Corporate Communication PDF Lecture Notes

CORPORATE COMMUNICATION Lecture 1 DEFINING CORPORATE COMMUNICATION DEFINITION: Corporate communication is a management function that offers a framework for the effective coordination o...

CORPORATE COMMUNICATION Lecture 1 DEFINING CORPORATE COMMUNICATION DEFINITION: Corporate communication is a management function that offers a framework for the effective coordination of all internal and external communication, with the overall purpose of establishing and maintaining favorable reputations with stakeholder groups upon which the organization is dependent. It describes a variety of strategic management functions depending on the organization. is the body of communication which represents the voice of the corporation. (One body one voice) Key terms: reputation, unified voice, relation, communication CHARACTERISTICS - from a strategic management perspective: Broader focus the organization as a whole and has the task of presenting it to all its key stakeholders (internal and external) = integrated approach “Corporate” refers to the business setting in which CorpComm emerged as a separate function but also to the idea of “body”: unified way of looking at internal and external communication disciplines and stakeholders It also has the strategic objective of building, maintaining and protecting the company’s reputation. —> Managerial activities next to tactical skills and activities Corp comm is all external and internal communications by a company to create dialogue with stakeholders, communicate its values and identity, and enhance its reputation, not only advertising. KEY CONCEPTS: Corporate Storytelling - To transmit particular values of the organization but it’s more about a story and not about the brand itself. - Example: Apple for Business. It’s not about the brand, but more about apple world that makes your business work better. Creative in expressing the characteristics of the several products without being direct. Mission - is the overriding purpose of the organization in line with the values and expectations of stakeholders. It is a statement that defines a company’s business, its objectives and the approaches to reach these objectives. (what they want to be recognized for) Vision - is the desired future state: what do we want to become, the long-term aspiration for the company itself. (common in rebranding) Corporate objectives - Are achieved through strategies. These are statements of overall aims in line with the overall purpose. Usually is set by the top manager of the company in line with the mission and the vision. They provide the focus for setting the desired goals and some more detailed and precise objectives and directions to achieve the mission and the vision. (More concrete aims.) Strategies - Are the long-term plan with specific actions that aim to achieve and put into effect the corporate objectives. Corporate identity - is the profile and values communicated by an organization. Is the way in which a company or a brand presents itself to the public: the personality a company seeks to establish (how they want to be remembered) Corporate image - is the immediate set of associations of an individual in response to one or more signals or messages from or about a particular organization. It’s not the reputation: it’s the individual perceptions of a company; the immediate idea associated with a company’s name. Corporate reputation - An individual’s collective representation of past images of an organization established over time. (induced through either communication or past experiences) It is the idea formed after several experiences with the same brand or company: the evaluation of a company compared to the competitors and established after multiple experiences with them. Stakeholder - any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organization’s objectives. All persons or groups who have interests, interactions and relationship with the organization, so all relevant groups directly involved in the businesses or highly influenced by it. Market - A defined group of stakeholders for whom a product is or may be in demand and for whom the company creates and maintains services or products. Basically, is about marketing communication: is the specialist area devoted to communicating to markets. Communication - It refers to all kind of communication activities, the tactics and media that are used to communicate with internal and external groups through traditional, digital and social media. Integration - The act of coordinating all communication activity so that the corporate identity is effectively and consistently communicated to internal and external groups. To ensure that all forms of communication are coordinated, coherent and on the same line. (coordinating all kind of communication) Lecture 2 INTEGRATE AND COORDINATE Phase 1, 1930s (industrial revolution): Early Corp Comm began at least 200 years ago with the modernization of society. From Industrial Revolution until 1930 was the era of mass production and consumption (large industrial cooperation emerging) so there was a need for professional communication officers and a more organized form of handling publicity. Walter Lippmann in his book “public opinion” 1922, wrote about the need of modern industrial organization for the publicity makers (press agents) to persuade the general public, and the development of the publicity-man is a clear sign that the facts of modern life don’t spontaneously take a shape in what they can be known; they must be given a shape by somebody (communicators) —> first unethical form of corporate communication The public be dammed - the philosophy behind Is the activity based on publicity, promotions and selling activity conducted by press agents, promoters and propagandists that was played on gullible public who wanted to be entertained. - Publicity-seeking approach which often was so exaggerated it was lies and that was answerable to no government or watchdogs Today it would be so unethical that it would be unaccepted, but at that time it was okay. The approach of these first communicators was strong, and the public was entertained also with lies and fake promotion which made them buy products. The new century began with the appearance of the counter voice of muckrakers - investigative journalists committed to discover and expose scandals associated with corporate wrongdoing and government corruption to raise public awareness of unethical and harmful practices. Key takeaways: They were journalists and investigative reporters who wrote about corruption and injustice between 1890 and 1920 The term was coined by President Theodor Roosevelt, who thought they went too far Muckrakers came from all levels of society and risked thy livelihoods and lives by their work In many cases, their work did bring improvements: thanks to these people some laws changed, and organization’s communication became more controlled. (powerful way to make changes) Response: To hit this negative criticism, large organizations hired writers and former journalists as spokespeople in pursuit of public approval. (Real professional to work in the communication departments) - They need to become somehow more genuine for the approach with the public. At the same time there was also a change in the economy, with the stabilization or decline of markets, so they also needed these professional communicators to raise the quality of their corporate communication and promote products to compete even more in these markets. (advertising agents). Phase 2,1930s/1980s - change of mindset Big economic reform, especially in the US and UK, which is intensified by public skepticism towards big business; People started to realize that there was something wrong in the way organizations were managed, so writers, publicists and advertising agents were needed on a continuous basis. They were brought in house and became real employees. - Start of the development of professional expertise. Communication, from being a general, became a real discipline of study and practice. Two professional functions were born: Public relations and marketing - Public relations: deals with publics and is concerned with issues of public interest (excluding customers and consumers) to provide goodwill with the public so that they do not interfere with profit making (stakeholder and communication needs) - Marketing: is focused on effectively bringing products to market and is consumers in focus; it deals with markets to sense, serve and satisfy the customer needs at a profit (selling services/products) Phase 3, 1980s – creation of CC Some organizations realized that these disciplines had many things in common and they worked on the integration of PR and Marketing. - Pioneered with Kotler and Mindak, who highlighted the different ways of looking at the relationship between marketing and PR. In Kotler’s words, 1989, he says that there is a need to develop a new paradigm in which marketing and public relations are integrated (stop looking at them separated but coordinated) The public here is not something to be damned but it’s central for the survival of the organization. This integration created a new discipline called Corporate Communications, which has the umbrella management function to integrate, guide and coordinate the work between the two specialist areas of communication activities. With time it became more efficient and more powerful in organizations, also having a say in meetings. - CC reduces costs because it reduces departments. Models for the relationship between marketing and public relations: a) Mktg and PR = distinct in their objectives and activities; is the traditional view where marketing deals with markets, PR with publics. Marketing exists to sense, serve and satisfy customer needs while PR produces goodwill with the company’s various public. b) MPR = marketing public relations, where Mktg and PR share some common ground. PR tools are used in promoting services, to launch products c) IMC = integrated marketing communication, where marketing is viewed as the dominant function. PR becomes essentially part of a wider Mktg function for satisfying customers. d) strategic public relations = public relations as the dominant function. Mktg is seen only as a part of a wider PR effort to satisfy the multiple publics and stakeholders of a company. e) Mktg and PR merge into a single function (vice president of Mktg & PR) Marketing and PR activities and their overlap: A = corporate advertising: focus on the company identity, with mentions of products. B = direct marketing & sales promotions (to sell) C = distribution, logistics, pricing and new product development (marketing) D = corporate public relations: all the communication activities towards a company's stakeholders E = marketing public relations: use of traditional PR tools like product publicity, sponsorship or branded contents for marketing purposes and activities F = mass media advertising (focus on products and services) Drivers for integrations: In short, in most organizations the marketing and public relations disciplines are not merged into one function. Both disciplines, whilst existing separately, are balanced against each other by a variety of factors or “drivers”. Market-based and environmental based drivers: 1. Stakeholders' role overlap = The multiplicity of stakeholders overlapping their roles (e.g. employees who are also customers) forced organizations to integrate all their marketing and public relations efforts. This integration avoids the potential pitfalls that may occur when conflicting messages are sent out. There is the need to be coherent in each message. 