The best digital PR companies and professionals for 2021 were revealed from the first edition of the Davos Digital PR Awards. The most outstanding projects launched nationwide between January 2020 and July 2021 were considered in three categories, which highlight some of the most popular digital campaigns and innovations in various sectors globally. Entries were received from Armenia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Estonia, Georgia, Italy, Russia, Singapore, Spain, United Kingdom, and United States.

For Digital PR Guru of 2021 were awarded Stuart Bruce (UK) as Gold Winner, Marie Alexander (Singapore) as Silver Winner and Bianca Boucault (Brazil) as Bronze Winner.

In the category of Best Digital PR Company were recognized the achievements of BPRESS (Italy) with the Gold Award, Alexander PR Group (Sinagpore) with the Silver Award and Caltrackr OÜ (Estonia) with the Bronze Award.

In Best Digital PR Project were announced Spring PR (Armenia) as Gold Winner, Sherlock Communications (Brazil) as Silver Winner and AtitudeCom (Brazil) as Bronze Winner.

... Read More

The World Communications Forum Association is welcoming four high-profile communications experts as new Individual Members, with a common mission to contribute actively to the development of the modern public communications worldwide.

These four newcomers are:

Andreja Pavlovic (Croatia) - Communications expert with more than 20 years of experience in strategic communications and public affairs, recognized for her unique consulting approach and capability of achieving creative and sustainable solutions to problems in various areas. She is Head Of Department of Nature Protection and Landscape Arhitecture at Oikon Institute of Applied Ecology.

Milisa Kentane (South Africa) - Head of Communication and Media Spokesperson at SENTECH, has over 10 years’ management experience. She is a Certified Director of the Institute of Directors Southern Africa (IODSA). Her career portfolio includes, all aspects of Reputation and Brand Management; Transformation and Corporate Citizenship; Stakeholder Relations; Marketing; Business Development; Government Relations and Protocol

... Read More

The World Communications Forum Association reduces its annual membership fee to 25 EUR for new and existing student members. It also launches free monthly webinars with world-renowned PR experts from January 2022.

The Student Membership of WCFA is specifically designed to support undergraduates at every level of their studies and career preparation. It is committed to supporting their progression and helping them develop professional networks.

The membership comprises a wide-range of benefits:
- official certificates for joining and participating
- access to free educational webinars and practical trainings
- access to free networking events with high-level speakers
- reduced fees at awarding programs

... Read More

The Enneagram Association of Georgia (Caucasus) joined the World Communications Forum Association as an Institutional Member, with a mission to help the community grow as a team and introduce contemporary driving tools for its further development and knowledge.

The Association was founded in 2021 by the professional member of the International Enneagram Association (IEA), certified Enneagram teacher Mr. Gia Tskhovrebadze, PhD. This organization is the unique National Affiliate of the International Enneagram Association (IEA) in the whole post-Soviet region, operating as a branch of the IEA in Georgia.

The Enneagram of personality is a versatile and powerful personality typing system, for mapping the nine possible personalities, like nine facets of a stone that develop through the natural growth of the human psyche. Each personality type associated with the Enneagram represents a map of traits that highlights patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving (The International Enneagram Association).

... Read More

Article by Zsófia Lakatos, Owner of Emerald PR, an affiliate of Burson Cohn&Wolfe (Hungary).

When I was a teenager, I wrote poems in Hungarian and English. For one reason, this one often echoes in my head nowadays: Words of happiness / that sparkle in the sky / Of grief and pain and sorrow / Hiding in the dark / Lonely words of justice / And rules that control you / Little things we use / 'Cause words don't hurt you / People do.

Maybe these lines spin in my mind repeatedly because the pandemic era we live in really shows how much responsibility we, as communication professionals, have. I deeply believe that it is the greatest power - and a terrible responsibility that comes with it – to be able to influence people’s thoughts.

Even in peacetime, under business as usual, we need to be very aware that the words we use will affect people. Because we crawl into their heads and influence, maybe manipulate them. We have an impact on their thoughts and an impact on their behavior.

... Read More

Article by Saurabh Uboweja, Founder and Managing Partner, BOD Consulting and Board Member, WCFA.

Artificial Intelligence has entered the chat

The first time the world heard the words, “Hey, Siri!”, it was the first day Artificial Intelligence (AI) was introduced into the day-to-day lives of the common people. Siri quickly became the one-stop solution for all our questions. Starting from our morning alarms to recommending a restaurant nearby - everything became extremely simple. AI entered our lives in the form of a hyper-personalised assistant.

It was not long before different brands started relying on AI to assist their users and learn more about their habits, thoughts, and patterns. Brands that were till now just names and logos came alive. They were not just interacting with the user but also learning and growing with them.

... Read More

Zsofia Lakatos, corporate member of the World Communications Forum Association and the former President of the Hungarian PR Association was named Member Emeritus of HuPRA. This title is awarded to professionals who have earned imperishable merits in the promotion of Public Relations. 

The Hungarian PR Association (HuPRA) can elect Member Emeritus once a year. This title is awarded to PR-professionals who have earned imperishable merits in the acknowledgement, education, development, and promotion of Public Relations and contributed to the strengthening and promotion of HuPRA in Hungary and internationally.

Zsofia Lakatos is the former President of the Hungarian PR Association and the owner of Emerald Public Relations. She is also engaged in crisis management, owns Válság112 Crisis Consulting and is an internationally acclaimed sustainability expert, owner of Business Sustainability Program. Zsofia holds a diploma from Budapest Business School, studied at California State University Northridge and has an MBA in Management from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics.

...Read More

Article by Mukesh Mathur, Senior Partner, Retail and Consumer Products Practice, BOD Consulting.

Covid-19 has been the biggest game changer disrupting entire industries almost overnight. Many rules of the game – be it routine workplace operations, social distancing guidelines, customer facing “standard operating procedures'', complaints addressal systems, supply chain efficiencies or delays etc. – had to be rewritten and businesses had to work incessantly to realign with new realities.

The Retail and Wholesale industry was impacted in particular. Definite advantage in responding to effects of coronavirus was to those enterprises that were already equipped for rapid innovation in different work-streams of their business.

Customer experience has always been important;  it is more important in Covid-19 times. New customer acquisition and existing customer retention are crucial pillars of customer experience.  Research shows that existing customers buy more frequently and buy more each time than new customers. It is 4-6 times cheaper to sell to existing customers than it is to new customers. 

... Read More