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Insights Strategy Documents I22/2012 Communication Innovations in communication: need for new ideas to engage the entire society Doing things differently is as important today as making things that are different from the ones produced by others. Traditional challenges in the area of communication are complemented by new challenges of the digital world and force professionals and companies to look for new creative ideas that would boost not only communication proper, but business in general. Is it possible that the ideas that worked in the pre-digital era are still viable? What is key for innovations in communication at the moment, in the context of the new digital world? What has to be done to ensure that communication innovations are effective in the online environment? the technological progress and democratisation of technologies, which goes hand in hand with influence. However, never before have we observed a reality where all actors were at the same time producers, authors, distributors and recipients of their own or other peoples’ ideas, content and information. Challenges faced by brands in the current context are changing the roles of communication professionals, who realise that the influence they used to enjoy in the past, is decreasing. Technologies are changing this at an exponential rate: currently more information is produced than over the whole history of humankind, and according to forecasts, in 2020 we will be producing 85 times more information than at the moment. That’s why communication professionals are trying to reinvent their role, to get familiar with the new scenarios and play safely. If there is one word that defines the profession of communication, it is the change: by its nature, the role of communication was to shape public opinion as well as the vision of companies, brands and the environment to make sure that they adapt to the changing times. Current transformation of the media and the communication is similar to many other advances experienced in the course of history thanks to According to Ben Bradfield, Weber Shandwick’s Director for Innovation, EMEA, the purpose of communication as a professional field is to change This document was prepared by Corporate Excellence – Centre forReputationLeadership and contains references among other sources to the statements of Ben Padfield, Chief Innovation Officer EMEA, Weber Shandwick, during the workshop New Challenges of the Economy of Ideas: How to Innovate in Communication? organized by Weber Shandwick jointly with Dircom in Madrid, on May 8, 2012. Innovations in communication: need for new ideas to engage the entire society behaviours, convince and modify/promote/ reinforce attitudes that lead to certain behaviours by using messages and content that connect audiences with companies. The main change: loss of control An essential change that came about in the past few years is the loss of communication initiative on the part of companies and communication professionals. In fact, many companies and professionals of the sector still act as if they were in control of the process, thus directing erroneous strategies and communication policies. But what is happening to ordinary people? What are they doing with the power that returned to its true owners? People take advantage of the availability and quick access to information in order to shape an opinion and act in favour or against different causes. The behaviour of citizens, including their role as consumers in the economic dimension has become “It is more important than ever before to engage persons in the process of development, creation and distribution of content and communications of brands” more revolutionary, proactive and demanding than ever before. The demands that they express are no longer limited to what concerns them directly, they are increasing and affect the core of business management. Padfield believes that the capacity of companies to revert this process, turn it around and use it as an opportunity to a large extent determines their success in the new scenario of communication. That is why the best brands have tried to promote – jointly with their audiences – new ideas, new concepts and new content that manage to unite them around a cause or a project. In the world where the attention and time of people are more precious than ever, it is extremely important to involve people in the process of development, creation and distribution of content and communication. This is because those who have been considered amateurs will soon become true communication professionals. Gráfico 1: Drivers of World Class Brand Sociability 1. It‘s not the medium – and it‘s more than the message World class brands are much more likely than the average brand to create original content. 45% of them create content specifically for social media purposes, compared to 28% of all global companies. World class brands depend upon much more than just the medium to make themselves social. 2. Put yor brands in motion World class companies do more than experiment with social media tools. They apply their tools in more social ways than the average global company. For example, they are 44% more likely to offer brand-related mobile content, 43% more likely to participate in “check-in” apps, 41% more likely to do proximity marketing and 40% more likely to have their own branded YouTube channel. 3. Integrate or die World class organizations are much better integrators of brand personality – they are nearly twice as likely as other organizations to have a consistent brand personality across all social and traditional media channels and are much more likely to include a social media element to their traditional print or broadcast messaging. 4. Make social central 61% of world class brands have a dedicated social media strategist or manager, vs. 41% of all global brands. “The most important thing we can do is to centrally plan social media activities across all channels to amplify key messages.” – Global Executive. 5. Listen more tan you talk World class companies fine-tune their messages to customer and integrate what is on their brand stories. Nearly twice as many world class brands have changed a product or service based on fan recommendations compared to the average global brand. 6. Count what matters – meaningful engagement World class brands place more weight than other brands on their number of contributors when measuring social media effectiveness. Social contributors are ranked #1 by world class companies but #6 by other companies as mey metric. 7. Think global Executives managing world class brands consider global reach as important as customer service as a driver of corporate reputation while the average global executive ranks global reach last. “Our social branding goals involve a very firm commitment to increase the recognition of the company’s globalization.” – Global Executive. 8. Go outside to get inside World class companies are nearly twice as likely as average global companies to engage outside support to enhance and measure their brands social performance. 