As Europe’s senior communications professionals scan the horizon for clues about the future of their role, their top concerns are how to ensure consistency of message across the organisation and how to cut through the information overload to be heard. Many communicators believe the answer lies in consolidation of communications functions to ensure alignment and impact. In order to capture what is top of mind in the shifting European communications arena, Brunswick and the European Association of Communications Directors (EACD) have partnered on a unique piece of research that included EACD members and other senior communicators across Europe. For more information please contact: Phil Riggins: www.brunswickgroup.com/people/directory/phil-riggins/

1. Cutting Through the Noise
The future of corporate communications

2. The future is already here —
it's just not very evenly
distributed.
William Gibson

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The World of Corporate Communications
is Changing
Changing communications roles
• Corporate communications more
central to the success of the business
• Greater alignment for more impact
• New roles and responsibilities
The changing communications
landscape
• More channels
• Faster pace
• More audiences

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The Future of Corporate Communications Survey
Who we surveyed Senior in-house communications
professionals across Europe
How many people we
surveyed
163
Survey dates 26th January – 9th March 2015
How we surveyed them Online by invitation
• Currently very little data on this topic
• Conducted in conjunction with the EACD
• Provides a picture of the challenges communicators across Europe face

5. Changing Communications
Landscape

6. “You have to react faster and
faster. The media always want
faster and more detailed
answers.” (Listed Company,
Czech Republic)
“[The biggest change in the past
couple of years is] the higher
speed and transparency of
communications processes as a
consequence of digitalization.”
(Listed Company, Germany)
The communications
landscape is becoming
more complex, both in
terms of channels, as well as
in how to manage, engage
with and impact business-
critical audiences
Reality #1

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Volunteered biggest recent changes?
Digital media, faster pace and integration
Q. What do you think is the biggest change in the past couple of years in how your communications department does its job?
50%
12%
10%
7%
7%
6%
5%
4%
Rise of social, digital and mobile communications
Increased pace of communications
Integration of communications
Doing more with fewer resources
More strategic use of communications to manage
reputation
Engaging with a broader range of stakeholders
Greater complexity of work (e.g. managing
multiple channels)
Measuring & demonstrating comms' business
impact & value

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Volunteered biggest current challenges?
Managing reputation and getting the story heard
Managing reputation
Communicating with
new audiences
Keeping up with change
and new media
Managing reputation
Social and online media
Budget, resources and workload
Keeping pace with changes
Demonstrating the value of comms
Globalisation of the business
Selecting appropriate tools and channels
Prioritising key objectives
Message development
Engaging the right stakeholders
Internal comms
Positive differentiation
Storytelling, developing
messages with impact
Q. What would you say is the biggest communications challenge facing your organisation today?

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Communicators focused on delivering consistent
messaging and being more strategic
Base: All answering (163)
72%
71%
70%
64%
64%
55%
54%
45%
44%
42%
Consistent messaging across the business
Being more strategic with our corporate communications
Creating effective messages
Demonstrating link between comms & business goals
Using social media effectively
Identifying emerging issues
Finding workable metrics
Maintaining or growing the communications budget
Identifying and prioritizing stakeholders
Finding creative ideas for campaigns
Significant
TIER
1
TIER
2
TIER
3
Q. How significant are each of the following potential challenges for corporate communications in your organisation today?

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Q. Thinking about your department and the work you do, how
relaxed or concerned are you about each of the following?
45%
47%
48%
60%
Changing stakeholder landscape –
size and diversity of audiences
Increased government regulation
With social media, how to separate
what matters from what doesn’t
Information overload in general
% who say they are concerned about each
Having an impact in an information saturated
communications environment is a huge challenge
“With the saturation of channels, the
ability to stand out is our biggest
challenge. Graphics can look slick for
anyone, so it's important for reputation,
experience and personality to stand
out.” (Listed company, UK)

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Q. Thinking about your department and the work you do, how
relaxed or concerned are you about each of the following?
45%
47%
48%
60%
Changing stakeholder landscape –
size and diversity of audiences
Increased government regulation
With social media, how to separate
what matters from what doesn’t
Information overload in general
“[I am concerned about the] communication
of complex ideas in a world that seems to
want 140 character all-in solutions.”
(Industry association, Switzerland)
% who say they are concerned about each
Digital and social media “noise” only compounds the
situation

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Q. Thinking about your department and the work you do, how
relaxed or concerned are you about each of the following?
“Corporate brands will become more
exposed and reputation will be harder to
preserve, due to social media and public
engagement.” (Private company, Serbia)
45%
47%
48%
60%
Changing stakeholder landscape –
size and diversity of audiences
Increased government regulation
With social media, how to separate
what matters from what doesn’t
Information overload in general
“Corporate communications should
provide a feedback loop from all
stakeholders – customers, suppliers,
employees, government, media, civil
society….” (Listed company, Belgium)
% who say they are concerned about each
The expanding range of stakeholders also presents a
challenge for many

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Non-traditional stakeholders increasingly important
Q. How important to your organisation would you say engagement is with each of the following stakeholder groups
now and how important will it be in 5 years’ time?

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Communications continue to shift to digital
Q. How important are each of the following communications channels for your organization now / and how important do you expect them to be in five years’ time?

