With no designated authority, the do's and don'ts of platforms can and regulation

Social media platforms have repeatedly found themselves in the United States government’s crosshairs over the last few years, as it has been progressively revealed just how much power they really wield, and to what purposes they’ve chosen to wield it. But unlike, say, a firearm or drug manufacturer, there is no designated aut..Read More

Infosys, tennis and storytelling with AI assisted journalism

Infosys is the Digital Innovation Partner for three major sporting organizations in Tennis – ATP, Australian Open, and Roland-Garros. As the Head of Corporate Communications for Infosys EMEA, I am heavily involved in these partnerships and have the privilege of working closely with the fantastic team that delivers innovations that are changing and improving t..Read More

Global health network Vidal Health partners with Nucleus PR

This week, Bangalore based Vidal Health, awarded its PR mandate to Nucleus PR. Girish Rao, Chairman & Managing Director, Vidal Health, said, “We needed a strategic communication approach that was driven by innovative ideas via a self-motivated team that echoed our passion and ideology. Nucleus PR brings in a unique combination of expertise from healthcare

The blunt force of government and public opinion is likely to bear down

Today’s tech companies face a dilemma. Buried underneath headlines about the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 presidential election, and recent social justice movements are stories that point to a massive change in public perception of tech companies — and not a favorable one. In 2021 we will see the blunt force of government and public opinion bear down on ..Read More

"Consistent content creation is a cornerstone of community growth"

Consistent content creation is a cornerstone of community growth. To keep your community members returning regularly, they need to see new things each time they return. Think about social media: the platforms remain addictive because you can refresh your feed and see new material any time you visit. Different types of people want to engage in communities in differe..Read More

Asia-Pacific Consultancies of the Decade

PRovoke has named seven firms as its Global Agencies of the Decade — Adfactors, Allison+Partners, Edelman, Hanover, M Booth, W2O Group and Weber Shandwick. The seven will be honoured at the upcoming virtual Global SABRE Awards on 21 October, where the top three will be counted down to reveal PRovoke's overall Global Agency of the Decade. The 2020 Global PR Ag..Read More

Defying conventions and eliminating PR protocols

Elon Musk is not the first, disruptive as he may be. Mr. Trump was probably one of the first to throw out the PR rulebook, defy conventional communication protocols and go direct. The White House press briefings hold no substance; the press office functions are not to serve but to obstruct and confuse; the pressing issues of the day remain unaddressed; and politica..Read More

The private sector is key to the success of the Third Way

I had my regular call with Dr. David Nabarro, World Health Organization Special Envoy for Covid-19, this morning. We reflected on the third wave of Covid in the U.S. and the “monster second wave in Europe,” according to AXIOS. Dr. Nabarro confirmed that the U.S. is indeed going backwards, to 62,000 new cases per day, mostly in the Midwest and Mountain S..Read More

Bajaj Auto stance marks a new wave...will more follow?

Parle Products, the maker of Parle-G biscuits, has announced that the company will not be advertising their products on news channels that broadcast toxic, aggressive content. The announcement comes amidst a debate on fake or inflated TRPs by some television news channels– following which advertisers are re-evaluating media spends on the medium. Following the..Read More

The power of digital word of mouth and influence

A great vacation destination, a good movie, a discount deal, a book, an exciting recipe, a senior’s action or a layoff gossip at work, we simply love to share.  Whether it is to entertain friends, build professional relationships, achieve business benefits or bond emotionally, we want to share with those around us. Friends, they tend to influence us more..Read More

OpenSlate partnership sees social platform focus on Brand safety

TikTok has partnered with brand safety platform OpenSlate in the US to ensure ads and branded content will no longer be displayed alongside material deemed questionable. The TikTok Brand Safety Solution is a verification and filter tool designed to weed out inappropriate content and categories which may appear next to branded ads and other material. Verified by Ope..Read More

"I was tired rowing the boat alone..." jumping off the corporate treadmill

There were multiple triggers and it was an easy decision to quit – I was tired rowing the boat alone, it had been sinking for years and there were no reinforcements coming my way, the world was swirling by faster in the digital era of communication and I wasn’t learning anymore. Or let’s blame mid-life crisis and the need to reinvent oneself. Ther..Read More