2. inseparable internal and external communication (need for alignment) 3. demands for greater transparency = transparency about operations. They respond to social expectations and present themselves as coherent, reliable and trustworthy institutions. Communication-based drivers: 1. Greater amounts of message clutter = message effectiveness trough consistency and reinforcement of core messages which makes the company’s name known and remembered. (commercial messages everywhere) --> Increased message effectiveness 2. Complementarity of new media, traditional media and media cost inflation = messages in various media can complement one another, leading to a greater communication impact. (Message effectiveness through more creativity but also control of various channels) 3. New media multiplication requires control of communication channels = for the increasing cost of traditional mass-media adv and the opportunities that internet offers, organizations have re-examined their presence and how to control it. Organizational drivers: 1. Improved efficiency = It is expensive to have stand-alone units for communication disciplines. Managing and driving down the cost base through the unification of disciplines in one or a few departments would ease coordination and minimize the costs of cross-unit and department interaction. 2. Increased accountability = Greater integration increases accountability of the communication function in many organizations. 3. Provision of strategic direction and purpose through consolidation = working in alignment with the general corporate strategy of the organization 4. Commonalities and overlap between communication disciplines = Often, PR, Marketing and internal communication professionals share similar goals, skills or tasks. Stakeholder engagement: Is the process of actively involving stakeholders in communication: listening to them, and allowing them to have a say in corporate decision-making Not merely about sharing opinions and perspectives: interactivity means that organizations must be transparent, acting in character to bring across identity in an authentic way and fostering stakeholders to become genuine advocates. (Incorporating feedbacks) Without this, stakeholders point out lack of transparency and authenticity and may even organize for action at scale. (if they don’t listen, they won’t survive) Lecture 3 THE ORGANIZATION OF CORPORATE COMMUNICATION AND THE CCO The organization of CC can be seen as the holistic perspective that cuts across all the relationship between communication disciplines (i.e. marketing and public relations) Generally evolved from being: 1. Distinct 2. Complementary 3. Integrated > corporate communication as the dominant perspective and management framework - Crisis = when something bad happens: CC helps them serving the whole department in crisis CCO, corporate communication officer: Also called CC director, is responsible for the functioning and coordinating of everything and is the advisor. His role is to be responsible for the function and for the coordinating of all activities, but also as a key advisor to the CEO and the president, being a part of the top management team. He also has a say in all the key decisions for the business since he is the ears and the voice of authenticity of the company (contributing to shaping the strategy of the organization). - authenticity = the most Avant-guard aspect of CC today. the organization of corporate communication: vertical structure Tasks and activities are divided and arranged into departments, units and subunits which are located in the hierarchy of authority. The CCO has the authority to guide and control all lower departments, and each unit is in charge of controlling their own subunits. This way of dividing tasks provides clear lines of authority and specialization. Provides clear lines of authority and specialization lines of authorities who guides. Reports directly to the CEO and the senior management team (or is even member of this team) Such vertical specialization and the spreading of tasks over different departments requires a lot of coordination (also achieved through the horizontal structure). horizontal structure Allows cross-functional teamwork and flexibility with collaboration from one department to another, also with the help of authorities. Working across departments allows communication practitioners to coordinate their work with the human resources, finance, legal and marketing departments, as the other main functions with which corporate communication usually collaborates. Horizontal structures also enable companies to respond fast to emergent issues, provide control and ensure that consistent messages are being sent out. Can take various forms and use different coordination mechanisms: - Multi-functional teams, used for the coordination and integration of work processes of different communication units including members of other units to solve problems or handle situations. - Standardized work processes, written documents which help people understand work processes, instructions... (concrete documents over the ways and practices in the organization) - Informal channels, best way to integrate collaboration and communication (coffee machine, email, phone...) - Council meetings, formal meetings with representatives of the different single units, created when there is a need to discuss strategic communication issues and directions and evaluate past and current performances to take right decisions (this coordination mechanism is important in multi-national organizations). - Communication guidelines, very important for this horizontal integration of communication. Common work procedures to preserve the corporate identity like the font, colors and position of the logo. CASE-STUDY: SARAH LEE/DE organizing Communication in a Multinational Corporation Sara Lee/DE is a global consumer goods company, headquartered in Utrecht, Netherlands. It is a subsidiary of Chicago-based Sara Lee Corporation, and includes brands like Douwe Egberts (a Dutch coffee and tea brand) and Intradel (a Dutch household and body care company). After acquiring Intradel in the 1980s, Sara Lee merged the two companies into one organization in 1989, forming Sara Lee/DE with two divisions: Coffee & Tea and Household & Body Care. The company operates in over 40 countries, with around 100 business units. Each unit is responsible for meeting local market needs. As part of a corporate restructuring, Sara Lee/DE split communication responsibilities: a central communication department at the group level and smaller communication teams within individual business units. This setup led to confusion and tensions about who was responsible for communication, particularly in dealing with the media, as many managers contacted the press independently without clear procedures. To resolve these issues, Sara Lee/DE implemented two key initiatives: 1. Strategic Framework for Communication: The central communication department provides a set of guidelines, themes, and messages based on the company’s overall strategy. Each business unit develops its own communication plan but must follow these guidelines to ensure consistent messaging. The idea is that the central department sets the "frame," and each unit delivers its own "picture" within that framework. 2. Internal Consultancy for Business Units: The central communication department also acts as an internal consultancy, offering advice and support to the business units on specific communication challenges. This includes expert guidance on media relations and communication planning. The consultancy team includes communication specialists who work with the business units on a project basis. Through these initiatives, Sara Lee/DE aims to maintain centralized coordination of communication while giving individual business units the flexibility to manage their own communication needs. This approach helps ensure consistent communication across the company while allowing local teams to tailor their messages to specific markets  Lecture 4 STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT & COMMUNICATION Why are stakeholder relations and Corporate Communications important? Management of relationships with stakeholders is one of the main purposes of CC theory and practice. Stakeholders and relations are important because they highlight the connection and the like between people, and more specifically between organizations and any type and stakeholders. - stakeholder’s perspective of organizations = set of links and connection: a network of relationship among stakeholders Management literature primarily talks about stakeholder management, but we cannot manage stakeholders, we can only manage processes, activities, actions, communications that lead the establishment of good relations with stakeholders. - In CC is more correct to say stakeholder relationship management. Corp Comm literature focuses on communication processes, activities and actions that lead to the establishment of (good) relations with various stakeholders. Edward freeman: - Stakeholder theory is the idea of how business really works. - Creating shared values - The job of a manager or entrepreneur is to figure out how the interests of different groups of stakeholders go in the same direction. - Must focus over values of the community not only over profit and values - The groups should never be seen in isolation!!! - stakeholder relationship management is about making business better The evolution of stakeholder thinking The first idea of what companies should do relates to neo classical theory, which is a more traditional way of thinking about stakeholders and stakeholder relations. The objective is to maximize long-term profits, considering exclusively their own interests and the interests of shareholders. - Shareholders= individual or institution that legally owns one or more parts of the company (shares or stock), owners or investors When stakeholder’s thinking started to emerge, the stakeholder or socio-economic theory was developed: It challenged the traditional way of thinking because here organization were not only responsible to make profits for themselves and shareholders, to be profitable, but also need to handle long-term relationships with a broader set of stakeholders. Accountability extends to other groups that are considered important for the survival of the company and its a sort of reaction to the soulless corporation idea, adding what is called moral or normative aspect of managing stakeholders and stakeholders' relations. neo-classical theory: - purpose of organizations is to make profits: profit is the only interest - accountability to themselves and shareholders - “The business of business is business” and the “soulless corporation” (Friedman & Miles, 2006), business is the only preoccupation of the organization —> just one interest: money socio-economic theory: - other groups besides shareholders count, not only profits but values, and there are other groups that count, not only the shareholders - accountability extends to groups important for the continuity of the organization and the welfare of society - organizations have moral/normative duties, not only economic/instrumental ones accountability in the stakeholder model Have instrumental (profits) and normative (relations) reasons for engaging with stakeholders. A normative approach highlights the following: 1. each group of stakeholders merits consideration for its own sake 2. being a good corporate citizen is an end in itself, because that generate reputation returns, and you create a financial return in the end (if you have a good name, you gain costumers), main reasons for the emergence of the stakeholder model 1. Emergence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and consumer and environmental activism —> all the organizations must contribute to the wellbeing of the society 2. Increase in the scope of governments and international bodies (acting as watchdogs, controlling and fining corporations) 3. Increasingly hostile media, also exposing illegal, harmful or wrong activities 4. Loss of confidence and trust in business and governs (people are more aware and critical, with skeptical view) consequences = rage of guidelines were developed at industry, national and transnational level The nature of stakes and stakeholders Stakeholder (“Stake” + “Holder”) is someone with a specific stake or interest in an organization. 