Communications Briefs

The radical transparency of the new social landscape has empowered 24/7 auditors of corporate behavior, disrupting business with an astonishing velocity and creating a degree of angst for many c-suites and boards of directors.

Two-thirds of the CMOs polled in the 2017 Marketing Performance Management Benchmark study said the pressure to measure value, impact, and contribution is growing. Enterprise marketers plan to ramp up their spending on analytics technology a stunning 83 percent over the next three years, according to the latest CMO Survey out of Duke University.

The moment when a sequence of small incidents and changes triggers a larger, more significant change is usually called a tipping point. In the triangular relationship between social media platforms, their users, and advertisers, it feels like we are experiencing that tipping point.

On its surface, Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has touched off a technical fire drill for American companies operating in Europe. These new data privacy rules, set to take effect in May, have companies scrambling to inventory their data and develop systems and policies that comply. But as challenging as GDPR may be for those working on compliance, the regulations should force a much-deeper appraisal of what values companies apply to their interactions with customers.

As social media becomes increasingly important to business success, the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth continues to monitor its use. Each year, the Center conducts an in-depth study on the use of social media among Inc. Magazine’s top 500 companies. The names listed represent the fastest-growing, privately owned companies in the United States.

Corporate communications teams are being called on to reinforce their company’s reputation in the face of a skeptical public, concludes a report by The Conference Board, Corporate Communications Practices: 2018 Edition. The survey covers more than 100 publicly traded companies.

If the idea of technology invading the practice of PR freaks you out a little, perhaps all you need is a different perspective. Yes, technology can be daunting, but it can also make your life a lot easier, help you achieve better results and demonstrate the value of your work.

Dave Feldman, Sr Director of Digital at the NFL, is running one of the biggest, most complex, real-time social content teams on the planet. With this level of content creation, distribution and management, it’s all about strategy, scalable process, extreme coordination and everyone and I mean everyone, must be on their A game. So, when I sat down for a full hour long interview with Dave to talk about the social content machine of the NFL, I was hanging on every word.

Last month Laurence Fink, CEO of BlackRock, laid down a challenge to the business community. Or, perhaps, it’s more accurate to call it a warning. His message: Make societal progress part of your strategic plan or suffer the consequences.

The Conference Board recently released C-Suite Challenge™ 2018: Reinventing the Organization for the Digital Age. The insights for communicators, marketers, and digital media executives are extensive. We’ll explore some of those here.