All About PR

The Eternal PR Triangle – Client, Agency and Media . This is a triangle that is often the point of almost all discussions in any PR meet up. We obsess, stress and are almost possessed with trying to bring a suitable balance to this triangle. An equilateral is preferred. Yet to manage this against a backdrop of an everchanging PR landscape is not an easy feat. Much like the elusive omega particle this is rare and requires almost near perfect conditions. And even If it is achieved, to stabilize it is another feat. Yet, we try. Everyday. Today we have with us Praveen Singh, Founder of StrategyVerse Consulting who will speak to us about this elusive triangle and help all three parties arrive at a common consensus of working together in a more cohesive manner and achieving the equilateral status. Praveen runs a successful communications agency that's helping clients connect with their target audience by keeping things strategic yet simple. Armed with 17-years of experience in journalism, corporate communications and public relations, he leverages his diverse experience to identify challenges in communications with a very unique lens. Hit play and know more about how you can find a balance and start creating one for the entire industry as well. Season 3 Episode 12

In PR we rely on effective communication at all ends of the spectrum to earn our bread and butter yet there are more than a few slips that happen along the way. Some we catch in time, others we really don’t. And it's fine because it's humanly impossible to be perfect all the time. Else we would all be robots. However, what if we had a list of communication mistakes to avoid. Would that not be a list you would want? In this episode of All About PR we speak to Neha Mishra who will talk to us about 5 Communication Mistakes to Avoid’ and help us  understand the nuances of effective communication and mistakes to avoid from a PR lens Neha Mishra brings an experience of more than a decade in the field of Corporate Communication & Marketing within FMCG & Hospitality industry. The turning point in her life came 5 years back when an entrepreneurial bug bit her (thanks to the company of young budding entrepreneurs she is surrounded with), she ventured into the field of Competency Development by coaching, mentoring & training organizations and individuals under her brand Neha Talks & Epinomi Consulting.  Later on, she also created an open stage platform called as "The Mic Talks" where people can express themselves openly and improve their self-confidence & communication capabilities.  Neha strongly believes that only when you see value in yourself is when you can command the respect you deserve. As a woman, she is proud of the softer & emotional nuances that she brings to the table. Hit play and know more about how the finer nuances of effective communication.

While we have all spoken endlessly about the growth of digital and new mediums, have you noticed how legacy media has innovated in this space? Some wonderful innovations that merge their decades of experience and clarity of news. In this episode of All About PR, we speak to leaders from the sector who will gaze with us into the crystal ball and share with us what the future holds for legacy media along with the innovations that have caught the audience's attention. Radhika Bhirani and Anil Thomas join us for a candid conversation on how legacy media is riding this wave.  Radhika Bhirani is currently the Head of Content at HealthShots, a digital health and wellness platform for women, powered by Hindustan Times. With an experience of 14 years in the media world, she began her journey with news agency Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) where she grew on to lead the Cinema and Lifestyle vertical. Her credentials also include a stint with HT City, after which she turned to freelancing for magazines and international news agencies. Her step into the world of health and digital is a new challenge up her sleeve. Anil Thomas is currently working as a Senior Anchor cum Correspondent at DD NEWS. He has worked with a wide variety of news channels in his 21 years of TV journalism experience.  He specializes in sports, politics, and economy and has covered  5 Cricket World Cups,  5 Olympics and 5 Asian Games as he traveled across the globe to cover sports live for the national broadcaster. His experience as a core team member of two national TV channel launch teams has given him insight into the business from the inside out.  Hit play and keep abreast with the changes in legacy media.  Season 3 Episode 10

Communication is counted as one of the key skills across all good leaders. In this episode of All About PR we have with us Author G S Rattan who has published his first book - 10 Steps to the Boardroom after spending several decades in the corporate world who will talk to us about why PR & communication are key elements in one's rise to the top.  An experienced leader with vast experience in steering techno-commercial functions in world-class engineering companies, G.S. Rattan continued to teach after retirement. The Punjab Engineering College (Chandigarh) graduate is now on a sabbatical as he pens down his first book and starts a new journey at the age of seventy-two with renewed enthusiasm. It is Day 1 again. With an overall experience of fifty years, he earned the moniker of 'creative strategist' from his peers. As a longstanding member of the Tata Family, he had the opportunity to work and learn from industry leaders, like Dr J.J. Irani and Mr B. Muthuraman, who inspired him to be more, achieve more and do more. During his thirty-one-year tenure with the Tata Family, the departments under his care won several awards and appreciation of all seniors. A company man through and through, he rose through the ranks to head the company with the unanimous support of his colleagues and seniors. Hit play and know more about his journey to the top and how his communication skills and PR played a key role in it.  Season 3 Episode 9

