Communication director 01 2015 teaser by Quadriga Media Berlin GmbH

COMMUNICATION

��

DIRECTOR

��

WHERE EUROPE‘S COMMUNICATION COMMUNITY COMES TOGETHER

Herbert Heitmann Bayer AG

Edna Ayme Nissan

Nicolas Brusson BlaBlaCar

Moran Cerf Kellogg School of Management

Machteld Merens Randstad Holding

25/26 Greg Dawson Samsung

JUNE 2015 BRUSSELS

EUROPEAN

COMMUNICAT ION SUMMIT2015

I N T E R N AT I O N A L C O N F E R E N C E F O R C O R P O R AT E C O M M U N I C AT I O N A N D P U B L I C R E L AT I O N S STORYTELLING

INTERNAL COMMUNICATION

SOCIAL MEDIA & ONLINE COMMUNITY

POLITICAL & PUBLIC AFFAIRS

REPUTATION MANAGEMENT

CHANGE COMMUNICATION

BRAND MANAGEMENT

COMMUNICATION STRATEGY

FOCUS TOPIC 2015 Lasse Hoegfeld Jyske Bank

Maria Sebregondi Moleskine

Kaiser Kuo Baidu

A N T I C I PAT I O N &DISRUPTION COMMUNICATIONS AT THE CUTTING-EDGE

Christiaan Prins Unilever

Frederik Pferdt Google

Roger Strandahl E.ON

Markus Weldon Alcatel-Lucent

Viktor Mayer-Schönberger Oxford Internet Institute

Gabi Zedlmayer Hewlett-Packard

W W W. C O M M U N I C AT I O N - S U M M I T. E U

Bill McAndrews BMW Group

Angeles Moreno University Rey Juan Carlos Madrid

Mattias Radström AB Electrolux

Pieter Bosschaart Mr. Prezident

Dani Buijtenhek danibu

Viviane Huybrecht KBC Group

Uldis Leiterts Infogr.am

Tony Bosma Extend Limits

Inge Wallage IWA

Seth Faison The Global Fund

Itziar Castello University Carlos III of Madrid

Reidar Gjaerum Statoil ASA

Emily Gibbs Financial Times

Egmont Philips ING Group

Per Nilsson Volvo Trucks

Ben Hunt Amadeus IT Group

Jayne Lewis The Chalfont Project

Sumeet Chatterjee RPG Enterprises

Christopher Storck Quadriga University

Anna Mitchell Coats plc

Ignacio Tena Rubio BBVA

Nika Aleksejev Infogr.am

Lee Ahern IECA

Paul van Hattem Mr. Prezident

Piet Verhoeven University of Amsterdam

Sabine Schauer Novelis

Ulrika Romantschuk Fazer Group

Fredrik Tukk Maersk Drilling

Florence Ranson FoodDrinkEurope

Louise Wadman Lloyds Banking Group

COMMUNICATION

DIRECTOR

Magazine for Corporate Communications and Public Relations

Mark Redgrove Orgalime

Bernd Rettberg Tebble

Caroline Tieney The Chalfont Project

Norbert Allgäuer Sky Deutschland

Ansgar Zerfaß University of Leipzig

Kendy Jason UBS Japan

A joint program with

In cooperation with

EMScom Executive Master of Science in Communications Management Take your communication career to the next level / Designed for mid-career professionals / International part-time program over 20 months / 9 residential sessions / Lugano-Singapore-Los Angeles

/ Experienced international faculty / Bridging academic research to business practice / Peer-to-peer learning / Strong alumni network

“I like the EMScom program especially from an Asian perspective as it gives me access to learn from other matured markets’ practices. The takeaways and implications are extremely beneﬁcial for us experienced leaders in the PR ﬁeld to pursue another level of success in the career enhancement. It is a new dimension to turn to in bringing strategic communications value to the organizations and to the business we are in.” Sharon Tang / Regional Director, Corporate Communications and CSR AEMEA at Hershey Company / China

EMScom / USI Università della Svizzera italiana / via Giuseppe Buffi 13 / 6900 Lugano / Switzerland phone +41 58 666 46 02 / emscom@usi.ch / www.emscom.usi.ch

EDITORIAL

little under 20 years on from the f irst appearance of Clayton Christensen’s landmark theory of disruptive innovation we can safely say that we are all living in disrupted times. The frequency of gamechanging developments that throw our work, our industries and the way we live our lives on their head is higher than ever before, and the differences between those who do anticipate future trends and those who do not are clearer than ever before. From the sharing economy to big data and the cloud, each day seems to bring a new challenge to the status quo. For communicators who have to navigate this volcanic landscape, it can be the best of times and the worst of times. The opportunity to be the organisation‘s weather vane, to sniff out potential changes, to weigh up the competition, to predict transformative innovations, to anticipate the future needs of stakeholders, and to head of crises while they are still small dark clouds on the distant horizon: these challenges offer the potential to transform the work of the communications function, and perhaps redraw the lines that def ine the role of the communications professional. But, as the word connotes, “disruption” isn’t always good news. As old familiarities are overturned, new innovations bring new challenges. Although 84 per cent of respondents told the most recent edition of the European Communication Motor that new tools enrich their jobs, 73 per cent say their daily work pressure is increasing, suggesting that new innovations designed to help us work more eff iciently should come with government health warnings about the risk of raised blood pressure levels. Either way, good or bad, challenging or rewarding, breaking crisis or innovative development, in 2015 disruption is a state of being. Communicators that are able to adjust to this state of affairs and learn to anticipate any disturbances in the force will be best positioned to lead their organisations forward.

Marc-Oliver Voigt Publisher marc-oliver.voigt@communication-director.eu

Photo: Private

01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

“What often comes as a surprise to many companies is the amount and tone of public pressure.”

“We believe that as a leading corporation, we ought to facilitate or support platforms which bring forward new ideas.”

TEAM PLAYER

AGENDA SETTER

How to improve personnel management and your career

The latest in communication thought and practice

When crisis strikes The beginning, middle and end of battling corporate crisis

Reconnecting the employee A feedback culture needs collaborative communications

Custodia Cabanas

PR ESSENTIALS Key aspects of communication

PR’s must-have apps The online tools that communicators can’t do without

STRATEGIC THINKER The corporate and academic stand on communication

Congratulations, you’re a manager! Everything you need to know about becoming a leader

Melissa Lamson

Digital revolution from the inside

A powerful combination When human relations and communications combine

Charlotte Hagö

Porsche’s ground-breaking new internal platform

THE STORY OF PR

Taking a social stance on social media New media tools are breathing new life into corporate social responsibility communications

Michael Etter and Christian Fieseler

Don’t shy away from talking about grief at work

Janell C. Bauer

Josef Arweck

Navigating the complexities of grief

Looking back at landmark communications

Communicate Europe: mission impossible?

