AI will take Public Relations to another level: Ashish Jalan, Managing Director, Concept PR

In the last 10 years, PR has taken a different dimension, especially after the entry of social media and the rapid shift to digital during 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, Ashish Jalan, Managing Director, Concept PR, speaks at length about the challenges facing the PR industry in the age of AI and how work should never become a burden. The key to a growing workplace is the amalgamation of happy minds, since the mind is at its best, when it is happy, he maintains.

In the age of ChatGPT and AI, what are the challenges facing the PR industry?

I live by the simple belief – When you can’t beat them, join them. I have always maintained that everybody connected to this industry must adapt to technological advances to remain relevant. I believe that ChatGPT and AI will throw up new opportunities for this industry. With ChatGPT, content has become more focused and easier to generate. AI used as a tool has become very efficient. Now, PR practitioners can provide the best communication strategy for their clients, irrespective of their area of expertise.

Will AI change the future of Public Relations?

AI will take Public Relations to another level. There was a time when Public Relations simply stood for creating press releases and getting them published in the media. We have come a long way from there. Today, Public Relations involves helping brands grow through integrated marketing strategies. AI is already playing its part. It is a valuable tool that this industry is using to help existing clients while looking for more business. Agencies that incorporate AI to research, strategies, big data analysis, and for impact testing will grow faster than others.

How can Public Relations as an industry benefit from AI?

When John McCarthy coined AI, he postulated that every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence could, in principle, be so precisely described that a machine could be made to simulate it. AI was and is meant to supplement what people are working at and not replace them. At the same time, AI is not a magic bullet or one-size-fits-all strategy.

As I have mentioned earlier, Public Relations is today helping companies strategise and plan better. This involves the handling of big data. AI can analyse big data and provide stupendous solutions that can save both time and effort. AI will also help in the creation of content that is so crucial in the field of communications. The industry will benefit so long as we, as Public Relations professionals, make judicious use of this tool. AI is only as effective as it is programmed to be. 

How has PR as an industry evolved in the age of AI?

Public Relations, as an industry, has always been a dynamic one that has evolved with time. For example, there were only print media at one time. Audio-visual media came up next in a big way. Now, we have digital media to deal with.

As the complexity of the marketplace, people and technology increases, AI is the best bet to crunch numbers, trends, etc. It can give insights using big data that will help PR agencies design targeted messaging. Already the digital world is a lot about AI. All the latest campaigns have a bit of AI in them. The PR industry is today more focused on the digital native, net surfing generation than the earlier digital immigrants that survived on newspapers. With this, the way we handle a task has also changed and is now targeted at creating a niche in the consideration set within the minds of people.

How is Concept PR leveraging AI?

If you think of AI as HAL 9000 of ‘The Space Odyssey’, then at Concept PR, we still have some distance to go. But in its present avatar, we are using AI extensively. Our Concept BIU uses AI to analyse big data and then present actionable intelligence to clients.

We use Concept BIU’s analyses while designing communications strategies for our clients. For a few years now, we are a completely integrated communications agency. We have embedded a 50-member digital-driven team within the traditional PR structure. AI helps us in presenting a consolidated digital and traditional PR strategy to our clients. AI helps us in showcasing highly accurate trends and response analyses during the execution of a communication campaign.

Also, our in-house media management software, Genie, uses AI to help our people stay up to date-on the media universe.

We also provide standalone digital marketing solutions to clients, who desire them, and this is a growing business for us.

At the same time, we are also experimenting with Digital Avatars, such as Naina, the 20-year-old, who is a rage today. She has over 131K followers on Instagram alone.

We continue to grow our dedicated teams, who are using AI and other technology, and this has helped us in getting leverage in the market. More companies are now turning to us for assistance in their campaigns and image-building exercises.

What are the core values and work ethics of Concept PR that made it acquire the Great Place to Work certification? What are its other achievements this year?

We are one of the largest independent communications groups in the country. Two things that helped us become so, are empowering our people, and treating them as family. These are not just hollow phrases; all our people are entitled to take decisions at their level. As a family, we believe in holistic growth for our people. Not only do we have a mediclaim policy for our employees, but we also have a doctor on call. At the core of our business, we believe in, happiness and this leads to higher job satisfaction.

