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PR SHORTS.

For quick snapshots on the leading stories and superstars across the global PR industry.

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PR Shorts

Sales Accelerators

In the first month (of the lockdown), there was silence. As journalists, the hundreds of emails we received daily from PR agencies, prodding us towards launches and new collections, trickled down to nothing. Back in March, when economic activity had ground to a halt, promoting any products except health and food essentials seemed tone deaf. Moreover, be it celebrity missteps (“look, I can sweep the floor!”) or bad press faced by companies over their treatment of workers, navigating the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic was a minefield. It was no surprise that marketing and public relations budgets were pulled back.

Micromax goes for Smart phone PR

Micromax Informatics has appointed PR Pundit as its PR consultant. PR Pundit will be managing the communication programme and building groundswell for Micromax’s return to the smartphone market in India. Rachna Lather, marketing head, Micromax India said, “PR Pundit is known in the industry for their creative storytelling and innovative approach. We see a synergy with them. With a deep understanding of the marketplace and consumers, PR Pundit is well positioned to work with us as we recreate the brand’s narrative in the Indian market.” Neha Singhvi, chief operating officer, PR Pundit, added, “We are thrilled to partner Micromax on this exhilarating journey of a successful comeback.

Proact Brandcomm gets PR credit from TERA

TERA Finlabs, the Indian risk-tech firm, funded by US-based GAIN Credit has hired Proact Brandcomm for brand-positioning and public relations consulting. Bengaluru based TERA, that has raised USD 3.5 million so far, is an AI-based risk-tech SaaS platform that enables businesses to create and deploy customised credit products to make consumer loans affordable for customers and profitable for new lenders. TERA is set to disrupt the traditional consumer lending models by enabling businesses that have large customer bases to become profitable lenders themselves, and we are excited to be part of this journey. Our track-record of helping clients raise funds through right messaging has been 100% so far and we hope to continue bringing value on the table for our clients," said Ritu Kant Ojha, Founder & CEO, Proact Brandcomm. Ojha is a former journalist and has worked with CNBC TV18, Bloomberg TV, Star News and The Indian Express.

The 8 year old marketing and public relations firm has worked with 47 plus marquee brands like ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, Aditya Birla Capital and Smart Cities Council among others. Proact Brandcomm offers content, marketing and public relations under a single umbrella and has produced two short films and a web-series. It offers services across the US, UK, UAE and South-East Asia, apart from India.

One Common Crisis

IPREX, the premier global communications network, in partnership with PRHUB, today released a unique international report that examines how countries’ leaders have communicated with their publics during the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact those communications have had on their popularity*. An industry first, the global communications analysis – titled What’s Working To Calm Hearts Worldwide – includes perspectives from IPREX partners across 14 countries, including India and serves as a collection of comparative, real-time case studies on communications best practices globally. Countries covered included Australia, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Sweden, UK and the US.

“It’s nearly a full-time job to keep up on the COVID-19 news in your own country alone. The beauty of this report is that it makes it easy to broaden your perspective. For me, sitting in the United States, it provided hope in the form of proof that it is possible to get this virus under control,” said Julie Exner, IPREX Global President. “Perspective from around the world is part of the power of IPREX, and I hope this report can share a piece of that international camaraderie at a time when it’s so needed,” she further added.

In her comments, Sumathi M Chari, Director & Sr. Partner, PRHUB, said, ”Global perspective helps not just in providing a context to observe how each country has performed but also offers invaluable insights into what worked or not. The analysis in each country has been put together by senior professionals with in-depth knowledge and arising insights, which ensures credibility. It has been truly fascinating to read the diverse array of approaches and heartening to see old-fashioned communication practices like simple, genuine communication winning hearts and minds of citizens globally. India had natural advantages going into this unprecedented pandemic. By not investing enough in communication and best practices thereof, it seems to have squandered that great opportunity.”

For the first time in most of our lifetimes, we are watching one common crisis play out across every country in the world. Uniquely situated across 29 countries, IPREX took the opportunity to study how different cultures and different approaches fare in dealing with a common crisis, and communications’ role in that. Fifteen IPREX partners and affiliates shared their analysis as citizens and professional communicators, recounting vastly different experiences of the same global pandemic.

The analysis uncovered similarities, too, and they support what most communications professionals already know - the winning communications formula has been decisive action and clear, simple and consistent messaging. Even in the crisis of near-unprecedented magnitude, those simple tools have proven the most effective. The report also showed that results don’t always translate to favor: France stood out for its very modest approval increase and Japan for its precipitous approval ratings fall, both despite significant successes. This suggests that communications – what is said, how and when – is part of the intangible mix that does translate to favor. The report can be downloaded from www.iprex.com/covid19report/.

US news distribution

One of the most challenging aspects of running a business is getting the word out about your product or service. You may be sitting on something that is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but if people don’t know about it, they can’t buy it. Of course, thanks to the Internet and social media, there are more ways to market your business. However, if you’re looking for something tried and true that guarantees exposure on the biggest news and media sites, you need to take a look at Linking News, the press release service that can get your info noticed by the media outlets that matter. Linking News is a white label press release distribution service that gets your press releases published on hundreds of top tier media outlets, including ABC, NBC, FOX, USA Today, MarketWatch, Bloomberg, Business Insider, Buzzfeed, the Associated Press, Yahoo, and many more.

Social, mobile and cloud

Digital transformation has shown us that continuing business as usual isn’t going to cut it anymore — and the same applies to marketing and public relations. Mobile technology, cloud computing and social media have dramatically transformed business models, consumer expectations, communication channels and, consequently, what it takes to be successful in PR and marketing today. Social media has reinvented how companies can reach, connect and learn from customers and the general public. In fact, it is one of the best ways to help marketers share their content and drive web traffic today. With a majority of users accessing social media from mobile apps and over half the visitors to most sites — 62 percent and growing — coming from mobile devices, organizations must optimize content flows easily between desktop and mobile devices to effectively engage audiences.

Ranjit@geekyranjit

To review or not to review...that is the question or is there something else bothering me?

I’ve had these conversations with PR people. I have them everyday some times, but they are supposed to be private. Good lord you don’t need to hear this from a 32 year old with pennies in his bank. You’re one of the biggest YouTubers on the planet @geekyranjit behave like one.

“I thought I'd just ignore it”

There are many cases where I’m sure this is absolutely the best policy. Junk mail. A minor insect bite. An insult from someone you don’t care about. But an approach from an investigative BBC journalist isn’t one of them. When I got the crisis communications call from the company director – who I didn’t know – at 5pm the other day, he said he had less than an hour to answer eight probing questions into his business, which was already in some reputational deep water. My first reaction was that this was unreasonable. The BBC ought to allow more time to respond, especially as many of the questions were clearly complex, relating to the company’s structure, its directors and shareholders and financial transactions stretching back several years.