Movement for change Throughout history, social change campaigns have innovated communications and captured public attention

Michaela O’Brien

Late last year, the European Commission took important steps to improve its communication services

THE BIG INTERVIEW

Ferran Tarradellas Espuny

Key communicators under the spotlight

46 01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

Mukund Rajan We speak with the brand custodian and chief ethics ofﬁcer at Tata, one of the world’s biggest multinationals

Photo: DILIP THAKKAR

“Innovation has become a key component to a business’s corporate DNA.”

“Anticipatory issue management process is a crucial component of any reputation management capability.”

STORY TELLER Looking at the important questions of communication

With its myriad disruptive developments, the mobility sector leads the way in innovation communications

Anik Michaud

Angela Dunn

What if? What now? Few things are as disruptive as a crisis: learning to anticipate them helps make the organisation stronger

Disrupting the status quo

In a turbulent environment, internal strategic alignment is essential to weather the storm

Daniel Diermeier

Photo: LAVA

Jean-Paul Chapon

A round up of recent and forthcoming titles

ASSOCIATION European Association of Communication Directors

The latest developments in the EACD

QUESTIONS TO...

Any time, anywhere, any device: version 2.0 Digital ubiquity has overturned the way corporations communicate, internally and externally

Social media theories disrupt our understanding of public relations’ role in society

Book Reviews

Tales of the unexpected Anticipatory issue management is more than a theory: it empowers communicators to foresee the unknown

Shaking it up with social theory

COMMUNICATIONS READER

Marion van Dam

A bewildering array of digital and technological challenges face the communicator, now and in the near future

Øyvind Ihlen and Piet Verhoeven

Companies who want to change their industry through innovations must ﬁrst learn to lead with communications

Standing together in the face of turmoil

Weapons of mass disruption David Phillips

Lars Rinsdorf and Swaran Sandhu

Can talkshows and telenovelas replace communications? How one company became its own media centre

Innovation on the move Michael Kuhn

The personal side of communication directors

Hester de Voogd Director of Communications Europe and Canada, MSD

01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

AGENDA SETTER The latest in communication thought and practice

WHEN CRISIS STRIKES When it comes to managing a crisis, what’s most important: prevention or cure? Two recent case studies suggest their own answers. By Dafydd Phillips

The team undertook extensive stakeholder mapping and analysis.

sympathy strike at regional power companies that are customers of Atea. The combination of a strike and the region’s power supply was a perfect storm of crisis as fears of power shortages and blackouts spread across Norway, reﬂected in headlines such as “Norway strike seen risking power blackouts, export cutoﬀs” from Reuters. In fact, more than 500 pieces of coverage in just four days put considerable pressure on Atea and the company turned to Burson-Marsteller for assistance with messaging, government relations, media relations and monitoring, and internal communications. Morten Pettersen, CEO of The Nordics at BursonMarsteller, led a team answerable to Atea’s CEO. He describes the team’s approach to anticipating crisis as “well prepared”, noting that “crisis planning and training represents the minimum level of preparedness. As a professional 01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

crisis communication agency, we have advanced tools for monitoring and identifying crises before they escalate.” In identifying the threat posed by the strike and proﬁling which audiences had to be communicated to the most urgently, the team undertook extensive stakeholder mapping and analysis, developed preapproved messages for every possible media and political contact or turn of events, and carried out training to ensure that the crisis management was eﬃcient. In the background was a constant time pressure, with the crisis lasting for an entire month (an eternity when a reputation is under the spotlight). For Morten Pettersen, the timeframe was the most challenging element, describing it as a “long lasting high intensity crisis”.

BATTLE STATIONS In the face

of this intensity, Atea and BursonMarsteller’s crisis response took on a two-part strategy. The ﬁrst was to take the heat out of the coverage by refuting negative comments about Atea with facts. This called for a round-the-clock monitoring of all comments and coverage in both traditional and new media and speedy reaction through pre-agreed and consistent communications. In the second phase, Atea persuaded politicians and media that

Photo: SuedLink

ew events cause more disruption to an organisation’s status quo than a crisis. Whether originating from outside the company or within, a crisis raises fundamental questions about the organisation’s operations, direction, strategy and relations with the wider community. For this special issue on anticipation and disruption, Communication Director looked at two recent case studies highlighting two very different examples of crisis handling by two very different organisations: but which nevertheless share important perspectives on how to anticipate and react to critical emergencies. Atea, a Nordic IT infrastructure company headquartered in Oslo, faced its crisis in April 2013 when a strike by 80 employees over a tariff agreement triggered a larger

AGENDA SETTER

Following criticism from the public, SuedLink held Info-marts along the site of their planned powerline corridor

the strike lacked legitimacy because it received only low levels of support among employees. Burson-Marsteller made sure that supportive employees were heard in the media. The work soon showed results. Political parties spoke out against the strike and pressure on the unions grew. Atea gained public support and won several positive media stories. When the dispute was brought before the National Wages Board in October 2013, Atea won on all counts, the ﬁrst time in Norwegian history that a company had won this kind of dispute.

SUEDLINK From Leipzig’s city

tunnel, Cologne’s subway line and the infamous Stuttgart 21, many major infrastructure projects in Germany have met with opposition, criticism and protests. Given this context, any new project in Germany would be well-advised to anticipate high levels of opposition and

disruption. That certainly applied to SuedLink, a powerline to transport renewable power 800km from north to south Germany and “Deutschlands größtes NetzausbauProjekt”, according to Der Spiegel. Thomas Wagner of the transmission system operator TenneT and community relations manager for the SuedLink project, admits that it was clear to them that the project would face “issues, concerns and to some extent criticism from the general public”. Which is why TenneT was eager to face this challenge head on with a proactive communication plan, paying equal attention to traditional as well as social media in order to respond to opinions as they arose. As part of their pre-emptory issue management, TenneT also discussed with environmental and consumer protection NGOs to understand which issues were particularly pressing, and with regional multipliers from politics, the media and civil society to help identify where lines of conﬂict could emerge. However, Wagner admits that, when plans for the corridor of the powerline were published, “the protest was much greater and much more emotional than we had envisaged.” 10 citizen groups immediately formed to oppose the project and the Bavarian state government demanded a moratorium on the construction of new transmission lines. “To put it bluntly,” says Thomas Wagner, “our communication seemed doomed to failure before it had even 01/2015

COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

AGENDA SETTER

Atea gained public support as politcal parties spoke out against the strike (top) and pressure on the unions grew (above)

begun.” Time for an urgent re-think, which, like Atea and Burson-Marsteller, had to take place under considerable time pressure. TenneT had to respond to this challenge and did so with info-marts. The team developed detailed information and maps and in three months conducted 22 info-marts along the planned transmission corridor. With a team of up to 20 experts on hand to answer questions, the public was invited to participate in the route planning with comments and suggestions, either in personal discussions, via questionnaires, on large-format maps or by telephone and

Not everything can be planned in crises. Some dynamics are hardly foreseeable.

online. With more than 3,000 statements received during this dialogue, roughly half of them comprised suggestions for optimising the corridor. In this way, says Wagner, “the dialogue signiﬁcantly contributed to improved planning.” Accompanying the public info-marts, TenneT also held discussions with local and regional politicians. The right approach in a crisis, according to Wagner’s analysis, is to speak on equal terms with your critics, to un01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

SUCCESS STORIES The results of TenneT’s crisis handling were positive, with media analysis showing 80 per cent of articles as neutral-topositive: “excellent for such an emotive issue”, says Wagner. But to what extent does he credit those early planning stages? “It is important to be prepared, such as by means of a comprehensive stakeholder and issues analysis,” he says. “But not everything can be planned in crises. Some dynamics are hardly foreseeable. Here it is important to be present as a team and – based on what can be prepared in advance – to respond quickly and accurately.” With hindsight, Wagner judges his team’s initial approach as “still somewhat conventional: we wanted to provide information about the project and then gradually commence the personal dialogue.” However, his team soon learnt that “traditional ‘frontal’ information formats – with experts on the podium and the public below – do not work.” The lesson learned at Atea and Burson-Marsteller, meanwhile, was the need for “a better understanding on how diﬃcult it is to get the media to drift away from their default perception, which is to support unions against employers.” Even in the redhot heat of crisis, it seems that valuable conclusions can be drawn that help the organisation anticipate and manage the next emergency – from whichever direction it appears.

Screenshots: TV 2, NorwayTV 2, Norway (2)

derstand their points of view. “Local citizens have very individual fears about their health, environment and property values. Only personal discussions can help to address these concerns. That entails considerable eﬀort and time but this is the only way acceptance can be gained. In personal dialogue on equal terms!”

5th Conference

EU PUBLIC AFFAIRS 26 /27 March 2015 The Hotel, Brussels

HOW BRUSSELS WORKS

GET YOUR TICKET NOW!

LI TI C A L PR O C ES S PO EU E TH IN TS EN R EC EN T D EV EL O PM F LO B B Y IN G & TH E FU TU R E O

ION): SP EA KE RS (SELECT

Marie-France van der Valk European Affairs Director, Renault

Christiaan Prins Director European External Affairs, Unilever

Nikolaus Tacke Public Affairs & Government Relations Director Europe, Coca-Cola

Andris Pelss Permanent Representation of Latvia to the EU

Stefano Sannino Permanent Representative of Italy to the European Union

Daniel GuĂŠguen Founder & Chairman, PACT European Affairs and Professor at the College of Europe

Christina von Westernhagen Director EU Advocacy, The Dow Chemical Company

Max von Abendroth Executive Director, European Magazine Media Association

conferences.quadriga.eu/en/publicaffairs

PR ESSENTIALS Key aspects of communication

TOP TOOLS FOR TODAY S PR PROFESSIONALS Whether it’s a project management app that keeps track of your work, a favourite online dictionary for ﬁnding just the right word, a dashboard that monitors online conversations about your brand: here are some of the devices Europe’s corporate communicators can’t live without.

1 2 Blogdash Blogger outreach tools www.blogdash.com “Curious about blogger outreach? BlogDash offers a complete set of blogger outreach tools all in one spot, making blogger outreach for multiple brands across multiple market segments a doddle.”

Blog Post Idea Generator Writing tools www.generatorland.com “Catchy, quirky and sometimes bizarre source of inspiration for blog-post ideas: whether or not you take them at face value, this kind of off-the-wall thinking can help you get creative.”

5 Bullshit Generator Writing tools www.dack.com/web/bullshit.html

“This cheeky toy actually has a serious message: by generating eerily credible corporate nonsense at a touch of a button, it reminds us how easy it is for corporate speak to degenerate into meaninglessness.”

4 Cision Public relations services www.cision.com Business Wire Public relations services www.businesswire.com “An established presence offering overall service, Business Wire provides support for you to reach your press release and disclosure targets, as well as helping to increase your views.”

01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

“The online offering of the Stockholm-based software company offers services such as press release submission, editorial calendars and brand monitoring.”

PR ESSENTIALS

The Employee App Project and people management www.theemployeeapp.com “A quick way for employees to access information out of the ofﬁce, this native app platform allows any organisation to have its own app on Apple’s App Store and Google Play.”

Google Blog Search Blogger outreach tools www.google.com/blogsearch “By now, bloggers are a major part of press, and it’s a great help that new tools are out there that sift through countless blogs to ﬁnd the right one for you. Google Blog Search is the place to start.”

Haro Editorial contacts and calendars www.helpareporter.com “Bridging the gap between public relations and the press, Haro is a resource for both reporters and PR pros. By signing up for this service, you’ll get e-mail queries from reporters who need experts for stories.”

01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

PR ESSENTIALS

Headline Analyzer Writing tools www.aminstitute.com/headline

“Headline Analyzer helps you sharpen your headline-writing skills by deconstructing your current headline for emotion, inﬂuence and other helpful factors.”

Hootsuite Social media/brand management www.hootsuite.com Hemingway App Writing tools www.hemingwayapp.com

“Hemingway Editor helps you to improve your writing by analysing your text according to an easily-followed colour-coded scheme that highlights errors, weaknesses and ﬂaws.”

Marketwired Public relations services www.marketwired.com “Another heavyweight presence in the news distribution marketplace, Marketwired provide overall service for press release submission, editorial calendars and brand monitoring.”

13 MyMediainfo Editorial contacts and calendars www.mymediainfo.com

Muck Rack Editorial contacts and calenders www.muckrack.com “Muck Rack vets thousands of journalists on social media according to geography and subject area. You can add journalists to live media lists and add reminders of how you’ve interacted with them.”

NewsCertiﬁed Exchange Blogger outreach tools www.newscertiﬁed.com “Insightful perspectives on your topic are a click away on this searchable database of interview-ready experts, who in turn have received media training to help polish their skills.”

“Powered by NASDAQ, this platform integrates a range of public relations assets from across the business. Also offers impact analysis and easy-to-navigate interface.”

16 PRNewswire Public relations services www.prnewswire.com Postjoint Blogger outreach tools www.postjoint.com “Postjoint connects brands and bloggers to make content marketing more effective and targeted. Importantly, like all the best dating websites, it offers discretion!”

