Telum caught up with Anne Xu, who oversees global communications for Chinese agricultural drone manufacturer XAG. She shares how unmanned aerial vehicles are revolutionising the agricultural landscape in Mainland China and how the PR industry can prepare for the inevitable arrival of AI technology.

You work for one of the biggest agricultural drone manufacturers in the world. How does working with a cutting-edge technology shape your marcomms strategy?
In our team, marcomms doesn't mean explaining things in just one way. For people who work in agriculture and for people who don't, the messaging can be quite different. This means with major announcements, we need to be fully prepared with multiple types of content. Sometimes the talking points can also be completely different. Therefore, we have developed different marcomms outlets to make sure we are able to reach audiences who have different concerns and backgrounds. Developing comms plans in multiple layers and formats that fit agriculture is very challenging but also very meaningful. Because the work of farmers is so important, we want to not only improve the way they work but also change the way people perceive what they do.

What lessons have you brought across into communications from your time in the media writing for Modern Weekly Magazine?
Not only did I write for the magazine, but I was also its Editor. The experience gave me a strong sense of how journalists choose a subject and build relevant content for different media. Apart from working for the magazine, I have also worked in production companies, so I was involved in various forms of media and learned that "creating content" can be a project associated with all sorts of formats.

Apart from Mainland China, XAG's drones are also widely used by farmers in Australia and most recently South Africa. How do your comms strategies differ between countries and markets around the world?
Cross-cultural communication is easier said than done. This is constantly on the top of my mind. It also requires us to have up-to-date understandings of the local market, so that we can better locate content that addresses the concerns of local users. To do that, we keep close contact with local users in person and have a lot of direct communications with them.

With new agricultural technologies like yours, the way agriculture is done has changed. How do you see the industry evolving and how do you communicate with the farmers on how technology can improve yields?
We don't need to tell farmers what a robot can do for them; we just need to show them the results delivered by engineers and early adopters. To do that, we need to make sure we can help, meaning to actually be functional in certain agricultural processes, then they will see how robots can help them make more profit. We are very excited to see how XAG's tech is being implemented in lots of different ways. Interestingly, in different parts of the world, users will adapt solutions to their local needs. For example, some users in Korea use our drones to spray sun shades for greenhouses, while some users in Midwest China use them to spread special granules for forest protection.

Chinese companies are investing in manufacturing self-navigating and automated robots. What is your view on the country’s current robotics landscape? How does it fare in the world?
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed people's views about automation. At times when population movement in Mainland China is limited, automation is needed for work to be done to maintain daily living standards. Even when farm workers can't come to work, the farms still need to be worked. That's when automation and intelligent robots can be useful, thus freeing humans to make decisions instead of doing labour-intensive work. This trend is already benefiting Mainland China, and we are now showing other parts of the world what can be done.

Technology has been changing all industries, not just agriculture. How do you foresee AI impacting the PR and comms industry?
I think it will largely impact the way we convey content. On one hand, although it won't happen soon, AI will eventually become a big part of the content-generating process. On the other hand, AI will be the filter of information, say for search engines. It will change how we "form" and "give out" a message. This requires PR professionals to be really precise in organising content and sorting core concepts, otherwise it might be filtered out and ultimately won't reach the audience they initially targeted.