1. Stake: “an interest or a share in an undertaking, [that] can range from simply an interest in an undertaking at one extreme to a legal claim of ownership at the other extreme” (Carroll, 1996, in Cornelissen 2017, p. 64) --> Anything that is tangible or intangible possessed by a person or group which is a value to another person or group (a resource) 2. Holder: someone who possesses something or has control over something Stakeholder: “any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organization’s purpose and objectives”. (Freeman, 1984, in Cornelissen 2023, p. 68) - Any kind of group involved in business and interests of the organization (Freeman) - Interdependency between the organization and the different groups Types of stakes: 1. Equity stakes, held by those with direct ownership - shareholders, directors, owners 2. Economic or market stakes, held by those who have an economic interest but not an ownership interest - financial/economic interest or exchange like employees, suppliers, competitors) 3. Influencer stakes, neither equity nor economic stake but have interests of different source - (not ownership, economic or financial based, so like activists, government agencies, trade organizations) Types of exchanges: A company engages in different types of exchanges depending on the type of stakeholder: 1. with employees = money (compensation) for their work 2. with suppliers = money for their provision of goods or services 3. with customers and consumers = products and services for their money 4. with investors = money paid later (dividends they get for owning or investing) 5. with government = money (taxes) to get goods, services and regulations Corporations on the one hand consume what stakeholders offer, but on the other hand they provide, they give back something for consumption to stakeholders. - giving & taking process (from society/stakeholders) Classification of stakeholders: Clarkson's model: Primary group = important for the day-to-day function of an organization (financial interests and relationships) Secondary group = indirectly involved in the organization (local communities, media, and any kind of influence without direct financial transaction) Clarkham’s model: (practical) Contractual stakeholders = there are formal contracts or agreements between them and the organization. A kind of formality regulating relationships. (equity and economic stakes) Community stakeholders = Near to the influencer’s secondary stakeholders, they are non-contractual stakeholders without a pure financial interest in the organization, but they provide legitimacy for the organization to function. (they have legitimate interest but without contracts or agreements) Mapping stakeholders (1-4) and developing communication strategies (5): 1. Who are the organization’s stakeholders? 2. Who are their stakes? 3. What opportunities and challenges are presented to the organization in relation to these stakeholders? 4. What responsibilities (economic, legal, ethical, philanthropic) does the organization have to all these stakeholders? 5. In what way can the organization best communicate with and respond to these stakeholders and address these stakeholder challenges and opportunities? Stakeholder salience model: - STEP 1 - Stakeholders are classified based on their salience to the organization, to communicate and take care on an ongoing basis of the most salient groups. - Focuses on attributes and characteristics of stakeholders in relation to the organization power = the ability of those who possess power to bring about the outcomes they desire. When they can influence an organization to make decisions or behave in a way that this organization would have not otherwise made (make the company to behave in a certain way) - Coercive power: threat - Utilitarian power: money (pay to get something back) - Normative power: an authority legitimacy = generalized perception or assumption that actions of an entity are desirable, proper, or appropriate. Stakeholders possess authority or are perceived as rightful, entitled to claim something in a certain way. urgency = degree to which stakeholders claim calls for immediate attention. Stakeholders with issues urgent to solve, so the organization must respond quickly (if the urgency is not solved or not solved fast enough it can attract a lot of attentions) Low-salient or latent stakeholders: 1. dormant stakeholders Those who have the power to impose their will but do not have legitimate relationships or an urgent claim, so they remain dormant. (prospective customers who could spend a lot of money, but they have little or no interaction at all with the company) 2. discretionary stakeholders Those who possess legitimate claims based on interaction with an organization but have no power to influence it. (Recipient of corporate charity) 3. demanding stakeholders Those who have urgent claims, but neither the power nor legitimacy to enforce them. (lone demonstrators) Moderately or expectant stakeholders: 4. dominant stakeholders Those who have both powerful and legitimate claims, giving them a strong influence on the organization. (stakeholders who regularly transact with the organization such as employees, customers, owners and investors) 5. dangerous stakeholders Those who have the power and urgent claims but lack legitimacy. They are seen as dangerous as they may resort to coercion and even violence. (unlawful attempts to advance stakeholders’ claims includes wildcat strikes, employee sabotage and terrorism) 6. dependent stakeholder Those who lack power, but who have urgent, legitimate claims. They rely on other’s power to carry their will. (local residents of communities who often rely on political representation to be heard and considered) highly salient stakeholders: 7. definitive stakeholders Those who have legitimacy, power and urgency. In other words, definitive stakeholders are powerful and need to be communicated with. When the claim of a definitive stakeholder is urgent, communication practitioners and managers have the responsibility to give it priority and attention. The company usually communicates with dominant and definitive stakeholders on an ongoing basis. In addition, many organizations will often communicate directly with members of the local community they operate in (dependent stakeholders) and will respond to dangerous stakeholders if their actions affect employees or others. - Organizations typically do not communicate with latent and non-stakeholders' groups. Power-interest matrix: It is based on the same principles as the stakeholder salience model. The general objective is to categorize stakeholders on the basis on the power they possess and the extent to which they are likely to have an interest and influence the company. key players (D) - High interest and High Power Their reaction or position towards the organization’s decisions and operations must be given key consideration. They need to be constantly communicated with. keep informed (B) - High interest and Low power They need to be kept informed of the organization, so that they remain committed to the organization and may spread positive word-of-mouth to others. keep satisfied (C) - High power and Low interest The most challenging stakeholder group to maintain relationship with. They lack interest in general, but they might exercise their power in reaction to a particular decision or corporate activity. Developing communicational strategies: 1. Informational strategy = give information about the company and its decision. Realizing informational contents without persuasion through press releases, newsletters and reports on the company website. (one-way symmetrical) 2. Persuasive strategy = influence the way people and stakeholders think and act, trying to change their attitude, behavior and opinion. (two-way asymmetrical). - create a favorable image for the organization and to ‘sell’ a particular kind of understanding of the organization’s decisions. (corporate advertising and educational campaigns) 3. Dialogue strategy = based on mutual involvement and commitment between organization and stakeholders. Involvement is an exchange of ideas and opinions with stakeholders: organizations try to consider opinions and suggestions to improve its performance. (two-way symmetrical) Involvement: “soliciting their input and feedback through, for example, social media conversations “ Commitment: engaging stakeholders to get their ongoing commitment through joint for example Joint partnerships of an organization with key stakeholders (customers or suppliers). Is the most intensive form of communication and reflects situations where the two sides share mutual interests and are strongly committed to one another.  