Tanishq loses face after backlash on social media

Jewellery brand Tanishq pulled its latest ad featuring a Hindu woman and her Muslim mother-in-law off all online platforms on Monday after a backlash on social media, which saw #BoycottTanishq trending on Twitter. The ad for Tanishq’s new collection called Ekatvam – which means ‘oneness’ – showed a Muslim family organising a traditiona..Read More

“.....an easier path to purchase...” says Dipali Patwa, Fabindia's global brand lead

As a brand one has to follow the consumer everywhere she goes. And Instagram is one such platform which allows brands to not only talk to the consumer but also sell their products. As a result, it is believed that several brands in the beauty, fashion and lifestyle space have ramped up digital presence. Instagram’s shop feature, allows an user to tap on produ..Read More

'Mastering Targeting on LinkedIn' guide, now with tools and options

This week, LinkedIn has published a revised and updated edition of its 'Mastering Targeting on LinkedIn' guide, which now covers more tools and options, including newly released features that can help optimize your LinkedIn campaigns. LinkedIn first launched its 'Mastering Targeting' guide in March last year, but since then, LinkedIn has added a range of new ad too..Read More

Explore Kantar's 2020 report on India's strongest brands

At a time of near-unprecedented economic challenges, the total value of the BrandZ™ India Top 75 fell by 6 percent in 2020, resulting in a total brand value of $216 billion. Despite the overall decline, 26 brands increased in value and five were new entrants. India’s top brands also performed well against other countries where declines in total brand va..Read More

Technology PR demystified by a PRPOI panel chaired by Sonali Sokhal

Our panel last Saturday was on the most ubiquitous aspect of our lives currently-technology. It has overtaken our lives in multiple and more personal ways. As technology grows in leaps and bounds, so does the need for technology PR. Media needs to stay constantly updated on what’s new in tech as well as how it affects our daily lives. Technology is a growing

Wendy's coupon offer gets more valuable with each retweet

Wendy's coupon on Twitter was retweeted 10.8K times, translating to customers receiving 30% off a breakfast order on the Uber Eats app through Friday morning, per the parameters of the promotion. Wendy's offer of a coupon that gets more valuable with each retweet is a novel way to engage its followers while extending the organic reach of its campaign. As of the mor..Read More

Internal Communications perpspectives: Aniisu K Verghese

Delighted to share the 46th edition of Intraskope’s Spotlight on Internal Communication Series featuring Samir Dhond of Ittiam  Systems Pvt. Ltd. Committed to give employees a voice to express themselves, Samir discusses the approaches to ensure internal communications adds value to the business and yet remain a welcoming place to work in. Since he wears..Read More

Planning, Planting, Passion and Perseverance hold true for any business!

While the joy of farming and gardening is immense, to me it is also amazingly analogous to the stints in sales, strategy, marketing and communications that I have straddled across. This was during the non COVID times when on one of the weekends, I was chilling out on my farm at Karjat. During the breaks in between planting vegetable saplings, the fragrance of the s..Read More

Sunil Abraham appointed as public policy director for data

Ever since the Cambridge Analytic scandal broke out in the media in 2018, Facebook has been under constant scrutiny over the user privacy policy. And this also helped shed light on how the user profiles are being created virtually and push targeted a ads to the people; thus, generating revenue for the social media platforms. Over time, several governments across th..Read More

Crippled theatrical business marks streaming as ‘primary focus’

Disney is restructuring its media and entertainment divisions, as streaming becomes the most important facet of the company’s media business. On Monday, the company revealed that in order to further accelerate its direct-to-consumer strategy, it would be centralizing its media businesses into a single organization that will be responsible for content distribu..Read More

Nilfer D'Souza extends India role with Walmart International

Walmart continues to make waves in India as Nilofer D' Souza steps up as the India lead for Walmart International. Previously D’Souza was managing internal communications and associate engagement for the global workforce at Walmart Inc and has been with the company for just over one year. Based in Bengaluru, she is an experienced communications practitioner w

The Print's Shekhar Gupta and Reuters' Lauren Young join panelists

Renowned media editors Shekhar Gupta and Lauren Young have joined the PRovokeGlobal lineup, for sessions that will focus on the complex intersection of innovation, geopolitics and citizenship. Gupta, who is editor-in-chief and chairman of ThePRint, is considered one of India's leading media voices, as an influential national columnist and TV host. In a session supp..Read More

