Innovation and solid strategies are the base of any offering: Raffi Niziblian

Raffi Niziblian, Founder and Creative Director of Armenia-based Deem Communications is a work-oriented professional. By his own admission, "Working is what defines me”. Although Niziblian holds a degree in Communications Studies and Community Economic Development from Concordia University and has created DEEM after having worked as a program director for the Land and Culture Organization, and later on as a commercial manager for VivaCell MTS, his ultimate passion is the arts and creativity.
The team of PRCommune reached out to him for an interaction focussing on his work, his future vision and his successful ventures, to which he happily obliged.

Excerpts from the interview:

When and how did the idea of Deem Communication germinate?

It was in the summer of 2006, after leaving my work with VivaCell, a leading telecommunications company, that I founded this boutique agency. The idea was to create a western-minded venture that offered high quality and creative solutions to the fast-growing commercial market in Armenia. The transition from socialism to free market economy rendered the timing ripe with high demand but no supply.

Deem Communications started with creative design work and publication and evolved into the events and entertainment management space where we produced some A-list international artists on the stages of Yerevan. In 2007, we launched our own festival WinterFest Armenia, which lived on for 11 consecutive years and was a catalyst to ignite winter season tourism.

In time, DeeM started offering new branding and PR services that required more in-depth theory and solutions based on best practices for local as well as international clients seeking to position themselves in this dynamic market.

Today, after years of providing successful strategic communications services to international organisations and corporations, Deem Communications is one of the most sought out PR and Marketing agencies in Armenia. With a team of over 40 permanent staff and consultants, the agency is the go-to strat-com shop. The combination of creative ideation and carefully-tailored project management approach has forged a distinctive professional entity. Our past and current clients and partners agree that the unique style of service DeeM provides makes them feel content and proud.

Deem Communications unveiled its concept for the Gyumri city branding in 2019. Please tell us how you came about this project and what were the preconditions and post-delivery achievements. For example, have you also done work in Yerevan?

The Gyumri City Branding project was self-initiated and self-financed. Conceptually, it was a CSR activity of the agency that evolved into a full-scope three-year branding project. The project gave us the opportunity to expand our branding capabilities, especially for tourism and destination branding, such as formulation of brand message and vision development; engagement of local stakeholders and much more. A number of notable branding initiatives had been undertaken by our agency prior to this project, including Nagorno Karabakh destination branding, AlfaPharm national pharmacy chain, Armenia’s membership in the Francophonie International Organisation, and even rebranding of festivals like the FIBOX Festival in the UAE and St. Sarkis Community Organisation in San Francisco, USA. Following the successful completion of Gyumri City Branding, our creative team was invited to rebrand the National Assembly of Armenia after the revolution, which was both a great challenge and an honour.

We take pride in our creative work, which encompasses the brand story, its visual representation, the guidelines for logo design and imagery, and delivering a brand book to help each institution reach the top. Deem Communications has a major influence and involvement in the shaping of Yerevan’s modern lifestyle. Today, as one strolls in the city centre, the impact of DeeM cannot go unnoticed. You could say it is one of my proudest achievements.

What is the PR Summit Armenia and how did it contribute to your global networking?

Since the inception of DeeM, we have always held signature events, such as WinterFest Armenia, PR Talks, and Armenia-Diaspora Connection through Music and Entertainment. In 2011, when we understood that the market was ripe to up the game of Public Relations from GR to networking and fundraising, we initiated the PR Summit Armenia in collaboration with prestigious institutions and speakers from Europe, the Americas and the Middle East. Implemented for four consecutive years, this event allowed for more than 500 Armenian, Russian and Georgian practitioners to reap the benefits. We now see how the public relations sector has matured over the years and is able to serve a wide variety of communications needs.

This was also the time when DeeM expanded its network and was designated as representative of Ketchum PR in Armenia. We were already part of the media consult (MC) group based in Berlin. These networks enabled the agency to become savvier and more knowledgeable of global trends and innovative practices. Our exchanges and collaborations led to fruitful solutions for Europe Day events as well as successful cross-border projects. Having pondered “what’s next” and considering the pandemic and the 44-day catastrophic war, DeeM came up with a new format to maintain its thought leadership in the industry. The new talk series is entitled Generation N: Decoding Communications, which has the purpose to bring together thought leaders, discuss issues affecting our businesses and brainstorm solutions for further operations.

What is Generation N and why is it important?

Covid-19 was a disruptive force that served as a great accelerant of e-commerce penetration into our daily lives. As an entrepreneur, a leader and a critical thinker, I was in search of answers for this new shift in consumer behaviour and demands that have evolved after the pandemic. In my practice, I attempted to compartmentalise the digital offerings - replacing previous services and products, especially in retail. At some point, I came across the concept of Generation N (Novel), a disruptive, cross-generational consumer segment with new and unusual divisions characterised primarily by digital-first behaviours.

Brian Solis, a digital anthropologist and a global innovation evangelist, was the first to coin the term that many digital communicators and practitioners tried to define. He believes that the emergence of demand for accelerating digital initiatives has recorded an all-time high. Customers' and employees’ references have been re-shaped as a result of the pandemic. Around 75 per cent of consumers surveyed by Solis consider themselves “digitally savvy”. In parallel, the needs and demands of the workforce have also been reshaped. Generating digital versions of traditional in-person experiences is the key to satisfying the demand of the current cohort of employees, not an easy feat in the current economic climate. Therefore, communications should play a vital role in linking transformed, digitally savvy and new generation of customers to their favourite brands as well as employees to their employers.

This concept spoke to me and mirrored my own thoughts. As I dug deeper, I discovered that the Gen N had yet another specific aspect. It helps drive new personalised demand. This is true not only for the consumers but also for the workforce, inevitably impacted by the post-pandemic shifts. The need to customise the workplace to suit individual preferences has become primordial over the past two years. In today’s world, decision-makers must consider a combination of communications and technology to ensure efficiency and a smooth workflow. Touchpoints, communications and the vision of a brand shall be reimagined for a digital-first world and its standards. The new and advanced pillars must reflect customer safety, values, trustworthiness and the role one plays in the betterment of society.

How do you perceive the changes that are constantly at play in the creative industries, especially in marketing and PR, in terms of the influx of digital and social media, AI and the Metaverse?

Innovation and solid strategies are the base of any offering. We understand the challenges we face with the ever-growing technological advancements, the need for novelty and the demand for speed. That being said, we witnessed the decline of digital evolution from aggressive gaming industry communications to hateful and false information flow generated via social media platforms. In today’s alarming rates of hate messages and bullying that lead to fear and destruction, we seek new strategies that can become the driving force for the betterment of our societies.

Following the guidance of Thomas Coombes and his theories of Hope-Based Communications, DeeM offers aspirational approaches and methodologies to its clients. For example, we were recently engaged in an anti-bullying campaign catered to the Greater Chicago community, which is facing a high rate of suicide among school-aged students. Our messaging strategy was to speak out on behalf of victims instead of calling out to bullies to stop their vile behaviour. We have been weaving our strategies along this path in Armenia, like the campaigns dealing with Domestic Violence Law, Children’s Rights and Poverty and Rural Development.

Commercial entities have also embarked on making a greater effort to search for hope and trust-building as their core values. We seek answers in this direction as we enter the Metaverse and AI — a new and unexpected territory where anything is possible. DeeM has also been delving into the web3 space creating brands and art work for bitcoin, NFT and AI-focussed companies. We maintain our vision to always create models keeping in mind our main values of optimism, trust and hope. In my experience, it is the only way to maintain our humanity and ensure sustainable growth; in any industry.