Type 2: first model: communication is always one-way, from the organization to its stakeholders. There is no listening to stakeholders or an attempt to gather feedback in this model. aim = report, objectively, information about the organization to relevant stakeholders (symmetrical) second model: communication flows between an organization and its stakeholders. Two-way asymmetrical model is ‘asymmetrical’ because the effects of communication are unbalanced in favour of the organization. The organization does not instead, it attempts to change stakeholders’ attitudes and behaviour. The third model, the two-way symmetrical model, consists of a dialogue rather than a monologue. Communication again flows both ways between an organization and its stakeholders, but, unlike the previous model, the goal is to exchange views and to reach mutual understanding between the parties. Both parties recognize the ‘other’ in the communication process and try to provide each other with equal opportunities for expression and for a free exchange of information. Media richness = Dialogue uses rich media (those that provide immediate feedback such as face to face conversations). Characteristics of the “old” and “new” approaches to organization- stakeholder relationship In recent years, communication practitioners realized how important the engagement of stakeholders is, and they are trying to build more long-term relationship with them. They seek to change the very nature of relationship between the organization and its stakeholders from “management” to “collaboration” and from “exchange” to “engagement”. the old approach of stakeholder management It consists of different practitioners and departments in the organization “managing” interaction with stakeholders, from the perspective of their own function. They also, somehow, “buffer” the claims and interests of stakeholders to prevent them from interfering with internal operations. This kind of approach is in line with the persuasion strategy. the new approach of stakeholder engagement and collaboration It involves an emphasis on stakeholder relationships across the organization. The aim is to build “partnerships” and to seek out those stakeholders who are interested in more direct engagement and possibly collaboration. Through this approach the organizations try to adapt their activities so that they conform with the external interests and expectations of important stakeholder groups. The “new” approach is more in line with the dialogue strategy. CASE-STUDY: SHELL CASE Greenpeace and Shell Clash Over Arctic Drilling Safety Zones Royal Dutch Shell PLC is seeking a court order to establish safety zones around its Arctic drilling fleet to protect workers from Greenpeace activists. Shell argues that these zones are necessary to prevent dangerous interference with its operations. Greenpeace, however, opposes this request, arguing that it would infringe on the group's right to free speech and its ability to protest Shell’s drilling activities, which Greenpeace considers harmful to the environment. Shell wants a ruling that would prevent Greenpeace from getting too close to its vessels during the 2015 drilling season. The company is planning exploratory drilling in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska’s coast, spending over $7 billion on the project. Shell has asked for a 1,000-meter safety zone around most of its fleet, and a 1,500-meter zone around the drilling vessels. Greenpeace argues that the safety zones are excessive and would restrict its ability to protest peacefully. Greenpeace also argues that the U.S. Coast Guard, not Shell, should control maritime safety, and that Shell has not shown the need for such large zones. Greenpeace's attorney claims that Shell's request would infringe on the group’s free speech rights, especially given that their protests are often visual and shared on social media. At a hearing, Shell's attorney pointed to past Greenpeace actions, such as activists boarding a ship carrying one of Shell's drilling units, as evidence that more safety measures are necessary. Greenpeace activists contend that stopping Arctic drilling is a top priority, and that their protests are an important tool to raise awareness of the environmental risks posed by such activities. Judge Sharon Gleason will review additional arguments before deciding whether to grant Shell’s request. A ruling is expected within a week  Lecture 5 – guest CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY To whom are organizations responsible? Buzzwords from CSR, CSA, to CPR. Many organizations in Italy are socially responsible, trying to look at the consequences of what they are doing and trying not to hurt our environment. In 2017, 1.412 billion euros of investments were made in CSR projects in Italy. The average spends or investment was more than 200,000 euros per company, and in 2018 it increased of 27,8%, arriving to 267,000 euros. Among public relations activities, corporate communication is the main one with 89.2%, followed by crisis management 72.3%, executive communications 70.4%, employee/internal communications 68.4% and marketing PR/product PR 65-7%. Corporations engage in their CSR, corporate social responsibility, legitimacy, leadership expectations, employee recruitment, reputation and stakeholder relations. To maintain or even establish good reputation businesses need to create positive influence on public attitudes towards them. - Nevertheless, earning a good reputation is quite a challenge. You need transparency and honesty, so that stakeholders can trust you, you need to communicate frequently, treats employees well, be a good corporate citizen and sell high quality products or services with a fair price. Corporate social responsibility encompasses objectives-pursuing benefits for both the business and for society. Many businesses engage in CSR activities that reflect the interests of their senior executives. While these efforts attract attention, they often provide little real benefit to either the business or society, for example with corporate donations, that mainly benefit society with minimal reputational gains for the company. A better approach is to create shared values through partnering. Corporate social responsibility CSR has not a specific definition. Everyone has a different idea of it. According to the scholar Dablsrud CSR is more like a phenomenon and includes many responsibilities in it: - Economic: pay for the employees - Legal: they follow the laws and regulations - Ethical: standing by precise values and and principles - Discretionary: beyond being ethical (using the ability to act or decide according to your own discretion or judgment) In the past organizations thought it was enough to be ethically responsible and financially successful. Then scholars came up with the stakeholder approach, which is the middle ground between the two approaches, ethical and financial. The challenge is how we are going to prioritize groups of stakeholders like employees, costumers, costumers. This approach, according to scholars, is still vague, cause it's hard and challenging to decide which group is more important and should receive consideration in the organization's decision- making process and it's difficult to ensure that every group of stakeholders is satisfied. - The social responsibility of an organization has infinite boundaries. Society, stakeholders and publics - Society = it includes constituent groups and social institutions - Stakeholders = have a stake, an interest in the company and what it does - Publics = are subgroups that arise from a stakeholder group when they recognize a problem in the organizations and want to act. They are smaller groups of stakeholders engaging the company. CSR and public relations There are 3 stages for the strategic management of public relations: 1. Stakeholder stage: when the behaviour or decision of the company has consequences on the stakeholder and vice versa. 2. Public stage: when stakeholders recognize problems or issues that they feel they should resolve, so the publics arise. 3. Issue stage: when publics organize and make issues out of problems that they believe need to be resolved in their interest. CSR is often used as part of public relations and is often considered strategic when it brings financial consequences, such as contributions to marketing. Both corporate social responsibility and public relations emphasize the ethical perspective to a group or groups of people important to the organization. The scholar L'Etang, on the opposite, underlines the unethical aspect of CSR as part of public relations; he thinks that if a program is implemented for one public there shouldn't be the intention of impressing a third group. CSR and CPR - Corporate social responsibility and Corporate public responsibility. Many scholars believe that there's a strong connection between these two; Kim Tam proposed reconceptualization of CSR as an organizational public responsibility; Ivy Lee stated that "Responsibility to publics is an important premise of public relations". Businesses should consider social issues as their responsibility; however, they should fulfil their immediate responsibilities before trying to solve broader social issues. CSR = CPR = Good Public Relations A company's commitment to social causes and issues can led to positive outcomes, but if this phenomenon becomes exaggerated, stakeholders can become skeptical and develop a negative perception. Another factor is corporate hypocrisy, which is the belief that the corporate claims to be so thing that is not, or the lack of sincerity in its motives or self-interested motives. Lecture 6 CORPORATE IDENTITY, BRANDING AND CORPORATE REPUTATION Meaning making: Which sense I give to myself and to what I do - Who I am = personality - What I communicate about me = identity - How I look like = image and visibility - What is perceived with respect to what I communicated = perception - What stakeholders and public think about me over time = reputation Corporate identity Is the symbols, logos and images that help the company to give an immediate image to stakeholders. - Strategically projecting a particular positive image of the organization to build, maintain and protect strong reputations with stakeholders leads to stakeholders accepting and supporting the organization - Gives organizations first-choice status with investors, customers, employees and other stakeholders Goal in communication is to find stakeholders that are somehow interested in the company and interact with them to build a relationship and grow a positive reputation. Reputation and trust are connected: trust means that you know that the outcome of that relationship will be safe and truthful to you, so the word trust is connected to “be alive”. That’s why the word reputation is connected to it: you have a high reputation for a company because you trust that company and you believe that somehow the company can benefit you and your life. Logo The logo is the symbol which represents immediately what the company is and does, its values and mission. We need to review, also daily, if our logo is the right one for the environment we are in. Illy: not created by a communication expert but by a pop-art artist. Shell: The father of the founder was a fisherman, and he decided to choose the shell as the symbol of the company. Also, because oil is made of fossils. Nike: The teacher asked his students to design the logo. The student took inspiration from the Nike of Samothrace. Apple: Inspiration by William Wordsworth and Newton. The logo was an illustration, too complex for technological devices. They wanted something fresh and modern. The colorful logo was born, but it was too complex and expensive to print it. The rainbow colours of the apple were not in the proper order: they represented knowledge and anarchy. 2007 chrome logo and since 2015 the logo is the actual monochrome one. Advantages of a corporate image: 1- Distinctiveness: You want to be immediately recognized and to stand out, it is important also to employees to have a reference and to establish a “we” feeling allowing them to identify with the organization. When a logo becomes powerful and recognize you don’t even need to write the name of the company. (Apple is think different) 2- Impact: A corporate image can have a direct impact on the organization’s performance, it can have an impact on financial incomes. The right logo can contribute to give the feeling how the company is, its seriousness. 