The document discusses excellence in corporate communications and reputation management. It makes three key points: 1. Communications strategies must be aligned with corporate strategies, stakeholder focused, and accountable through measurement of inputs, outputs, and outcomes. Quality staff and cross-functional cooperation are important. 2. A strong corporate brand and reputation provide long-term value by creating internal alignment and external bonding with stakeholders. Reputation is influenced by performance, communications, and external context and perceptions. 3. Social media have changed communications by increasing speed and requiring a tone of voice. Organizations must monitor social media discussions and develop rules for employee participation while acting normally.

1. Excellence in Communications
´It´s all about brand and reputation´
Rostov-on-Don, 4 June 2013
CORPORATE COMMUNICATION & BRAND STRATEGY
Koenraad van Hasselt

2. In old times, the best companies were the
ones with access to the best resources…
Labour
(employees, labour
market, alumni)
Money
(shareholders,investors)
Raw materials
(suppliers,partners)

3. …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)

4. 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

5. Best in Class communications
meets five criteria
Quality of
staff
Alignment End
game
Accountability
Stakeholder
orientation

6. 1. Quality of staff
• People are business savvy
• People are sensitive to
organization and its
environment
• Management development in
place

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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.

10. 2. Stakeholder orientation
• Organisation of comms reflects
stakeholder focus
• Stakeholder sentiment is
monitored, measured, analysed
• Communications facilitates
dialogue and interaction

11. 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
priorities
Communication
priorities
Communication
priorities
Communication
priorities
Tactical
initiatives
Tactical
initiatives
Tactical
initiatives
Tactical
initiatives

12. Clients
don’t buy
Activist groups
don’t want
Rating Agencies
don’t rate
Suppliers
don’t
conform
Staff
don’t behave
Sustainability
indices don’t
validate
Analysts
don’t back
Partners
don’t promote
Local communities
don’t accept
Politicians
don’t support
NGOs
don’t
approve
Online
communities
don’t accept
Media
don’t believe
Regulators
won’t allow
Corporate
Reputation
12
Stakeholder support should never
be taken for granted. What if…
Reputation
undermined

13. Signal detection and pattern
recognition of stakeholder sentiment

14. 3. Accountability
• Measuring input, output and
outcome
• Independent analysis of data
• Individual performance
management and target setting

15. Balanced
Scorecard/
Dashboard
Communications efforts and results
must be measurable
REPUTATION
• RepTrak
• Fortune 500
•Tailor made research
STAFF
•Employee satisfaction
& motivation surveys
• Exit interviews
• Employer brand
surveys
STAKEHOLDERS
•Stakeholder
dialogues (qualitative)
Shareholders &
authorities
• Dow Jones
Sustainability Index
• Transparency
benchmark
• Global Reporting
Initiative
CUSTOMERS
• Customer satisfaction
• Market research

16. 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´

17. Communications should facilitate and
manage the coalition towards alignment..
Comms
HR
MKT
Strat
OPS Comms
HR
MKT
Strat
OPS

18. ..choosing the an alignment platform
based on the dominant logic
Comms
CSR
Reputation
Brand
Quality
management

19. Alignment finds often its origins in
the corporate story

20. 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.

21. 5. End game – long term value
STAFF
Alignment
Accoun
-tability
Stakeholder
orientation
• Corporate brand
• Employee
engagement
• Reputation

22. Brand is an anchor as well as a compass

23. 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 ?
Stakeholder
images
Organisational
culture
Strategic
vision
Organizational
identity

24. 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

25. …and create a bonding with (all) stakeholders
Marketing &
Communication
HR
Products &
Services
Sales
Corporate
brand
Touch
point
Touch
point
Touch
point
Touch
point
Touch
point
Business
development
Stakeholders
Stakeholders

26. What makes a strong brand?
Authority
Esteem
Delivers quality
Trust
It´s ok
Vitality
Distinguishing
One unique claim
Relevant
Serves a purpose

27. Measuring brand value

28. 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

29. A corporate brand represents a
promise
?
?
?
?
?
?

30. Benneton´s promise?

31. Delivering on the brand promise will
influence reputation positively

32. 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

33. 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

34. CEOs fear reputational risk most

35. ..and their own reputation contributes no
less than 30% to corporate reputation

36. 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.

37. What influences corporate reputation ?
Products & services
Financial performance
Corporate sustainability
Vision and leadership
Workplace and employer brand
Emotional appeal

38. 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

39. Measuring reputation – RepTrak*
* Developed by the
Reputation Institute

40. 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

41. Reputation management cycle
Measure and
analyse current
reputation
Set objectives
and targets for
reputation &
communication
Develop the
corporate story
Select
reputation
themes (3 max)
Roll out themes
like a political
campaign

42. Reputation is not a matter of
communications alone !!!
Performance
Commu-
nications
Context
Reputation

43. 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

44. 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

45. Summing up: the ingredients for
excellence in communications
Staff
Align
ment
End
game
Accoun
-tability
Stake-
holders

46. And what about social media ?

47. Sociale media have changed the
fundamentals of communications

48. Organisations better get used to….
The speed… ….and the tone of
voice

49. 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

50. 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 !

51. www.reputationmatters.nl
Thank you for your attention !