Telum Talks to Marcus Loh, President, Institute of Public Relations of Singapore (IPRS)
22 August 2019
Marcus was elected President of the IPRS Council in April 2019, responsible for the role of IPRS as Singapore's industry champion and accreditation body for practitioners. He is also the Director for Asia Pacific Communication at visual analytics company, Tableau Software.
Q: What made you decide to take on the role of President for IPRS?
M: We are entering a data-driven world much more contested and populated by a marketplace of ideas and opinions, which makes it such an exciting time to be in the PR and comms industry.
While practitioners, agencies, and client-side organisations continue to keep pace with these changes, apex bodies like IPRS can aggregate demand, foster industry-wide collaboration, and help members, especially young and budding practitioners, to collectively stay ahead of the curve.
Having personally witnessed how IPRS members had benefited from programmes and platforms by the Institute the last two years, I felt that it was only right to give back when I was invited to stand for the elections in IPRS' new council term (2019 - 2021). After all, leadership is a conduit for service to others.
(Newly-elected IPRS Council members: from left, Clarence Fu, Lily Lim, Susie Wee, Loh Bang Wei Marcus, Nisar Keshvani, Ling Wei Ming and Illka Gobius. Missing in photo – Justin Fong and P Ramesh.)
It's been five months since the council elections and boy, has it been such a humbling experience to serve alongside some of the best practitioners in the PR sector! They've brought onboard expertise in areas like digital and data fluency, content creation, as well as personal conviction in areas like the nurturing of students and next-generation practitioners. I am confident that the mix of talent diversity in this new council has been key to throwing up these fresh perspectives and ideas.
Q: What do you hope to achieve in your time as President?
M: “People” has been top-of-mind for my council. We think about this in two parts - firstly, how do we attract more talent who are best-in-class practitioners in their respective fields to Singapore and secondly, what can we do to develop local practitioners to their fullest potential and enable them to thrive in other cities. In the two-year term of our council, we aim to strengthen Singapore's reputation as a talent hotbed where the best and brightest in our field come to contribute to corporations and organisations based here, while bolstering the credentials of our own practitioners for markets overseas.
In many ways, the council aims to build on the strong foundations that we already enjoy as a sector. Singapore has one of the world's most advanced ecosystems for PR and communications. We have a trusted media landscape, robust policy institutions and think-tanks, superior institutions of higher learning, a vibrant social media community, and home to some of the largest multinational PR firms in the world, as well as startups like Pinpoint PR, PRecious Communications, RICE Communications, to name a few.
(RICE Communications hosting the IPRS Mentorship program launch for IPRS Student Chapters at their Singapore office in Haw Par Centre)
Q: Are there any areas of professional development the IPRS plans to focus on this year?
M: Firstly, IPRS will be celebrating our Golden Jubilee in 2020. In the last few months, my council and I have had extensive consultations with members about their views on commemorating this milestone in addition to the programmes that our members enjoy throughout the year.
I'm delighted to share that the team has germinated some interesting initiatives for talent development and attraction. Broadly, these ideas include hosting a festival in January 2020 for budding practitioners who are interested in the whole spectrum of career options that PR and reputation building has to offer (even in nascent roles of corporate giving and brand stewardship), an international conference (named PRISM Conference 2020 in March 2020) that fuses frontier technology with our world of PR and communication, and a 50 anniversary PRISM awards gala dinner in March 2021.
(Member of the Singapore Parliament for Marine Parade GRC and Chief Executive Officer for NTUC FairPrice, Mr Seah Kian Peng officiating at the IPRS 15th PRISM Awards in March this year)
Secondly, we are reviewing our professional development programs to help members acquire a greater fluency in digital and data capabilities.
With these capabilities, one can imagine the greater impact that practitioners can bring to PR fields ranging from evidence-based communication and outcomes measurement to performance analysis and the optimization of channels for reach, cost and messaging.
(IPRS Hon. Treasurer and A*STAR Corporate Communication Director Justin Fong conducting a Social Media & Digital Marketing masterclass for local Social Enterprises at SCAPE Park earlier this month)
These courses, workshops, panel discussions and talks, will either be delivered by fellow Accredited IPRS Members, or through partnerships with local institutions of higher learning.