Instagram attempts to woo brands with the benefits of influencer marketing

To celebrate its 10th birthday while reaffirming its commitment to build for the next generation, Instagram has launched Love Runs Deep. The program is built on the insight that influencers inform and inspire their communities through their pursuit of passion, bringing forth unique opportunities for brands to tell their stories. Instagram hopes to redefine the way ..Read More

Bajaj Auto channel blacklist for endorsing social hate-mongering

Industrialist Rajiv Bajaj on October 9 said Bajaj Auto has blacklisted three channels for advertising as the company does not endorse toxicity and hate-mongering in the society. This comes after Mumbai city police chief Param Bir Singh claimed to have busted a racket to manipulate TRPs and arrested two persons. TRP (television rating point) is a tool to judge which..Read More

Sumit Awasthi joins as VP, News and Production

With an aim to uplift its editorial capabilities and drive organisational growth, ABP News has appointed renowned anchor & journalist, Sumit Awasthi as the Vice President, News and Production, who will now be taking charge of the editorial department with all editorial resources reporting in to him. In this new role, Awasthi will oversee the planning, implement..Read More

Newsletters come of age, as ex-founding editors of Wire launch

Parts of Mumbai and its suburbs, including Juhu, Andheri, Mira Road, Navi Mumbai, Thane and Panvel, suffered a rare power grid failure today. But stock exchanges were unaffected, Republic TV’s top executives are being grilled in the TRP fixing matter and the controversial Aarey metro shed, for which hundreds of trees were cut, has been nixed by Uddhav Thacker..Read More

The JIC (joint industry company) outlines its TV measurement methodology

In recent days, we have again seen several attempts to discredit the JIC (joint industry company) tasked with commissioning, overseeing and publishing television audience measurement in this country. I allude, obviously, to BARC, and the publicly aired views of high public authority. These attempts are informed by insufficient understand..Read More

Roche Pharma appoints S Rajan to lead communications

Roche Pharma has added to communication leadership team by on-boarding S Rajan, Director – Corporate Affairs, Communications, and CSR for India Subcontinent. Rajan is an experienced communications practitioner with over 10 years in the industry. Previously, he was at GE Healthcare where he headed up the Corporate Communications for

Integrated agency One Source demonstrate digital first pedigree

Wealth management firm, True Beacon, following its launch in 2019 has appointed integrated marketing business impact consultancy, One Source as it’s marketing partner. One Source’s mandate includes content marketing, corporate communications, reputation management and investor relations. Speaking of the partnership, Richard Pattle, CEO, True Beacon commented that One Source’s digita

New communications appointment for MSD

Bhavna Singh joins MSD, US based pharmaceutical company as Associate Director, Corporate Communications. Based in Mumbai, Singh is an experienced Pharma practitioner with both agency and in-house expertise. With over 15 years in the industry, she was previously Senior Director Communications at the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producer

Contact Us pages that go beyond the basics

Most contact pages are designed with function in mind. They slap an email address, phone, and location on a plain background and call it a day. But basic contact pages don’t inspire visitors to reach out and connect. Other pages make it easy to contact the company – which is awesome. Except, that can also drive up customer service costs. So what makes t..Read More

Build your personal brand, career and networks...9 quick tips

LinkedIn helps you build a personal brand and position yourself as a thought leader by leveraging your skills and industry experience. In the social media landscape, it is an excellent platform for networking beyond the realms of your own industry. For those who haven’t tried and tested out the platform themselves, it may seem a li

Republic TV among the three channels allegedly gaming ratings

Republic TV is among the three channels being investigated for allegedly gaming ratings and using them to spread fake narratives and gain ad revenues, the Mumbai police said today. Two TV channel owners have been arrested and the directors and promoters of Republic TV are being investigated for ratings fraud. Officials of Republic TV - which claims the highest TRPs..Read More

Study: Indian PR Profession Reckons With Changing Future

The pandemic has sparked several debates on what it means for the future of public relations. One of the more interesting facets worthy of study has been the relationship between the agency and the client, and how important are the communications functions regarded by organisations. When the global lockdown began, businesses’ expectations from PR were charact..Read More

Nimmi Sebastian joins Tesco to add retail PR know-how

Nimmi Sebastian bolsters the communication leadership team by joining Tesco as head of Communications & CSR. Based in Bengaluru, Nimmi is an experienced retail communications practitioner and was previously in a similiar role at Lowe's India. With over 10 years in the industry, she also held positions at Brillio and Wipro.

