Since the past decade, PR has seen significant progress in the market. Just like any other industry, the rise in technology has created many challenge-driven opportunities in the PR market. Although there is still a lot to learn, the country’s PR bodies have done well in learning the latest PR mechanisms, from traditional day media to the newer phenomena like Search Engine Optimization. The country’s PR fraternity did well `to learn, unlearn and relearn the constantly unfolding trends in the profession.

Recently, we heard from the PR maestros of Pakistan at the Comms Hero week where they addressed several questions related to how PR has evolved in Pakistan. Samra Mulsim the Chief Nut at Walnut Communications & CEO Alchemists , Aamir Abbasi a chartered PR practitioner from Chartered Institute of Public Relations UK, Attiyah Inaam, Senior Manager Corporate Communications, Sustainability & PR at EBM,  Qurat ul Ain Shahid a certified director ICAP, and Syed M. Ayaz the Chief Business officer at Nutshell Communications all sat down together and engaged in a conversation about PR.


Their detailed discussion was pretty insightful as it painted the perfect picture of how PR has changed throughout the years and also where our country is still lacking. Compared to previous years, PR is now very real-time. Like the rest of the world, the country has moved from paper to digital. The news that used to take days to reach us now only takes a few minutes, hence changing the very fabric of human lives.

A few take away from the session were:

Gender Ratio

Finally one female-centric profession in Pakistan. There are in fact many organizations where women are heading PR and Corporate Communications functions and the trend is likely to grow.  On the agency side as well we see a lot of women coming into this profession

Specialized Agencies

Its no more just about corporate PR and writing press release. There are now agencies who specialize in different fields like exclusively managing celebrities, influencers, and sport, etc.

Monitoring Softwares

Monitoring software are pretty much there but a lot of the agencies & brands are not data-driven – however, the future is in numbers. Discussions are going on social media (in FB groups, Twitter, Instagram) & that is where your key audience is sitting. It’s important to be tracking & monitoring this information now.

Technology has played a huge role in the expansion of PR opportunities in Pakistan. The massive shift from one-way, slow-paced communication to the rapid two-way fire has created room for innovation. Despite it being hard to control the narrative and narrowing down the target audience, technology and media have played a huge role in the way PR works in Pakistan.

Pakistan continues to face many challenges when it comes to the PR industry, like for instance getting the right kind of education at university levels, influencer marketing, and communication, negative PR catastrophes. However, there has been a lot of progress and we continue to learn the latest unfolding PR trends from around the world.