Brands need to experience new technologies to know their advantages: Lilia Glazova

Public Relations today has taken a new dimension. This has happened due to the rise of social media and the rapid shift towards digital, which got accelerated with the onset of the global pandemic in 2020. This has led to the industry changing gears.

Adgully’s IMAGEXX 2021 Summit, held on July 7, saw an interesting conversation between Lilia Glazova, CEO, PR News & Chairwoman, Russian Association of PR Consultancies (AKOS) and Member Association of International Communications Consultancy Organisation, and Atul Sharma, Public Relations Consultants Association of India (PRCAI). The discussions specifically focused on ‘Role of measurement and evaluation in creating value in PR’.

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During a masterclass presentation, Glazova spoke about the trends in PR, including the pressure on PR professionals, communication behaviour transformation, adjusting PR tools after shift in digitalisation. In her presentation, Glazova highlighted 11 important trends that are used in different regions across the world.

Out of all the trends which are highlighted, ‘Digitalisation’ is considered as the main trend since last year after the pandemic happened and is adapted by most of the regions. With no option left for the agencies, the trend marked ‘Go Online or Go Dead’! “In Russia, the adoption of digitisation was falling in the pre-COVID-19 times, but when the pandemic struck us, the adoption naturally went up on a higher scale,” she said.

The second important trend is ‘Ethics’, which showcases an attitude of inclusivity and sustainability towards the organisation as well as the society. It is the most discussed topic in the media. The importance of ethics is different in different regions of the world and is predicted to be applied more tactfully in Asia in the near future and is least discussed in Africa, according to a research.

‘Content’ is the key and the third most impactful trend, especially effective content, which is not only used for content marketing, but helps in researching and analysing the new trends in the current times.

Carrying forward the conversation, Atul Sharma engaged with Glazova on topics such as the emerging technology and its impact on PR, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how it will shape PR communications.

Glazova noted, “Only companies with big budgets can carry experiments using AI technology. Once somebody uses the technology and becomes trustworthy, only then will other corporations follow. Clients need to request AI capability. For some technologies, you have to wait until it becomes cheaper, useful and accessible for all stakeholders in the market. Few companies should experience and know the advantages of these technologies.”

Speaking about the Indian scenario, Sharma said, “In India, we’ve seen the same thing happening, whether it was the smartphone revolution or broadband penetration. That technology did not become widespread until the pricing was right. We need brands and companies to experiment with these technologies to know what they are capable of and arouse the interest of others.”

Watch the entire session below.