operates overall. I felt that PR now has to move beyond the traditional media approach and devise a holistic and innovative story-telling approach. This was the reason for me to start my own agency as I felt smaller agencies are more agile.Your team includes both ?Çÿold-school traditionalists?ÇÖ and ?Çÿdigital natives?ÇÖ. How do you balance these different perspectives to create integrated communication strategies that resonate across different platforms?I think we have to start building multi-disciplinary teams that can work in tandem to create a holistic brand narrative. Old school and traditional media will always bring the maximum credibility for a brand, but today social and digital mediums, the power of community and immersive experiences are equally important and we need to be able to harness each to create a narrative for brands. In our case, we always identify the underlying objective and messaging and then break it up across different mediums.You have worked with a range of clients ?Çô from big names to small businesses. Could you share a success story where Intelliquo made a significant impact on a client?ÇÖs brand or reputation?I think we can proudly take up names like Keventers and Nykaa Beauty, where we were able to build very strong credibility for those brands. We were able to work when Keventers was just a one-outlet brand and create a strong story of their legacy to bring out the differentiation with the brand. Similarly, with Nykaa Beauty we worked on a very strong messaging to bring about the product differentiation and aspiration for clients.How does Intelliquo approach reputation management, especially in today?ÇÖs digital age where information spreads rapidly?In fact, today with consumer brands, the digital age offers tremendous opportunity. The ability for brands to enrol the right set of advocates and influencers is much easier today in the digital age than before. It is also a great ?Çÿlistening in?ÇÖ tool, which allows brands to tap into real time data and steer their narratives as per consumer and public sentiment. Brands that invest in listening in, as well as strong content and story-telling will boom in today?ÇÖs digital age.PRPOI was established as a voluntary, free platform to upskill PR professionals. How do you see the importance of such communities in shaping the future of the PR industry in India?PR is a highly skilled and technical profession, which unfortunately, cannot be taught from a book. This means that we need real time professionals and case studies that younger professionals can learn from. It is a constantly changing and dynamic environment that needs to be decoded by skilled professionals so that future PR professionals can learn and understand practical and applied campaigns. Therefore, such communities play a vital role in putting together learning efforts across the industry.What are the key challenges that the PR industry faces in attracting and retaining top talent, especially in a rapidly evolving communications landscape?I think it becomes a chicken and egg situation. Young people join the workforce without adequate training and then find the work overwhelming and leave. Then we start all over again. For this churn to stop, we need to make younger people feel empowered in their skill development process and ensure they learn things in a proper way. I also feel systems and processes are sometimes missing in agency culture, because there is so much work, hence this can also be a deterrent for talent. PR needs PR for itself with younger people.What strategies should PR firms adopt to address the talent crunch and ensure they attract individuals with the right mix of skills and experience?PR firms need to showcase best practices to attract talent. The younger generation today is concerned about the impact of their work, as much as they are on career growth. They are also concerned about picking up skillsets that would help them grow in their careers overall. Too many times, I have seen young people either become siloed into one vertical or having very shallow knowledge as they have been bounced across several verticals, both of these are deterrents for career growth. Also, it?ÇÖs important for agencies to hire people with multiple skillsets so that they can be moulded and adapted across verticals.