3- Stakeholders and Consistency: the central world about corporate identity. The same messages, logos and images to every stakeholder in order to be recognized everywhere (channels and places) evoking the same feelings and thoughts about the organization. Brandbook: A guide that a brand must structure a consistent communication strategy The image is a line between the internal and the external of a company. Image is an impression, whereas the perception it’s a consideration, a judgment often used in the wrong way. Corporate identity: First was focused only about visual design and logos, now encompasses all forms of communication. Not just outward embodiment of company but also intrinsic characteristics/traits of company that provides specificity. The Birkigt and Stadler model of corporate identity Brands, corporations and institution have personality as individuals have, and the identity is the corporate personality’s reflection - Corporate Personality: The real DNA of the company. Symbolism = corporate logos and the company house style of an organization Communication = all planned forms of communication including corporate adv, events, promotions. What you say and how. Behaviour = How you act, how employees from managers and front-line staff such as salespeople and shop assistants that leave an impression to stakeholders. ! = The Birkigt and Stadler model suggests that Corporate Identity should emerge from an understanding of the organization’s core mission, strategic vision and the more general corporate culture of an organization. (corporate personality) Corporate image management is useful to add an important symbolic dimension to CC: If personality and identity belong to the company, image and reputation belong to you, because it is something that happen in people’s mind. Corporate identity management establish a favorable image/reputation, with the organization’s stakeholders which it is hoped will be translated by such stakeholders into a propensity to buy that organization’s products and services - A good corporate reputation also Intangible asset: creates value and is hard to replicate. Theoretically, the concept of identity thus refers both to strategic communication with external stakeholders as well as internal patterns of meaning making and identification within the organization The relationship between social, organizational and corporate identity: Social Identity refers to how individuals define themselves in terms of membership of certain groups and aims to achieve positive self-esteem by positively differentiating their own in-group from a comparison out- group on some valued dimension. Organizational identity has a specific strategic purpose that cut across departments and aims to foster a common orientation for everyone in the organization. Individuals from various functional backgrounds, levels of seniority and departments come, in effect, together to produce a joint understanding of “who they are as an organization”. Corporate identity is the picture of the organization that is presented to external stakeholders, which is grounded in the core values and traits that members of the organization themselves associate with the organization. Developing a corporate identity must start with the analysis and understanding of the organization’s core values in its mission, vision and corporate culture. - Must reflect the authentic values of the organization. Traits in common to successful organizations Based on stakeholder evaluation of companies within different countries, reputation scholars Fombrun and Van Riel found that organizations with the strongest reputations are, on average, characterized by high levels of: 1. Visibility = Image and perception; otherwise, it would not be known 2. Distinctiveness = Recognition and memory; otherwise, people would not recognize it 3. Authenticity = Truthfulness; every communication needs to be really connected to your personality otherwise it would be fake 4. Transparency = Openness and disposability to answer to the issues they care about; to gain trust, organizations need to be transparent otherwise they would not be trust 5. Consistency = Integration between messages over different channels and places; because the organization cannot be awkward and show a different part of itself any time. - Consumer organizations defend consumers’ rights (CODACONS) - Trade Unions defend workers’ rights (CGIL) The strength of an organization’s reputation is the values that it communicates, which are not only authentic but also distinctive. Organizations need to express their uniqueness in the market and with other stakeholders to differentiate themselves from their competitors (preferred ‘position’ in the minds of consumers and other stakeholders). Types of brand identity - Corporate branding = The idea of an organization as a brand Extension of the product branding approach (focus on products, brand benefits and on individual consumers). Monolithic = same corporate name and brand uniformly across all its products, services and communications (specific products only under one brand: BMW, McDonald’s). Is when the name of the organization is also the name of the product. Branded = each product or service under its own unique brand name and identity, separate from the parent company. (Beats under Apple/Sisley under Benetton/Dove under Unilever) Endorsed = somehow the brand and the name of the organization that produce the product are connected and visible at the same time. (Polo Ralph Lauren by RL/MYTWIN by Twinset) - different products and business under the parent company’s name An increasing number of organizations that were branded are changing into monolithic. (Unilever) to associate product brands more closely with the parent company’s name, strengthening its overall value and reputation. The Role of Corporate Branding Corporate branding = The idea of an organization as a brand Extension of the product branding approach (focus on products and brand benefits and on individual consumers). Corporate branding is like corporate image management but differs in its broader scope and focus on the entire organization. (not only external stake) Schultz’s Perspective: Corporate branding focuses on creating an enduring corporate identity that resonates with all stakeholders, including employees, customers, investors, and the public. The core of corporate branding is the alignment of a company's vision, culture, and image, which is the alignment of: - the organizational culture as experienced by employees - the corporate vision as articulated by senior managers - corporate image or reputation in the minds of external stakeholders Three toolkit elements to understand if we have an alignment: (Hatch and Schulz) A useful way of analyzing the alignment between an organization’s vision, culture and image is the toolkit, which consists of a number of diagnostic questions based on three elements: Vision: senior management’s aspirations for the organization; where I want to bring the company. - The strategic direction set by senior managers, influencing both the internal culture and external image. Culture: organization’s values as felt and shared by all employees and people inside the organization; - It is how employees perceive the company internally, which is part of the internal communication and needs to be aligned to the manager’s vision which is hard. Image: the image or impression that outside stakeholders have of the organization - How external stakeholders see the company. Vision – culture gap: The aim is to analyse how managers and employees are aligned. 1. Does the organization practice the values it promotes? - If I say I’m sustainable I must be. 2. Does the organization’s vision inspire all its subcultures? - e.g. LVHM’s vision to become the leading company in the luxury industry (If LVHM takes over Fiat, the company should change the mission and the mentality of the brand to make it aligned to the parent company one) 3. Are the organization’s vision and culture sufficiently differentiated from its competitors? - Differentiation, authenticity, and features to stand out. Misalignment between vision and culture happens when senior management moves the organization in a strategic direction that employees don’t understand or support, establishing a vision that is not supported. Culture – image gap: The aim is to identify potential gaps between the values of employees and the perceptions of stakeholders outside. 1. What images do stakeholders associate with the organization? 2. In what ways do its employees and stakeholders interact? 3. Do employees care what stakeholders think of the organization? Misalignment between an organization’s image and organizational culture leads to confusion among stakeholders about what a company stands for. - e.g. if its employees do not practise what the company preaches in its advertising. Image – vision gap: The aim is to find out whether management is taking the organization in a direction that its stakeholders support 1. Who are the organization’s stakeholders? 2. What do the stakeholders want from the organization? 3. Is the organization effectively communicating its vision to its stakeholders? Misalignment here happens when organizations do not sufficiently listen to their stakeholders and create strategic visions that are not aligned with what stakeholders want or expect from them. !! --> Based on these three sets of diagnostic questions, organization can monitor alignment between their vision, culture and image so that they can make adjustments accordingly. British Airways Case: An Example of Misalignment Vision: In the 1990s, CEO Robert Ayling aimed to redefine BA’s identity as a "citizen of the world" with a cosmopolitan image. Strategic Changes: The British flag was removed from aircraft, and ethnic designs were adopted on the liveries to emphasize global rather than national values. Negative Reactions: - Customers perceived the loss of traditional British = betrayal (Vision-Image gap). - Employees did not share the new vision, even going on strike, as they were not involved in the decision-making process (Vision-Culture gap). - The lack of consistency between the company’s advertising messages and employee behavior caused confusion among stakeholders (Culture-Image gap). Return to Tradition: In 2000, the new CEO Rodd Eddington abandoned the program and reinstated the British flag, restoring the company’s traditional identity. Lecture 7 MEDIA RELATIONS Media relations involves managing communication and relationships with the media. - All the writers, editors and producers who contribute to and control what appears in the print, broadcast and online news media. news media are important as channels for generating publicity also thanks to their coverage of business news which may influence many important stakeholders. What are media relations and why do we do them? 1- A key area of CC 2- A must-have of any organization 3- A strategic tool to