“Digital PR plays a pivotal role in bringing positive brand messaging to the fore”

In the last 10 years, PR has taken a different dimension, especially after the entry of social media and the rapid shift to digital, especially in the pandemic period. At the same time the industry has been facing stiff challenges, moreover client expectations have also increased, with more emphasis being given to digital and online reputation management. The industry has undergone a radical shift and the current times have pushed the industry to change gears.

In conversation with Adgully, Nidhi Verma, Senior Vice President, PR & Communication, Acko, speaks about the emergence of PR as a critical business function, creating meaningful messaging and strategy that appeal to all stakeholders, and more.

You have seen both sides of the business. How has PR evolved in the last 12 years, and what are some of the significant shifts you have noticed?

Over the last two decades, PR has emerged as a critical business function. As a result, brands today value the power of PR in shaping perceptions and building brand loyalty. Sharing some of the significant changes that I have seen in the last few years:

• Democratic media consumption: Today, customers decide what they listen to and who they trust. With shorter attention spans and an ocean of content to consume, storytelling in PR has hit a new dimension. Multiple new forms of content and mediums have emerged to keep the digitally native audience engaged, forcing PR professionals to come out of the silos of traditional media and think integrated.
• Data-driven storytelling: PR professionals have the finger on the pulse of the consumers and use data to build compelling narratives to inform, opine, and persuade the target customer base. Data is no longer a supplement in the decision-making process but rather the driving force behind campaign decisions.
• Purpose-driven communication: With businesses operating in a complex environment, it has never been more critical for brands to communicate who they are and what they stand for. Purpose-driven communication has become an integral part of every communication and business strategy.

General Insurance is a low involvement category. So, what is going to be your PR strategy and approach to drive awareness for ACKO and educate your potential TG?

As an industry, our biggest challenge is low penetration, and that stems from the fact that customers remain unaware of how insurance can help them during an unforeseen situation. For example, motor insurance is mandatory to have before you take your new car/ bike out on the road. We have observed that most people are unaware that they have a right to buy insurance from an insurer of their choice while buying a new vehicle. We want to fill this gap and endeavour to educate customers about their rights and help them understand insurance better so that they can make a well-informed purchase decision.

As a disruptor in the category, we stand for customer centricity, innovation, transparency, and trust, and PR plays a critical role in building credibility and trust with the stakeholder groups. Being a tech-first company, we believe in a digital-first approach to communication. We have created meaningful messaging and strategy that appeal to customers, employees, regulators, investors, and journalists alike. We have a healthy mix of traditional and new-age communication mediums to connect and engage our stakeholders in a meaningful way.

Today, artificial intelligence and data analytics are becoming very important in marketing and communication. How are you making use of this to help in your overall messaging for your brand?

In the last five years, the public relations industry has seen a tectonic shift in the way data analytics and insights have become the bedrock for developing the PR strategy for an organisation.

In PR, data analytics plays an invaluable role in giving context to the narrative. Data helps us in having an ear to the ground and knowing what consumers are thinking and how they are reacting to our products. We use data to understand consumer trends, pain points, and challenges in different markets to not only design our products better, but also to create easy-to-comprehend narratives. This also helps us in devising bespoke marketing communication strategies based on the insights collected from different consumer groups and geographies.

The Insurance industry has gathered a lot of momentum post the pandemic. What’s your mandate for ACKO on the PR & Communication front and how do you plan to go about it?

ACKO has brought a welcome change in the way India consumes insurance. As a communication leader, I am the custodian of brand reputation and responsible for devising communication strategies based on key pillars of thought leadership, elevating the leadership stance, customer education, and positioning ACKO as a fair insurer. As I said, we have a well-crafted narrative and a healthy mix of traditional and new age mediums to take that narrative to our diverse set of stakeholders.

What is the role of digital in PR and how have you adapted to the digital transformation to engage with your vast audience?

I believe that digital PR plays a pivotal role in bringing positive brand messaging to the forefront. It helps in creating a relatable story driven by actual customer experiences and testimonials to reinforce trust in the brand.

Digital has brought a myriad of changes in PR. For example, influencer engagement started as a fleeting Millennial trend a few years ago is now an essential part of the PR strategy.

Digital has become the most important medium to engage with customers, more so during the pandemic. We look at 360-degree integrated campaigns that have traditional, digital, and social legs. A large majority of our target group consumes content on digital platforms; therefore, our earned media strategy also includes tapping into new-age digital mediums like podcasts, video interviews, short-form videos, and thought leadership content on digital platforms.

How do you measure the ROI for all your PR campaigns? What is the method or process you follow?

Measurement in PR is a never-ending debate, and no one tool can help measure the impact of communication. For digital, it is possible to have performance metrics, but it isn’t easy to quantify the impact of communication for pureplay PR campaigns. So, while we look at key message delivery and tonality as important metrics, we also undertake periodic brand track studies to understand what worked well and what didn’t for brand ACKO.