Indian agencies will take the lead when it comes to global work: Ameer Ismail

With the year drawing to a close, it is time to recap the major developments across the industry. As in the previous years, Adgully reviews the year 2021 for M&E, Advertising, Digital, Marketing, PR & Communications along with leading names in the industry as part of the REWIND 2021 series.

In conversation with Adgully, Ameer Ismail, President, Lintas Live, takes a look back at the key developments that took place in the PR industry in India during 2021, the trends that will dominate in the times to come, challenges and learnings from the year gone by as well as expectations from 2022.

Major developments & trends in the Indian PR industry in 2021

Overall, business is back to pre-COVID levels for most agencies and many have started seeing a significant upswing in new business as the demand has grown in the last quarter of 2021. The pandemic has been challenging on many levels, but there were many learnings and new opportunities for agencies that emerged especially in digital. One of the core overall learnings by clients and agencies alike was the realisation that PR continues to play a significant role in the overall marketing mix. This got a spotlight especially in an environment of uncertainty and volatility, where consistent and clear communication is business critical.

What also became abundantly clear was that ORM has become an inextricable need within the service stack of PR when it comes to managing clients’ digital and social media ecosystem. Agencies have also realised the importance of data-led insights to validate their recommended approaches to clients. ‘LIVE’ conversations around brands, especially on social media and other platforms gave rise to risk and we saw so many examples of brands bring trolled and pulled into an unwanted spiral of negativity.

Some other developments which have started to make impact for the industry is the emergence of newer sectors like health tech, fintech, sustainable brands (that are still seeing a lot of dynamism) that are fueling growth now as well as for 2022 and beyond. Creativity and purpose-driven communications was one of the other major trends that continue to be strong differentiator for brands and agencies alike.

Challenges & learnings

It has been a little over a year since the Lintas Live journey began and it has been wonderful. We have had so many milestones, starting with the Mumbai Police campaign that later expanded into the awarded India Police campaign. The impact of these campaigns can be judged by the fact that the total PR value they created was enormous and then backed by influencers across the spectrum. We also went on to win our first full-service brand with Classic Legends.

Over the past few months, the true power of our ‘LIVE’ model – a truly digital-first, creative PR agency that helps brands navigate and stand out in this new always-on world – has been there for all to see. In 2021, we added over 25 brands to our growing portfolio. All this was possible because brands recognise the value in what we propose and in the excellent work that we continue to do with long-term brands like Tata Starbucks, Etihad, Porsche, Escorts Group and many others.

There have been challenges along the way, the main one being integration of our internal teams to seamlessly deliver the promise to clients. Team members have been trained and reoriented towards this approach and our talent acquisition filters candidates who have a desire to do more than practice one discipline. We have built a strong bench strength of leaders and put planning at the core to ensure that we built a foundation for our teams to become evangelists of this new way of working. It is all well worth the effort when you see all this come together for clients.

Outlook & emerging trends in 2022

We are seeing huge momentum in business and enquiries, while I have always believed in sensible growth, one must take advantage of opportunity when it presents itself. Also, our ambition for Lintas Live is to make it scale significantly by focusing on high value mandates. We have a vision to become the fastest growing agency brand in the group so there is no time to be cautious. The group is bullish on prospects for growth in 2022 and there is a commitment to continue to back the vision of Lintas Live and make appropriate investments towards this goal.

I see some trends emerge that will shape the industry and to a great extent define our focus for 2022. The first trend is the continued relevance of authentic, purpose-based communication, brands that take a stand will stand tall. Creativity in PR will continue to grow and the lines between disciplines will continue to blur, there will be a move towards agency consolidation as clients will want to deal with lesser partners in a rush to get salience for their brands.

There will be a huge demand for digital talent and capabilities as that need will be felt across the agency ecosystem and this talent will be in short supply. Indian agencies will take the lead more and more when it comes to global work. What we are currently seeing is the start of something I believe will scale in a big way. Finally, we will see a lot of collaborative models emerge in a hybrid working environment.