✅ Five trends shaping the future of the corporate communications function
Your week ahead in management, media and public relations
The annual Communications Trend Radar 2024 report highlights five trends that corporate communications and public relations leaders must address to ensure their organisations remain relevant and effective.
The report was published in February 2024 by the Academic Society for Management & Communication. The German professional association bridges communities of theory and practice with the goal of professionalising corporate communications and management practice.
1. Information inflation: Navigating the data deluge
The value of information is declining as the volume and accessibility of content continue to grow exponentially. This paradox is at the heart of corporate communication and media business models.
Communications practitioners must develop strategies to cut through the noise, identify relevant insights and deliver meaningful content to their stakeholders. Investing in listening and monitoring tools and adopting hyper-personalization techniques can help organisations stand out and cut through.
2. Artificial intelligence (AI) literacy: Embracing AI in communications
AI has the potential to dramatically impact communications practices at societal, organisational and individual levels.
To harness the full potential of AI-driven technologies, communications leaders must build AI capability within their teams. This involves understanding AI's capabilities and limitations, addressing concerns and scepticism, and providing training and support to ensure effective collaboration between humans and machines.
3. Workforce shift: Adapting to a changing labour landscape
Social, technological, and economic changes are reshaping the workforce available to organisations. This long-term issue is related to an ageing workforce, education and the rate of technological and media change.
Communications leaders must future-proof their departments by understanding how these changes impact job roles, competencies, team culture and knowledge management. Adapting hiring and qualification policies and developing innovative approaches to engaging with a diverse and evolving workforce will be critical for success.
4. Content integrity: Combating misinformation
AI-generated content has worsened the situation by accelerating the growth of fake news. It raises two issues for the corporate communications function related to verifying content and ensuring the integrity of its own communications.
Communications practitioners must implement technologies and protocols to verify the sources of information they use and safeguard the authenticity of their own content. Developing crisis response plans for different threat scenarios and educating stakeholders to distinguish between trustworthy and manipulated content will be essential.
5. Decoding humans: Harnessing physiological and behavioural data
Advances in hardware, such as smartwatches and wearables for capturing physiological and behavioural data and AI-based software for interpreting this information, are creating new possibilities for human-technology interaction.
Communications leaders should explore potential use cases, such as measuring the effectiveness of messaging activities or offering customised content in real-time based on unobtrusive recipient feedback. They must also remain mindful of these technologies' reputational, legal, and ethical implications.
The Academic Society for Management & Communication research team developed the Communications Trend Radar 2024 by reviewing professional and academic publications in management, technology and society. Each trend was evaluated for its relevance to corporate communications.
Many of the issues highlighted by the report are recurring themes in my PhD management communications research. Please get in touch if you have any feedback, or we can help you with any issues raised.
Industry
🇬🇧 BRITAIN REIMAGINED: A new crowdsourced book aims to explore Britain's future and its role in the world from the perspective of corporate communications and public relations practitioners. The #FuturePRoof project seeks pitches for thought-provoking and inspirational essays to help frame policy that will contribute to the future of the British economy and society. Source: Wadds Inc.
🧑🎓️ SUMMIT BURSARY: AMEC has created a bursary for 200 students to attend its 2024 Global Summit on 21-23 May, thanks to Mary Beth West, a senior strategist with Fletcher Marketing PR. The summit theme is ‘Innovation, Implementation and Insights: The Global Communication, Data, Measurement and Evaluation Journey.’ Applicants should complete this form to apply for a place before 11 May. Source: AMEC.
Management
🤳 TIKTOK TACKLE: ByteDance, the China-based owner of TikTok, stated it has no plans to sell the popular video app despite a new US law requiring divestment or a ban within 12 months. The company's stance, along with TikTok's vow to fight the law in court, sets the stage for a battle over the app's future in the US. Source: CBS News.
🔍 SEARCH SABOTAGED: In 2019, Google's head of search, Ben Gomes, fought against pressure to prioritise ad revenue over search quality. He was later replaced by Prabhakar Raghavan, who previously oversaw Yahoo's search decline. Raghavan has since allowed Google Search to be overrun by ads and low-quality results and is being threatened by AI. Source: Where’s Your Ed.
Best and bad practice
✈️ AVIATION GREENWASHING BAN: The UK's Advertising Standards Authority banned ads from Air France, Etihad, and Lufthansa for making broad, unsubstantiated green claims. The ASA emphasized that such claims can't be supported due to aviation's high emissions, warning that greenwashing erodes trust, prevents differentiation, and hinders sustainability efforts. Source: Slavina Dimitrova.
🪖 RUNAWAY RESPONSE: A British Army video about horses that bolted during regular exercise in London is a best-practice example of effective crisis communications. It uses clear, concise messaging and is produced to work in multiple formats. Source: Andy Barr.
🏟 ARENA CHAOS: Manchester's new Co-op Live arena has postponed several gigs amid ongoing technical issues, including comedian Peter Kay's shows. The venue's general manager resigned following criticism over comments about small music venues, as the £365m arena, financed by the City Football Group and Oak View Group, faces a chaotic opening week. Source: The Guardian.
🤮 TORY TOXICITY: Conservative staff and activists secretly run anti-Ulez Facebook groups filled with racism, Islamophobia, antisemitism and support for vandalism, an investigation found. The network of 36 groups, with 38,000 total members, has targeted London Mayor Sadiq Khan and spread misinformation and white supremacist slogans. Source: The Observer.
🥡 DELIVEROO RIDER REALITIES: Consumer journalist Harry Wallop turned Deliveroo courier to highlight the impact of tech platforms on front-line workers. He found that the pay is poor due to a lack of tips and an oversupply of riders, while Deliveroo's claim of "at least minimum wage" only applies while riders are actively on a job, not accounting for wait times between orders. Source: Daily Mail.
Technology and platforms
🤳 THREADS THRIVES: Meta's Twitter-like app, Threads, has surpassed 150 million monthly active users, adding 20 million in just two months. With X (formerly Twitter) showing no growth in daily users over the past 16 months and Threads potentially seeing more daily active users in the US, Meta's bet on providing a more positive social media alternative appears to be paying off. Source: Social Media Today.
🏘 NEXTDOOR POTENTIAL: Nextdoor, a hyperlocal social platform popular with over-55s, offers valuable opportunities for public sector communications. With free partnership agreements, tailored content, and the ability to reach entire geographic areas, Nextdoor can effectively engage local communities, making it a promising addition to public sector comms strategies. Source: Dan Slee.
📱 SOCIAL MEDIA SNAPSHOT: According to OFCOM’S 2024 Adults Media Literacy report, WhatsApp leads UK social media usage at 79%, followed by YouTube (78%) and Facebook (69%). TikTok has climbed to 5th place with 34% of the population, surpassing X (formerly Twitter) at just under 30%. Reddit has entered the top 10 with 12% usage for the first time. Source: Dan Slee.
Influencer marketing
🗑 SAMBAS BINFLUENCER: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's recent interview wearing Adidas Sambas sparked the term Binfluencer, a rogue product endorsement that can tarnish a brand's reputation. The term has also been used to describe individuals who take the lead in putting out the correct waste and recycling bins on the correct day, prompting neighbours to follow suit. Source: Creator Briefing.
Next Monday is a Bank Holiday in the UK, so we’ll take a break. We’ll be back on 13 May.
Thank you to all of the members of our community for sharing and debating stories covered in the newsletter: Bridget Aherne, Andy Barr, Stuart Bruce, Scott Guthrie, Craig McGill, Alan Morrison, Dan See, Andrew Bruce Smith and Sarah Waddington CBE.