 The PR and Gopal domain has gone through tremendous transitions in the past one decade and more so in the past 10 months. So seamlessly transitioning and adapting to these changing scenarios were the PR professionals. And today we have with us Ms. Ritika Johari, she is Senior Director, Strategic Partners Group. And we are delighted to have you in our second episode of the PRM PR and Gopal next gen series where we will talk and celebrate the win of PR leaders, upcoming leaders who have been into you know the PRM PR and Gopal 40 and 40 elite list. So welcome Ritika and we are really glad to have you today with us. Thanks Nafisa. Thanks for the lovely introduction also and I'm excited to be part of this and share some of the learnings I've gained you know in the past few years as in more than 16 now since I've been with this wonderful, wonderful industry. So you know my first question would obviously be how do you feel about winning this elite title and being with the leaders of the PR and Gopal industry, the elite list of you know 40 and 40? Absolutely I mean it's a truly a pleasure because you know one it kind of reinforces the fact that you know somewhere you're doing the right things and secondly it is a motivation. So you know it motivates you to continue on your path, learn more, gain more knowledge and especially being on the same platform with so many people with whom we have been working and you know exchanging knowledge so it's truly a great feeling. So something good in 2020 is this. Something good in 2020 because you know like I started in the intro that you know the industry has gone through a lot of changes and you know people have adapted to work in these you know changed environments. So what according to you are the key skills required in the prevailing market? Sure so see as a PR person one the key skill that is required is you need to be a storyteller a natural storyteller who can tell the story in the most creative and compelling manner because I think that is the core and I don't think this skill can be you know you will not be inborn with this skill but yes you know you need to be a person who is able to visualize things he's able to connect with people and then you know transform stories. But more important for you to be a successful storyteller is to really you know understand the purpose you know by for which you are telling the story. So all communication has to be led by purpose so you need to be clear and have those answers in place what is the purpose of my story who am I trying to reach out to and what is my call to action what do I want them to do. So then you know then only you can be an effective storyteller so I keep telling my team that you know associate yourself with what you are telling think as a listener also whether you will be emotionally you know kind of interested in this particular story whether you will do that call to action that you are aiming for or not. Secondly I think the other important thing which is emerging now is you know having an analytical mind you know data and analytics have emerged big time you need to have the right set of proof points so whenever you go for your pitches whenever you're telling your client that okay this is my campaign this is my strategy you cannot just make motherhood statements you need to have your proof points you need to have your evidence and after that you also need to you know be able to tell that okay this has been the impact of my campaign after you have successfully run it so you need to be able to crunch mine data and analyze it for the benefit of yourself if you are not able to do that in today's day and age somewhere you will be lost in the clutter so yeah I mean I think of course these two are the key things that have emerged right now but the other thing that always state was you know having that industry knowledge you know you cannot be a delivery boy you cannot be like you know initially it used to happen that you know we are changing we are taking you know printouts and just going and saying that okay this is a press lease no you have to understand the industry whatever sector you are you know kind of working in as an NPR you will be handling multiple clients so different sectors but you need to do your homework you need to be well read you need to be well connected because only then you can be that knowledge partner for your client you know you cannot expect the client to tell you what to do and you just do it no you have to have that firsthand information and in fact many times think ahead you know of the client and give him that information that you know kind of keeps them alert keeps you alert and also strengthens the position of your client within his system because he would know things you know like what you have told him in advance so that is a benefit that is an asset and we cannot miss out on that so yeah I mean these I think are the key skills right now and many more to be added but yes these three are the key so according to you uh purpose based storytelling along with the being strong on analytical data and being well read and well informed are the key skills absolutely you summed it up really well so purpose lead communications yes okay and you know the 40 and 40 list really talks about the upcoming leaders or the leaders who have done tremendously well in the industry so you have been a leader and you have been running this ag-share group as a senior director since a long time so according to you what are the basic or the required skills to be a leader absolutely so I think skills required to be a leader again I would say that you know you need to drive communication so you need to know your sector your industry very well because only then you can drive and you can you know kind of lead by example so even if you have a team you know so for example I'll just give you an example so we at SP AG we are largely entrenched into health care so it is expected that you know we would understand the health care domain really well and I think that is what you know this is something that has helped us excel because many times we are able to you know engage with the client at a very very uh you know deep level wherein we are able to give insights we are able to give the guidance you know that is definitely valued by the clients you know when it comes to health care so our knowledge is not superficial plus of course you know in the team we have people who are from the medical background people who can do the right kind of content so having