Conscious capitalism re-inventing PR
Last Friday, I was counseling a friend who is planning to start his venture soon. My question — — ‘What is the purpose behind your start-up’ left him flabbergasted for all the right reasons. After a brief pause, he iterated that business is about money and profit is all that matters.
That particular conversation brought back past flashes of new business development pitches where the brand either has not worked with a PR agency earlier or has not updated the definition of ‘Public Relations’ in its dictionary. Many businesses fail to understand that crafting a purpose and encapsulating it in the overall communications strategy where PR plays a significant role opens doors of transformation in the long term.
Gone are the days when the term ‘Media Relation’ was synonymous with ‘Public Relation.’ A few relationship-building meetings coupled with a follow-up announcement could get people the tag ‘PR Experts.’ Undoubtedly, the PR industry is undergoing transformational change catapulting the agencies to revamp their offerings.
A closer introspection from the perspective of brands also reflects a definite mindset shift. The communications industry has charted undiscovered strategy terrains from searching answers in the marketing books to relying on PR strategy in times of crisis. It is no surprise that the PR experts counsel some of the top business leaders internationally in defining their organization’s purpose, stakeholder engagement, and crisis management. Moreover, a mindset shift is evident from the gigantic switch in the capitalist theories with an increased acceptance of ‘conscious capitalism.’ Even investors want to associate with organizations driving purpose, especially for their sake.
The Coronavirus pandemic elucidated critical ethos, clarified dilemmas, and suggested a robust outlook for a more sustainable capitalist society that works for everyone. To sustain this new era, every company needs to be a technology and a media company. This media element is not just media relations but an amalgamation of strategy that flows multi-channel, i.e., earned media, owned assets, and industry forums. The massive digital campaigns, virtual events, and new formats like podcasts encompass an element of PR strategy. Modern-day public relation is not just limited to getting media coverage; hence many experts now refer to it as reputation management and strategic communications.
When Tesla dissolved its PR wing, many might have thought that the PR game was over. Well, the company embraced the renewed PR model to maximize engagement.
Electrek wrote:
Gina Antonini, a senior manager on Tesla’s comms team for three years, saw her role changed to director of external relations and employee experience at Tesla in February.
In February, Tesla communications manager Alexander Ingram moved to a role as the content lead for Design Studio at Tesla.
With the consolidation of the media industry, an organization’s opportunity to be part of the limelight consistently is shrinking. Leading brands have understood that an idea, even with a spin, may not work in the absence of a newsworthy component. In this scenario, a well-crafted customized strategy with content as its foundation can do wonders for brands. Many people get confused between conscious capitalism and CSR; however, they are not the same. While CSR views social responsibility as a trade-off between profit and social good, Conscious capitalism embeds the idea of doing social good as the business foundation.
“The only way we will solve the problems that we face is if we can find a way to balance the power of the market with the power of inclusive institutions, and purpose-driven businesses committed to the health of the society could play an important role in making this happen.”
― Rebecca Henderson, Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire
Digital movements towards shared prosperity are increasingly influencing corporates, media houses, agencies, investors, and Governments to focus on a higher purpose and create a win-win situation for everyone. As we witness the economy’s fundamental transformation, the risks to global peace, stability, and substance are multi-faced. In this context, ‘Conscious Capitalism’ leads to PR’s re-invention into reputation management underpinned by a robust, effective, and transparent communications process at various levels in the ecosystem to ensure a balance of power. In the last couple of years, criticism has heightened for Capitalism as it has allowed monopolies in the market. Before we enter into a widely accepted alternate system like Cryptocurrencies, businesses will have to remain true to their purpose to give people hope of a better future instead of despair.
“One day, virtually every business will operate with a sense of higher purpose, integrate the interests of all stakeholders, develop and elevate conscious leaders, and build a culture of trust, accountability, and caring.”
John E. Mackey, Conscious Capitalism, With a New Preface by the Authors: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business
Reputation management experts can guide organizations to enact their higher purpose through content messaging architecture that keeps purpose at the front and center of storytelling and engagement with the stakeholders. In a connected ecosystem where everyone is fighting a battle of perception, the ultimate goal should be creating shared value. And a genuine reputation manager can play a catalytic role in cutting noise from the voice and educating the leaders to do ‘The Right thing.’
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