Communications Briefs

With all the positive economic indicators, consumer facing businesses are asking some important questions: How is this sunny picture reflected in the actual near-term spending decisions of US consumers? And looking ahead, is consumer spending more likely to be the fuel that keeps a soaring US economy aloft—or the drag that is going to bring it back down?

Being undermined by men in the workplace is something that women in all industries deal with on a regular basis. A study recently published in PRWeek demonstrated quite clearly that sexual and gender-based harassment and bias are indeed an issue in PR and marketing. The ideal workplace operates with a culture of respect for all regardless of gender, title, race, sexual orientation, etc., and has a true open-door policy.

The 2018 Excellence in New Communications Awards were presented at a dinner and gala in New York City in June. The full case studies are published in the latest SNCR 2020 paper, which you can download for free. Below, we feature the winning case study from AMN Healthcare.

Content has always been a major part of PR, but now it’s become an integral part of all marketing. According to research from the Content Marketing Institute, 91 percent of B2B brands and 86 percent of B2C brands use it. But it’s still an emerging tactic and far too many companies are “flying blind”—just pumping out content without any strategy. (Only 37 percent of B2B marketers and 38 percent of B2C marketers have a content marketing strategy.)

There is no question that the digital media industry has been disrupted by the Global Data Privacy Regulation (GDPR). It’s been at the top of advertising news for weeks, and while the volume of articles may decline, the impact of the law has just begun.

If global health is being reshaped by technologies such as wearables, artificial intelligence and blockchain, then data—and lots of it—is fueling this transformation. But patient fears about privacy and misuse of data, potentially influenced by the Facebook data breach, threatens to slow the development and uptake of digital health innovations.

There are many and varied definitions of the word innovation. The word often conjures up visions of scientists in white lab coats holding clipboards, but the most successful innovations that drive business results are often small and incremental cultural innovations rather than dramatic large-scale R&D endeavors.

“Let the sun shine” could have been the slogan for the The Conference Board’s 2018 Corporate Communications Conference, held June 26-27. More than 150 corporate communicators took home new ideas to effectively get their messages out. Here are a couple quick-hit concepts from our speakers from great companies like Hilton, BASF, Boeing, State Farm, Love’s Travel Stops, Mars, American Express, IBM, Aflac, Seattle City Light, UPS, Bank of America Merchant Services, DuPont, Bridge Consulting.