Excellence in Communications

´It´s all about brand and reputation´

Rostov-on-Don, 4 June 2013

CORPORATE COMMUNICATION & BRAND STRATEGY

Koenraad van Hasselt

In old times, the best companies were the

ones with access to the best resources…

Labour

(employees, labourmarket, alumni)

Money

(shareholders,investors)

Raw materials

(suppliers,partners)

…now the best performing companies also

have considerable intangible assets

Labour

(employees, labour market, alumni)

Money

(shareholders, investors)

Raw materials

(suppliers, partners)

Legitimacy

(various stakeholders)

Brand and Reputation

(all stakeholders)

PR departments have to meet high

demands…

Monitoring

environment

Managing

stakeholder

expectations

Media relations

Writing

Public Affairs

Sponsoring

Financial comms

Internal comms

Community

management (2.0)

Dialogue and

interaction

Strengthen identity

& comms skills of

organisation and its

people

Best in Class communications

meets five criteria

Quality of

staff

AlignmentEnd

game

Accountability

Stakeholder

orientation

1. Quality of staff

• People are business savvy

• People are sensitive to

organization and its

environment

• Management development in

place

PR people need to possess many

skills and competences

• Strategic (visionary, analytical, lateral thinker) as well

operational (planning, organising)

• Sensitive to the outside world as well as the inside world

• Pro-active as well as the trusted advisor

• A good communicator (listening, speaking, writing,

presenting, social media ) as well as a business partner

and conflict solver

Framework of comms competences

needed for management development

Dutch professional profiles, based on European Qualification framework, Logeion, 2010.

Core tasks Analyzing Advising Creating Coaching Organising Managing

Professional levels:

Issue driven

Planning driven

Results driven

Task driven

Instruction driven

For PR people, there are more

opportunities than every before…

The economist, 190511

Het

Financieele

Dagblad

PR has become more

professional and

strengthened its position

versus journalists

Media saw their

resources cut, are more

dependent on PR

people.

2. Stakeholder orientation

• Organisation of comms reflects stakeholder focus

• Stakeholder sentiment is monitored, measured, analysed

• Communications facilitates dialogue and interaction

Brand Promise, Mission, Core Value, Strategy, Culture

Cross-functional Communications at DSM

Corporate messaging, visual identity and behavorial framework

EmployeesShareholders Communities

Marketing/BGs/CC IR/BGs/CC PA/BGs/HR/CCHR/BGs/CC

Strategic

Priorities

Strategic

Priorities

Strategic

Priorities

Strategic

Priorities

Customers

Communication

prioritiesCommunication

priorities

Communication

priorities

Communication

priorities

Tactical

initiatives

Tactical

initiatives

Tactical

initiatives

Tactical

initiatives

Clientsdon’t buy

Activist groupsdon’t want

Rating Agenciesdon’t rate

Suppliersdon’t

conform

Staffdon’t behave

Sustainability indices don’t

validate

Analystsdon’t back

Partnersdon’t promote

Local communities don’t accept

Politiciansdon’t support

NGOs don’t

approve

Online communitiesdon’t accept

Mediadon’t believe

Regulatorswon’t allow

Corporate

Reputation

12

Stakeholder support should never

be taken for granted. What if…

Reputation

undermined

Signal detection and pattern

recognition of stakeholder sentiment

3. Accountability

• Measuring input, output and

outcome

• Independent analysis of data

• Individual performance

management and target setting

Balanced

Scorecard/

Dashboard

Communications efforts and results

must be measurableREPUTATION

• RepTrak

• Fortune 500

•Tailor made research

STAFF

•Employee satisfaction & motivation surveys

• Exit interviews

• Employer brand

surveys

STAKEHOLDERS

•Stakeholder

dialogues (qualitative)

Shareholders &

authorities

• Dow JonesSustainability Index

• Transparencybenchmark

• Global Reporting

Initiative

CUSTOMERS

• Customer satisfaction

• Market research

4. Alignment

• Communications strategy derived from corporate & business strategies

• Cooperation with other comms´owners´ (CEO, CFO, HR, Legal, Finance, Marketing, Country Managers etc.)

• Orchestration based on overall functional comms ´ownership´

Communications should facilitate and

manage the coalition towards alignment..

Comms

HR

MKT

Strat

OPS Comms

HR

MKT

Strat

OPS

..choosing the an alignment platform

based on the dominant logic

Comms

CSR

Reputation

Brand

Qualitymanagement

Alignment finds often its origins in

the corporate story

What makes a good corporate story ?

• It makes the essence, the soul of the organisation, clear, in a way that is

relevant, attractive and realistic to all stakeholders.

• It makes the organization stand out from others.

• It describes the (unique) history of the organization, the core competences

and its ambitions.

• It gives the organization a personality.

• It is a real story, with a plot, a beginning, middle and an end.

• It forms the basis for all communications and dialogue.

• It is well embedded in the organization, the CEO is the owner.

5. End game – long term value

STAFF

Alignment

Accoun

-tability

Stakeholder

orientation

• Corporate brand

• Employee

engagement

• Reputation

Brand is an anchor as well as a compass

The corporate brand brings together

vision, culture and image.

VCI Alignment model: Mary Jo Hatch en Majken Schultz

Who do we want to be ?