create, strengthen and shape public opinion “If you don’t get out and tell your story, someone else will and you won’t like the way they tell it” - Harold Burson The main objective for a company is to provide a type of media which could be perfect to spread their story because media will eventually speak about them, whether they decide to cooperate or not; They can either decide to tell them their point of view or let them come to their own conclusions. If companies let media free to decide, then they cannot complain over the story, so they have to assist them when asked for information/interviews. This way it could be much more likely (never sure) that the resulting news coverage will project a strong and uniform corporate message and enhance the company’s reputation. The content is filtered and evaluate by a third party which is independent. Who are “the media”? Media are independent organizations that decide to speak about you, or your organization, based on their own independent choices. They can give you a wide coverage power, but they are also really fragmented and with different focus also depending on who are the stakeholders. - Newswires: fastest reporter of facts. It is a team of journalist whose task is to report very quickly what is happening in all the topics. They are very quick and well connected with a lot of people so that they can have a lot of sources of information. - National newspapers: mostly read in a specific country, nationwide. - International newspapers: read worldwide, with a strong economic interest. - Economic periodicals: magazines dealing with economy (the most international discipline). - Trade press: no matter which industry it represents, you will always have specialized media that focus on the industry that are expected in an area. They are considered less important as a first approach, but they are actually crucial because these are the ones that better know the industry and better understand your point of view because they deal with your competitors. - Regional newspapers: specifically relevant when you are an organization that is structured with production in several places or offices in several places. - Radio and TV: in today's world video is fundamental o TV networks are a very important element in your building of the reputation because sometimes you can tell a story but if you produce video content your story will be almost self-explanatory. o Radio is interesting because they can dedicate more time in telling your story - Online news outlets: online versions of physical media (additional kind of media outlet). Involve new generations more - Blogs: nowadays are becoming relevant again. At the beginning were probably the first option to non-traditional media, 15/20 years ago, then there has been a huge wave of innovation, so blogs were no longer so much relevant due to an overload of information. Today blogs are changing their original shape: you might have seen that there are increasingly more newsletter services that you can pay, and they are selling exactly as a selling proposition if you want to go a bit more into depth of things. Blogs are changing in this way to be able to respond to the huge amount of informations that are going outside. Who is involved in the production of news contents: 1. Journalists = on an individual basis, consult sources and write news stories. - They just propose contents, then the editorial office check and modify the article. 2. Other parties within the news organization = based on their news routines, edit stories before they make it into print. 3. Media 4. PR agencies = private companies that works as connector between the organization and the media world which consult and support the organization of the leadership team but it’s not mandatory. Creation of a news: A story can be created starting from different points, but these elements are generally involved: - Event/Fact, to which a company responds by delivering a specific messsage - Company message - Journalist (subjective influence), their own version of the story is sent to the media/editor - Media/Editor (objective influence) - Story, the final story on journals This distinction also points to the limited control that journalists have over the final version of a story. Infact at the level of news routines, there are many other people involved in the writing process who affect the story. (editor is the most relevant) News routines within a media organization may also reflect a certain ideology or political orientation that is shared by journalists and editors of that organization. “media logic” which refers to the ideological frame of reference of a news organization, which influences how editors and journalists see, interpret and cover what do media want from us? Journalists look to find news and points of view that will be of interest to their readers. They may decide to write about you because you are doing something interesting or you have an interesting point of view. Before they consider a story, they will qualify an item as “newsworthy,” ensuring that it has relevance, or helps illustrate something they are already working on. - Experts’ opinions: new news and innovation - Interesting statements: points of view - Simplified complexity: explain in an easy way a complex matter - Numbers: fresh, new and meaningful data - Impacts: economic, local, scientific outcomes what do media often get? Advertising rather than news: They do not want to do promotions, especially from big corporations. Corporate machines: very standardized messages which could be told by any corporation, not interesting. - People who allude to future news and then don’t deliver it. - False information and false predictions about the future. - Jargon: acronyms, marketing terminology, words not understandable from readers, and they cannot use what you say. The journalist: Journalists work with very strict deadlines: those who make them waste time will rarely get a second opportunity. They are looking for information, and if they don’t obtain them directly from you, they will find a different source (even a competitor) to find the information they require. - Press conferences are rarely held and only when there is major news Journalists may talk to resources and write a story, but, at the same time, not even recognize it once published. This is because many other people are involved in the writing process, who affect the story, such as the fact checker who verifies that the names are spelled correctly. Copy editors may check that quotes are appropriately written to minimize conflicts and controversies. Layout and design specialist may check the design and the word limit. Moreover, the newspaper editor may decide that what was once a business news story should be a front-page article for a much broader audience changing perspective. What the headline of the story is, or which photographs will be included is not journalists’ call. News routines within a media organization may also reflect a certain ideology (a set of values and normative principles) or political orientation that is shared by journalists and editors of that organizations. This has sometimes been described as a “media logic”, which refers to the ideological frame which influence how editors and journalists see, interpret and cover political, corporate and social affairs. It also may have a direct bearing on the way in which the news about organizations is reported. try to know: - As much as you can about the journalist you’re talking to: you must know them as much as you can because their personal life can be influential for your message. - Which other journalists have already spoken about your topic: you need to be informed about their competitors because they could have discussed the same topic as yours and consequently, they would not cover it for you. - The main news of the day: realize what is happening in the world in order not to give the impression that you are not informed. - What has the journalist you’re talking to written in the last days, which topics have been dealt on his outlet in the past week: a little bit of praising is not bad, reach a level of confidence to have a conversation about which topic he could cover for you. data rules, examples and language You simplify complexity through: Data support the story you’re telling, most up to date facts and graphs, future trends, calculations on operations and the market place, examples or case studies. If you don’t have your own data, refer to public sources and, if needed, refer to certified third parties, unless it is something about your turnover. Examples make your story real, human and tangibleà journalists love writing about people’s stories, so give a ironic tone which could give a twist to your story. Quotable language, unusual and “spicy” declarations. Avoid negative or defensive sentences (they’re great to be reported, too!) and avoid jargon. Key Skills in Media Relations Spotting angles that make corporate stories appealing to the media. Bridging the gap between corporate and news frames to increase media placement likelihood. the effects of news coverage on corporate reputation News coverage plays a crucial role in shaping and influencing corporate reputation, since it often has an “amplifying” effect on companies’ reputations when good or bad news is reported. Media coverage does not directly define a company's reputation but influence how the organization is perceived by stakeholders, either by reinforcing existing positive or negative views. This crucial role has often been studied through the lens of agenda-setting. - Agenda-setting = a hypothesis which underlines that the frequency with which media report on a public or political issue determines that issue’s salience in the mind of the public. - Agenda-setting theory = by repeatedly highlighting certain topics, the media signals to the public which issues are important and should be given attention. Over time, and through repeated mention of the same issues, such issues may become lodged in the public’s mind. There are two levels of it: 1. The firs level of agenda-setting relates to the object of news coverage, to the salience of a particular organization and the degree to which readily comes to mind when a particular topic, such as an issue or industry, is being discussed. (what to think about) - e.g. Shell receiving big amount of media attention compared to its competitors, it becomes more prominent in the public's mind. 2. The second level is linked to the concept of news media that can also influence how people think about a topic in terms of associations and affective judgments. Media not only convey information, but they also actually make and represent reputational assessment to their audience. - e.g. Shell may be primarily associated with environmental damage due to media coverage, regardless of the company’s other activities. Yet, corporate reputation is formed through multiple interaction of individuals with an organization, And not only or even primarily through media coverage. While media can shape the public agenda Corporate communication practitioners can also influence the media agenda through a process called agenda building = by providing information subsidies (press releases, news conferences, campaigns) corporate communication departments help shape the way media covers an organization. - The relationship between corporate communicators and journalists is interactive, with both parties influencing one another. Corporate reputations are also relatively inert over time, once established they may act as a buffer against negative news and may as such neutralize or minimize the effect of negative news coverage on stakeholders’ opinions. framing news stories The relationship between communication practitioners and journalists has often been described as adversial. Journalists often have a negative opinion about communication practitioners. According to them, communicators think about the needs of their company first and less about what journalists need. They feel that practitioners withheld information and are not always objective. When corporate communication practitioners propose a particular story to a journalist, they engage in two different but related processes. 