“Next 5 years will see new challenger agencies that can disrupt conventional leaders”

As part of the build up to Adgully’s first PR summit – IMAGEXX 2021 – we present the valuable insights provided by our esteemed jury panel comprising the leading names from the country’s PR and Corporate Communications field.

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. However, at the same time the industry has been facing stiff challenges, moreover client expectations has 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.

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In this interaction with Adgully, Chetan Mahajan, CEO, The Mavericks, highlights how technology and AI will eventually be the cornerstone of storytelling, agencies evolving to be full-stack agencies in the next five years and more.

The transition to digital is happening at an accelerated pace. Going forward, what will be the role of digital in PR and how brands and agencies will adapt to this in the new normal?

Digital transformation got catalysed during the prolonged COVID-19 crisis. While it was inevitable, I believe what we’ve witnessed in the last 15 months could have taken 5-7 years in the old normal. Digital is yet another channel of outreach and engagement. The agencies that invest in hiring and training young talent don’t struggle much to adapt to the new normal. We need to have a delicate balance between experienced PR practitioners who are proactively adapting to the new normal and freshers (digital natives) well trained in the rules of engagement and storytelling. In the last year, the most significant shift was around clients becoming receptive to ‘phygital’ outreach instead of an unequivocal preference for traditional media. When the clients and agencies are on the same side, the transformation will happen smoothly and sooner than expected.

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AI and technology will be the game changer in the coming years, especially in the area of data. What are your views on this and how are agencies and brands gearing up to face this new challenge?

Technology and AI will eventually be the cornerstone of storytelling. The spectrum of media platforms, culture, context and languages makes the campaign construct a colossal challenge, particularly in India. Agencies have already started to hire data scientists and tech specialists to augment their research capabilities. We launched the Mavericks Research Lab in early 2020. This investment has already exceeded the expected ROI from the value generated with enhanced storytelling capabilities. Data-driven stories have a higher believability quotient, and when blended with the proper context and emotion, it makes for stories that stick.

PR has evolved a lot in the last 10 years and is still evolving. How does the road ahead look like and what are some of the new trends that we will notice in the PR industry in the next 5 years?

In the next five years, most agencies would evolve to be full-stack agencies with four core capabilities. The first one being the art and science of storytelling. The second would be in adapting the story into multiple formats, such as narrative, video, audio, and visual and their multiple renditions to cater to audiences with diverse content consumption preferences. The third would be in understanding the dynamics of dissemination of the stories across various platforms, including earned, paid, and owned. And lastly, how to amplify these stories with earned and paid influence to deliver a multiplier effect and high impact on brand reputation and business. Agencies that can build these four capabilities in tandem will lead the trend. In my opinion, the next five years will see many new challenger agencies in the industry that can potentially disrupt the conventional leaders.