What do we want to be known for ?How do they look at us ?

Who are we ?

Stakeholderimages

Organisationalculture

Strategicvision

Organizational

identity

Strong corporate brands create

internal alignment…

Marketing &

Communication

HR

Products &

ServicesSales

Business

development

Corporate

brand

Touch

point

Touch

point

Touch

point

Touch

point

Touch

point

…and create a bonding with (all) stakeholders

Marketing &

Communication

HR

Products &

ServicesSales

Corporate

brand

Touch

point

Touch

point

Touch

point

Touch

point

Touch

pointBusiness

development

Stakeholders

Stakeholders

What makes a strong brand?

Authority

EsteemDelivers quality

Trust It´s ok

Vitality

DistinguishingOne unique claim

RelevantServes a purpose

Measuring brand value

Role of corporate brand depends on

strategy, structure and governance model.

One brand,

one promise

Light endorser

strong identity and promise, primarily for

internal alignment

Brand behind the brands

Added value

Visibility High

Strong vision

and promise

Weak vision and

promise

Low

Corporate brand and

lead brand

A corporate brand represents a

promise

?

?

?

?

?

?

Benneton´s promise?

Delivering on the brand promise will

influence reputation positively

Corporate reputation is the observers’ collective

judgment of a corporation based on the assessments

of the financial, social and environmental impacts

attributed to the corporation over time

Barnett et al.

Reputation: about stakeholder support

and licence to operate

The value of a strong corporate reputation

Works for internal motivation and bonding

Pride, identification and alignment lead to better performance

Functions as an airbag / insurance in incidents

Thanks to positive and selective perception

Acts as a magnet

Attracts customers, investors and talent

It represents financial value

Companies with a strong corporate reputation are valuated

higher on the stock market

CEOs fear reputational risk most

..and their own reputation contributes no

less than 30% to corporate reputation

CEOs take responsibility, but do they

know how ?

* Brand and reputation in the Boardroom,

Koenraad van Hasselt, 2011

• CEOs do not feel like the personification of the company,

but accept the responsibility of figurehead, esp. in crises

• CEOs look at brand as something operational and

manageable, whereas reputation simply ´happens to a

company´ and is therefore more threatening

• Profile of business sector is one of the key reputational

risks

• CEO is not familiar with state of the art methods of

measuring and analyzing brand and reputation

• CEOs are held accountable for non-financial

KPI´s, but only rarely for brand and reputation.

What influences corporate reputation ?

Products & services

Financial performance

Corporate sustainability

Vision and leadership

Workplace and employer brand

Emotional appeal

How do perceptions originate ?

Level Credibility of source

1 Own, personal experiences

2 Referrals by family, friends

3 Social networks & blogs

4 Recommendations by authorities (incl.

scientists, media)

5 Communication by own organisation

6 Mass media, commercial communications

(advertising)

Paul Stamsnijder, ´De Vent is de Tent´, 2010

Measuring reputation – RepTrak*

* Developed by the

Reputation Institute

The RepTrak™ method• Qualitative and quantitative research

• Statististical analysis links RepTrak™ attributes to ‘supportive behaviours’

• The model uncovers the reputation drivers and gives direction to reputation management

Purchase

Recommend

Crisis proof

Verbal support

Leadership

Workplace

Performance

Citizenship

Innovation

Products & Services

Governance

Reputation drivers Supportive behaviourOverall reputation score (Pulse)

I

Invest

Work

Reputation management cycle

Measure and analyse current

reputation

Set objectivesand targets forreputation &

communication

Develop the corporate story

Select reputation

themes (3 max)

Roll out themeslike a political

campaign

Reputation is not a matter of

communications alone !!!

Performance

Commu-

nications

Context

Reputation

Three determinants that may put

reputation at risk*

• Reputation is stronger than reality (over promising)

• Extent to which external opinions and expectations

change

• Quality of coordination within an organization

* Eccles et al., 2007

A final word on reputation: it comes on

foot and leaves on horseback

Warren Buffett

"It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5

minutes to ruin it …

.. if you think about that, you'll do things

differently.”

´If you lose money, I will be forgiving,

if you lose reputation, I will be ruthless´.

The cars

have been

recalled and

repaired

The biggest

challenge:

restoring

your trust

Summing up: the ingredients for

excellence in communications

Staff

Alignment

End

game

Accoun-tability

Stake-

holders

And what about social media ?

Sociale media have changed the

fundamentals of communications

Organisations better get used to….

The speed… ….and the tone of

voice

Social media are an extension of the

traditional media

• Tell your story via social media (blogs, podcasts, Flickr, Slideshare, LinkedIn,

Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Wikis, Yelp)

• Build a relationship with specific communities

• Collect mails, Facebook links, Twitter IDs like you collect and manage telephone

numbers

• Monitor what is said about your company and its competitors (e.g. via Google Alerts,

Google Blog search, Twitter search etc.)

• Analyse your social media exposure and compare this with the offline media

• Develop social media rules for your employees

Social media rules : act normal !

NRC 29102011

In NL, statements

in sociial media

are in the top 5 of

reasons for

dismissal

Social media

rules at

GOOGLE:

Don’t be

stupid !

www.reputationmatters.nl

Thank you for your attention !