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27%
18%
13%
12%
10%
10%
10%
10%
10%
Greater integration of PA, marketing, PR & comms depts
More proactive & strategic use of social media tools & big data
Engaging with a broader stakeholder base
Digitisation/ death of print media
Creative, engaging and authentic storytelling
More strategic role in the business
Greater fragmentation - multi-media & multi-channel comms
More targeted/ bespoke stakeholder messaging
Quick response/ continuous real-time engagement
Senior in-houses expect the future of corporate
communications to be more integrated, social and
stakeholder focused
Q. In a sentence or two, what do you think the future of corporate communications will look like? What big issues or changes do you expect to see in five years’ time?
“Reputation and issues
management will continue to
take center stage and will be
part of good crisis
preparation.” (Private
company, Spain)

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The biggest opportunity lies in “joining up the dots”
Coordination
17%
Social
Media
16%
Stakeholders
15%
Unified, more integrated
communications across the
company
Increase social media skills
and engagement
Broaden and strengthen stakeholder
relations and engagement
Q. What do you think are the biggest opportunities for corporate communications in your organisation over the next five years?
“Strategically determining messages and
steering them through different channels - a
coordination, steering and supervisory role.”
(Private company, Belgium)

17. Changing
Communications Roles

18. Reality #2
The communications
functions is increasingly seen
as more central to the
success of the business. As a
result, various strands of
communications are
becoming more closely
aligned to increase control
and impact of messaging

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Communications taking a more central role in the
organisation
Decreasing (8%)
Staying the same
(26%)
Communications
influence is
increasing (66%)
30%
17%
15%
12%
Successful comms seen as
business critical for reputation &
performance
Comms involved at strategic level
or as part of the management
team
Increased engagement with other
departments and employees
Recognition of need to
communicate effectively and
consistently
Reasons for increasing influence of corporate communications
Q. Do you think the influence of corporate communications in your
organisation is increasing, decreasing or staying the same?
Q. Why do you say that the influence of corporate communications in your organisation is increasing?

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“It is increasingly clear that
what happens in any part
of the business, anywhere
in the world has immediate
impact on a global scale.
A head of comms that is
empowered to make
decisions and take action is
vital to minimising
reputational damage.”
(Private company, UK)

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Organisations are consolidating their communications to
tell their story in a more consistent and compelling way
44%
44% say external communications are
consolidated or are being
consolidated under one leader now

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Organisations are consolidating their communications to
tell their story in a more consistent and compelling way
Six in ten expect external
communications to be consolidated
under one leader in five years’ time60%

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Organisations are consolidating their communications to
tell their story in a more consistent and compelling way
83% say communications will be more
aligned / consolidated in the future
83%

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Organisations are looking for more control and
consistency
39%
28%
21%
19%
Consistent messaging across channels,
audiences and geographies
Better coordination across internal
departments
More control through central
accountability
Cost benefits and synergies
Top reasons for consolidation
“Consolidating responsibility makes it
easier to tell a consistent story, and
provides direct accountability.”
(Listed company, UK)

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The role and title are changing
34% 17% 13% 7%
(Group)
Communications
Director/ Head/ VP
Head of marketing/
branding and
communications
Head/ VP/
Director
Corporate/
Public
Affairs
Director/
Director
General
Chief Communications
Officer (CCO) widely used in
the US, less so in Europe
Job title of main person responsible for external communications
(Where responsibility for different types of external communications is consolidated)
3%
Head of
communications
sits on the board
Head of comms
should sit on
the board

26. More Communications
Consolidation = Less Anxiety

27. Analysis suggests that
organisations who have a
consolidated
communications function are
more comfortable than those
who don’t with the changes
taking place.
Reality #3

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Businesses with consolidated comms functions less
likely to be concerned about “being strategic”
61%
68%
96%
27%
32%
36%
75% 76%
87%
17% 14% 17%
Being more strategic Concern about having
consistent messaging
Identifying and
addressing reputation
risks before they harm
the business
Understanding social
media
Changing stakeholder
landscape
How to make sense of
big data
Consolidated comms
Separate comms
Businesses with consolidated comms are less
worried about being strategic …
…and are more comfortable with changing landscape

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Communicators are looking to external agencies for an
external point of view and advice
Expecting to use external advisors more:
30%: Tactical execution and support
25%: External point of view, strategy advice and sounding board
18%: Public relations / media training
88% Currently use external communications advisors / agencies
Future reliance on advisors / agencies
25% 48% 27%
More No change Less
Q. What do you expect to use external advisors/agencies for?
Q. Does your organization use external communications advisors/agencies?

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Demonstrating impact to leadership is vital
76%
Say “metrics will be more important for demonstrating the
value of our work to senior leadership in the coming years”
“Slowly but surely we are able to point to
metrics that support the link between successful
communications and business performance.”
(Listed company, Germany)

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Demonstrating impact to leadership is vital
69%
73%
Measure the effectiveness of their corporate communication
efforts
Of these use Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for measuring their corporate
communications
And for measurement…





49% use surveys
24% use online /
social media activity
41% use press
coverage

32. What this means for
communicators

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Implications
1. The combination of social media and instantaneous digital communication
means transparency is the new default setting for communicators
2. Brand and reputation will increasingly be managed as one
3. In communications, form will follow function
4. Communicators will use direct engagement and rely less on intermediaries
to deliver the message
5. Agencies will change as well
The new realities of corporate communications

34. Get a copy of the full report and infographic
www.brunswickinsight.com / www.brunswickgroup.com
priggins@brunswickgroup.com

35. Thank you