01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

“For those of you struggling to build up your social media presence, Hootsuite is a easy-to-navigate dashboard that allows for an easy overview of your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other channels.”

“Founded in 1954, PR Newswire now provides press release and company communications through its website. Also helps public corporations meet SEC Regulation Fair Disclosure requirements.”

CONGRATULATIONS T O T H E B E S T I N E U R O P E A N P R A N D C O M M U N I C AT I O N S I N 2 0 1 4

PR ESSENTIALS

The Project & People Management App Project and people management www.ppm.comau.com “One app that offers a toolbox for the beginning, middle and end of project management, and another toolbox that helps you engage all the people involved in your project.”

PRWeb Public relations services www.prweb.com “Offering useful media relations support and advice, PRWeb help generate online buzz for your brand and is a useful asset for all working in public relations.”

Social Mention PR monitoring tools www.socialmention.com

“Monitoring the negative and positive online comments about a brand is essential to public relations today. Social Mention is just of the services out there that help keep aware of your brand’s image online.”

Spotter PR monitoring tools www.spotter.com

“This platform is a three-in-one deal, offering Spotter Studio for project management, Spotter Analytics to measure your impact, and Spotter Dashboard to visualise and measure your interactive dashboards.”

Topsy PR monitoring tools www.topsy.com “Quick and easy tool to search Twitter for brand mentions, Topsy also presents what’s trending online and offers a searchable analysis of the results.”

23 Twilert PR monitoring tools www.twilert.com

Trackur PR monitoring tools www.trackur.com “Monitoring news and articles, gathering good content and listening to relevant conversations are all part of the package, as well as sentiment analysis and inﬂuence scoring.”

01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

“Another short, sharp monitoring ﬁx, this one offering realtime alerts via email when your brand names, keywords or hashtags are mentioned on Twitter.”

Viral Heat Content marketing and monitoring www.viralheat.com “Conversation listening, data analysis and content marketing all together on one handy platform: brings speed and agility to media monitoring projects.”

1. European Campaign of the Year European Youth Forum/ League of Young Voters with FleishmanHillard: Alliance for Responsible Democracy 2. Newcomer Agency of the Year beebop media 3. Agency of the Year Weber Shandwick 4. Automotive and Transport Airbus with Good Relations: Comfort Campaign 5. Energy Gasum with Miltton & SEK: Petrol for the Price of Biogas 6. Technology and Consumer Electronics Microsoft with Edelman: The Rise of the Humans 7. Telecommunications ume.net with ANR BBDO, Stopp Family and Hard Hat: Living with Lag

37. Corporate Advertising TINE with TRY: This is where we come from 37. Corporate Advertising KUKA with Sassenbach Advertising: THE DUEL B2B Campaign 39. Intranet EDP - Energias de Portugal: edpON intranet 40. Blog Maersk Oil: Freedom with responsibility 41. Website F. Hoffmann-La Roche with Virtual Identity: Corporate website 42. Microsite SPF with JKL Group: The Pension Tax Calculator 43. Social Media Volvo Cars with Jung Relations: The Stutterheim Puzzle

16. Ecology and Environment The Ocean Cleanup with Citigate First Financial: The Ocean Cleanup 17. Government Agencies & Parties The Norwegian Environment Agency with Trigger: Buzzing Gardens 18. Associations Aktiv Against Cancer with Trigger: Aktiv Against Cancer 19. Non-Governmental Organisations SOS Children’s Villages with Släger Kommunikasjon: Little Boy Freezing 20. International Communication Stockholm Business Region with Step2 Communication: Stockholm - It’s not a coincidence

52. Switzerland, Austria Bolton Austria with Ketchum Publico: The Mystery Scent Oasis 53. Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg KPN with House of Sports: Olympic speed skating campaign 2014 53. Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg Vodafone with Glasnost International: Introduction of Vodafone SmartPass 54. Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland Falu Rödfärg with Rippler Communications: The Moonhouse 55. Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia K2 LT with Ad verum: Crematorium: Changing Beliefs and Fighting Fears

THE WINNER OF THE

E U R O P E A N E X C E L L E N C E AWA R D S 2 0 1 4 8. Finance Aegon with Uniomedia Communications PR and branding agency: National Property Damage Prevention Program 9. Health Leckey with JPR: Launching the Firefly Upsee 10. Fashion and Beauty Unilever with Weber Shandwick: All Things Hair 11. Sports and Lifestyle adidas Nordics with Jung Relations: Stan Yourself 12. Entertainment & Culture MTV Sweden with Wenderfalck: Match Machine 13. Science and Education TECHNOSEUM with Schleiner + Partner Kommunikation: The Goethe Guerrilla Campaign 14. Travel and Tourism Lufthansa with DDB and Burson-Marsteller: Are you Klaus-Heidi? 15. Food and Beverage Orkla Confectionery & Snacks Norge with Trigger: Laban goes on holiday

21. Change Communication Sky Deutschland: The Anatomy of a Turnaround 22. Internal Communication Heineken International: Enjoy Responsibly Day 23. Crisis Communication AB InBev with Whyte Corporate Affairs: Festival beer 24. Launch Bolton Austria with Ketchum Publico: The Mystery Scent Oasis 25. Relaunch adidas Nordics with Jung Relations: Stan Yourself 26. Employer Branding and Recruiting Robert Bosch with NETEYE: World Experience 2014 27. Corporate Social Responsibility Lietuvos draudimas with Integrity PR: Zero Road Rage 28. Event Cancerfonden with Volontaire: Play in the Shade

I N F O @ E X C E L L E N C E - AWA R D S . E U

29. Public Affairs The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation with Miltton: Against all Odds 30. Issues & Reputation Management MasterCard with Ketchum: #DirtyCash 31. Evaluation eBay: The eBay intervention 32. Annual Report Otto with Strichpunkt Agentur für visuelle Kommunikation: Annual Report: The Way Ahead 33. CSR Report OMV Petrom with Webstyler: The power of stories 34. Company Brochure Arts University Bournemouth: House of Cards Prospectus 35. Employee Publication Vattenfall with muehlhausmoers corporate communications: Vattenfall Magazine 36. External Publication Lausanne University Hospital with Largenetwork: Magazine In Vivo

44. Mobile Communication and Social Apps Novartis with Ar Works and Giovanni: First Navigation for Blind patients 45. Online Video Channel HSBC Holdings: HSBC NOW - Our Stories 46. United Kingdom, Ireland English Rugby Football Union with Weber Shandwick: Amplifying Women’s Rugby 47. France DANONE EAUX FRANCE with Agence ELAN and Ubi Bene: Badoit Express 48. Spain Microsoft: Office Crossing 49. Portugal L’Oreal with Lift Consulting: Healthy Sun Time 50. Italy, Malta Dacia with Publicis Consultants Italia: Sponsor Day 51. Germany Momondo with LEWIS PR: Oh yes, we are daredevils!

