What do the PRmoment-Kaizzen Pathfinders have to say about PR in 2022

 17th February 2022  

The PRmoment Kaizzen Pathfinders series

Covid-19 has completely changed the future of communication and has brought in opportunities for growth last seen in the wake of economic liberalisation in the early '90s.

In order to record the evolving shape of corporate communications post 2020, PRmoment India along with Kaizzen presents Pathfinders 10 for 2021-22 where 10 emerging corporate communications leaders will share their blueprint on the path head for the PR and communications sector in India.

Here is a snapshot of what the Pathfinders had to say so far:

Talent coming in from multiple non PR sectors 

 Sonia Huria, head of communications, Amazon Prime Video India pointed out how the talent mix is changing, "The quality of talent that is entering this function is unparalleled. We are already seeing an influx of talent from all walks of business join communication – consulting, economics, behaviour sciences. They are ambitious and results-driven."

How Covid changed the business landscape

 “Well before the COVID-19 pandemic, senior leaders routinely worried that their organizations are slow, or siloed, or in some cases quite complicated. What they feared has been confirmed by the pandemic", says Huria.

To read more on what Sonia Huria has to say about being a communications leader post Covid click here.

PR should be present from the planning stage for products and services

For Payal Banerjee, Director and head – communications, Sequoia India and Southeast Asia, "One big challenge is ensuring participation from the planning stage, “Communications teams should be as much a part of the conversations around product and design choices as say, tech teams.”

PR Breakout moment

Says Banerjee, "It can be very rare to be a part of companies and industries that are seeing rocket ship growth, rarer still to get in at the ground floor, be part of those journeys from the very beginning.

I’ve experienced this not just one but twice in my career till date. First, as an early employee at Flipkart, and then again at Sequoia India, when I got to be part of the core team designing and launching Surge, our program for early-stage startups”

To read more about what industry sectors Payal Banerjee thinks are poised for uptake of PR click here.

Integrated Marketing Communication on the rise 

Annesha Deb, Senior Manager, Tata Motors said budgets are expected to be better for PR activities post Covid, “Gone are the days when marketing and PR were as separate as church and state. Now, the difference between the two is just a thin sheet of glass. The only way to break this is to give us communicators an equal share in budgets.

It may not be true for all, but every year we must be witnessing the death of great ideas only because of monetary constraints, so some leeway there is expected in the future, which would definitely benefit the PR community."

To read why Annesha Deb thinks owned media uptake will increase for brands click here.

Rethink Communication budgets

Bhumika Gupta Oberoi, senior marketing & communications specialist at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) says, "Probably the most important lesson in the last 2 years for leaders, whether in communications or otherwise, is the ability to adapt. Applying agility, flexibility, and resilience to the way we work has never been more critical. There was an added task at hand for most leaders—to ensure their employees working remotely did not feel overwhelmed and still ensure some part of business went on.

In the early times, as humans, agility is how we learnt to grow food, make shelter, light fires, and create clothes."

Breakout Communication moment 

"Post Covid,  departments, particularly those in companies with large employee populations, found themselves on the front lines of managing a crisis no one anticipated, and communicating effectively with employees became the top priority."

To understand more about why Bhumika Gupta thinks communications budgets will need a rethink read more.

Direct to consumer on the rise 

Supreeth Sudhakaran, corporate brand and communications team, Godrej Industries says, "Direct to consumer is a channel that can no longer be ignored. The challenge is to generate results in the long-term and understand that ir is investment intensive. Platform being the operative word, owned media will rely on co-creation of experiences and content."

Sudhakaran adds, "Gaming and virtual entertainment. The segment is not using communication to its advantage. Largely, the stories are emerging under start-ups or tech beat, where as it has the capability to expand the universe, or even establish one."

To find out why Supreeth Sudhakar thinks owned media will have a U shaped growth curve, read more.

Thank to our content partner Kaizzen