1. solicit interest in the story topic itself. (to journalists) 2. Ensure that the story is framed in a way that is consistent with the organization’s preferred framing, how the organization want the story to be told (aligns with the organization's preferred narrative or "corporate frame"). Practitioners and journalists may discuss and exchange viewpoints and negotiation about how news is framed. Framing theory focuses on how messages are created in such a way that they connect with the underlying psychological processes of how people digest information and make adjustments. Framing communication is important because it helps shape the perspectives through which people see the world. - To frame is to select some aspects of perceived reality and make them more salient in communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, casual interpretation, moral evaluation and treatment recommendation for the item described. News framing is, essentially, how your news is portrayed by media to explain news about organization in familiar terms for a broader audience, based on beliefs and convictions. How a news item is framed also largely depends on the political views and ideology of journalists and their news organizations. When practitioners frame a particular corporate decision, issue or event in such a way that promotes the organization’s interests, this frame is labelled as “corporate frame.” The skill in media relations, is often in spotting the stories or the angles that can turn corporate news into media news or bring a corporate story into a global news story. This process is referred to as the alignment of frames between practitioners and journalists.  Corporate Frame = How organizations wish to portray a decision or issue to serve their interests (e.g., press releases, speeches).  News Frame = How journalists interpret and present the same topic, often influenced by audience expectations, political views, and societal norms.  Frame Alignment = communication practitioners propose stories that fit dominant journalistic frames and use strategies to connect corporate narratives with audience-friendly angles. Conflicts arise when journalists frame stories differently, sometimes misrepresenting facts to meet audience expectations (Frame Contests). - Avoiding Conflicts: aligning frames with societal norms and journalist expectations, also building strong relationships with journalists to foster mutual understanding and open discussion. How to approach media: 1. Quickly but clearly: they are always in a rush, but they are curious. If you ignite that curiosity, they’ll listen to you. 2. Softly but steadily: don’t push too much, you’re not a salesman, but you still need to sell your story and win over dozens of other stories. 3. Eyes on the news! Reality gives you the best news hooks you can get. Be quick and take advantage of them through a real time press office activity be proactive in relations. Mapping the editorial calendars, knowing anniversaries and «world days» etc. helps you plan in advance, but sometimes you’ll need to work on breaking news to make the greatest hits. Opinion placement is also made this way. build your network Relations with journalists should be meant to last for the long time. It is fundamental to gain mutual trust. Once a dialogue with a journalist has begun you shouldn’t suddenly stop communicating. The relations must be cultivated: meet them! Sometimes it is necessary to assist a journalist even if the company will not be mentioned in the article. It is about investing in the relation - good relations can result in regular, balanced press coverage. the pr agency It is an organization specialized in protecting, strengthening or building the reputation of its clients, mainly through the media but not limiting to that (institutions, associations, public authorities etc.) Especially in the event of a communication crisis, appointing the right PR firm might prove decisive to solve it in the best way Lecture 8 MEDIA RELATIONS tools and techniques  Press release: Used to share newsworthy information with journalists in a clear, factual manner --> to circulate official public information to media, it needs to be factual and essential to be newsworthy. For several years, the automated distribution of press releases, as PR activity, was quite popular. However, in recent years, they’ve become less successful in generating interest amongst journalists and stakeholders. There is instead an emphasis on a more targeted approach, with press releases being written for and channelled to relevant media outlets. - Success Factors: * Relating to current events or human-interest stories. * Tailoring the content to match the interests, deadlines, and reporting styles of specific media outlets.  Press conference: For high-stakes announcements, crisis communication, or shareholder meetings. Organized around fixed period in the calendar when corporations release financial results, share information with shareholders, but also around crisis or issues (e.g. product defeat, accidents) to provide journalists with up-to-date information. Journalists are face-to-face with the company, a real live encounter with it. Journalists can interview asking something not expected. However, press conferences are increasingly rare due to the tight deadlines journalists are facing. - Key Feature: Interactive; journalists can ask questions, which makes it ideal for nuanced or sensitive topics. - Preparation: Identify key journalists to invite and provide advance briefings and ensure executives are ready to address questions. -  Interviews: Often requested by journalists for direct insights from CEOs or spokespersons. One of the most challenging tools, but they require a lot of stress and work for communication professionals. The best opportunity to deliver company’s messages, to give in-depth analysis. Interviews are one-to-one moment between a journalist and a Company/Institution executive. They’re often a great opportunity to deliver tailored, in-depth content. They also may become your worst professional nightmare: when interviews go wrong, according to the journalist’s capability, he can drive you in a path you didn’t want to take. - Teaching executives to align messages with corporate themes. - Training in verbal and non-verbal communication, anticipating journalist questions, and controlling the narrative.  Syndicated media-monitored services: media-monitoring packages which measure the total circulation or audience reached, the tone of news, the extent to which key messages are communicated and the share-of voice compared to competitors. The advantage of this tool is that it focuses on outcomes (share of voice and tone) and not on mere outcomes (coverage and impressions)  Media monitoring and research: focuses on analyzing media relations and the exposure achieved. It is the most common type of media research, which consists of monitoring media relations efforts. Two of the most used techniques are: 1. gate-keeping research, examines the characteristics that enable a press release or video to be published by the media. Key factors are content (e.g., financial topics are more likely to succeed) and style (e.g., tailoring to the specific interests of the media outlet). 2. output analysis, which aims to measure the amount of organization’s exposure as a result of media relations, so it measures the visibility an organization gains through media relations. Techniques include: - AVE: advertising value equivalent, which calculates the advertising value of exposure based on the cost of media space. Consists of counting the column inches of press publicity and second of airtime of earned media and then multiplying the total by the advertising rate of the media in which coverage appeared. - Reach and Frequency: "Reach" refers to the potential audience reached while "frequency" is how often a story appears in the same medium. Journalists' styles: Be prepared to communicate with different types of journalists but never let the journalists’ style affect how you answer the question. Media training can teach you how to do this. Journalist techniques/styles include:  Interrupter: Won’t let you finish a thought or a sentence. Respond with: “I’ll be happy to address that but let me first finish what I was saying about …” Impossible to you to focus and concentrate.  Machine gunner: Rapidly fires questions. Pick the question you want to answer.  Paraphraser: Puts words in your mouth. Says: “So what you’re actually saying is…” Correct wrong paraphrases and re-state what you actually WANT to say.  Dart thrower: Attacks with hostile language. “So you really don’t care about the residents then?” Don’t go on the defensive as more darts will come. Be calm and go back to your positive message and position.  Pauser: Stays quiet after you answer a question. Makes you feel you need to add more. Don’t unless you have something positive to say. This can be a good time to go back to key messages.  Hypothesiser: Will try to get you to join him in speculation. The “what if” line of questioning. Always goes for bad angles. Don’t fall into the trap.  Disarmer: Mr. Schmooze. Wants to be your new best friend. Be careful: you can easily agree with him and be totally disarmed. The message house: Hints and tips: - Get familiar with the environment as fast as you can - Be yourself - Look the journalist into his/her eyes - Look at the camera only when asked to - Look and talk at your best - Remember: you don’t communicate with words alone exclusive and previews Sometimes it might be useful to give an exclusive interview/content to a journalist/media or to give the same content in preview. Such a choice has however pros and cons. Exclusive: the media covering the news will dedicate a good amount of space to it. Due to media rivalries, though, it is likely that the competing newspaper/Network etc. won’t cover it. Preview: the media getting the news in advance will beat the competition. This choice is likely to annoy other media/journalist who will arrive late on the news. other tools activities 1. Media monitoring services: agencies providing the collection of all the media clippings, calculating the total circulation or audience reached by your news 2. Coverage analysis: quantitative/qualitative analysis of the media exposure, useful to understand how much and in which way your message has been received. 