56. Poland, Russia, Ukraine Projekt Test with Partner of Promotion: Generation Minus - free from HIV 57. Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia Milka with PR.Konektor: Turns the toughest tender 58. Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina “Our Premature Children“ Foundation and AbbVie Bulgaria with Chapter 4 Bulgaria: The biggest heroes are the youngest ones 59. Greece, Cyprus WIND Hellas Telecommunications with McCannErickson Athens: Q Re-Launch Campaign 60. Turkey Omsan Logistics: My Car is on Vacation Jury Excellence Award for the Best Campaign SOS Children’s Villages with Släger Kommunikasjon: Little Boy Freezing

W W W. E X C E L L E N C E - A W A R D S . E U

STRATEGIC THINKER The corporate and academic stand on communication

DIGITAL REVOLUTION FROM THE INSIDE Prior to 2012, the outdated internal communications platform at Porsche did not match its prestigious brand. A total redesign led to a new portal and more transparency. By Josef Arweck

STRATEGIC THINKER

orsche has a long tradition of internal communication. In the 1950s, our company already had its own printed plant news. The employee newspaper is 30 years old and an employee television channel has been in existence for the past 20 years. However, these media were a mere appendage of external communication, rather like a spin-oﬀ. When Porsche changed president and after clear growth targets were laid down in the 2018 Strategy, internal communication was restructured from the ground up. Since then, the motto has been transparency and openness. Only when employees are well informed and understand the company’s objectives can they make an active contribution.

Photo: Porsche

RAPID GROWTH And these

objectives are ambitious. Whereas in 2010 Porsche delivered around 81,000 cars to customers all over the world, by 2014 this figure had risen to well over 189,000 units. And the trend is ongoing. Turnover rose from 9.2 billion euros in 2010 to 14.326 billion euros in 2013. Within the same period, operating results improved from 1.674 billion euros to 2.579 billion euros. The road to success is also reflected by the number of employees: in 2010, Porsche employed 12,000 people; in 2014, the company had more than 22,000 employees. This development has had a fundamental impact on the age structure of the workforce, which has become much younger. In the meantime, one third of workers at Porsche are under 35 years old. Two years ago, this figure was only 25 per cent. This rapid growth, resulting in almost double the workforce within a

period of four years, together with the extreme rejuvenation and integration of the company within the Volkswagen Group, are touchstones for Porsche. Signiﬁcant success factors here are to preserve a corporate culture that has grown over many decades, to integrate our new colleagues within the company and, at the same time, to further develop the brand’s core. This can be described by four pairs of opposites.

FOUR PAIRS OF OPPOSITES Firstly, tradition and innovation. The German sports car manufacturer can look back on a rich history. The 911 model has been in production for 50 years - currently, it is in its seventh generation. At the same time, Porsche is a highly innovative company whose employees constantly advance the development of automotive technology through new ideas. The best example of this is the super sports car, the 918 Spyder. It has a power output of 978hp but only consumes three litres to 100 kilometres. The second pair of opposites is performance and everyday practicality. Porsche motor racing technology has won numerous victories on the race tracks of the world – and these victories prove their worth every day on the production ﬂoor. Even if a Porsche is not an everyday sports car, it is practical for everyday use. Owners can compete on race tracks at the weekend and drive to work or to the shops during the week. Thirdly, our cars from the Swabian car manufacturer are exclusive yet remain socially accepted. A Porsche leaves nobody indiﬀerent. This is perhaps the greatest compliment you can pay to a brand. Nonetheless, the company

Internal communication was restructured from the ground up. Since then, the motto has been transparency and openness. and its products are firmly anchored in society. Sports cars from Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen represent a dream that is actually attainable. And fourthly, Porsche combines functionality and design in a unique way - especially the 911, which is a design icon known the world over. At least two people are responsible for the creative design of a car: the designer and the engineer. But whatever the case, form also determines function. A Porsche must stand the test, whether it is on the factory floor, in motor racing or on every inch of the road. 01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

STRATEGIC THINKER

TAKING A SOCIAL STANCE ON SOCIAL MEDIA The heightened transparency of new media brings risks and rewards for online corporate social responsibility. By Michael Etter and Christian Fieseler

ith the expectations of stakeholders on the rise, an ever-increasing number of corporate, non-governmental and transnational initiatives are dedicated to responsible business practices. This growing trend to engage in social business is paralleled by the ubiquity of new information and communication technologies such as social media. While the adoption of social media by various stakeholders has risen to new heights, for many corporate social responsibility departments new media are still a learning endeavour on how to navigate in an everchanging communication environment.

What often comes as a surprise to many companies is the amount and tone of public pressure (not necessarily ill-intentioned) coming through social media. The discussion about one’s ethical practices may become unﬁltered and open to a potentially huge audience, as well as permanent. Also, the public’s agenda might often be diﬀerent to one’s own, and corporate social responsibility initiatives deemed very strategic internally can be completely ignored externally. Issues

STRATEGIC THINKER

that have not have been on the radar might start trending overnight and force corporate positioning. The impact these new dynamics have on the design and management of corporate social initiatives is thus hard to ignore. While the public negotiation of expectations about corporate responsibilities may in theory be more democratic, the aﬀordances of social media also hold challenges and pitfalls. As many communication directors testify, the conversation about sustainability often tends to revolve around the same group of people, and using social media as an indicator for the most pressing ethical issues might take time away from work on the topics deemed more important to drive the company’s responsible business practices forward. However, social media also hold tremendous potential for communicators to position an organisation within corporate social responsibility. When opening up the deliberation of responsible business practices on social media, companies have to consider a number of key issues, to keep their engagement strategic while being sensitive to public sentiment.

THE UNBEARABLE VISIBILITY OF PUBLIC NEGOTIATION A ma-

jor change and challenge for corporations is the visibility of public debate on topics related to (perceived) irresponsible business practices. We are living in an age of increasing online activism, where the amount and tonality of accusations and attacks by social media users worry many communication professionals since there is no control over which one of the constantly-ongoing conversations might evolve into an online ﬁrestorm.

Justified criticism sometimes turns into oversimplified buzzwords that spread easily throughout communities. Online social networks make even well intentioned criticism faster, less intermediated and more amplified through viral processes. Social media are not always conducive to highly-nuanced formation of opinion, and small events that might not actually be representative of an organisation but are perceived as such and can provoke negative public attention.