that purpose built team and working with them is you know is another skill that every leader needs to have so we need to know that okay what is the kind of team that I need to have for this particular campaign which can complement each other so you know we don't need to have people who have the same skill set you know I may not be having something which I think you know my team member will be able to value add for me and deliver results to the clients right so that is something you know having being able to visualize defining the right mix of team members that you want and work with them to deliver results is definitely an important thing and being well connected well entrenched into the industry to lead by example is another key thing that you need to do as a leader and I think at SPAG we've done that well especially in health okay so um let's you know break the tone of the convalescent a lot of serious talks have happened what how has been your interaction with your team and these past eight to nine months you know you guys are working from home we are also working from home and this is a very good example of this so how has been your interaction with the team and what new skills or maybe you know new things that you have learned about your team during these months yeah this is also a thing my team has it let's use it accordingly absolutely that's that's that's a very nice question Nefisa so you know one thing I want to congratulate each one of us you know you me everyone is we are really agile you know we were able to kind of you know shift to the new ways of working pretty quickly I'll tell you you know 6th march was my birthday and we were celebrating in office and we were having fun we we never thought that you know this thing could happen next week we were discussing that you know cases are increasing maybe let's do a work from home for another week and then evaluate and after that we have not gone back to office but let me tell you there was not even one single dull day at work because everybody you know very quickly shifted to platforms like team zoom everything and you know we were having discussions which were much more productive people you know were saving their time to you know come to office getting you know ready for office of course they used to get ready at you know we wanted that discipline but you know at least there was some kind of time saving they also had time to spend with their family and so it was definitely you know productive but I don't want to take away that in the beginning it was challenging because whenever there is change you have to adapt to it so you know people were going through an emotional turmoil also because I'll tell you in my team there were several members who were you know staying away from their home in PEGs it was very difficult for them to do that I had to provide that emotional support also you know as a team leader I think that is extremely important so we used to have conversations like you know so every day apart from work having the job list ready and everything we used to have these random conversations also we did virtual parties congratulatory parties you know whenever because I'll tell you there was this thing in my team so whenever we got something really good we used to do this Bhangra step but now I mean you're not there physically so how do you do it so you used to host these evening parties and you know on zoom on virtual I made sure that I used to get ready so you know there was this particular dress that I had chosen that I will take it for my tour that couldn't happen so fine I'll share that stuff with my colleagues and why not so all these things you know matter a lot so it was it was good it was challenging but it was fun and we've been successful so it's nice awesome I think all these things by the leaders and the team have you know kept everyone working together and evolve as an industry all together absolutely so um working on your personal front uh how has been your life at home you know you've been working also and you've been handling household of course with everyone in your family how has that experience been for you very nice I mean uh so I'll tell you my husband is a banker okay so he never could stay at home you know he was working throughout right so it was like okay now I have to you know kind of work from home you have to go to office your thing never changes so how do we manage it but I'm I think it's great because we divided our course we ensured that you know there's no disruption in the way the house is functioning uh even though we did not have house helps at that time we we don't have like a 24 hours so everything had to be done by us so we ensured that you know everything is taken care of my husband used to do his part of the thing and then go to office we kind of took some shortcuts in cooking but then eventually we we went on to do some very elaborate cooking also fortunately for me my son you know also helped me a lot uh he he also had to be managed because he had to shift to online ways of learning that also had its own challenges we had to you know kind of really do that counseling for him so that you know he doesn't go into a shell he's not able to meet his friends so all of that but I think as a team we you know we managed it really well we spent some good moments together as well we used to play a lot of you know board games after our offices were over because we cannot let our office work hamper you know the child you know because he he's he's not able to go out with friends so we had to be his friends we had to ensure that we make time for it and so yeah it was managed well and I'm happy that uh you know I did not break down it was challenging for me but uh I managed and sometimes I I do feel that you know super women we are we are in some ways or the other than Frissa we all sail through the difficult times and now we have adapted to it and so Ritika moving on to my next question which definitely has to be about digital and the digital amplification of everything around you know everything now is digital it was there earlier also but now everything has been amplified so how have you used digital as a you know format to you know help your clients in your PR services or maybe what have been the different friends that digital had seen during this past 10 months just like enlightened us with some of your key findings absolutely so I think you know um what had happened was that the PR industry had started to witness a lot of change you