Fire up creativity & imbibe empathy to stay relevant in PR: Atul Sharma

At the virtual conference of ‘India PR and Corporate Communications Awards 2020’, Atul Sharma, Managing Director India, Ruder Finn Asia delivered a keynote speech centred on “The New World Order: Public Relations in the Tech Age”. 

Sharma commenced the session by explaining how technology has changed the world. "We used to hear a lot about the changes that technology can bring but today. We are seeing self-driving cars that use AI and robotics in complicated healthcare procedures, automated and machine learning in mobile, automobile or mobile manufacturing for that matter, and data analytics changing the way financial business institutions do business. 

So across industries, we see that technology is changing the way business is being done. But if I look closer at our industry, we see that there are a lot of sophisticated technologies that we keep hearing about and we are made to believe that they're going to simplify the world of communication. And the biggest example is measurement of outreach, which has always been a sore point in our industry. But today, with a few simple clicks, you can get a lot of answers which you could never get in the past." 

Explaining how new technologies like AR, AI and VR have become part of our modern folklore and how such technologies influence the world of PR communication, Sharma highlighted four major trends from the world of technology that are defining the world of PR.

Sharma opined that voice-activated devices or assistants are the future and will change the way communication will pan out. “The first trend is ‘Voice technology’ and we feel that the future will definitely belong to voice-based virtual assistants or some voice-activated devices like Google Home and Alexa are going to be more and more a part and parcel of our daily life especially in a country like India where people can converse really well in the native languages, but can't type in English. So think of it, instead of typing keywords in a search engine, chances are that users are more likely to speak to their voice systems, it's just a matter of time. So, I feel that this is going to be another big trend which is going to change the way communication will pan out.”

Elaborating on the usage of videos and how it has already changed the world of communication, he shared, “Another megatrend is infusion of video formats in all forms of communication. Videos are ubiquitous. On average, all of us watch around 84 minutes of video every day and it is only going to increase in 2021. It is able to project things through multiple lens and able to engage people in different ways which is being utilized by brands across industries in the optimum best manner”.

Putting the spotlight on phygital ecosystem, Sharma remarked that this is a trend that is here to stay and flourish. “The pandemic has accentuated this trend. Brands have largely been adapting to phygital system. This trend is the key driver of engagement in today’s time”.

The last trend is the increased value of owned media. He added that brands and corporates have been doing tremendously well in terms of their owned media and its value has been increasing lately.”

Concluding the session, he focused on the importance of storytelling and the role of technology . He said, “Fulcrum of the world will always be storytelling and this will always stand the test of times. It has survived decades and will survive in the future also.”

“Technology will disrupt and will generate more jobs in the coming future and the cycle of knowledge is going to be always on the importance of upskilling.  So, stay curious, fire up creativity and imbibe empathy to stay relevant in changing world order of PR”, concluded Sharma.