What often comes as a surprise to many companies is the amount and tone of public pressure coming through social media. Surprisingly, our research shows that the trigger for criticism often lies in a communicative event initiated by corporations themselves. When corporations expose themselves in social media, for example through promoting corporate social responsibility efforts with a Twitter hashtag, pressure groups tend to publicly question these efforts, leverage the existing attention of a campaign and turn it into a negative discussion. Because social media enable what we call ‘hypertextuality’ (the reuse and recontextualising of communicative resources and corporate texts), notions of control over social media campaigns have to be reconsidered. Therefore, before the launch of an online corporate social responsibility campaign, the potential disagreements and debates should always be anticipated. In these cases, the constant monitoring of ongoing critiques, the evaluation of legitimate claims and intervention through balanced dialogues could detect pitfalls and prevent an escalation from minor criticism into a major crisis. The issue with online mass protest is that it is more frequently based on perception rather than reality. Hiding is thus usually the wrong answer. The preferable way is to define a stance towards transparency and convince audiences that this transparency is sincere and not a marketing ploy.

BENEFITS AND LIMITS OF TRANSPARENCY Ethical misbehaviour and scepticism towards corporations, consumers, investors, authorities and other stakeholder groups, results in an increasing demand for higher levels of transparency from organisations. Opening up to this new ideology of transparency may prove a valuable tool in meeting the demands of stakeholders. For example, McDonalds Canada recently launched the YourQues01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

TEAM PLAYER

How to improve personnel management and your career

RECONNECTING THE EMPLOYEE With falling worker loyalty, management focus has now turned inward. Collaborative communications and a strong feedback culture are key to salvaging employee motivation. By Custodia Cabanas

ost new centuries seem to bring with them upheaval, resulting in rapid change and uncertainty in all aspects of life. The 21st century is proving to be no exception, but that is perhaps because it has also ushered in a new millennium and we currently find ourselves in the midst of a prolonged financial and economic crisis which has taken a particularly strong hold in the Eurozone. At the same time social media have impacted deeply on our world, having a marked effect on just about every level of society and the economy. This trend is still in its infancy but it is already challenging many of the paradigms on which some of our deepest beliefs are based. In the business world one of the most worrying consequences of the times we live in is the widespread decline in commitment and loyalty by employees, largely as a result of changing relationships between employer and employee.

DISCONNECTION A recent study by consultancy ﬁrm Synovate highlights the fact that more than 20 per cent of the workforce say they feel “disconnected” from their jobs, a ﬁgure to which we can add a further 15 per cent who describe themselves as “passive in relation to their professional activities”. In some sectors, such as banking, insurance or telecommunications, this applies to up to 50 per cent of employees. When organisations are heavily focused on services, a marked lack of motivation can have serious consequences. In a bid to improve levels of commitment among the workforce, organisations and their human resource departments have in recent years channelled considerable energy into identifying how to strengthen employee motivation. 01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

TEAM PLAYER

It is worth noting that this lack of commitment is to be found at all levels within organisations and does not only aﬀect non-management employees. For example, a recent joint study carried out by IE Business School and Wharton, shows that 52 per cent of senior executives contacted by headhunters are keen to be considered as candidates to join other companies. This high ﬁgure is surprising given that these are people who are usually involved in projects requir-

Photo: www.thinkstock.com

ing considerable time and energy, yet they are prepared to give up on them by putting themselves forward for positions with other companies without necessarily having much idea of what the job in question entails. Very often we ﬁnd that executives who complain about their team’s lack of loyalty are themselves actively looking for positions with other companies. In fact, the more senior the position, the more likely it is that an executive is seeking another job. This lack of loyalty on the part of senior executives can in large part be explained by today’s management styles. We have become accustomed to seeing companies sack people and replace them with others prepared to sell their services at a lower cost, so it is hardly surprising that 52 per cent of executives have leaving on their mind when they see the organisation treating people as disposable commodities.

BUILDING BRIDGES This overall decline in employee loyalty is merely a reﬂection of the reciprocity that underlies almost all human relationships. Employees, at whatever level, will tend to treat their employers in the same way they feel they themselves are being treated. There is not much point in asking for something you yourself are not prepared to give. This asymmetrical relationship means that employees face an uncertain future, which translates into feeling disconnected from their organisations, resulting in a lack of motivation. When there is a serious risk of the “emotional contract” between worker and employer being broken, the task of carrying out the rapid transformation that so many organisations need to undertake if they want to adapt to the 21st century is seriously compromised. Paradoxically, just at the moment when organisations need more talent and involvement from their workforces, we see the emergence of a new environment characterised by major decoupling on the part of the employee. If companies are going to adapt successfully to changing times, they will need to take a strategic approach aimed at rebuilding lost conﬁdence. The philosophy that “people are a company’s most valuable asset” is taking root in organisations. Hence, keeping employees motivated so they will stay in their posts, even in times of low risk of voluntary rotation, has become a strategic priority. If organisations are to attract and retain the best and brightest professionals they need to improve their image by creating attractive and interesting projects and they also need to make sure that all this is highly visible both within and outside the organisation. The challenge now facing 01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

TEAM PLAYER

NAVIGATING THE COMPLEXITIES OF GRIEF Everyone handles grief in different ways: appreciating this will help to support bereaved employees and make them feel valued at work. By Janell C. Bauer

lthough it is easy to see the inﬂuence of work in most aspects of modern life, we don’t immediately think of organisations as signiﬁcant to our experiences with death and grief. However, since many full-time employees spend as many waking hours with their co-workers as with friends and family, the workplace community becomes an 01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

important site for grief communication and support. Organisations today understand the value of comprehensive beneﬁts packages in both attracting and retaining good employees. It is not surprising then that a Society of Human Resources Management

TEAM PLAYER

(SHRM) 2009 survey found that 90 per cent of respondents indicated that their organisations offered paid bereavement leave. It is important that successful organisations consider the impact of bereavement since it can be costly, not just in the provision of paid time off, but in other costs such as depression, stress and turnover. A SHRM 2008 survey found that employees rate benefits as one of the most important factors in job satisfaction. However, it’s not just the benefit policies, but how they are actually experienced. For example, an employee who has five days of paid bereavement leave but experiences a lack of communicative support may describe low satisfaction with the benefit. So, while bereavement leave policies provide employees with paid time off for bereaved workers to make funeral arrangements, attend the funeral of a loved one and to mourn, organisations also need to understand how they can offer support when grieving employees return to work. Understanding how to support and communicate with grieving workers can be difficult for managers and coworkers. As Mary Anne Hazen described in her research on grief and the workplace (2008), conversations about birth and death, about bodies, sexuality and emotions are often viewed as out of place and taboo in organisations. This taboo can lead to a silence and lack of support for bereaved workers. To combat that taboo, my research explores the stories and experiences of bereaved workers to help communication professionals learn more about the communication needs of grieving employees. To create a workplace that is more

supportive, there are four patterns to consider in forming policy and day-to-day interactions with grieving workers.

