Rewind 2022: PR has rejuvenated in the new, post-lockdown world - Rekha Rao

It’s time to review the most significant industry developments as 2022 draws to a close. Adgully is reviewing the year 2022 for the M&E, advertising, digital, marketing, PR and communications, along with leading names in the industry as part of our annual Rewind series.

Recapping the year 2022, Rekha Rao, Managing Director, Zeno India, speaks about the revival of the PR industry in the post-lockdown world, trends like flexi-work, building a sustainable business, growing inroads made by technology in PR, the continuing talent crunch, and more.

PP, Marketing, and Advertising ecosystem in 2022

2022 has been a mixed year. While Covid kept its head down for most of the year, world events like geo-political conflicts accentuated by the Ukraine war, volatile energy prices, global slowdown of economies, and inflation, have kept optimism on edge for businesses and the world.

Despite these, PR rejuvenated in the new, post-lockdown world, with brands and businesses paying more attention to the power of PR. Clients have learned to rely on PR to drive conversations and engagement. Client spending was better than in the previous year, but in relative terms with costs having gone up, the budgets could have been better. The second half of the year slowed down pitch closures and spendinghas been conservative.

With fresh cases of Covid in December, the threat of a decelerating US economy, and downbeat global growth predictions, 2023 will start cautiously. However, with India poised to perform well despite the headwinds due to sustained domestic demand, the situation will come with a silver lining for Indian businesses and agencies. Clients may not plan for big growth, but instead, focus on maintaining their current base and consolidating their market share. Agencies will need to work with ideas that work hard without costing much.

Key trends and developments

Well, there are multiple trends that impacted 2022, and these will continue to play a role in 2023. My top 5 observations are:

Flexi-work:

With agencies returning to office in the first half of the year and people mustering the courage to travel to work again, flexible-work policies took centerstage. Flexi-work will dominate the coming year as well, and with worsening traffic and unpredictable travel time, this trend is here to stay.

The great PR talent chasm:

The talent crunch across industries is an unfortunate reality. Hence, focusing on finding talent in unlikely places, and making the workplace suited to millennials and GenZ was the need of the hour in 2022. Zeno India’s Zhinterns program believes we can find diamonds in coals only if one knows how to look for them! This internship program focuses on tapping the unexplored talent hidden away in the smaller towns and cities (the hinterlands) of India. Similarly, with Zeno Moms, we are attracting young moms to join us in baby-flex working schedules, making it easy for young mothers to work around the baby’s schedule, rather than a fixed work schedule, helping them be great moms and great colleagues – guilt-free! In 2023, finding newer, and unconventional pockets of talent and training them will be imperative to survival.

Business with a heart:

Sustainability, climate change, and ESG are now serious considerations with mature organisations and consumer-facing brands. Conscious consumers make purchase decisions based on how authentic and genuine brands are to the commitments they make. The environment is a top concern of GenZs, and they are determined to make whatever contribution they can to help better the planet. Greenwashing is being called out and agencies need to guide clients into adopting and delivering their commitments in a defined, targeted manner, delivering measurable impact, and not just for publicity. Public Relations firms are best placed to help clients with ESG goal setting and communication, helping increase engagement with employees and consumers.

Broadening knowledge horizons:

As PR gets more challenging with every passing year, it is important to cast the knowledge and application net far and wide. Clients are now agency-agnostic when it comes to looking for strategic communication solutions. Their briefs are no longer compartmentalised to specific agencies for specific jobs but are open to all. It is common to see multi-agencies brainstorming and coming up with common solutions. While execution may be vested with specialised agencies, ideas and solutions are welcome from any good head in the room.

With lines blurring, it is important to understand digital media, content strategy, data science and its application, integrated creative communications, and provide holistic communication plans rather than a unidimensional outlook of just what PR can do. While it is not required for all PR professionals to be experts in every subject it is indeed an advantage for those who demonstrate the understanding and application of complementing streams of knowledge.

Zeno Zest is our training module that whets the appetite for Zeno’s quest for learning. We invite industry leaders, clients, journalists, influencers, key opinion leaders, and practice leaders/ experts from the India/ APAC/ global teams to share their learning and experience with the team. These interactive sessions can be in the form of lectures, workshops, debates, quizzes, conversations, Q&As, fireside chats, etc. This when supplemented with our online Fearless University, which has video training modules, like mini sessions across a cross-section of topics relevant to PR and Comms, are some solid initiatives to help keep our people in step with all that can be a potential in PR.

Tech for PR:

Advancements in this digital era are making PR's future more visual, with multimedia becoming a prominent aspect of storytelling alongside traditional content. Communications professionals are adopting skills to integrate different aspects of communications to keep up with this growing trend. Additionally, SEO and PR analytics-based expertise is also becoming fundamental to a PR specialist's credibility.

The need of the hour – and in 2023 – is not just to understand certain technologies better, but to understand PR itself better. While relying on specialised skills is beneficial, the roles of industry professionals must remain multifaceted to apply specialised knowledge and expertise to various or all elements of communications. Applying honed skills in a myriad of ways across situations, such as crises, internal engagement, and external relationship building, to name a few, is necessary to maximize the end impact of these capabilities.

Moreover, editorial, and genuine content is at the heart of communications. Professionals will need to leverage their knowledge and specialisations by using different technologies or platforms to ensure the communication reaches the end audience effectively through a targeted approach.

At Zeno, we are steadily moving ahead by investing in digital-first technologies, for instance, data-driven intelligence, Web3 technologies, etc., because that’s where our stakeholders will be found in the future. Being aligned with the developments of our ecosystem, we are actively strengthening our capabilities around digital-first technologies that PR can leverage to deliver better & measurable results.

Zeno India’s performance in 2022

We start our year in July, so technically we are just halfway through the year in December. However, if I was to go with the calendar year, we’ve had surprisingly happy growth in 2022, with January to June bringing in some significant business wins. We invested in building a serious B2B tech practice, and I cannot be happier about the wins we have had in terms of people as well as clients in about 18 months. Zeno has grown globally, regionally, and in India during this period, much beyond what we expected, especially given the global uncertainties. The second half of 2022, however, has been laborious. While we may have met expectations, the joy would have been greater if we could beat these! Zeno is boundaryless; we cut across designations, and even geographies to give the best to our clients. This is something that surely makes us stand out in how we engage with clients, bringing local, regional, and global best to serve their needs. At Zeno, we are steadily moving ahead by investing in digital-first technologies, for instance, data-driven intelligence, Web3 technologies, etc., because that’s where our stakeholders will be found in the future. Being aligned with the developments of our ecosystem, we are actively strengthening our capabilities so PR can leverage these to deliver better results.