Rewind 2023: Focus on integrated marketing communication: Ameer Ismail

It’s that time of the year when we review the most significant industry developments as the year draws to a close. Adgully is reviewing the year 2023 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 2023, Ameer Ismail, President, Lintas Live, MullenLowe Lintas Group, speaks about the dynamic changes brought about by AI in advertising and marketing, key trends dominating the PR industry this year, major developments at LintasLive, MullenLowe Lintas Group in 2023, outlook and plans for 2024, and more.

Key trends dominating Public Relations in 2023

Ameer Ismail highlighted three key trends:

Consolidation: As digital rapidly transforms the PR ecosystem and the lines dividing disciplines continue to blur and consumers behaviour continues to change, clients will find it difficult to navigate this complexity and find the right marketing mix to deliver impact. Ismail sees a trend towards an integrated marketing communication approach, which will lead to more consolidation, less fragmentation.

Technology: Newer technologies like AI and machine learning are changing the status quo and forcing everyone to rethink and recast their strategies and businesses to become future ready. The adoption of these technologies will leapfrog, and we will see dramatic change in the capability of agencies to deliver quality content quickly and clients will fuel this by greater demand.

“In my view, there will be many layers of benefits this technology affords, like predictive capabilities, but that will take more time to be accepted and adopted,” he opined.

Creativity: The creative idea can come from anywhere and there will be a bigger focus on getting recognition for PR led creativity and greater investments in creative talent. “From my vantage point, these trends will significantly influence our business in the future. At the core of these trends is the crucial skill of capturing attention and building reputation and relevance,” Ismail added.

Lintas Live, MullenLowe Lintas Group’s performance in 2023

While stating that this year, the PR industry has grown well on a global level as well as in India, Ismail shared that for Lintas Live, 2023 been a year of growth, success, and recognition. “We started seeing better results of our unique Lintas Live model in action,” he added.

He further mentioned some of the major achievements, stating, “Some of the other highlights were the award-winning work done for Bayer Consumer Health – Saridon and Supradyn, we won 15 awards in 2023 just for these brands. The other notable client where we made a huge impact was Infosys; we created impactful work for Pride Week that continued to get so much appreciation and brand love, and supported other ESG initiatives with sharp creative content. We won several brands, including Five Hospitality, BIC Cello, Bajaj FinServe, Borouge and many more and continued our journey with Visit Victoria, Etihad, Wartsila and Porsche – all decade-plus relationships to name a few. Our global work for Lagos Free Zone is starting to yield results and expand into other global markets. Finally, I am proud of our people and who have remained committed to delivering work that gets clients talkability and an unfair share of attention.”

Outlook and expectations from 2024

Ismail further said that their clear focus will be to continue the journey as a digital-first creative-led PR agency. He further noted, “Our promise and commitment to clients remains as strong as ever, which is to deliver work that’s not just significant, but also recognised for its ability to spark change and generate talkability.”

Continuing further, he said, “We are ready to take Lintas Live to the next level by making our campaigns deliver impactful and stronger measurable results. The vision moving forward is to clearly stand out as a premium PR agency brand that is a partner of choice to brand partners who share our passion and values. We will continue to focus on growth of revenue and margin, but with more aggression, yet choosing our clients wisely. The focus will also be to do more multi-market and global work.”