3. Online newsrooms: a dedicated part of the company’s website, in order to connect different platforms and media content. They typically include reports, speeches and press releases, videos, news feed, widgets, podcasts and archives of content. The advantages of newsrooms is that they provide journalists with information when they need it and that they also drives traffic on the company’s website. Crisis communication: A crisis is simply any negative event that could have a detrimental impact on the reputation or image of a company and/or its brands. How to be prepared for a crisis? - Assess Risks - Appoint Crisis Team - Create or Update Crisis Manual - Build internal Competency - Roll Out & Train - Continuous Review and Update key competences Media are obviously in the front line in shaping public opinion (agenda setting). In today’s complex contest, though, professional communicators can have as much influence in generating/shaping opinions through their relations with media (agenda building) Together with media they have the ethical duty to do their job responsibly (eg. Battle against fake news). Media relations are a challenging but stimulating activity, in a constant evolution, requiring to always be up to date on the latest events happening in the world. THE FIRST CAMPARI GROUP CORPORATE STORYTELLING PROJECT objective: Strengthening the identity of Campari Group through the heritage & uniqueness of its brands and reinforcing the strong bond with the world of art and culture (has always played a fundamental role in their history) Long-term vision: The Spiritheque is a unique opportunity to dig deeper into the realms of our brand and unveil the major storytelling potential within them. The platform will be constantly fuelled with always new and unique content and can evolve into a multichannel narrative (podcasts, videos, events, limited editions). Target: Opinion makers like Media, institutions, investors, highly educated individuals, influencers & brands advocates (bartender community) and “The engaged Consumer”, so people with high interest towards brand stories and culture. From Factsheets to Stories: A new narrative outlined by accredited authors who reinterpret the stories of our main brands taking inspiration from real facts and anecdotes. Focus on the heritage and «always-true» assets of our brands Artists make our stories come to life: Each story comes with animated illustrations, which come from the brand’s same country of origins. Lecture 9 - guest CRISIS COMMUNICATION AND REPUTATION MANAGEMENT Today we live in an age of anxiety and uncertainty, in which organizations must pay more and more attention to complexities. Digital technologies radically changed society and how information are exchanged, perceived and assimilated. It has become easier for companies to lose control of their communication pathway and find themselves in the middle of a crisis. In this context, a proper reputation management is vital, and communication plays an essential role. Definitions: - Reputation: the values that stakeholders attribute to a company. based or their perception and interpretation of the image that the company communicates over time - Crisis: a point of great difficulty or danger to the organization, possibly threatening its existence and continuity, that requires decisive change and immediate action from the organization. - Crisis management: the reactive response to a crisis to pre-empt or limit damage to the organization's reputation. - Crisis communication: All communication efforts aimed to protect the company's reputation following a crisis and to limit the crisis damage based on perceptions of organizational responsibility, practitioners can choose between different communication strategies, ranging from accommodative strategies to advocacy and defensive ones. Crisis communication is based on a circular model (it doesn't stop, it is always going). It is made of 3 phases: Pre-crisis: The company needs to be ready and focused on detection. prevention and preparation. Crisis: When a crisis happens, they try to manage the event. First thev recognize the triggered event and then they respond property Post crisis: when the crisis is over, they focus on recovery, and review what has been done well and wrong to be prepared for the future. ENEL ENEL is a huge company; this means that is highly exposed to crisis and damage. The company has 4 key business: 1. Supply and trading = connect raw materials that are used for production to build up plans. 2. Energy generation = form different kind of sources, like wind and sun 3. Distribution = MT and BT lines that deliver the energy to companies. 4. Market and services. Each one of them can be exposed to critical events like weather and geophysical events, malicious behaviour, accidental events or reputational. Each business area can be affected by critical events of different nature and situation can lead to reputational impacts, especially if not managed properly. To ensure the proper and prompt management of these challenging scenarios, the Enel Group has adopted a specific policy as a set of guidelines aimed at "Guaranteeing clearness, speed and effectiveness of decision-making and internal / external communication". Critical Event Management in Enel Group: In the policy they created they also define what a crisis is for them and the purpose of the process; they must guarantee quick responses, and all the businesses involved in the crisis must act in time and communicate properly. Policy application is granted by a set of actors and responsibilities at Country and Group level. Roles and responsibilities are designed to grant timely and proper coordination and alignment, information sharing, decision making and response initiatives. Moreover, a permanent dialogue between Countries and Holding is also established. Then all the information are put together to inform the management and internal stakeholders. Each event is categorized based on its operational and reputational impacts. A Warning and Pre-Alert system is used to anticipate possible scenarios and inform relevant stakeholder beforehand. Once a critical event occurs, it is categorized as Green, Yellow or Red Code. Each affected area is responsible for the "operational management" of the situation. The operational management of the situation is entrusted to the affected Company's areas that would apply specific policies, procedures and guidelines. - Real Time Communication leads the communication response. Official information and updates are internally divulged via dedicated bulletins. Each affected Company's area is responsible for providing up-to-date information that are reported in dedicated sections of the bulletins that are timely Issued to a preset list of recipients. Real Time Communications leads the communication response and it's the area responsible for leading crisis communications activities within Enel Group. It also provides the guidelines and coordinates the activities at global level through its 7 mirror units. For example, an Enel employee from Rome cannot understand properly which is the best way to adapt to a community in Santiago del Chile, therefore Enel needs to have in the team someone who attentively follows the social tendencies of the place so that they can manage a crisis situation as best they can. - Real Time Communication collaborates with all of the business lines, service functions and staff functions. Moreover, together with security, it coordinates the overall critical event management process. Adaptation of Enel: Enel has a permanent set of activities related to the 3 stages: Permanent media monitoring = employees scan the contents of the web to detect potential contents that indicate that the direction taken was useless. Content mitigation = employees try to identify content that can have a negative impact and mitigate them. In the Pre-crisis Enel focuses on: - Policy and procedures - Risk mapping; collect information from colleges in different Countries in order to spot situations that might evolve in the future in different areas. - Training and simulations; everybody needs to know his task and if there are changes. Colleagues have simulations to understand how people would react. - Q&A and Crisis communication plans; employees can analyse specific issues and prepare a different plan. Companies also try to precede what kind of crisis they might face e.g. Enel has a summer and winter plan because they are aware of the weather variation of each season. There's also a communication preparation, for example with press releases. You cannot preview the future, but you can prepare as much as you can. During the crisis, Enel focuses on: - Critical Event Management process; the process that might be prepared before, or is prepared at the moment, is applied. - Communication response; when the crisis ends, Enel wants an evaluation of the response. The company focuses on benchmarking (an analysis of the world's best practices in the field of competitiveness analysis, a search for the best offers on the market that a company can use in normal processes) and meeting third parties (information exchange: meeting with other companies to learn something from them). Communication response: The objective (protect image and reputation) and the challenges (people are going to complain) are pillars of crisis communication response. Other factors of communication response are:  Strategy: the company must decide which approach to use  Means: define tools that are going to be used  Messages that would be delivered  Channels that would be used Approaches of a strategy: a. Reactive: Media actions are adopted in response to the detection of a certain negative content. At the beginning you wait and then decide when and how to intervene. Pro: Allows you to monitor the evolution of the situation without unnecessary media exposure. Cons: Negative and incorrect contents can spread without control. b. Proactive: Media actions are adopted to anticipate the issuing of potentially negative contents. Soon as possible you decide to answer and deliver information. Pro: Allows you to position yourself in the media anticipating potentially unfavorable contents. Cons: You cannot stop communicating until the crisis is over. Sometimes a company can decide to switch between the two approaches. Means/tools  Communication plans: prepared in advance of a potential critical situation  Press notes: address to newspapers, essential to disseminate information via press agencies  Interviews: high-impact, trained spokespersons are essential  Off-the-record information: delivery of information without open media exposure  Q/As : prepared in advanced to respond to media inquiries  Website contents: suited to deliver institutional information in line with Company's storytelling. Internal channels can be also used  Social media posts: can support the dissemination of key messages (tricky).  Dark website: the purpose is to be a primary source of information. In emergency company can cover irrelevant information and show only the relevant one. Messages The kind of message you want to deliver is connected to the scenario. The mes