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Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
German businesses are investing more than ever in commercial communications: around 45 billion euros are spent annually on advertising, social media communication, sponsorship, public relations and other measures. But the demands of customers, employees and other publics for transparent presentations and concise information are growing even faster than the budgets in the age of Fake News. A coordination of all communication activities following the idea of Integrated Communications is therefore indispensable. However, it often fails due to the invisible walls between departments and agencies involved.
The empirical study "Integrated Communication 2017" identifies the hurdles that must be overcome in order to implement successful corporate and marketing communications in the jungle of media diversity. The joint project by the F.A.Z.-Institute, a subsidiary of the leading German newspaper publisher “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”, and the Institute for Communication and Media Studies at the University of Leipzig was led by Professor Dr. Ansgar Zerfaß and Dr. Nils S. Borchers (Chair for Strategic Communication) and supported by a project team from the master's course Communication Management. The study researched senior corporate communications and marketing communications managers of German companies, most of them in leadership positions.
88 percent of respondents agree that the integration of communication activities is an important or partially important issue in their company just now. A key reason for this is that the number of contact points with stakeholders has grown rapidly. At the same time an increasing loss of control has become noticeable. Integrated communications encompass more than using a coherent logo, following corporate design guidelines or coordinating messages. The study shows in the conceptual part that common definitions of targets, success indicators, budget distribution, processes, structures and cultures in the company are relevant as well. However, this is often lacking in practice. Only 31.1 percent of the respondents hold a holistic understanding of integrated communications, which includes all necessary levels. For example, only every second communicator is aware that Integrated Communications includes listening in the sense of "Organizational Listening" as well as coherent messaging strategies. In sharp contrast to the overall awareness of communicators for Integrated Communications, the implementation within companies is still limited. Most widespread are the coordination of communication activities (49.0%) as well as regular attunements between various communicators (48.6%). Uniform success measurement (22.2%) and, again, organizational listening (10.1%) are rarely used. Also noticeable are large gaps between the awareness for the necessity and the implementation rate of coordinated corporate messages (60.0 percentage points), as well as of a joint understanding of communication and the willingness to cooperate with other communicators in the company (63.0 percentage points).
In order to successfully coordinate communication policies, prerequisites must be created in all steps of the communication management process (input, throughput, output). Empirical evidence from the study shows that these requirements are not met in many German companies so far. Common goals and indicators for communication activities are often missing. Only a quarter of the companies use the same methods and tools such as surveys, social media monitoring, reputational analyzes, etc. for evaluation across different communication functions (25.4%) and make them available to everybody involved (23.5%). On the other hand, coordination structures are quite common: in almost three-quarters of the enterprises, communicators working in different departments exchange their experiences formally (72.4%) and informal (72.8%). The coordination of work processes, on the other hand, appears to be a major challenge. Joint planning processes can be found in every second company (48.2%). Joint budgeting processes are only existent in 38.5% of the companies. It is important to notice that only 36.6 percent of the companies have broadly qualified communicators, who are able to work in all subfields of communication. Competency development and further education are required here. There is also a need for improvement when it comes to the allocation of resources. Only in two out of five companies (42.0%) different communication departments are funded proportionate to their respective tasks.
"Integrated communications contributes to the creation of an overall image and gives companies the opportunity to influence how others see it," comments Dr. Gero Kalt, Managing Director of the F.A.Z.-Institute. "The study shows how a comprehensive understanding of Integrated Communications looks like today and what needs to be done in order to make it fruitful for any company." Professor Ansgar Zerfass adds: "We were able to identify top performers of Integrated Communications in the sample. When looking at the best of class, we find a significantly different understanding of communication, for example with regard to the communication strategies, but also much more consistent objectives, a stronger identification with the communication work of other departments in the company and much more. Only companies who break down traditional barriers among communication disciplines will be able to outperform in the dynamic environment of public opinion building."
The study report is available free of charge at www.communicationmanagement.de and www.faz-institut.de.
Prof. Dr. Ansgar Zerfaß
Institut für Kommunikations- und Medienwissenschaft / Strategische Kommunikation
Telefon: +49 341 97-35040
E-Mail: zerfass@uni-leipzig.de
Web: http://www.cmgt.uni-leipzig.de
Dr. Nils Borchers
Institut für Kommunikations- und Medienwissenschaft
Telefon: +49 341 97 35046
E-Mail: nils.borchers@uni-leipzig.de
http://www.communicationmanagement.de
http://www.faz-institut.de
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