Transitioning Mediums is not an easy feat. Whether it is from digital to print to digital or PR to journalism and vice versa. Each medium brings with it its own set of challenges and opportunities. In this episode of All About PR, Priyanka Nair, Assistant Editor, Storyboard, Network18 joins us to talk about these transitioning mediums and their rapid evolution along with how and when you should traverse through each. She brings the conversation alive with her own experiences across each medium and profession.  Priyanka has over a decade of experience in the media industry. She spent over 7 years with the Economic Times’ Brand Equity, India’s oldest publication for the adland and marketing community where she was a part of the founding editorial team that developed the digital extension for the product. Three years ago, she moved to the print side of the business and was the lead writer for the supplement. She is currently with Network18 Group and joins them as an Assistant Editor, for Storyboard, where she will be setting up a new age news platform in the A&M space. Hit play and know more about her journey across various media as she helps you understand the nuances of each medium from a PR lens. Season 3 Episode 8

T.H.E Conversation to have! This was and is always a bone of contention between clients and agencies. Several discussions, seminars, and conferences later we are yet to arrive at a common ROI evaluation method that a majority of the industry agrees upon. We all agree that AVE is not the way. But then what is? With the rapid evolution that took place since 2020, PR has taken on more job roles leading to a pressing requirement for a more comprehensive method of evaluation of work put in by PR & Corporate Communication team. In this podcast, we speak to Siddhartha Mukherjee who speaks to us about ' PR Measurement' and how you can start creating your own evaluation method that works for you.  Siddhartha brings 23 years of holistic work experience within the Brand Communications industry. During this tenure, he wore three ‘Thinking Hats’ as the Business Head of India’s Neutral & Holistic Brand Measurement & Analytics service within a global research behemoth, a Corporate Communications Head and a Communication Consultancy Professional. All three experiences have prepared him for his current role as founder of Brand Balance - India’s first & neutral Brand Reputation ERP Management Consultancy for the C-suite where he helps clients balance their communication Efforts, Resources & Processes (ERP) to optimize brand scores.   Hit play and know more about how you can start educating your team and clients on how to evaluate and measure PR impact. Season 3 Episode 7

Why did your story not get picked up and how did competition win the journalist's trust? A key question every PR professional is asked almost every week. Today we delve into the nuances of how to create a compelling story and the media selection process with an industry veteran.   In this episode, we speak to Sangeetha Chengappa, Senior Deputy Editor - Hindu BusinessLine on ‘Getting to the Story’.  Sangeetha has worked with the Deccan Chronicle, Deccan Herald and the New Indian Express and Express Computers in Bangalore as a Business Journalist in the past. She was also worked with JWT in Advertising in client servicing, NIIT in business development and with the Taj Westend Hotel in Sales. With over 17 years of experience in Business Journalism and 10 years of industry experience in Sales & Advertising roles she brings a wealth of experience to the field. Within 2.5 years of entering journalism, she won the Polestar Award in 2007 for her stories published in 2006. She has reported extensively on IT/BPO, E-commerce, Retail, Hospitality, among others. Her personal interests include cooking, fitness, traveling, music and spirituality. She lives in Bangalore with her husband and has two daughters. Hit play and know more how you can create a compelling narrative for the media on your brand. Season 3 Episode 6

The PR industry has a place for everyone with different talent sets. We do consider ourselves culturally diverse and inclusive. Yet, can there be more? The PR industry has been abuzz with chatter about diversity and inclusion. Did it already exist or was that all in our minds? If, yes then what has been the progression and how is it faring now? How will it help make the industry a better place? In this episode, we speak to Preeti Binoy - Head Corporate Communications & Government Affairs - Kimberly-Clark India who is also an Inclusion & Diversity Executive Council Member, on the subject. With over 21 years of experience across PR, issues/crisis management, and advertising, Preeti has worked with large corporate enterprises and consumer brands helping them devise integrated communications strategies with a special focus on senior media relations and crisis communications counsel. In her current role, she partners with the company’s senior leadership team and works towards enhancing the company’s reputation, implementing its social impact and sustainability agenda, partnering with statutory bodies, and driving employee engagement through internal and executive communications. Passionate about creating a more balanced world, Preeti embeds diversity & inclusion in everything she does for breakthroughs that serve the healthcare needs of people around the world. Hit play and know more how you can start making your workplace more inclusive and diverse. Season 3 Episode 5

