The Changing Face of PR: What it means to be an agency now and for the future
Public relations plays a crucial role in cultivating and maintaining positive brand reputation and credibility, yet throughout time there has been confusion on what public relations actually entails. And in this modern day of public relations, the line between “publicist” and “marketer” has been blurred and we’re navigating new roles and expectations as PR specialists.
A hallmark of PR is that it is always dynamic and changing and this past year has been no exception. A global pandemic forced us to cancel in-person events and meetings; instead, we had to pivot and innovate to new ways of connecting. We collectively took up more digital space than ever before, utilizing new platforms like Twitch and Clubhouse to share our insights and scheduling media desksides and events through Zoom. Our professional and personal lives moved online… and we weren’t alone. Most people shared — and continue to share — our new reality of home offices and spending another night in.
With people spending more time than ever online, we have understandably become a culture of shorter attention spans, screen fatigue and yearning for human connection. These are the audiences that we, as PR professionals, are trying to reach. It’s been challenging to cut through the elevated internet noise and convince people who are just so over this pandemic to pay attention to our clients.
In addition, with the pandemic accelerating an already shrinking media landscape in Canada, press coverage is harder to secure today, making it all the more coveted and valuable. Fewer media outlets and writers and more paid partnerships mean organic coverage takes patience and skilled specialists to drive out headline-worthy story angles.
However, the show must go on. There are amazing products to launch and worthwhile stories to tell, and it’s our job to find compelling ways to do so.
At Nine Point, we embrace the changing face of PR and see it as an opportunity to flex our creativity. We have used the challenges of the pandemic to push our boundaries and rethink what’s expected. We thrive on collaboration, and despite it being a difficult time for many, we’ve built strength through an integrated marketing approach to engage audiences through different avenues where they live and play – both online and off.
It takes a curated combination of tactics, customized to each campaign, to reach today’s goals of connecting a brand with consumers. From viral digital campaigns and targeted media pitching to full brand development, creative direction and brand partnerships, our team of specialists are the best in the business to bring our projects to life.
The PR industry will continue to shapeshift. Here at Nine Point, we welcome the ride — after all, we’re driven by progress. By using real-world challenges to inform and shape our practice, we become more skilled, thoughtful and in tune with what will really move the needle for our clients and for our industry. As the spaces where we used to play become smaller, we create bigger arenas and creative campaigns to grab attention. This is the changing face of PR, and we welcome the challenge.
‘Get in SYNC’ - a case study on a modern-day PR approach
For our recent campaign to launch SYNC Wellness’ sublingual cannabis tabs product, we used our forward-thinking, integrated approach to showcase the complementary relationship between cannabis and traditional wellness. Our goal was to bring people together in a meaningful way at a time when mental health and wellbeing had become an increasing priority.
Strategic partnerships play an essential role in reaching new audiences and establishing a new brand in an impactful way. To really ‘Get in SYNC’ across the country, we partnered with Hoame, a modern meditation studio based in Toronto, and brought on Vancouver-based wellness advocate and yoga instructor, Shayla Stonechild, to host virtual wellness workshops. And we collaborated with top wellness and lifestyle influencers across the country, like Ania B and Eva Redpath, to help us promote it all.
The ‘Get in SYNC’ workshops guided media, influencers and consumers through short wellness activities to align their minds and bodies. A subtle play on the cannabis industry’s day of 4/20, the workshop showcased four activities (meditation, movement, sound and journaling) that took 20 minutes to complete — the same amount of time required for the SYNC tabs to take effect. The workshop was successful in showing that by incorporating simple wellness activities, it doesn’t take long to “Get in SYNC.”
We levelled up the event experience by sending all of our media and influencer guests a luxe wellness kit with everything they needed to participate in the workshop, including Apple Airpods, a meditation blanket and pillow, a STIL wellness journal and more. We also created a downloadable “Get in Sync” Instagram filter and a custom-curated playlist by local Vancouver artists to set the vibe and mood.
By creating a strong storyline that could be woven through a variety of tactics, including virtual events, media relations, influencer engagement, paid partnerships, contest giveaways and digital marketing, we successfully engaged with Canadian consumers in a distinct and memorable way, receiving over 250 event registrations, countless social media posts by Canada’s top influencers and press coverage in Leafly, SiriusXM and Trend Hunter.
