How do we define The Pivotals?
The Pivotals is an integrated and 360-degree communication firm that specializes in public relations, brand building, media engagement, crisis communication PR, digital media marketing, social media marketing, and stakeholder engagement.
Founded in 2016 by Pranshu Sikka, a strategic communication consultant with almost 15 years of professional experience, The Pivotals has worked with clients across industries and delivered media mileage for each of them.
The 20-member team comprises PR specialists, content experts, digital marketers, former journalists, and communication consultants.
What’s in the name?
The agency name and tagline have both stemmed from an understanding that a 360-degree communication approach is pivotal to all businesses irrespective of industry and size.
What do we do?
The Pivotals is an integrated communication agency that offers services such as Public Relations, Digital Marketing, Crisis Communication, Social Media Marketing, and Brand Marketing amongst others.
The agency’s PR division helps businesses secure coverage with top-tier media, and drive increased awareness and credibility. The agency also advises businesses on content development and works closely with clients for their media planning needs, print and electronic advertising, and social media campaigns for lead generation on both PPC and CPM models.
In addition, The Pivotals offers services such as communication planning, media campaign creation, campaign measurement, and creative development. On the crisis management forefront, The Pivotals has settled some mission-critical issues for clients, by crafting unique solutions to address unique situations.
Why we do it?
We realized that most communication agencies work as an external unit to the client’s communication and marketing department. Hence there was a need to provide well researched and strategic inputs on communication requirements that align our agency to work with clients as strategic communication partners. This helps the agency to work as a natural extension of the client and devise solutions that address business requirements.
How has the role of PR changed with the digital ecosystem coming of age?
Just a few years ago, the role of a PR professional was limited to that of creating and disseminating a client’s message to the relevant audience. However, that has changed drastically, with some of the world’s leading PR professionals being appointed for Chief Marketing roles in some of the biggest multinational organizations in the world. It reflects a much larger change in how PR is done across agencies, and there are two reasons for this – the rise of integrated communication, and media monitoring and analytics.
With companies testing their ability to create a better experience by applying a more customer-centric approach, the world has seen a strong case for collaboration between digital marketing and Public Relations, creating a new niche – Digital PR. Today, it is really hard to say where marketing and PR begins – it’s all about integrated communication, and customers are everywhere.
Moreover, there is no way to find out how many people saw an ad in the newspaper, but with the sophisticated tools being used today, one can definitely find out how many ‘page views’ or ‘engagement’ a particular piece of the brand story received. And that pretty much sums up the evolution of PR in the last decade.
CSR in PR?
As an agency, it is now crucial to go beyond the conventional approaches to building relationships with stakeholders. That is because, with the increased consumption of media, consumers now demand more than just a value-for-money product or service; they expect companies to be morally and socially responsible in the pursuit of generating profits.
If the communication efforts involve grabbing attention surrounding an issue that people are hyper-aware of and then capitalizing on their concern, consumer outrage will most likely ruin the brand reputation. With the increasing significance of the overall well-being of society, consumers have started showing interest in engaging with companies who contribute to society in a positive way. This puts the onus of responsible communication on PR and marketing agencies as well.
Also read: Agency Feature: Pepper Interactive
The need of the hour
It is imperative to align the right communication pegs for the right audience whether it is through organic media outreach or structured marketing campaigns. Also, the digital audience is ever-evolving and there exists a lot of competition amongst brands. However, it is necessary to align communication to the audience and channel of communication to drive relevant engagements. An Honest approach is critical to the success of any communication program.
We learned the hard way
Every obstacle has been an opportunity to learn and evolve and we cannot wait for the next!
Did we just share that?
Client: How come competition is adding followers so quickly? You should have bought them too.
Agency: It must be “Bot”
Client: Yeah that’s why I am saying why can’t we buy them?
Agency: No no, they are not brought, they are using bot
Client: What’s wrong with your English
Agency: “Aaargghhhhh”
They work with us
OPPO, Lenovo, High Commission of Canada, Mavyn, Kaden Boris, Nani Palkhivala Arbitration Centre, Alibaba, Think Skills Consulting, Medecines Sans Frontiers, Compare Policy, Mesco Steel, JMATEK
The industry as we foresee
Quite in line with global trends, the Indian social media industry is growing at a rapid pace. Digital consumption of content is at an all-time high, with multiple brands vying for consumer attention, every waking second of their lives. And this trend is not just for a particular platform or kind of content, but for everything – right from news to music, audio, and video content.
Increasing internet penetration and mobile device proliferation has anyway led to more and more consumption of content on social media in India. It is also estimated that the digital market in India will become the second-largest within media and entertainment, behind TV, by 2022, which means more content creation and advertisement opportunities for brands on social media. This will also lead to the evolution of content to cater to a growing mass of niches in the country.
A day without the Internet
The significance of the Internet can never be overstated, especially in times of crisis such as COVID-19, when the survival of communities and economies depends on the Internet. From communication to conducting business, educating students across the world, seeking useful resources for survival, and lots more, everything would come to a screeching halt if there was no Internet for a day.
Lastly, are you hiring?
We are looking to hire after the COVID crisis is over.
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