Nothing niche anymore...technology is woven into our daily lives

Some love it, some fear it! Whatever you do...you cannot ignore it ! Years ago this was a super-specialized vertical. Not anymore, tech-enabled and digital-first are ‘flags to fly’! So how do you upskill yourself in this field ? What does Tech PR mean? Can you switch from Lifestyle to Tech with ease? What skill sets do you need? Engage with tech PR spec

Study: 21% respondent made an influencer-motivated purchase since the March lockdown

About half (51%) of consumers said they had bought a product or service after seeing it used or promoted by an influencer in the past two years, per a study that coupon company Valassis shared with Mobile Marketer. Younger adults are more likely to be swayed, with 39% of people ages 25 to 34 saying influencer endorsements affect their opinions about brands. Valassi..Read More

Protocols, post Covid-19 pivots and cover stories unravelled by PRPOI's Sonali Sokhal

India has had one of the most robust presence of magazines in the world. There are almost a 1000 plus titles, with enough representation for B2B magazines as well as regional language magazines. How does the PR Fraternity engage with them? Will we witness many changes in magazines in the post COVID-19 world? Is there a way to snag that coveted cover story? These we

The Bombay Short company has appointed Bhavana Singh appointed as VP of Brand Communications. Based in Mumbai, Bhavana is an experienced communications practitioner with extensive agency in-house expertise. With over 10 years in the industry, she was previously at Genesis Burson-Marsteller Mumbai; and held positions at MSL and Ketchum. 

Sheridan laid out his "big five" content marketing priorities for sales enablement

Marcus Sheridan knows a lot about the value of content. He saved his pool and spa business using it and has gone on to be a sought after international speaker on the value of content marketing and content strategy. I remember reading his story years ago when content marketing started to gain acceptance as a viable marketing strategy. So when I saw he was doing a se..Read More

Start-ups need marketing and PR but don't know it...

I do a lot of work with startups and hear a variation of this surprisingly often-“We’ve budgeted very little for marketing because our product’s gonna sell itself.” I’m always taken aback. And it signifies a complacency that’s proved commercially fatal for the business every time. Of course, entrepreneurs need bucket loads of com..Read More

A few quick ways to improve your email marketing strategy

Are you looking for ways to improve your email marketing strategy? Want to create compelling content for more successful email marketing campaigns? Writing captiavating copy for your email campaigns can be tricky with so many emails flooding your subscribers' inboxes on a daily basis. In addition, there will always be the constant war with competitors' campaigns fo..Read More

Tesla dissolves its PR department-another first for Elon Musk

Electrek can confirm that Tesla has dissolved its PR department — technically becoming the first automaker who doesn’t talk to the press. It’s something that we have discussed on our podcast several times over the last few months, but now that reporters are publicly complaining about it, we thought we’d clear things up in an article. Tesla h..Read More

Aasheesh Sharma joins a "buzzing newsroom" team

Aasheesh Sharma joined Indo Asian News as a Deputy Editor. He is an award-winning bilingual journalist with wire service, newspaper and television experience of more than 23 years. His previous role was played as a Deputy Editor at Mail Today. He had long worked with Times Group in his Journey of Journalism.

Sameer Bajaj joins as global head, communications & external affairs at Whitehat Jr

WhiteHatJr has strengthened its communication and outreach team by onboarding Sameer Bajaj as the Global Head of Communication and External Affairs. He will be reporting to Karan Bajaj, Founder, WhiteHatJr. Bajaj has been working in the communications industry for over 22 years and brings in a rich experience in corporate communications and external affairs. Prior ..Read More

Enter Faculty, a men’s-only cosmetic brand

Do you paint your nails? If so, do you remember the first time you did? I’ll make it personal: I do. It was right before COVID-19’s U.S. onset in early March. In retrospect, that’s not that long ago, but with how time’s been moving in 2020 it feels like eons. As much as I’d like to assign some deep, philosophical meaning to the act, th..Read More

Juniper Research points to Chatbots as key driver in omnichannel retail

A new report from Juniper Research found that consumer retail spend over chatbots will reach $142 billion by 2024; rising from $2.8 billion in 2019. This represents average annual growth of 400% over the next four years. The research identified the retail sector as a key beneficiary of advances in NLU (Natural Language Understanding) technologies. It forecast that ..Read More

