Page 60 - PR Communication Age January-June2020

Here are two practical examples of using real-time data to those conversations early enough, you can create incredible
react and pivot to media trends. earned media exposure as the volume of those stories grows.

The first example is similar to how equity traders monitor The second example of using real-time media insights to
portfolios of stocks in real time in an effort to detect the adapt is to closely monitor the ways your competition is be-
slightest change in the wind, and upon noticing certain ticker ing mentioned in the news and optimizing your own com-
symbols rising (or falling) at a faster rate than their cohort, munication strategy accordingly. If, for example, there is an
they rebalance their investments to take advantage of these early signal that a competitor is gaining traction around a
shifts. Specifically, if they see a certain stock accelerating, specific conversation in the news and your brand has some-
they may try to increase their weight in that stock early thing equally or more compelling to add to that conversa-
enough to get ahead of the big climb-up and capture some tion, you can act quickly to insert your story into the media
gains. that is most relevant, thus hijacking the story and drowning
out the competition. Conversely, if you quickly detect that a
The analogy to communications is in the way that certain competitive tactic is backfiring based on negative sentiment,
themes, stories and soundbites rise and fall in media popu- then you can incorporate this learning into your own efforts
larity. Monitor those trends by tracking the number of men- by avoiding a similar tactic.
tions each sound bite gets in the media every day. How many
articles are certain keywords appearing in, and is the volume In this current state of crisis-induced uncertainty, we are likely
of those keyword mentions increasing dramatically? to see a lot of opportunities if we just look for them. That is
why this information is so important right now. And while
It's tough to predict the future, but if you plot these trends further pull-backs in general marketing and advertising ex-
on a graph over time you may be able to get ahead of the penditures are to be expected, there are very few crisis situ-
curve and establish early ownership of a key idea in the news ations where less communication is better. It is almost al-
by pitching the publications and journalists who are just be- ways the case that more communication, and more well-in-
ginning to cover the topic. If you can insert your brand into formed communication, is the best strategy. T

PM inaugurates Chennai-Port Blair submarine optical fibre

internet link

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated the 2,313-km long Chennai-Port Blair submarine optical fibre
internet connectivity project, built at a cost of Rs 1,224 crore. The project, funded by Universal Service Obligation
Fund (USOF), was started late in 2018, and aimed to connect seven island in the Andaman group, apart from the
capital Port Blair, with high speed broadband.
“Internet connectivity service has already been started in major chunk of the seven Andaman & Nicobar island. Mo-
bile and fast internet connectivity, for which India is world famous, will now also be available to these islands,” Modi
said while inaugurating the project. The seven islands, apart from capital Port Blair, which will be connected are Swaraj
Dweep (formerly Havlock Island), Long island, Rangat, Little Andaman, Kamorta, Car Nicobar and Greater Nicobar.

To further improve the connectivity of the islands to the mainland, other projects such as increasing the capacity of
Port Blair airport, apart from process of making new airports at Car Nicobar, Campbell Bay and Diglipur was also
underway, Modi said while inaugurating the project.

While the capital Port Blair will be able to get speeds of up to 400 gigabytes per second (GBPS), the other seven island
being connected will get speeds of up to 200 GBPS, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said. The project was ex-
ecuted by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).

Apart from this, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is also working on connecting the villages in border
areas of the country, Prasad said, adding that a tender worth Rs 337 crore had already been awarded for the work.

60 PR COMMUNICATION AGE January - June 2020