Q: How do you think the Singapore media scene compares to others globally?
M: In an address to the American Society of Newspaper Editors in 1988, Singapore's founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew said that the media play a key role in the life of every country, but it is a role which differs from one country to another due to their different historical experiences, political systems and social-cultural norms. In an age where the rise of fake news has eroded trust in the media, and led to social divisions, Singapore's media outlets must rearm the core values of journalism. These include a commitment to facts and accuracy, the discipline to remain transparent and impartial in one’s reporting, and to be in the service of our public interest.
Public trust and satisfaction with the media have remained relatively high compared with other countries.
(Edelman Trust Barometer on the restoration of trust in journalism over social media platforms)
Which is probably the reason why, while many Singaporeans obtain their news from a wide variety of sources, trust in local news houses CNA (previously known as Channel NewsAsia) and Singapore Press Holdings have remained strong and are still seen to be an important source of daily news.
Q: What are some of the key challenges that you think will face the industry in the next 12 months?
M: I’m approaching the next 12 months with a sense of cautious optimism. The Singapore economy has already registered some headwinds in sectors like manufacturing. There are knock-on effects on our SMEs when multinational firms scale back investments and production. I can understand that some Singaporeans are anxious about job security in this economic slowdown - but this is a cyclical downturn. Demand will pick up in due course.
What concerns me more are the structural changes in our economy that might get even more accentuated in the next 12 months. First, the strategic rivalry between the US and China might lead to a bifurcation of supply chains, operating systems, and networks. This will result in market inefficiencies, an overall shrinking of the economic pie, and a narrowing of opportunities for firms in Singapore going abroad - and vice versa. Secondly, structural changes in the economy will put greater pressure on firms to embrace technological disruption and channels dis-intermediation.
What do these structural changes portend for the PR and communication sector? To cope with these pressures, we are already seeing more firms launching their own newsrooms and engaging with audiences directly - bypassing traditional channels like media outlets altogether. Clients themselves are also building up in-house PR and communication capabilities and lowering commitments to their agency partners, shifting away from retainer arrangements, to project-based ones.
As the apex body for members who are in-house practitioners and agencies, we aim to introduce new initiatives in professional development, industry collaboration opportunities, and facilitating the exchange of best practices, to help members navigate these challenges ahead.
Q: Have there been any PR campaigns that have caught your eye in the past year?
M: I've been keeping track of broader, geopolitical developments, and it's fascinating to view them through the lens of PR and its impact on legitimacy building. Legitimacy is a prerequisite for any organization that is dependent on its social contract with key publics for its existence. This is true of most organisations today - between employer and worker, seller and buyer, government and citizenry and even between states. For example, in Singapore’s context, the public's appreciation for this concept of legitimacy underpins what makes Singapore special: that is our multi-racial and meritocratic identity.
Today however, it is not uncommon for one society to be divided by the strong, centrifugal forces of another. Whether it is the imposition of liberal values, the Arabisation of Islam, politicking along racial line, or the civilisational affinity that an ethic majority could share with another. Singapore in recent years, has experienced its fair share of these external influences. There is nothing wrong about embracing different identities. But Singaporeans need to be aware if these values have been asserted to replace our identity, with another.
When we see these influences through the lens of PR, we can see these forces for what they are. Only then are Singaporeans able come to a decision about the common spaces that we need to defend or to augment our values to embrace and add to our rich identity.
Viewed this way, PR is neither just a business tool, nor just commercially driven campaigns. It is one way of appreciating these influences that seek to legitimise or delegitimise our way of life through the media, influencers, or other levers that PR practitioners would be familiar with.
PR needs to be recognized as a strategic imperative, and through our 50 anniversary PRISM awards and gala dinner in March 2021, IPRS will continue to steer our craft in this direction, as we celebrate our industry’s bests.
Head of Marketing & Communications at Xora, Deep Tech Venture Firm
5yVery inspired by the strengthened mandate of the IPRS. Looking forward to the series of celebratory events next year!
Product Management | Proptech | Business Analysis | Data Leader of the Year Finalist - Women in Tech Awards 2021
5yMarcus Loh (邦伟), AMIPRS compelling narrative from you as always! Excited to see what lies ahead for IPRS :)