In Season 3 we are introducing a special segment ' Media Shots' where we will invite strong and grounded voices from the media community to join us for a frank conversation on communication. In this special episode of All About PR we have with us Harshada Sawant, Senior Editor, CNBC Awaaz who will speak to us about what makes a PR pitch ... perfect for her !  Harshada comes with over two decades in journalism and is the winner of the prestigious Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism for Business & Economics for her special series on innovators in India. A seasoned journalist, she has covered various beats that include Corporate India, Stock Markets, Startups, and Policy action. In her current position, she tracks large corporates and equity markets to Start-ups and the Indian Venture Capital Industry. The master storyteller's vast experience and in-depth research helps her give a perspective to audiences not only on the known listed conglomerates but also the next dream runners and Unicorns in the Startup Ecosystem. Today she speaks to us about the finer nuances of the media - PR association along with her experience with the field.  Hit play and know more about how to perfect that pitch! Season 3 - Episode 4

Even though women form the majority of the workforce in communication, why is it that we see so few of them in the leadership positions? Why do the ranks thin out? What is holding them back? In this episode, we speak to Mou Chakravorty, Communication Specialist, Deloitte, and a passionate member of WICCI Public Relations & Digital Marketing Council of India on the recent findings of their industry survey. The council has unveiled the first edition of their I-LEAD survey in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode that threw a spotlight on the challenges women face while traversing the leadership ladder in the communication industry. It brought to the forefront some facts that were alarming, some that caught them by surprise, and still others that every woman in the industry already knew but never really had the courage or sometimes the time to confirm.   Mou is a passionate communicator keen to device winning communication strategies that help generate measurable business outcomes for brands. With over 15 years in developing business-focused content and communications, she is an adept professional with the knack of creating compelling creative campaigns with a 360-degree business overview consisting of stakeholder engagement, Digital strategies, and thought leadership.   Currently, with Deloitte, Mou consults senior leadership on the firm’s brand strategies, brand protection, and thought leadership in the marketplace focusing on multiple sectors including Consumer led portfolios and business segments. Hit play and know more about the challenges and what you and I can do as an individual and as an agency and as a corporate to level the playing field and bring more rich talent to the table.  Season 3 - Episode 3

In Season 3 we are introducing a special segment ' Media Shots' where we will invite strong and grounded voices from the media community to join us for a frank conversation on communication. In this special episode of All About PR we have with us Ruth Esther Dsouza who will talk to us about her 10 commandments that you need to understand to create and maintain a seamless working relationship with the media community.   Trust me this one you can hear again and again till you have all of them down to a pat. Ruth is a media professional with 19 years of experience. She began her career with TV as an executive producer and moved to journalism as a features writer. She went independent 13 years ago. Her work has been published in Natgeo Traveller, Travel and Leisure, The Hindu, Firstpost, Al Jazeera, Quint, Huffington Post, Architectural Digest, Reader's Digest, Lifestyle Asia and Smartlife among others. Her niches are food and beverage, architecture and interiors, culture and lifestyle. She is on the jury panels for prestigious F&B Awards such as the Epicurean Guild Awards by Living Foodz Channel, Condenast Restaurant Awards, BW Hotelier Awards and The Week Restaurant Awards. Ruth is also a Google certified fake news detection trainer and conducts workshops on food writing and feature writing. Hit play and know more about the 10 commandments you need to ace !   

As the brand world, this year pushes 'sustainability' as the key buzzword ( along with 'empathy'), is the larger PR world equipped to craft this conversation beyond the special days set aside to celebrate it and push topical posts? In this episode of the podcast, we speak to Jyotsna Bhatnagar, Private Sector Partnerships Officer, UN World Food Programme India on how the communication industry can raise the game and push forward the entire discussion by starting a nuanced conversation with the brand, media and the world at large.  Jyotsna Bhatnagar heads the private sector partnerships function at the UN World Food Programme in India. A social practitioner with nearly three decades of work experience, Jyotsna has led the Corporate Social Responsibility portfolios for several large multinational companies in India. Over her 28 years of work experience, Jyotsna has made significant contributions to social responsibility strategies and programme portfolios across a range of industries and the services sector. Each industry has contributed to her rich and vibrant learning experience. Jyotsna has been an active member of expert groups for various Indian CSR road map development forums including those of the Government of India’s Ministry of Corporate Affairs. She is also a board member of the NGO, Partners in Change. A Human Resources management postgraduate further enhanced with the World Bank Executive Program on ‘Inclusive and Sustainable Business’, Jyotsna has worked in varied environments in India, the US and UK. Hit play and know more about how you can start the sustainability conversation with your brand and the skills you need to excel at it!  This episode is by a special arrangement with PRPOI - A space dedicated to upskilling for PR & Communication professionals.  Season 3 - Episode 1   