Mental health discussed by PRmoment with @PRCAIndia & @Yougov_India

Register Now! For the discussion over the the role of EQ at the workplace and mental health with Nitin Mantri (President PRCAI and ICCO Group CEO Avian WE), Deepa Bhatia (G-M India YouGov), Sangeeta Chandran (Global Head TCS Cares lead), Archana Muthappa (Head of Corporate Communication at Bangalore Internationl Airport), Pratishta Kaur (Senior Manager Archetype),

APAC imbalances in leadership despite high female representation

Asia’s growth, and growth potential, has long been a dominant narrative for PR agencies, but it has largely been left to expat leaders — usually male, always white — to capitalise on it. There are signs that this is at last changing. Four major networks, including Ruder Finn, H+K Strategies, MSL and the Hoffman Agency are now led in Asia-Pacific b..Read More

The Editors Guild of India statement

The Editors Guild Of India condemns the manner in which the law enforcement agencies of the Uttar Pradesh government, led by Yogi Adityanath, have prevented media persons from reporting on developments in and around Hathras after a brutal assault on a woman leading to her death and the hurried cremation of her body by the authorities without the presence of the fam..Read More

Do Brands align with a purpose to bring a real change?

When the government announces the budget, all brands line-up to offer their opinions and not surprisingly 90% of the opinion will be towards praising the budget. When a new policy is announced, most quotes in almost all industry stories will be pro policy. We as public relations practitioners would rarely advise a client to quote anything that would create controve..Read More

Google vows to pay publishers around $1bn

Google has vowed to pay publishers around $1bn for news over the next three years – a step that could help it win over publishers such as News Corp and Axel Springer, and satisfy vocal industry critics that demand it pays for the content it distributes to web users. Chief executive Sundar Pichai committed the sum in a blog post on Thursday. The $1bn commitmen..Read More

KPMG unveils it's Media and Entertainment 2020 report

There has been a perceptible slowdown in global economic activity since 2019 with rising trade barriers and increasing geopolitical tensions constraining growth. In line with trends in the global economy, India’s real GDP declined from 6.1 per cent in 2018 to 4.2 per cent in 2019. The tepid economic climate combined with a slowdown in domestic consumption had..Read More

Social media can be quick and easy...

We were gobsmacked as to why this particular video of Eshna Kutty hoop dancing to the Genda phool number went viral. After all, it was not shot well (according to my filmmaker husband), and she and I had disagreed on the saree she chose as she rifled through my cupboard, and hooping skills wise she herself rated it just 4/10. Even Puma India whose sneakers she endo..Read More

Quick tips to improve your email marketing strategy...

The team from Campaigner share their tips for success in this infographic. Writing captivating copy for your email campaigns can be tricky with so many emails floodings your subscribers' inboxes on a daily basis. In addition, there will always be the constant war with competitors' campaigns for you to stand out with your readers. To help fight the battle, you need ..Read More

Tata adds muscle to its communications leadership

Tata has added to communication leadership team by on-boarding Arati Mukerji, as AVP & Global Head of Communications, Brand and Public Affairs. Based in Gurgaon, Mukerji is an experienced communications practitioner with both agency and in-house expertise. With over 15 years in the industry, she was previously Director, Communications & Citizenship at Micro

Innovative marketing: as NY and LA restaurants swap signature dishes

S.Pellegrino's "Destination Dining" series is a novel experiential marketing program to promote restaurants that are a key source of revenue for the mineral water brand. By giving diners a chance to sample food from a restaurant 2,500 miles away, the marketer can drum up business for independent restaurants and generate excitem..Read More

SKRIBE partners with PRPOI on Facebook Live - Saturday 12pm, October 3rd

If you’re keen to get to know how best to pitch to new media formats from magazines to online portals, connect with PRPOI’s expert panel of publishing and editorial leaders - Condé Nast Traveller’s Smitha Menon and Parineeta Sethi, Publisher, Pinnacle Connect. Get a perspective of changing media formats, evolving content strategies and audi

TV ad revenue will see a huge drop from the ?26,200 crore figure of FY20

With consumers glued to digital media and online shopping during the covid-19 lockdown, online advertising is expected to result in a 12% growth overtaking traditional media like television which will contract by 17% this year. At ?22,300 crore, total digital advertising revenue will beat the ?21,700 crore revenue of TV over FY21. Owing to the dismal first quarter ..Read More