Writing a new script: It’s time for us to be human & empathetic, stress media honchos

What is the role of brands during times of such unprecedented uncertainties? How can brands be empathetic and relevant when people across the world are living through daunting times? From entertaining to educating and even easing the lives of people – how are Media & Entertainment companies shaping their communications strategies during a time of crisis? These were some of the questions that communications heads from leading media and entertainment companies shared in the latest instalment of Weber Shandwick’s Creative Sandbox, an online platform created to fuel frank and invigorating conversations on creativity in communications.

Vasundhara Mudgil, Head of Communications, Spotify; Sameer Bajaj, Director – Corporate Communications & External Affairs, Discovery India; and Anurag Kumar, Chief Communications Officer, Tata Sky, shared insights on the way the industry is adapting to these extraordinary times, while exchanging ideas on communications strategies that can drive the positive mindsets that we will all need to tide over this global, humanitarian crisis.

“The Media & Entertainment industry has been one that has been hit hard by this pandemic, but at the same time, is seeing growth as more and more people are turning to content while they’re at home due to the lockdown. The coronavirus pandemic has changed the very way we look at the world. Media's role in a consumer's life, so far, has largely been restricted to entertaining them. But as new realities arise, media companies need to go back to the drawing board to understand how they can add value to a consumer's life. Is it by making the consumer's life easy? Is it by educating the consumer? We are now slowly waking up to new realities, new challenges but also new possibilities. It is time to change the way we think and operate,” pointed out Nikhil Dey, Vice-Chair, Weber Shandwick India.

What follows are key takeaways and edited excerpts from the live conversation:

Knowledge is the new vaccine

Media & Entertainment brands have typically served the role of, well, entertaining people! However, over these last few weeks, this role seems to be changing, as people are not just seeking entertainment but knowledge. Audiences are seeking a steady drip of real, unfiltered content. Incidentally, Mindshare India and Vidooly’s latest report revealed that Covid-19 content dominates online video consumption in India – signaling that knowledge indeed is the new vaccine and media & entertainment brands are increasingly cognizant of the weight of their new responsibility.

Giving a broader sector perspective, Sameer Bajaj, Director – Corporate Communications & External Affairs, Discovery India, said, “We’re in a scenario where everyone is at home in this case we need to ensure our services are seamless. We need to entertain our consumer, keep him occupied and if possible, inspire him in a typical Discovery way. Discovery is India’s trusted real life entertainment brand. The responsibility on the brand is thus that much higher. How do we, in such a case, inspire? Being human, being empathetic is the answer.”

“Luckily for us, because of the genre we are in, it plays into our hands. At Discovery, we have done three documentaries focusing on COVID-19 so far. The aim was to go beyond entertainment and to educate the consumer. We have also dedicated our social media pages to busting myths around coronavirus. We are working with UN to demystify rumours and answer queries to clear confusion around the pandemic,” he added.

Entertain and educate, but also ease lives

Confined to their homes, Indians are spending more time on their television and mobile devices. India followed the global trend in showing continued increase in TV programming (43%) and smartphone consumption (13%) over the period of the lockdown. What this also means is that there is an immense demand for content, but at a time when shoots have been halted and everyone is working from home, this is a challenge the industry is facing as a whole.

Elucidating this point with an apt example, Vasundhara Mudgil, Head of Communications, Spotify, said, “This is not a time for brands to be opportunists, but to listen to consumers more closely than ever and understand what can make the transition to this new normal smoother for them. For instance, in the case of Spotify, is the platform is intuitive enough for users to find the content that they want given the schedules they have at home today? We created a hub called ‘At Home’, where the intent is to look at audio content – podcasts and music – that focuses on cooking, or something to help people relax at home and meditate, or to keep kids engaged.”

Illustrating this move to make a meaningful difference to the lives of audiences, Anurag Kumar, Chief Communications Officer, Tata Sky spoke about their unique campaign ‘Chalo ghar baithe baithe kuch naya seekhein’ said, “When the lockdown actually began we realised that original content was actually going to dry out because the inventory was only till the end of the month. We have a whole host of curated services on the platform Tata Sky Fitness, Tata Sky Cooking and beauty, etc., which were created years ago from the point of view of actually helping people to learn something at home. These are subscription-based services. We decided to take 10 of them and make them available free for a month so our consumers could learn something new.”

Same relationships, different connections

Speaking about employee communications during these difficult times, all three panelists echoed the sentiment that inspiring the team was of utmost importance to ensure cohesiveness as everyone is scattered around cities and countries: from virtual townhalls to weekly unplugged sessions with global leaders.

Tata Sky’s Anurag highlighted that since their service involved actual physical interaction with the consumers as they have to send a technician to consumers’ houses for installation, they’ve invested in PPEs for the technicians to fully protect themselves and also their consumers.

In another instance, Sameer shared how 600 team members, animators, technicians are all collaborating from home to create new content for Discovery Kids. “Because we need to keep on engaging with our audience, every day we are trying and learning new things!” he said.

Media relations 3.0

With the lockdown, big glitzy media events and mega press conferences have become a thing of the past. The industry is slowly but surely waking up to newer ways of engaging with the media in such times. Vasundhara said, “Physical events are important, but work can’t come to a stop; in fact, in India, we’ve done much of our storytelling without events. For now, we are telling stories around our original podcasts through the protagonists and creators of the show, keeping our key journalists updated on how consumption is taking place on the platform, and always thinking through what makes a meaningful engagement for the media and of course, the reader.”

Interestingly, Tata Sky found a unique way to communicate the latest bouquet of free offerings, they created a shot-at-home TV commercial in three days!

Sameer added, “We launched our OTT platform Discovery Plus during the lockdown. From a PR perspective, we had planned a big press conference followed by press engagements in five cities across the country. Eventually, we had to scale back and did media interactions over video conferencing and phone calls. The resulting press coverage was better than what I could have received from an event. The learning here was that you really need to review everything on a day to day basis.”

Speaking about media outreach, Vasundhara also spoke about how it is imperative that we reach out to our connections in the media fraternity – not for coverage – but as friends. Everyone is living through difficult times, some people live alone away from families, some others might be facing difficulties due to pay cuts and job cuts which are happening across the media. In times like these, it is important to go beyond just having a transactional relationship with the media to cultivating a more meaningful one.

As Sameer pointed out earlier, it is time for us to be human and be empathetic!