Session with Dave Senay, CEO of Fleishman-Hillard and Paul Argenti from Tuck. Lots of questions today about who’s best positioned to drive integrated marketing communications. Every agency wants to be in the position when in fact, it’s the marketer that must be the leader. Not a lot of teeth – most of it was a sales pitch, but there were some good examples.
But look at the challenges of marketing communications. Going back in time – confidence in business has declined significantly since 1968 due to oil/gas crisis yet companies profiting big time, activism, political scandal. Ads like this didn’t help.
What’s needed today is "strategic communication," defined as: communication that is completely
consistent with the firm’s overall strategy and that enhances the strategic
positioning of the corporation. [really?]
Why is this necessary? 35 – 80% of corporate value is driven by intangibles; brand is becoming more important than plant, property, and equipment.
Some examples from firms that have measured the impact of "strategic communication":
- P&G. Measured impact of PR vs. other marketing linked to brand sales volume. Used an internal ROI analysis tool called PR Evaluate. Project sponsored by procurement department. Reviewed 18 month period for 6 brands. Incorporated info on cost, scope, target audience, geography. PR provides a higher ROI than any other marketing tool in use.
- United Technologies Corporation. Measured impact of external comm. on financial performance. External communication contributes approx 27% to total market value. 5.7% of stock price change attributable to external communications activities. Big part of new $20 million ad campaign.
- Southwest Airlines. Measured impact of media relations on stock price. 3.5% of stock price movement on any given week attributable to media relations. Dollar impact up to $687 million on annual basis. Certain themes have a bigger impact, but cumulative effect builds over 2 to 3 months (i.e. momentum).