So long as teams are happy, they will deliver. My idea has always been to create a large family known as Concept PR. While professionalism is important and taken very seriously in the organisation, every employee enjoys his/her bit of freedom to think and come up with new ideas. Every employee has access to the top management. This is the culture at Concept PR. Just as in a large family, differences between members are resolved before bitter feelings set in. In this way, everybody realises that s/he is important to the organisation and gives his/her best.

It is this ethos, I believe, that led us to get the Great Place to Work certification. As you know that the audit is anonymous, and we scored high on it.

What are the foundational principles that define a good workplace?

A happy workplace is a good workplace, particularly in the business that we are in. PR isn’t a labour-intensive industry. Here, it is more about the mind. The mind is productive and at its best when it is happy. In my opinion, the management in any organisation must think up ideas for better bonding of members of every team and intra-departmental communication. Work should never be a burden and it never is to a happy employee. So, the fundamental principle is to keep the workplace happy.

What is the vision of Concept PR for 2024?

Growth with higher levels of client satisfaction. We want to grow the share of the business of our existing clientele. We intend to increase the bouquet of services that we offer to our existing clients, thereby increasing their share of the pie for us. As we are already growing at a rapid pace and would like to keep this up.

We have already started exploring possibilities overseas. Concept PR has already established an office in South Africa. We are also in talks with other countries. I have already mentioned earlier that technology is creating new opportunities and we intend to grab them. We have dedicated teams who are ready to work out solutions for clients to help them grow and achieve targets.

What are some trends that you have observed in the financial communications industry?

The BFSI or financial industry is highly regulated and we as experts in financial communication must perform within these regulations. At the same time, policy changes can also impact communications. For example, recently, the regulators reduced the IPO listing time to 3 days from the earlier 6 days from the closure of the issue. It may seem like a small thing, but for us, we have lost 50% of the time we had earlier to create hype and expectation about a company’s share listing on the bourses.

This is just one example of the complexity of the financial communications industry, but for professionals like us, it is a challenge that we love.

The financial sector is extremely volatile, dependent on several factors – both internal and external. For instance, the pandemic years were a learning period for all of us on how to deal with a crisis. The financial market is buoyant now, and we are dealing with positive communications. This may not last though. In the case of a downturn, the nature of communications will change. As a PR company though, our effort will be positive communications for clients even during their financial stress. After all, that is what Public Relations is all about.

What made you enter the PR industry?

I was always fascinated by the business of communication. At the same time, I am a compulsive problem solver and I think, these both lured me into communication. I am a CA, but somehow the numbers never grabbed me, the way communication did. I started by producing TV series on Doordarshan. Then our Chairman, Vivek Suchanti, asked me to take over the PR business. Since then, there has been no looking back and no regrets. From a couple of clients and a handful of people, we have grown to around 100+ clients and 300+ people operating out of 10 offices in India and 1 in South Africa.

Even after so many years, I still feel the excitement and joy of helping clients, brands, people, etc., achieve communication objectives. 

What are some of the successful PR campaigns and projects by Concept PR?

With over 90% client retention, I like to believe that all our PR campaigns are hits. Nevertheless, we have started seriously participating in PR awards only for the past 2 years, and have won over 12 golds, etc., and around 8 silvers, already. Some of the highlights were that we won BFSI Agency of the Year, twice in succession. Our client, South Indian Bank, emerged winner in the regional language campaign. Apart from these, Manipal Hospital won for their Doses of Pride, Hindustan Zinc for its Integrated PR Campaign, and Bikaji Foods International for their IPO campaign, among others. Concept PR also won the Best Employee engagement award, and Creative PR campaign Award and one of our team members won the PR Person of the Year award.

Which factors differentiate Concept PR from others? What are some strategies employed by Concept PR to maintain a strong relationship with stakeholders and a social media presence?

The bedrock of our business is communications, but unfortunately most of the agencies are too focused on taking the clients’ messages across to the media and others. They don’t spend enough time communicating with their clients apart from business.

At Concept PR, we believe that to create long-term relationships with clients, it is important to keep communication with our clients, regularly.

We offer all kinds of services – from basic PR to intelligence sharing, influencer marketing, digital communications and PR, search engine optimisation, website management as well as ORM. It could be said that we offer the entire package. Over the years, we have fine-tuned strategies that are specifically designed for clients. After all, this is not a world where one size fits all. We have helped our clients create a significant market space for themselves and have continued to serve them so they may continue along the path of prosperity. Teams in Concept PR are also constantly working towards building relationships that enable us to maintain a good social media presence. The key is a better understanding of clients’ needs and good interpersonal relations.