The Public Relations Consultants Association of India (PRCAI) hosted the second edition of its thought-leadership forum – Prologue 2.0. The theme for this year’s edition was ‘Storytelling In The New World Order’. During the event, PRCAI revealed growth estimates for the industry, which it claims will reach 3500 crores by 2027, at an annual growth rate of 11%.
PRologue 2.0 invited corporate leaders including Shiv Shivakumar, Operating Partner at Advent International, and Partha Sinha, President, Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd to deliver remarks to over 250 communications and business professionals. The event was followed by the Sabre South Asia 2023 Awards, which celebrate creative and interesting work in the field of PR. While more than 50 awards were given to several campaigns, Radhika Gupta, MD & CEO, Edelweiss MF was awarded the top honour of CEO Of The Year at the SABRE South Asia 2023 Awards.
The conference covered new trends in changing consumer landscapes in the digital age, offering insights on how storytelling around authentic narratives, credible consumer experiences, and creativity in content leadership will be key to building strong business and corporate reputations.
“Weaving a powerful storyline remains the cornerstone of the communication industry. In the modern world, narratives can extend beyond the initial sale and can keep customers and stakeholders engaged for over the period. It has ushered the global PR industry in a new renaissance of innovation and growth,” said keynote speaker, Shiv Shivakumar.
Kunal Kishore, Vice President, PRCAI, said “Communication is playing a substantial role in driving business growth today and this partnership between companies and communications have meaningful conversations. In the new digital and data driven world, our role of consistent and persuasive storytelling is helping brands to shape their identity, reputation and values.”
At PRologue 2.0 stage, PRCAI demonstrated its commitment to raise the bar for industry talent by felicitating 50 young PR professionals from across the country, who won the prestigious Accreditation in Indian Public Relations (AIPR) certification, representing top achievers from Winter 2022 and Summer 2023 batches. AIPR acknowledges emerging practitioners who have showcased unparalleled proficiency and mastery in this domain.
Deeptie Sethi, CEO, PRCAI, said “The projected growth of the industry and increasing trust of C-Suite in our profession to positively impact businesses, needs a world-class workforce for today and tomorrow. We are progressively building a strong talent base to serve future businesses and the prestigious certification is a step in the right direction. We are proud of these winners and will continue to grow this pool of professionals.”
With the growing relevance of reputation management, the need for skilled professionals is poised to surge in the future for the Public Relations industry. PRCAI industry study, SPRINT Report 2022-23, revealed in order to meet the growing demand, sector will be adding about 8000 professionals by 2027, growing at CAGR of 11% which employed 12000 professionals in FY 2022 in the organised sector.
With higher levels of digital integration, PR firms will seek to hire candidates with expertise in social media, content creation and digital marketing in the near future. New specialised skills such as public policy, ESG crisis communications, and risk management will witness increased hiring of graduates and MBAs to bring new perspectives and areas of specialization.