know when it comes to technology a lot of disruption that we could see is happening now so what we had already started to do was you know to tell our clients that how the way people are consuming news is changing and you need to move to other uh methods so uh you know you need to be channel agnostic you cannot just do to play uh editorial media you need to have social media amplification and uh you know different formats of storytelling then you need to you know kind of uh do online PR but what happened you know was with this pandemic I think uh you know we could emphasize uh you know more than ever on what we had uh you know kind of thought of right so our clients also started to now feel that no I think this is right the time is ripe to actually move to uh more innovative ways of you know letting our agency letting our PR partners do the storytelling so we were you know able to make them understand that how the media ecosystem is evolving uh let's go and you know kind of own the you know e-media space so that was happening and the opportunity was immense because we could do the storytelling in so many different formats uh we could connect with the audience uh you know better so um especially I think videos you know the trend of doing the storytelling via videos uh emerged and was utilized really really well I must say in fact you would remember that you know after the lockdown kind of you know kind of uh was getting better and the airports were getting ready to uh let the flights uh move so there were a lot of videos during the rounds where they were showing that you know how everything is properly sanitized there's you know all the safety guidelines are being followed so I think that connected really well so so you know I'm just giving you an example that how every you know industry vertical how every brand chose to tell the story via videos and you know uh video news releases because you can you could not have physical events you could not have uh you know press conferences so a lot of webinars happened you know so we we were you know very quick in telling to our clients that okay if you are not able to do the pure play media because of the focus on COVID let's do webinars with you know whoever you know in our case maybe a few doctors to spread awareness and you know stuff like that because it's very important to connect with all your stakeholders and in our case when it comes to you know as a healthcare specialist firm for all our clients one of the key stakeholders is the doctors one of the key stakeholders is also the consumers so you need to keep them engaged even during this time when you are not able to deliver media so we have to do that innovative thinking reach out to them so that they know that okay these are the additional services that my communications partner can provide during this time and how the emerging trends can be utilized you know there is an opportunity how you can change the challenge you know to an opportunity so I think we were agile enough to do that and it worked in our favor so um yeah a lot of trends and these trends are now here to stay it's it's not like mid term or short term these are here to stay and it's all good for the PR industry of course these trends are here to say and you know if I ask you about your clients so how have their um I will not say the word attitude but how has been their outlook towards the PR services have become more receptive or they have become more acceptable of your advice or anything what has what has been your clients um you know um what what should be the right word what how has your clients behaved during these months I think are acceptable or receptive or what was that okay so let me uh you know kind of put this question into perspective so you know these have been difficult times for us as well as our clients we as their partner if you remember in my first response that you know the key skills that are required you know you need to be a knowledge partner you need to be a partner communications partner for your client and you know in line with that role what we ensured was to give that comfort level to to the clients because definitely this this was a challenging time for many of our clients also because because you know the businesses were not doing that well you know what they had thought for the year you know the goals the objectives both in terms of numbers you know they they found it's difficult you know and a lot a lot of things you know a lot of events or product launches were planned but they had they could not happen right so we had to step in at the right time before our client could give us like a you know distress call we had to be you know kind of do that forward thinking and give them a call and go back to them with the other innovations or other solutions that we could do in this meantime so that is what you know I meant when I said that you know we had to definitely be vigilant to the fact that you know for our clients there are so many stakeholders they need to keep engaged every time so whether it is a dull time for their business still they need to be you know to keep them engaged whether it is the consumers whether it is the you know the doctors the you know the their customers you know doctors or anyone basically the customers for a business so how will you keep them engaged so is there an activity that you can do is there you know any kind of virtual event that you can do you know so or you could you know actually invest into some kind of social media activity that will keep them engaged give them that visibility that you are not able to gain on traditional media so fortunately for us we did not face a lot of you know kind of difficulty or you know misbehavior from the clients because we kind of preempted that and reached out to all our clients and kind of had those discussions wherein we could make them feel comfortable that fine this is a challenge but this is how we can actually leverage and do you know what is the need of the hour so it was more of a symbiotic relationship both parties supporting each other you know sales through these difficult times absolutely and and this is where you know as a communications professional you need to be you know kind of doing that forward thinking you don't wait till your client tells you that you need to kind of you know preempt do that call that okay this is what we think so again the problem solving attitude so instead of highlighting the problem what is the solution or what can be done is what we as