9. Be vigilant To protect their social brand integrity, world class brands are always on high alert. Compared to the average global company, they are 85% more vigilant since Wikileaks has been in the news and the 58% more likely to be concerned about privacy violations. Source: Weber Shandwick, 2011. Insights 2 Innovations in communication: need for new ideas to engage the entire society That’s why brands need to create true social experiences in order to activate these relations with their audiences: they are no longer just Trade Marks (TM) from the commercial point of view: they have turned into Common Marks(CM) from the social point of view. In this sense, as was pointed out by McLuhan, brands are more than just a message media, and the public can be viewed as the audience and the channel at a time, they are cocommunicators. That’s why we observe cooperation in the business domain, as companies realise that together they are more efficient and can benefit from greater value generated jointly. the brands’ social exposure, as opposed to 45% in 2010, and the figure is expected to increase to 65% in the next three years. The audiences are more influential than the media The fact that the world today is entirely interconnected and favours viral spreading patterns seems to be obvious. However, in this new context it is important to understand that there are two elements that in addition to engagement and cooperation in production and distribution mentioned above, ensure success of the communication strategy: on the one hand, one has to have an excellent idea that would truly match expectations of consumers; and on the other hand, these ideas should be developed from the audiovisual perspective, because this will increase their impact (visual thinking instead of verbal thinking, because people are always more open to share images rather than words). All of the above proves that it is important for companies to have a clear position in the social sphere, to know their own social focus. A recent opinion poll held by Weber Shandwick internationally and published in the end of 2011 shows that managers of global brands attribute 52% of their reputation achievements to the degree of “The brand’s audience is its main channel of communication and recommendations are the currency in the new reputation economy” Gráfico 2: Why does brand sociability matter? Global brand executives attibute 52 % of their brand‘s reputation to how social it is today. They project in to be 65 % in three years. 65 % % 52 % 45 % go y toda in 3 ears y +45 ar a 1 ye 54 % 23 % Rewards outweigh risks One-third say quality of online presence or engagement is a prime driver of corporate reputation 20 % 3% Global brand executives think the rewards of social media outweigh the risks by more than a 2-to-1 margin. Don‘t know Risk Risks and rewards are fairly even outweigh rewards BUT... 33 % 84 A large majority of global executives believe their brand‘s sociability is not yet “world class.” % Source: Weber Shandwick, 2011. Insights 3 Innovations in communication: need for new ideas to engage the entire society Given these three elements (cooperation, invention and visualisation), the contribution of the user to spreading of information on many occasions will be a proven and measureable fact. Achieving interaction between persons, becoming a contact point for different audiences is essential for establishing this social positioning so much desired by many brands that are operating on the market. Brand reputation is more than ever affected by this third element (in addition to what they do and say): what is said about them by their users rather than just consumers. Their influence capacity to a large extent determines this capacity of the brand. That’s why it is so important for the brands today to have users and followers who generate influence, who, in addition to informing, are able to present information in a favourable light, link, motivate and direct the communication. This is a great change from the past, when communication was controlled by the brands. Therefore, the brand’s audience is its main channel of communication and recommendations are the currency in the new reputation economy: today audiences are more important and influential than the media. Social advocacy is a technique that allows the best brands to receive a higher level of feedback to move in the direction that matches expectations of its users and to be more active than their competitors when it comes to creating and sharing, generating and spreading. Conclusion: the era of influential ideas In the economy of reputation the best reputation is achieved through cooperation with the society and different stakeholders at the time when it is important to create and share value. But this value is a product of exchange of ideas, projects and hopes. The new economy that we are building (or the anarconomy characterized by lack of central control, according to the definition suggested by Jonathan C. Hall, Professor of the Columbia University), is not only the economy of attention and reputation. It is also the economy of ideas. Only the best communication ideas succeed, and the best ideas are usually the result of talent and knowledge interaction, the know-how of the entire universe of users and individuals. Engagement is the most important value of the exchange, and the ideas that favour greater connection and exchange are those based on the human values and attitudes. Activating the close circle of a user (his or her family, friends and colleagues), in addition to involving them, is the most direct and effective way of transforming him or her into a true ambassador and – favourable – activist for the brand, and achieving that this person shares the goals, methods, objectives and strategies of this brand. Those brands that allow their users to interact with them in the process of management and communication, have fun and enjoy this process, are those that achieve greater engagement and as a result, better reputation. The true brand innovation at the moment is sharing initiative with the users and turning them into the best channels of expressing the brand’s creativity. Insights 4 Leading by reputation ©2012 Corporate Excellence – Centre for Reputation Leadership Business foundation created by large companies to professionalize the management of intangible assets and contribute to the development of strong brands, with good reputation and able to compete in the global market. Its mission is to be the driver which leads and consolidates the professional management of reputation as a strategic resource that guides and creates value for companies throughout the world. Legal Notice This document is property of the Corporate Excellence – Centre for Reputation Leadership and has as its objective to share business knowledge about Brand, Reputation, Communication and Public Affairs Management. 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