In this episode, we talk to the team of PR Rockstars from Nucleus PR and trace the journey of PR, innovation, evolution to its current form along with how its interaction and perception has changed in the brand ecosystem. Chaittali Dave, Ishita Shah, Akhila R, Khushboo Alag, Vinod Reddy and Michelle Khiangte join us on this podcast to share their perspective on different aspects of the industry.  Hit play and know more from a team that is living the change in the Indian PR Industry.  Season 2 - Episode 12

Women in PR is a fascinating subject because there are so many conflicting forces that exist to challenge their career growth and yet PR continues to attract many women to the industry. On today’s podcast we deal with the challenge’s women in PR face at one of the most delicate phases that has the highest attrition - the mid-management level. Nandita Lakshmanan, Founder & CEO , The PRactice joins us today to share her experience and how we can address this on an individual level, in the workplace and society at large. Nandita is a familiar and well-respected name in the PR leadership and PR entrepreneurship circles. Her views on public relations, based on 25+ years of experience, has helped shape the vision of her Firm and influenced the direction it takes to stay relevant in today’s market realities.  While she leads her firm from strength to strength collecting many awards along the way, she enjoys spending time with women who wish to return to the workforce either through resuming a career or becoming entrepreneurs. And I believe is also the perfect person for the subject we are discussing today on this podcast.  Hit play and know more about how you can overcome the challenges at the mid-level management. This episode is by a special arrangement with PRPOI - A space dedicated to upskilling for PR & Communication professionals! Season 2 - Episode 11

If you as a PR professional always viewed a digital agency working with your brands as a competitor or frenemy then this is your chance to understand more about digital on this episode of All About PR. This learning will help you explore a more collaborative way of working together. And really this works when you have a firm understanding of both worlds. Today on the podcast Rajni Daswani – Director Brand Experience & Employee Engagement - SoCheers takes us to the other side. She joins us to help us understand how we can work together, trace similarities between both fields and how to make that switch …just like she did ! Rajni is a multitasker and a quick learner. After different stints in various industries, she joined the leadership team of SoCheers in 2014 and quickly rose through the ranks and became a part of the core team. With 14+ years of experience in the industry, she combines her PR skills and digital insight to create meaningful brand experiences at So Cheers. Today, she oversees the client servicing on all accounts and is the troubleshooter for all her teams. She wears multiple hats and works across teams and verticals. As she does this she keeps an eye out for loopholes and challenges that need to be addressed to make work-life and output better. Rajni oversees 100+ professionals at SoCheers who look up to her for guidance. Under her leadership, the team has won several awards for their work. In just the last year, campaigns under her guidance have won more than 30 awards across categories not counting the multiple awards that she has won herself on an individual level. Hit play and know more about how you can make the switch. This episode is by a special arrangement with PRPOI - A space dedicated to upskilling for PR & Communication professionals! Season 2 - Episode 10

Good books on the Indian PR industry are hard to find. But we have a great find for you! Today we speak to Gayatri Rath and Paarul Chand the co-authors of A Question of Trust. A very well-written book that answers why communication has become one of the core functions of an organization and how a CEO can use it to their company’s best advantage.  Both the authors bring over fifty years of combined experience in corporate communications and the media industry to this essential and timely handbook on communication for the CEO. It not only emphasizes why corporate communication is an integral part of any organization but also how it can be marshaled for trust-building and growing brand value, even in times of unprecedented crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Packed with data and valuable insights from global corporate communications leaders, this is a book you must read if you are a business leader looking to consolidate your brand and cultivate trust. And if you are a PR professional who is working with a business leader as well.  Hit play and know more about why a strong communication strategy is essential for the CEO of today.  Season 2 - Episode 9

Remember those years when PR and Startup was a new romance that had all eyes on them. As the market was just maturing along came the plot twist: 2020. This tested the resolve, confidence and reputation of start-ups and the PR teams in every way. As they raced to keep up with the several twists and turns of the storyline and just as they pivoted… the rules changed. How have they changed and what works and what doesn’t anymore? Especially in India! We take a deep dive into StartUp PR a veteran of the vertical – Kunal Kishore, Founder, Value360 Communications in this episode of All About PR.  Kunal is a self-motivated leader and drives the organization towards excellence. He started his entrepreneurial innings with his PR venture in 2007 and has led PR campaigns for many international brands for over a decade in the industry. Proactive in championing concepts like digitization, artificial intelligence, robotics, and more Kunal envisages transforming the communication industry and bringing in a revolution in terms of the way it operates. His work on some of the Indian Unicorns since the day of their inception speaks volumes about his determination to create stories that are most heard and remembered.  Hit play and know more about how Start-Up PR functions in India. This episode is by a special arrangement with PRPOI - A space dedicated to upskilling for PR & Communication professionals! Season 2 - Episode 8

Political PR is not a field that we are new to in India, but it is only in the last couple of years that this vertical has gotten the recognition it deserves and has been elevated into the core group of coveted verticals. This vertical has evolved differently across the globe and we can look towards these countries to seek inspiration on how we would like to mold it in our country. We must also look closer and understand how the elevation of this vertical came about to be able to create a new benchmark in it. Li-or Avnon, Deputy CEO & Strategic Communications Consultant, Together - Strategy ( Tel Aviv, Israel ) joins us today on the podcast to share with us how Political PR works in her country along with challenges and best practices that we can learn from. Li-or has had a very interesting career graph. She started her media advisor career in 2006 as an Air Force spokeswoman, a position she completed with the rank of Captain. Her expertise as a military-defense, political and commercial spokeswoman, alongside management of political campaigns, give her a thorough understanding of the systems of government and regulation, and an in-depth familiarity with the worlds of media and spokesmanship. She brings with her vast experience and hundreds of test cases of media scenarios and crises in Political PR. She holds a degree in Political Science with a major in international relations from the Open University, and an M.A in Legal Studies from Bar Ilan University. She is also currently a member of the prestigious PR Boutiques International network. Hit play and know more about how Political PR in Israel. This episode is by a special arrangement with PRPOI - A space dedicated to upskilling for PR & Communication professionals! Season 2 - Episode 7

While 2020 was a rough year for PR, the turmoil was felt most in the StartUp World and the PR vertical that services it. Reputations can make or break a start-up and dealing with the pandemic has not been an easy feat for most. PR teams handling startups have had to be quick to pivot with the fast-paced changes in the businesses while keeping pace with the fast-changing media landscape. So that brings about an interesting question on the startup PR rulebook? How has this changed? How have agencies pivoted to keep up with this change?  Jeremy Foo, Founder and CEO, Elliot & Co, Singapore joins us for this podcast to share his insights on the vertical. He was a part of the PRPOI panel on startups and gave an interesting perspective from the PR industry in Singapore – a city that is often the go-to destination for startups from India when they want the international label. In this podcast, we delve deeper into how Start-Up PR has evolved and pivoted over the last decade in Singapore.  Jeremy has been in the PR industry for more than 10 years and has worked across a spectrum of campaigns and a lot of award-winning ones in sectors spanning real estate, FMCG, healthcare, luxury, IT ,hospitality and startup. Under his leadership, his firm is now one of Singapore's fastest-growing PR agencies. His real passion lies with SMEs. Through Elliot & Co., he has served more than 500 SMEs and startups in the past 4 years. Having educated close to 1,000 SMEs on the power of public relations and with an intimate knowledge of the gaps in the SME market with regard to PR, Jeremy is leading the charge to allow brands of all sizes to attain their own cover story. Hit play and know more about how Start-Up PR functions in Singapore. This episode is by a special arrangement with PRPOI - A space dedicated to upskilling for PR & Communication professionals! Season 2 - Episode 6

In the role of a communicator after a certain level, you have to define your own growth and while doing that maybe have a shot at creating a completely new designation or role in the industry for yourself. While some may lament the lack of a linear progression for growth that should be provided by an organization, others might find it exciting to be in a field that lets you do that for yourself. You actually have a chance to write your own role and chart a completely new course in the field. Today we speak to an accomplished professional who has done just that. In this podcast we host Bianca Ghose , Chief Storyteller and Head of CEO Communications  at Wipro and the Co-Chair - Asia-Pacific Association of Communication Directors' India Chapter Bianca is a media, brand strategy, and marketing communications leader. She has had a longstanding career in news, digital communications, creative storytelling and marketing. At Wipro she leads communications and messaging for Wipro's CEO, and also leads storytelling at an enterprise level. Additionally, Bianca also serves on Wipro's Diversity Council, and runs inclusion programs that help increase diversity, and advance opportunity parity. Prior to Wipro, Bianca has held various marketing and communications portfolios with HCL Technologies and has also done a successful stint at a PR agency. Before this she was a business news journalist for a decade, reporting and anchoring news for NDTV Television, CNBC and Reuters. Well awarded and well respected for her work across various fields this is a conversation you must listen in on. Hit play and know more about how to craft a global career for yourself. This episode is by a special arrangement with PRPOI - A space dedicated to upskilling for PR & Communication professionals! Season 2 - Episode 5