a communication partner need to offer to our clients of course and are you know are we technologically ready or is the PR industry technologically ready to adapt to become you know fully virtual in the times to come oh absolutely absolutely I must say and like I said that you know the testimony to it is that how quickly we could adapt to the new ways of working you know in just about not most of us did not even get a full week to kind of re-energize re-channelize you know kind of redo the way we were working so I think we are fully prepared and technology will have a huge role to play and this is an opportunity you know because because I'll tell you as PR professionals you know as we are natural storytellers so we need to you know kind of we are very good at understanding the other person's perspective but if we get tools you know highly advanced digital or technology tools that helps us in understanding our consumers better it is going to be a win-win because once you understand your consumer better you will be able to tell a story in a way that is appreciated by your consumer and therefore you will be able to realize your objectives you will be able to deliver business impact you know because no campaign can be successful until you have been able to reach to your consumers most effectively and showcase business impact because and the best part would be a better ROI absolutely and you know if you talk about technology right so we have so many new tools coming in for real-time monitoring of you know what is happening in the media discourse right social media traditional media so you are very well connected then like you said you know ROI so a lot of tools are coming in wherein we can measure the impact of our campaign because that has been a challenge you are now not using advertising value and stuff like that you need to showcase what has been the real-time impact of your campaign so there are a lot of tools coming out for that and then of course you know like I said the way you are telling your story so whether it is through videos augmented reality everything I mean you can the floor is there for you to you know kind of use to your benefit truly these are most exciting times I think you know for us you know talking on the similar line what according to you will be you know some of the innovations or key innovations that will shape up the future of PR and conform industry absolutely so I think you know one key thing that comes to my mind and we need to know more about it is you know artificial intelligence augmented reality cloud computing I mean these are the some of the innovations that will really change the way in which we are you know kind of strategizing in which you know the way we are conceptualizing campaigns and delivering you know so so I think this definitely is an innovation that will come out then then you know data analytics so big data generating that data so that you can measure the impact of your campaign is something that you know we have been you know kind of looking at struggling so I think we are quite close to getting new and better tools for doing that so that is an innovation that will help a lot of PR and communication professionals to actually you know call out the impact of a campaign because I think that is really really important and innovations I think in user experience because like I said the way people are consuming news is really really changing so you know how does your website look like how does your you know how have you packaged your story what is the user experience will matter a lot you know so yeah and I think Nefisa one trend I want to talk about here is also that you know I really wanted to talk about and I have seen it growing is you know a role of the influencers because you know that is becoming huge you know because everything is digital you see so many influencers youth influencers social influencers you know kind of you can engage with them in such an effective manner to reach out to an audience you know to the consumers who can be influenced by those influencers so I think influencer marketing is really going to be big and for any stakeholder you know whether if you are if you are engaging with the government your influencers will be different but you will need to have those influencers if you are engaging with the mass communication or the or the youth your influencers will be different but you know you will have to engage with them so that is something that you cannot miss out on okay so influencer marketing empathy based marketing you know communication taking up everything around us would be definitely trending in the you know years to come so moving on to you know my last question or that should not be a question indeed this is what would be your message to your juniors or your colleagues out there will be listening to this video on how to take the industry forward what would what should be the outlook for its life and work your key message to your PR professionals you know firstly we all must know that the future is bright and I think the PR industry the communications industry is envisaging a very very important role you know if you know now in fact you know the business objectives they are the PR objectives are getting tied with the business and organization goals because they kind of realize the importance of communications in achieving their business objectives so this is an opportunity that is there for everyone to you know harness to leverage and that is why like I said to my team members to everyone who's you know who's aspiring to make it big in this industry is that you know we need to be very well connected with what is happening around us you know what is happening in the industry what are the new methods of storytelling that are coming you know kind of really really being because because that is important to be that knowledge partner to your clients you know I know it doesn't sound really nice but you cannot be a delivery boy you need to be that knowledge partner you need to gain that trust of your client and for that you will need to do your homework do that research and be up to date you know with whatever information you have well I believe everyone who will be listening to this will definitely abide by your uh advices and suggestions and once again thank you so much you know coming and doing this video interaction and we again wish you congratulations and all the very best for your future thank you so much Ritika thank you Nafisa I really enjoy talking thank you