Public Relations has entered a bold new era. No longer just a back-office function, it has transformed into a strategic powerhouse shaping brand reputation and influence. Companies and leaders now see PR not as an afterthought, but as an essential force driving credibility, trust, and long-term success. The industry has undergone a radical shift with the rise of social media, fundamentally transforming PR strategies. Influencers now play a crucial role in shaping consumer perceptions and engagement. PR is no longer confined to securing media visibility; it has expanded into a dynamic, results-driven discipline focused on meaningful interactions and measurable outcomes. With a younger, more digitally savvy audience emerging, PR professionals face new challenges. Brands and practitioners must be more agile, data-driven, and proactive in crafting business solutions that resonate with their audience. The future of PR lies in adaptability, authenticity, and strategic storytelling that build lasting trust and impact. In our exclusive weekly column, PR Conversation, Adgully interacts with leading business leaders to gain their exclusive views and insights on various trends in the PR and communications industry. In today?ÇÖs interconnected world, effective communication is paramount for global brands, especially those navigating the complexities of technology and data privacy. Truecaller, a name synonymous with caller identification, has evolved into a comprehensive communication platform, serving hundreds of millions of users worldwide. Leading the charge in shaping Truecaller?ÇÖs narrative and safeguarding its reputation is its Global Head of Corporate Communications, Hitesh Raj Bhagat. With a career dedicated to strategic messaging in the tech sector, Bhagat offers a unique perspective on managing brand perception, combating misinformation, and fostering transparency in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. In conversation with Adgully, Hitesh Raj Bhagat speaks about his role, the challenges of communicating for a global tech brand, and the impactful initiatives that define Truecaller?ÇÖs commitment to safer and smarter communication, and more. What does a day in your role as Global Head of Corporate Communications at Truecaller typically look like? It?ÇÖs not too different from any other tech company actually. Our team is spread across a few locations in India and Stockholm. We have check-ins with our team members and on different days of the week, we have an all hands meeting, a product forum to discuss upcoming improvements to the service, Lab Days where anyone can come up with ideas for the next big thing. Globally, we are a lean team of just about 450 people. So, we use a lot of external help. For instance, we have two PR agencies in India and others that help us target different parts of the world where we need to communicate or interact with the media. We sync with them as well, plus there are tools that we use every day for monitoring and analysis. What are the key challenges in managing communications for a global tech brand like Truecaller? I always say this to people, that simply going online and searching for Truecaller is probably the worst way to gather accurate information about the company. The reason is that we have various entities that keep spreading misinformation about us ?Çô and this exists in both written form and video. Truecaller has been publicly listed since 2021 ?Çô all financials, revenue streams and a lot of other information is public. So, a big challenge for us is always trying to correct the misinformation about Truecaller that exists out there. For example, a big misconception is that Truecaller automatically uploads contacts once you get the app and that is how it builds a large global database. This is false ?Çô Truecaller is community-powered. There are millions of signals, name corrections and name suggestions received daily, which the algorithms are constantly refining. It?ÇÖs like a living, breathing thing that has to constantly stay a step ahead of scammers. Another example of miscommunication is that Truecaller reads all your SMS and then somehow uses this to target you with ads. This is also false ?Çô Truecaller SMS works entirely offline, on-device, powered by an on-device machine learning system. No SMS content is sent to our servers ?Çô the app locally categorises SMS, removes all spam/ scam, gives you reminders and shows you all relevant information using cards (we call them Message IDs). Truecaller has evolved from a caller ID app to a broader communication platform. How has the communication strategy shifted with this evolution? That?ÇÖs a great point. In the very early days of Truecaller, it was solving a very basic problem ?Çô who is calling? But as consumers, our communication needs have also evolved a lot. Truecaller has also evolved; it is not just a simple caller ID but a lot more. Truecaller can give you the intent behind a call, empowering you with a lot of recent, relevant and powerful information about the caller. And I can give you an example of how this works. If I receive a call, just seeing a name does not really tell me who that person is and what they intend to do with my time. Community markings can tell me if the caller is a spammer (a time waste scenario) or is it a scammer (which can be far more dangerous or malicious) which can lead to real losses. Additionally, it is useful to know what kind of scammer is it? What are other people saying about this caller? Is it possibly a legitimate business calling you? If yes, why are they calling you? Verified businesses on Truecaller can assign a call reason that you can see even without answering the call. Or you can set a time for the business to call you back in case you are busy. We do have to keep talking about these aspects. What are some of the key brand perception changes you?ÇÖve driven in recent years? Some time ago, a lot of people thought Truecaller was a Chinese app or had some very strong Chinese connections. Neither of which was ever true. So, we had to drive home the message about what we are and what we stand for. The vision of the company is to make tomorrow?