1. PROFESSIONALISM AND ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE SET STANDARDS FOR HOW TO GRIEVE WELL Organisational culture and popular ideas about

professionalism create a framework for employees to build their sense of self and professional identity. These popular expectations for how to be a good employee and a successful professional influence many aspects of the modern workers’ life. This statement extends to how one handles grief in their workplace. Speaking generally, the modern worker is practical, strategic, unemotional, creative, and flexible and creates boundaries between work and personal life. Talking with bereaved workers, I often heard a desire to be perceived as handling grief well and to manage it appropriately. Managing grief well usually included the ability to contain emotions at work, to continue their standard for productivity, to be perceived as a team player and to show their commitment to the organisation by putting work first even during a difficult personal time. Grief can bring

Conversations about birth and death, about bodies, sexuality and emotions are often viewed as taboo. about a roller coaster of emotions and reminds us that, despite all we have accomplished, there is much that we cannot control. Bereaved workers often feel fearful that they will be perceived as crazy, overly-emotional, out of control and unreliable. Managers and co-workers can support bereaved workers by validating their eﬀorts and acknowledging how diﬃcult it may be to perform job tasks in the midst of emotional upheaval caused by grief. Communication professionals can consider how your organisational culture might invite or discourage communication around bereavement. Understand that bereaved workers may feel pressure to perform even though they are struggling with fatigue, distraction and emotional volatility which complicates their grief process.

2. GENDER DIFFERENCES IN TALKING ABOUT GRIEF AT WORK The way that workers experience be-

reavement can diﬀer based on the cultural expectations for how men and women should handle emotions and gendered norms for professional behaviour. For women the experience can vary greatly. Some women feel a great

01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

TEAM PLAYER

CONGRATULATIONS, YOU RE A MANAGER! So what next? Here are important facts that every manager needs to know about being a successful leader.

ou have been consistently climbing the hierarchy at your job, demonstrating your technical proﬁciency and distinguishing yourself as a rising star. Once that rising star ascends into the management constellation, what should you expect? According to Dan McCarthy, “40 per cent of internal job moves made by people identiﬁed by their companies as high potentials end in failure.” 01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

All of those hours coding, executing assignments and producing whatever deliverables were asked of you have paid oﬀ: you are a “high potential” and now you get to run the whole show. What will be different? It is time to draft a plan and mobilise your resources. As you prepare to lead, consider:

Photo: Private

By Melissa Lamson

TEAM PLAYER

ADMINISTRATIVE TASKS WILL DEMAND YOUR TIME There

will be the new component of increased administrative work, such as status reports, human resources forms and audit compliance tasks. These tasks will always be part of your job description. Now that it is here, know that this administrative work is a necessary part of keeping the gears moving within your organisation. (And now you know that someone was doing it on your behalf all those years before now.) Viewing it as a task to check oﬀ early in the day when your energy is high is a more potentially successful and satisfying strategy than squeezing it in when all you want to do is call it a day. In addition, as someone freshly arrived to the administrative component of your new position, you may unearth obstacles to eﬃciency or opportunities for consolidation of outmoded processes that others have stopped “seeing.” Share your feedback with your leadership; yours may be the prompt they need to reassess some time wasters.

PEOPLE MANAGEMENT DEMANDS WILL MULTIPLY When

the names in the boxes on the organisational chart turn into real live people depending on you for guidance, evaluation and direction, you have found the heart of the difference between your previous position and your new one. Now that you are managing, the demands for you to relate are many. Deborah Ancona, Thomas W. Malone, Wanda Orlikowski and Peter M. Senge say the following about relating: “Traditional images of leadership didn’t assign much value to relating. Times have changed… and in this era of networks, being

able to build trusting relationships is a requirement of eﬀective leadership.” The number one piece of advice to heed when it comes to people management is: do not allow situations to fester in airless darkness. Be direct, be proactive, value the fact that relating brings with it as big a return on investment as many of your tangible business eﬀorts will.

YOU MAY NOT GET TO DO WHAT YOU LOVE MOST You don’t have to let the requirements of all that

administrative work and people management completely displace your connection to the work you love that got you to this place. Paul Glen recommends allowing “indulgences,” meaning you should allow yourself to continue to dabble in the topic that propelled you up the leadership ladder. He continues, “New managers need the opportunity to occasionally dabble in their former work. Let them code just a little” and “revisit the glory days.”

EVERYONE WANTS SOMETHING FROM YOU Be-

ing in a position of leadership puts you squarely in the middle of various sets of expectations: your employer, your employees, your vendors. You may feel like an impostor, with a spiffy new title on the outside and the same old practitioner mindset on the inside. Your former peer now wants a day off when you need him or her to be heading up a new initiative. A subordinate is upset that the revised office floor plan results in less window space. There are rumbles of dissatisfaction from various corners of the building about matters from the trivial to the serious. You may be feeling “this is not what I signed up for.” When encountering issues based on people’s needs, address them while they are small. It is natural for some first-time managers, especially if they do not have formal management training, to think “it will sort itself out” or “it’s not that big a deal.” There is a component of management that is not delineated on the strategic plan in black and white: the dis-

The number one piece of advice to heed when it comes to people management is: do not allow situations to fester in airless darkness. cipline of building connectedness. As Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner say in Encouraging the Heart, “We need to feel connected to others and, in turn, they to us, because greatness is never achieved all by ourselves alone.” Fos01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

THE STORY OF PR Looking back at landmark communications

MOVEMENT FOR CHANGE With a rich history of campaigning for change, not for proﬁts remain some of communications’ leading innovators.

he not for profit sector has been an innovator in communications for more than a century. From the suffragettes’ early use of what we would today call branding – their distinctive green, purple and white colour palette, the consistency of the Votes for Women and Deeds not Words messaging across leaflets, banners, badges and even tea sets - not for profits have been trailblazers. The suffragettes had a sophisticated approach to media management and pioneered the use of photocalls. Around the time when Ivy Lee famously wrote the first press release, the suffragettes had press secretaries who gave journalists written briefings and alerted them to photo opportunities such as

01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

suffragettes chaining themselves to railings, mass demonstrations, and speeches delivered (in one striking 1908 example) to members of parliament by a spokeswoman on a boat, branded with the Votes for Women slogan, floating on the Thames. Gandhi’s salt march in India in 1930 also used mass rallies of ordinary people to draw media and politicians’ attention to social injustice. Many not for profits have drawn on Gandhi’s legacy of non-violent direct action, notably the UK’s Cam-

