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, Madhvendra Das, Co-Founder & Director, The Good Edge, discusses the communication and CSR gap that led to the firm?ÇÖs inception. Having worked with global financial giants like Deutsche Bank and Citibank, Das shares insights on the differences between handling communications in-house versus as an agency partner. He also explores how CSR has evolved from philanthropy to purpose-driven branding, key industry trends, the pillars of an effective crisis response strategy in the digital age, and more.What was the gap in the communications and CSR space that led you to start The Good Edge?As corporate communications lead, I felt we could never find an agency that can handle everything that a robust corporate communications function needs. We felt there was a niche to be filled there ?Çô to provide advisory to company leadership, to set narratives and execute plans, to devise communications for various stakeholders including external and internal, to ensure CSR programmes are aligned with company strategy and executed in such a way that it is beneficial to both community and company and to ensure all this is backed up with very good content and creative capabilities. And to have a culture where we did not look at these diverse capabilities as silos, but as a wholesome unit. In short, we felt there was a need for a corporate communications agency, not just a PR, or Content or Creative or an Event agency, and that is what we have set out to build at The Good Edge.How has The Good Edge evolved over the years, and what sets it apart from other agencies in space?Our twin core objectives ?Çô to provide CEO advisory and integrated communications ?Çô have informed the way we have evolved over the last nine years. First, we are housed with a lot more senior advisory talent, very different from the way new agencies evolve. Second, we have a lot more in-house content, design and creative abilities. Third, we are doing it in an integrated culture with cross-functional teams, inter-se learning and growth, which I think is also a bit different from other agencies. Some of our differentiated approaches are becoming visible in the kind of clients and the kind of work we are doing for them.You?ÇÖve worked with global financial giants like Deutsche Bank and Citibank, leading their communications and CSR efforts. Now, with The Good Edge, you have BFSI clients of your own. How does handling communications for a financial institution as an in-house leader differ from managing it as an agency partner?The corporate communications experience builds within us a few things more strongly. There is immense conviction that my company is intrinsically right and that as the senior communications leader, I am responsible for communicating that to the public. And that the buck stops with me. I am happy we have been able to bring that DNA within our agency. It fills us with a great sense of ownership and commitment to the client, as if it is our own company. On the flipside, we then feel a bit disappointed when a client treats us as a vendor rather than a team member.I and a few of my other senior colleagues are fortunate to have worked with leading BFSI companies and that corp comm experience has been quite useful as an agency now. For instance, I think we have a better understanding of the increasing role of compliance in BFSI communications. We also have an intuitive understanding of the need of any communication strategy to not only be relevant for India, but also the headquarters of some of our MNC clients.CSR has moved beyond philanthropy to purpose-led branding. What are some key trends that you see in this space?What is relevant is the impact a CSR program creates for the beneficiary community on the ground and the social dividend or goodwill it generates for the company. Eventually a lot of our work at agencies is about building what we at The Good Edge call ?Ç£Enduring Goodwill?ÇÖ for the client. CSR plays a strong role over here. It goes towards fulfilling the unwritten social contract that an organization has with its key stakeholders and the society. Our society is progressively more concerned about a company?ÇÖs social conduct and a purposeful CSR program and a calibrated communication strategy around it can really work wonders for companies in building that elusive Enduring Goodwill which provides both a ?Çÿhalo?ÇÖ and an ?Çÿarmor?ÇÖ for their brand. We are seeing this kind of demand increasing from our large clients.The communications landscape has evolved significantly over the years. What are some key shifts you?ÇÖve observed in corporate storytelling, and how do you ensure The Good Edge stays ahead of these trends?The Art remains the same, the Tools have changed tremendously. In short, it is a lot more about credible storytelling today and by using multiple platforms using both earned and owned means.Our leaders and our people should be the first line of storytellers, then come the credible media platforms. The good thing is the credible media platforms have expanded to new formats also and that I feel is a good development. We are tracking these trends very closely and building capabilities flexibly. For instance, we have focused a lot on building good thought leadership content capabilities in the last couple of years.Crisis management is a critical aspect of corporate communications. Based on your experience across global financial institutions and now with The Good Edge, what are the key pillars of an effective crisis response strategy, and how has it evolved in the digital age?Crisis proofing before crisis management ?Çô it is important to have mechanisms for tracking, alerting and response in place. We should try to get to a ?ÇÿNo-Surprise?ÇÖ situation. Crisis will come, but have we built capabilities so that we are not caught by surprise? That is important. And our response should always be in ?ÇÿOne-Voice?ÇÖ.Each crisis or near-crisis situation must be documented even if the issue has been managed. Finally, with the digital age, crisis can emanate from many more sources ?Çô we have to train to contain and isolate as far as possible. Don?ÇÖt let the fire spread. If we have these elements in place, we will be left with fewer unmanageable issues. Some fires will spread, but if we have contained the intensity through preparedness and planned responses, we will be able to handle crisis much better.