ÇÖs communication safer, smarter and more efficient. Fun fact, even though Truecaller is headquartered in Stockholm, the largest workforce is in India. Our largest office is Bengaluru, which is a full stack development team too. India is also our largest user base, over 300 million active users and growing organically, almost at the pace of smartphone growth itself. How do you ensure brand consistency across multiple international markets? We have a team spread across a few regions ?Çô mostly India and Stockholm. We have a strong brand team in place that looks at all aspects related to our brand and how it is represented. Across regions, there are some nuances of course, but while we do try to stay local and speak to a consumer in their own language, we maintain a steady level of consistency when it comes to how Truecaller is represented in various markets. In the age of data privacy concerns, how does Truecaller approach transparency in communication? This is an important subject to discuss. I always like to give this example ?Çô just go to a search engine and search for your name. You?ÇÖll find a lot of information about yourself on various websites. In some cases, I have not just seen phone numbers, social media and photos, but also various IDs and even full home addresses. You can try to start removing all that information from all these places, but guess what: you will not be very successful. On the other hand, Truecaller is compliant with various privacy laws globally, starting with GDPR. Even in countries that don?ÇÖt have any privacy laws or are developing them, we have been offering very detailed privacy controls for many years now. You can actually permanently unlist yourself and remove all your info from Truecaller within 24 hours. You can easily delete your account, download your data or remove previously authorised apps. A detailed privacy section in the app, a dedicated unlisting webpage and an extensive privacy center online are all part of this transparency that we provide to all consumers, regardless of their location. Could you share a campaign or initiative that you are particularly proud of? I can give you a couple of examples here. One of the things that Truecaller stands for is women?ÇÖs safety. Truecaller is more than just caller ID: it is often the first line of defence for women who might face harassment, stalking or unwanted messages/ calls through their phones. And this is something we often communicate and provide resources for. Another example: during the worst Covid waves in the country, scammers had a field day, scamming people under the guise of providing oxygen concentrators, life saving drugs or hospital beds. We were working with the Home Ministry and various Police authorities to actively mark Covid Scams so that people could stay protected at their most vulnerable. Over a few weeks of this exercise, Covid related scams could be brought under control, providing a relief to consumers who could instead focus on their and loved one?ÇÖs health. This is a perfect example of a public-private partnership that focuses on solving a real problem. We also partnered with other companies ?Çô FactChecker and MapmyIndia, for example. FactChecker would help verify numbers for hospitals, health centres, Covid test facilities that we could list. MapmyIndia, India?ÇÖs homegrown mapping solution, had marked out over 60,000 Covid related Points of Interest during the second Covid wave. In a rapid, non-commercial partnership with MapmyIndia, we integrated their maps right inside Truecaller. This allowed anyone to find help quickly, call important numbers and even navigate to nearby hospitals and test centres. Even now, we have a section in the app called Government Services. It is an offline, state-wise, Truecaller-verified directory of important government service and ministerial phone numbers. You can search for what you need and directly dial a number from there. It works even without an internet connection. 

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, PR Conversation, Adgully interacts with leading business leaders to gain their exclusive views and insights on various trends in the PR and communications industry.In an exclusive conversation with Adgully, Hitesh Raj Bhagat, Global Head of Corporate Communications at Truecaller, discusses his motivations for transitioning into corporate communications at the company. He elaborates on how Truecaller prepares for and manages potential communication crises, the strategies used to engage users. Bhagat also emphasizes on the role of internal communication in aligning Truecaller?ÇÖs employees with the company?ÇÖs goals and values.Additionally, he shares insights on managing communication with external partners, stakeholders, and media, as well as how corporate communications are evolving in the tech industry.After spending nearly a decade in technology journalism, what motivated you to transition into corporate communications at Truecaller?Having spent over 17 years in technology journalism, I developed a deep passion for the tech industry and storytelling. Truecaller as a company always caught my attention, and I closely followed it due to its innovative approach and the significant impact it had on my life personally. When the opportunity arose to be part of a brand that was making a real difference in people?ÇÖs lives, I jumped at it. Today, I am proud to be in a role that allows me to shape the communication strategy of a company that is an essential part of the daily lives of over 30 crore Indians.My journey in journalism equipped me with the skills to craft engaging narratives, so transitioning to corporate communications at Truecaller felt like a natural progression, allowing me to apply those skills in a new and impactful way.How has your experience at The Economic Times and CyberMedia shaped your approach to corporate communications, especially in conveying technical information to a broader audience?My experience at The Economic Times and CyberMedia provided a strong foundation for simplifying complex technical concepts for a wider audience. As a technology journalist, I was often tasked with taking highly specialised, jargon-heavy information and translating it into engaging content that could inform readers from all walks of life. Being responsible for the Personal Technology sections at The Economic Times, I covered various topics, from emerging technologies to product launches and industry trends. This role taught me the importance of clear, concise messaging, ensuring that a diverse readership could understand and appreciate even intricate advancements in fields like AI, camera technologies, cloud computing, and cybersecurity.At Truecaller, I apply the same principles. I prioritise simplicity and clarity in messaging, ensuring our communication resonates with technical experts and everyday users. Whether discussing advanced features like AI-driven spam detection or providing updates on privacy and security initiatives, the goal is always to make the message accessible and engaging.In an era where misinformation can spread quickly, how does Truecaller prepare for and manage potential communication crises? Could you provide an example of a situation you?ÇÖve navigated successfully?In today?ÇÖs fast-paced digital landscape, Truecaller is keenly aware of the risks of misinformation. People are now more concerned about where their data is being stored and how it is being used, and rightly so! Everyone who uses any digital service should be well aware of their digital rights and all the controls available to them ?Çô and they should ask the services/ apps they use about these things.In our case, a crisis occurs when someone with influence spreads misinformation without knowing the facts or without contacting us for clarifications. To proactively manage this, we emphasise transparency and open communication, which are foundational to building and maintaining trust with our stakeholders, including media friends, our consumers, internally with colleagues and investors.We are committed to addressing issues promptly by providing accurate information. This helps us dispel misinformation before it escalates, ensuring our stakeholders are always well-informed and knowledgeable. Our strategy involves regular monitoring of conversations across platforms, which ensures that we are always aware of potential issues. This, along with timely responses to concerns and clear messaging on sensitive topics like privacy, data security, and app functionality, provides a sense of security to our stakeholders.What strategies do you employ to engage users through communication, and how do you measure the effectiveness of these strategies?At Truecaller, our communication strategy is designed to stay aligned with emerging trends and user needs. We carefully plan our message timings, whether introducing new features, responding to industry changes or alerting our users about new market scams. Depending on the nature of the product, we test a feature in one market first before expanding globally. We leverage various tools and strategies, from targeted messaging to data-driven campaigns, and often collaborate with external agencies to enhance our outreach. To measure effectiveness, we closely monitor engagement metrics, user feedback, and market response, allowing us to refine our approach continuously.What role does internal communication play in aligning Truecaller employees with the company?ÇÖs goals and values, and how do you foster a culture of open communication within the organisation? Additionally, how do you manage communication with external partners, stakeholders, and media to strengthen Truecaller?ÇÖs brand image and community presence?At Truecaller, our internal communication strategy is not just a tool, but a reflection of our commitment to transparency and trust. It is essential to align our colleagues with the company?ÇÖs goals and values, just as in our external communications.We are committed to clear and open communication with our consumers, media friends, and stakeholders. This includes explaining how the app functions, how we generate revenue, and addressing critical issues like app permissions. We consistently respond to all questions, including those related to privacy, data safety, and security.Truecaller is also one of the few apps that offer users complete, granular control over their privacy and data directly within the app, further enhancing trust and transparency.What key performance indicators (KPIs) do you use to assess the effectiveness of your corporate communication efforts, and how do you adjust strategies based on these insights?Apart from the usual number of targets for measuring our campaigns?ÇÖ success, we also measure effectiveness by directly speaking with relevant stakeholders like media and consumers (through the official Truecaller community ?ÇÿTrueTalks?ÇÖ, via social media, or our support channels). The message has to have both high reach and retention.How does Truecaller incorporate user feedback into its communication strategies, and what processes do you have in place to respond to user concerns or suggestions effectively?At Truecaller, we prioritise user feedback and incorporate it into our communication strategies through active engagement on platforms like the TrueTalks community and X (formerly Twitter). We regularly monitor these channels to understand user needs and gather insights directly influencing feature development. Many of our key features, such as Call Reason, Spam Statistics, Inbox Cleaner, advanced spam blocking tools (such as the ability to completely block calls from a certain country or block a number series) and many of the privacy tools, were developed directly in response to consumer requests.To address user concerns and suggestions, we have established processes that ensure timely responses. We also prioritise transparency in our communications, informing users about product updates, addressing their questions, and clarifying any issues. This collaborative approach enables us to build a user-centric platform and maintain strong relationships with our community.How do you foresee the role of corporate communications evolving in the tech industry, and what challenges do you anticipate for Truecaller in this regard?Technology has transformed the communications landscape. There will be much higher use of generative AI ?Çô which is both a boon and a curse. Faster means of communication demand a real-time response from us. And we have to be monitoring and handling situations that can lead to potential crises.The positive aspect of fast technology is the medium that allows us to connect and communicate with our audiences at any given moment, be it through emails, messaging, social media platforms, or other means. At the same time, the flip side is the misinformation that spreads and affects brands and individuals alike.