Photo: 350org / Flickr

By Michaela O’Brien

THE STORY OF PR

paign for Nuclear Disarmament with their landmark march to the atomic weapons research establishment in Aldermaston in 1958 and sit-ins and die-ins (still a popular photocall technique used today) in the 1960s. Campaigner Paul Hilder traces the origins of social change campaigning back to the 1600s, and cites the campaign to abolish the slave trade as “arguably the first popular movement for policy change sustained over decades”. The campaign’s techniques were not dissimilar to those used today by many not for profits: a network of local groups holding public meetings and distributing information to raise awareness; a large petition delivered to members of parliament, a supportive, high profile politician (William Wilberforce) leading the campaign inside parliament. Hilder goes so far as to say that “much of the repertoire of social campaigning had already been developed by the mid-nineteenth century”. In the 1960s, social changes such as the rise of women’s and gay rights and other identity-based movements signalled the start of a new wave of social change campaigning. By the 1970s, the increased popularity of television let huge audiences see the media-friendly and highly visual tactics of new environmental organisations like Greenpeace, whose nonviolent direct action followed the Quaker tradition of bearing witness. Not for profits have developed their tactics as the media has changed and helped develop today’s media management ‘toolkit’ of statistics, case studies, photocalls, human interest and expert opinion, along with storytelling and content creation. Today many employ communications professionals with the enviable job title of storytellers to

help them engage supporters, politicians and other decision makers across all media and social media platforms through the power of individuals’ stories. And the sector leads the way in exploring the power of framing, informed by ideas drawn from psychology, to shape campaign communications. Looking at the way technology impacts on communications, we can see that the not for proﬁt sector has once again been a pioneer. Greenpeace has always been an early adopter, producing video news releases in the 1980s and beaming images via satellite from its ships in mid-ocean to the world’s broadcasters, while Friends of the Earth pioneered geographical information systems (GIS) in the early 1990s to create publically accessible, localised maps of ground water pollution and toxic waste sites. In 1996, Friends of the Earth launched its ﬁrst campaign website during the Newbury Bypass campaign, the biggest road protest that had

Not for proﬁts have developed their tactics as the media has changed. been seen in Britain. While the media focused on dramatic imagery of security forces using heavy machinery to remove protestors from trees along the proposed bypass route, the Friends of the Earth website described sustainable alternatives to the road and was lauded in PR Week and Design Week as getting across the full story that most media reports had overlooked. Nearly 20 years later, communicators in every sector are using online media to bypass journalists in their gatekeeper role and to inform and engage supporters directly. Friends of the Earth’s current high proﬁle BeeCause campaign, with its interactive map showing supporters’ action to protect bees, draws on 20 years of innovation in GIS and online communication.

ONLINE PIONEERS More recently, the new breed of not for profits such as 38 Degrees and Sum of Us have pioneered innovative ways to engage supporters through social media, mobilising people with concerns about social justice who previously would have struggled to connect with each other. By combining online and offline techniques, they have created a new, nimble approach to citizen participation which won the first policy U-turn of the current British coalition government when 38 Degrees’ landmark Save Our Forest campaign killed plans to sell off the country’s public forest. Change.Org (originally a not for profit and now a social enterprise) estimates that 01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

THE BIG INTERVIEW

MUKUND RAJAN 46

Headquartered in Mumbai, Tata Group operates in more than 80 countries around the world. We asked a few questions of its brand custodian, group spokesperson and chief ethics ofďŹ cer. Interview: Dafydd Phillips

01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

You are the brand custodian, spokesperson and chief ethics ofďŹ cer of Tata. What are the practical implications of combining these functions under one responsibility? Over the last two years, I have had the privilege of playing the role of brand custodian that brings together the brand, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and ethics functions at the group centre, three fundamental pillars on which the Tata brand equity has been built over the last 140 years. These three

Photo: DILIP THAKKAR

Key communicators under the spotlight

THE BIG INTERVIEW

alignment between my various responsibilities, and the mandate to protect and enhance the Tata brand. How is the Tata brand upheld across the group’s many and diverse operations? The Tata brand and the group composite mark represent the commitment of all Tata companies to adhere to shared values and to live up to the high expectations of our stakeholders. This requires all our companies to maintain high standards of quality and reliability in their products and services, and discharge their responsibilities to their stakeholders through the highest standards of ethical conduct. Tata Sons owns the Tata brand. The principal levers through which it encourages Tata companies to play their role in protecting and enhancing the Tata brand equity is by promoting their adoption of the Tata Business Excellence Model and by monitoring their compliance with the Tata Code of

We are India’s strongest corporate brand and the only Indian brand in the global list of Top 50 brands.

pillars are central to the belief reﬂected in the statement attributed to our founder, Jamsetji Tata, that “In a free enterprise, the community is not just another stakeholder in business but in fact the very purpose of its existence.” This belief forms the basis for our group’s mission: “To improve the quality of life of the communities we serve globally, through long-term stakeholder value creation based on leadership with trust”. Within the values-driven organisation that Tatas represent, I see a complete

Conduct. The Tata Business Excellence Model, in operation now for 20 years, focusses on process and business excellence across all areas of operation of a company, by benchmarking these with global best practices. The Tata Code of Conduct, which dates back to 1998, provides the ethical guidance to all Tata companies and employees so that they uphold the group’s values. The Code is embraced and cascaded through a combination of the tone at the top, the active network of ethics counselors across the group, signiﬁcant investments in training and communication at all levels on the importance of values, and the celebration of inspiring stories that reﬂect the group’s proud legacy. Europe is a major market for Tata, with companies including brands such as Jaguar and Land Rover in the UK and Tata Hispano in Spain. How does this impact your communications? With our rapid growth in India and overseas, we now need to ensure that across all our markets, all our stakeholders, including our own employees, understand who we are and what we stand for. This requires an enormous investment in communication, through owned, earned, paid and shared media, and the establishment of systems and processes that bring our stakeholders closer together, united in their trust of Brand Tata. 01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

STORY TELLER Looking at the important questions of communication

01/2015 COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR

STORY TELLER

ANTICIPATION & DISRUPTION Communications on the cutting edge “Innovation on the move” by Michael Kuhn page 52 – 55

“What if? What now?” by Anik Michaud page 56 – 59

“Disrupting the status quo” by Lars Rinsdorf and Swaran Sandhu page 60 – 63

“Standing together in the face of turmoil” by Marion van Dam page 64 – 67

“Tales of the unexpected” by Daniel Diermeier page 68 – 71

“Anywhere, anytime, any device: version 2.0” by Jean-Paul Chapon page 72 – 75

“Can talkshows and telenovelas replace communications?” by Angela Dunn page 76 – 79

“Weapons of mass disruption” by David Phillips page 80 – 83

“Shaking it up with social theory” by Øyvind Ihlen and Piet Verhoeven page 84 – 87

01/2015

COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR