The students of the School of Communications and Reputation (SCoRe) had a special session with Deepshikha Dharmaraj, CEO, Genesis BCW. She has been with Genesis BCW for the past 27 years. She joined as a Trainee and climbed the success ladder to become the CEO of the very same consultancy. In her Masterclass with Class of 2020 she shared some learning for communications professionals

Her rich and diverse work experience has given her immense learning and exposure. She shared four learning for communications professionals that has helped her in in career 

1. Be Open to Change and Adapt to Change – Talk to experts about your apprehensions and doubts. Find out more about various things. The more you dig deep, the more you learn.
2. Learn – Deep dive into learning. Absorb as much as you can. Learning can happen in many ways. It can happen in different ways for different people. Through reading, research, experience, etc. Figure out what works for you. In every life experience, reflect on what you have learned, what can you do differently?
3. Being Focused on Self Awareness – Only if you have a high level of self-awareness will you be empathetic. Self-awareness is to know – am I being too self-focused? Am I listening to others? Can I put myself in their shoes and know what’s happening to them?
4. Take Accountability – If you’re doing a job be mindful of what you’re doing? Don’t wait for others to tell you what to do.

She shared that 5 years is the average tenure for client relationships. It shows that your client values you with your domain expertise, advice, and trusts you. She advised that one should not be a PR professional who comes last on the client’s list during the crisis.

With changing times and the Pandemic, there have been many changes in the way PR consultancies will function. According to her some of the areas that will change and gain momentum is the following:

1. Content – Today one cannot just think about written format. One has to think of different ways of doing it. Digital has become huge today. Infographic and visual content have gained popularity.
2. Measurement and Regularity – Measuring impact and reach of campaigns. Lead generation and its impact on business have become important today.
3. Data Analytics – Keep a tab on all trends. You have to pick up a trend while it’s still new, identify and write about it. With the pandemic many experts have suggested that business will only survive when we adopt the technology. “At Genesis we started work from home (WFH) long back. So when the pandemic struck we were aware and prepared to WFH. It wasn’t a challenge as everyone knew what to do.” Investing in the right technology is very critical in Public Relations.

She shared some of the award-winning work Genesis BCW has been doing and how they use insights to build campaigns. Example: 2018 GSK Consumer Healthcare – Horlicks Emotional Nutrition in Kota, Rajasthan. The campaign was developed on the insight that during exams students receive good physical nutrition from their mothers. They are fed good food however they do not receive adequate emotional nutrition. They launched two impactful digital films – a motivating exam anthem sung by kids to implore mothers and fearless Kota initiative with a message of #NoFearNewYear. They also created an emotionally charged film called ‘Fearless Kota.’ The videos received 20 million views across platforms and 150 million impressions across digital channels. Leading mainlines and A&M media did large format stories on the campaign highlighting the campaign’s message.

During our Q&A session with her, she was asked about what are some of the positive outcomes/ learning for communications professionals post this pandemic? She said,

    1. We will move from written content to different content that’s more effective like digital.

Opportunity to Learn – the pandemic has given rise to many webinars where experts have spoken about crisis communication. Never before had we learned so much about it in detail. 

Employees Communication – This was left to HR or Internal Comms. Today teams of Employee Comms and PR work together.

Government – Understanding and working with regulators and applying it to your business. It’s an opportunity to get rid of things that don’t work. I look forward to learning new ways to do work. Adopt and adapt to change.”

2. How can brands fully prove themselves and be purpose-driven? She said, “Brands have to hunker down and think how to make an impact. In this pandemic brand loyalty has disappeared, people grab whatever is available. Brands need to think about what is the emotional fulfillment that we are giving our customers?

The session concluded with her advice to us when we start working. She said we should be active listeners, ask questions for better understanding. Be adaptive and open to change.

– Nafisa Jalal

Related article – Learning from Masterclass with Anand Subramanian

Nafisa Jalal is a part of the Class of 2020 of PG Programme in PR and Corporate Communications at SCoRe, Mumbai. She completed her winter internship with Ketchum Sampark, Mumbai.

She completed her graduation in Psychology and Sociology majors from Sophia College, Mumbai University. Then started her career with Human Resources in a generalist profile for 6.5 years. She wanted to venture in an industry that lets her work on business closely, provides an opportunity to learn and meet new people and at the same time is also dynamic. PR is one such industry. She has good command over her communication skills and she enjoys writing, few traits that a PR professional must possess.

She can be reached on Twitter as @NafisaJalal and on LinkedIn as Nafisa Jalal