“We steal with pride from other markets - learnings, assets - for local customisation”

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, Madhurima Bhatia, Marketing & Communications Lead, Ipsos India, speaks about the changing face of PR, the importance of good storytelling, adapting to the digital world, and more.

You have been in the business of PR and Marketing communication for over two decades. What are some of the key changes that you have noticed? How have you adapted to the changes?

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I worked with a PR boutique firm about 2 decades ago. Even though I came armed with a professional management degree under my belt, that actually taught me nothing about PR until I learnt from scratch here. The foundational training then was extremely rigorous and the pace of work was slower, with few accounts, and structured client servicing, month after month. Strategising was pretty rudimentary and it was all about reporting news in press releases (whether product launches or financial results). Journalists met you, understood your perspective. We personally delivered the press releases to media houses and it was great to see the stories published the next day.

Now, we live in a fast paced world – the world of not only conventional media, but online media and social media. Non-paid form of publicity via conventional media entities continues to provide maximum credibility. And in a world of instant gratification, breaking news hits online news platforms as they break and across social media. For PR professionals, it is about storytelling and it has become harder to get their stories out in all media in one go, unless one has partnerships with news agencies. Or if there is a press conference.

The silver lining is that publications carry stories on their websites and social media platforms can be leveraged for sending messages out (for free), unless there is need for larger distribution. We live in a world of hashtags and PR professionals need to keep tabs on the all the User Generated Content for positive and negative sentiment on social media. Earlier, it was lot more manageable with limited media entities. Today, content is a lot more spiffy due to shorter attention spans and the new generation being digital natives.

When you are a senior professional, learning and adaptation happens on the job. Being a part of the global marcom team, all markets are provided assets for local distribution and even provided templates for local customisation. All markets are aligned on brand guidelines and work closely together. Of course, your own personal skillsets of PR and communication come into play while managing the brand singlehandedly at the local level.

Now, the churn in media is also too much. All your media relationships have to be re-established and the editors who were earlier just a phone call away have moved high up the ladder and are inaccessible due to lack of bandwidth. You know everyone, but they have no time. The pandemic itself has hit media entities very badly. They are short staffed. Stories are harder to come by if you want credible stories. Otherwise storytelling is also done on social media.

What, according to you, is the role of research in PR? Do large organisations conduct research regularly to draw insights for managing their brand reputation?

Market research is mostly done by PR companies for storytelling to highlight trends, consumer preferences, etc. Market research has also played an extremely crucial role during crisis management. PR companies have launched communication for damage control and have then run research to see the impact of communication and the shift in perception. Until the negative sentiment has gone away with onground corrective action, research has been conducted to monitor shifts.

There are also reputation studies and benchmarking studies. One of our global reputation studies showed that for brands to connect best with Gen Z, their messages should be engaging on social media platforms and via videos. Some PR companies also commission research for their accounts to understand image and perception among key stakeholders and benchmark vis-à-vis competition.

What is your mandate for Ipsos in building the image of the company and what kind of PR approach do you follow to stay on top of mind with your stakeholders?

Across our 90 global markets, we amplify content via different activations and employ a two-pronged strategy.

  • Use, adapt, and contribute to our content – Use some global content as is, customise and create our own content keeping in view local sensitivities.
  • Evaluate and boost your share of voice – Amplify content across media, website, and SM platforms and EDMs – and measure its effectiveness. And do more bursts.

And local activations are measured on a monthly basis across media, website, social media engagement and the efficacy of our e-direct mailers. Our roles are cut out and there is a lot of accountability. We monitor on a spreadsheet.

Being a global research company, what are some of the learnings that you follow from your global network and practice in India on the Marketing and Communications front?

Ipsos believes in the One Ipsos concept. Most PR campaigns – global studies, press releases, POVs, SM banners – are run simultaneously across all markets for maximum impact. Global marcom team and the APEC (Asia Pacific excluding China) marcom team work at different levels for macro global campaigns and regional campaigns. And there is ample heads up provided to local marcom heads for local customisation. Every market works within the confines of the brand guidelines as for a global brand there is standarisation. We conform to the norms and ensure it is implemented in everything we do, after all we are the brand custodians. Everyone is aligned.

We also steal with pride from other markets – learnings, assets – for local customisation. We have regular global and APEC calls to align all markets on planning and execution. Also, we don two hats of the external and internal communications specialist. Also, in India marcom reports to the Chief Client Officer (CCO) because Ipsos is a B2B brand and marcom supports the business and all new product launches and client campaigns. Marcom works with the CEO for both internal and external communication. And with HR for dissemination of information to employees.

Measurement in PR is still a debate that is being contested. From a research standpoint how do you evaluate the effectiveness of a PR campaign?

We use the same metrics across all our markets to evaluate the efficacy of our PR campaigns – media mentions, website traffic, social media engagement and impressions, analytics of our client mailers, among others, month after month and also comparing with the previous year.

What is the role of PR in CSR campaigns? How do corporates leverage CSR activities through PR?

Market research plays an important role in measuring the effectiveness of the CSR campaigns by corporate; to measure Top of Mind Recall (TOM), Aided Recall, brand association and the impact on image. Also, to benchmark against other players. Market research also guides on what CSR areas to choose which have the right fitment. Campaign and communication evaluation (test marketing) before it is concretised. Pre-test. Post test.

Ipsos has been doing large studies for the government to assess the implementation of the sanitation program for urban and rural (Swachh Bharat). Ipsos won an award for the best development sector research work by the MRSI (Market Research Society of India), where we measured the effectiveness of water purifiers installed by the Karnataka Government across villages and cities.

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