Ameer Ismail is President, Lintas Live
It is my view that the future of PR is as bright as ever and that the canvas of potential has only grown
A client I met said to me ‘PR will be larger than advertising’, and I strongly believe this will be a reality in the future – and with current growth rates in PR being higher, it’s a matter of time.
The industry needs to reinvent itself. There is a sea of sameness at this point with most agencies suffering from a lack of innovation. On the positive side, I believe we have a fantastic talent pool available today. There are so many opportunities within the digital space where PR agencies can play an enormous role in shaping narratives for individuals, brands, and even the country. Look at the success of the Modi government – a lot of what has been done included branded themes for important agendas and a very strong PR and social media engine that shapes public perceptions around the government, the party and its schemes.
With this incredible talent pool and our inherent capabilities to think creatively and master technology, we will see a lot more global campaigns emanating out of India. Here are a few future trends I believe will shape our industry.
Traditional PR as a standalone offering is over. As we move into the future, consumer experiences will be far more integrated and, in many cases, omni-channel, and so PR efforts will be further connected to marketing activities. Clients will look for powerful creative ideas and an integrated approach that seamlessly deploys the right mix of advertising, public relations, social media targeting the consumer Mindspace. The traditional ‘creative agency’ and PR agency model will not exist in this form. There will be new agency models that emerge that will challenge the status quo.
The future of consumption will be driven by algorithms and data. It will be critical for PR professionals to cultivate a multitude of newer skills that would allow them to navigate the new normal. Having digital knowledge and data analytics skills will be table stakes. There will be newer technologies that will necessitate deeper capabilities and knowledge and constant adoption. Clients will expect agencies to craft multimedia and personalized content in real-time to tell brand stories. In a world which will straddle paid, earned, and owned media, agencies will need to be both copywriters responsible for developing feature-length paid integrations as well as data scientists that can identify trends and carve out insights.
While the PR industry has evolved rapidly in recent years, we’ve only just begun to scratch the surface of what is possible with AI. AI is already being used in content creation to generate presentations, press releases, pitch notes and communication briefs. This technology will only evolve to deliver quicker and better solutions for clients and will fast become critical for PR agencies to adopt. AI-powered systems hold immense potential for the PR industry of the future, but as the technology evolves, it will take agencies time to understand its full impact and import.
Read more about their journey and thoughts in an upcoming e-book that will be published shortly.