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The movablefeast we call corporate
communicationshas always been,well,
L...L ~...- movable.With shameI admitto writing
someyears agothat corporate
communicationsdid not exist. It was
(' - just a fashionablenamefor the
-.J
combinationof consumer,
governmental,employeeand
communityrelations.
Mama Mia what a faux pas,to mix
my languages.Today,I earn a living
advisingcompaniesin this
"fashionable" discipline,arguingit is
.J- the central plankof organisational
~[~u~ communication.
Timeschangeand never moreso
than in the years ahead.Writing at the
f~
time of the millenniuma business
pundit prophesisedthis decadewould
be aboutthree E's:education,
..,., environmentand ethics.Companies
U I would haveto react to customerswho
were better "Educated",have a
growing interestin the "Environment"
and aboveall, be forced to operate
11 within rigorous"Ethical" standards.For
once a forecast about public relations
was spot on.
Talkingfilms BernardCarey,director and
soonousted colleaguein consultantsSound
the silent Strategiesand onetime director of
~I corporatecommunicationsat the
movies.But SmithsGroup,at Roverand Lucas,
despiteour summedup the situation in corporate
jl communicationsby saying:"Corporate
ability to add
identity has cometo representmore
soundto everymediumfrom than a designsystem.It now embodies
websitesto mobilephones,the PR a company'swider valuesand
positioningwithin its stakeholder
industryhas yet to give its clients'
diaspora.
publics anythingworth listening to. "It includesall forms of visual
ReginaldWattsexplains why a interface betweena companyand its
publics.Somecompanieshavemultiple
soundstrategyfor a public
brandsfor subsidiaries,product groups
relationscampaignwill soon ~; or single productswith their own
meanexactly that! 11 identity andlogo.
- --
"This whole is boundtogether within
one underlyingstrategythat extends
l
visual corporateidentityto a single
designstylefor literature,exhibition
showrooms,reception areas
encompassingcolour,materialchoice,
photographicstyle,type faces andtone
of voice."
Hewent on to talk aboutthe coming
use of sound and musicalsignaturesas
reinforcementto the visual signifiers,
but more of that later.
BernardGuly,MD of View,the brand
and digital communicationsagency,
arguesthat BernardCarey'slist of
messagecarriers will play a growing
part in the three E'sformula,acting as
facilitators.
"Companiesnow havethe abilityto
incorporatetheir CSRinitiative into the
way they usethe web to graspthe
reputationalhigh groundand pushthe
positiveaspectsof their work to the
front" (seewww.gsk.comfor examples
of his approach).
Unfortunately,despitethe lip service
we hearfrom headsof corporate
affairs,few companiesachievea high
enoughlevel of co-ordinatedattack.
There is a lamentablelack of
understandingby managersof how
meaningis processedandtaken from
corporatematerial,especiallywhen it
is purelyvisual and unwritten.(seemy
article in Behindthe Spinin May 2005).
Get the message right
"
Everyonetalks the talk. Kate Nicholas
wrote in PR Week (3 March 2006)that
she counted30mentionsof podcastsat
a conferenceshe attendedyet "there
appearedto be a disconnection
developingbetweenthe new media
andthe businessof day-to-dayPR".
So muchtalk about deliverysystems
goes on yet manyheadsof
communicationstill fail to gettheir
messageright.Without a full scale
positioningaudityou mightas well
whistle in the wind.
I havelost count of the positioning
auditswhere my questionto the CEO
on the companypositioningreceives
the replythatthey are a "company
offering high qualityproducts,with
excellent after salesservice andvalue
for moneyproducts".
I bite my lip atthis point and refrain
from replying"and I supposeyou
are kindto animalstoo".
Motherhoodand honesty
does not build reputation,
nor gain listeners.
If the message
strategyis to work, it
shouldbe basedon a
clear positioning
statementof a few
paragraphsonly,no
WarandPeace, please.
Thestatementneed
includeonly a small
'rhfi'$o(jnd Strategies team