Exploring Southeast Asia’s post-COVID Recovery for Communicators

In January, Amanda Lee, Director, Asia at Prospect moderated a panel discussion titled “Post-Pandemic: Recovery and Rebound – Exploring SEA’s post-COVID future and the implications for Communicators”. The virtual event was part of the PRCA SEA Global Communications Forum 2021 and was attended by 127 communications professionals throughout South East Asia.

Amanda was joined by a panel of experts comprising Sai Roshini Daswani, Director and Head of Business Development, Singapore, Sinclair, Marianne Admartadine, CEO, Hill+Knowlton Strategies Indonesia, and Teesta Raha, Senior PR & Content Manager, EMEA & APAC, SOJERN.

Moving into 2021, a year McKinsey has dubbed the year of transition, communication professionals can now reflect on how the industry has responded and adapted to the challenges of last year and start to look at the emerging trends and opportunities, particularly in Southeast Asia.

The discussion covered new trends and growth opportunities, best practices in using data and analytics, and the growing importance of internal communications and social media. Panellists also discussed how communicators must be flexible, adaptable and resilient, while staying motivated and empathetic to others.

Key takeaways included:

• PR professionals now need to work towards the business objective, not just the communications objective. Fundamental to that shift is a thorough understanding of the consumer journey based on data analytics.
• Companies that are well-positioned to thrive in the years ahead are those who have been able to integrate technology and e-commerce into their business models. Additionally, the increasing consumer demand for sustainability is likely to continue to drive business in the years ahead.
• Investment in social media and internal communications has increased in 2020, and looks set to continue. Additionally, there are signs of growth across content development, media trainings and website optimisation.
• Employee wellbeing and mental health issues remain big agenda items. The way employees are supported by an organisation is as diverse as the individuals themselves – there is no one size fits all approach. There have been examples from zoom happy hours to access to meditation experts.
• Training team members to be cross-functional is the need of the hour and will enable teams to be more productive and strategic.

The full webinar can be seen here:  PRCA SEA Global Communications Forum: 2021: The Year of…