Manage Stakeholder Engagement
Company: Comalco (a member of the Rio Tinto Group)
Agency: Burson-Marsteller
Timeframe: 2000-2004
Budget: $245,000
The year 2000 was a tough one Comalco, the primary bauxite/alumina supplier to Australia, New Zealand and export markets. Not only was the Brisbane, Queensland-based company
facing challenges common to the mining industry - environmental concerns, for example - but opinion research also indicated that it was in need of a reputation facelift in the
eyes of its key constituents to improve business and garner support for expansion plans. It was just a question of how to go about doing it with the maximum results.
The answer would come from halfway around the world. Comalco (a member of the Rio Tinto Group) executives reached out to the New York office of PR firm Burson-Marsteller to
meet one overarching management goal: Provide external communications for the purpose of measuring Comalco's business through managing the company's reputation."
It sounds like a clear-cut mission with an obvious plan of attack, but the effort would require massive amounts of research to:
1. Identify the stakeholders that matter most to the company
2. Define the issues that matter most to constituents
3. Formulate a set of questions around constituents' expectations of excellence
4. Establish a benchmark against which success will be measured
To initiate the research phase of the effort, Burson instituted a "Stakeholder Dialogue" approach, in which more than 700 local government and opinion leaders were identified
and surveyed. The survey collected data about the issues that were most important to stakeholders in terms of an archetypal mining company; it then benchmarked the level of
awareness. These benchmarks helped focus communications initiatives according to the needs of the company and its key constituents.
"The most important element was finding what [stakeholders] knew about the company already and where their information appetite was," says Diana Shayon, managing director at
Burson and head of the reputation management division within Burson's corporate practice. "That enabled us to plot an audience map that informed all communications and PR
outreach."
The research concluded that the key constituents' - in Comalco's case, these included opinion leaders, government officials, media representatives and environmental NGOs -
awareness of the company's external activities was low, as was the credibility of its outgoing messages. The premise, then, of the Stakeholder Dialogue was achieved: It is in the
business interest to know as precisely as possible who matters to operations, how to communicate with them and what to say, and Comalco was able to begin setting a standard for
doing just that.
Moreover, in measuring the survey results, Comalco discovered that its reputation and credibility were in greatest peril in the community of Gladstone (Queensland), which
happened to be the planned location for a $750 million (USD) investment in a new refinery. Thus, the company would have to go to great lengths to reestablish trust among its key
constituents there or risk substantial financial losses. To do so, it developed a Community Fund as an arm of Comalco, but with a board of community leaders and company
executives. (The Fund has committed more than $1 million to the Gladstone community since 2002.) This effort also spawned the Community Needs Assessment (CNA), which provided an
opportunity for company managers to development personal relationships with the community's opinion leaders.
"Many companies consider media to be the primary message vehicle, but they miss the opportunity to get out and have one-on-one relationships with opinion leaders," Shayon says.
"Technology now allows us to be very focused in that way."
As does measurement, which was the crux of this effort's success. Even though measurement was still in the early stages of maturation from clip counts and ad equivalencies to
more complex outcome-based results when this initiative began, Comalco and Burson executives worked to measure goals' against predetermined benchmarks. This was done through
proprietary analyses that can't be boiled down to one simple equation, but that are integral to defining success.
"Too many organizations react before understanding the nature of their expectations," Shayon says. "Companies must use measurement as a benchmark and planning tool to guide
communications, not simply as a report card."
Indeed, with the help of Burson, Comalco used measurement as a planning tool and a communications strategy, but the final report card was worth mentioning as well. Management
goals - understanding expectations and views of stakeholders critical to success; improving stakeholders' perceptions and credibility of the company; maintaining Comalco's
operating license; and providing a roadmap for the external communications programs - were all met and exceeded based on comparison of measured results against benchmarking data.
For example, a follow-up survey of the same 700 hand-picked opinion leaders found that there was:
- A 70 percent increase in perceptions of Comalco
- A 60 percent increase in Comalco's overall credibility
- An increase in the frequency of mentions of all company sources
- A 200 percent increase in Comalco's credibility in Gladstone
- Closure in the gaps of awareness from 2000 to 2004
- A 100 percent increase in awareness of community programs and initiatives
Thus, success was achieved, but it didn't come without its fair share of challenges. For one, initiatives like this often face a lack of continuity over time, which can
complicate consistency in messaging. Shayon attributes the overall success of Comalco's program to the company's long-term commitment to the initiative - something many
organizations have trouble achieving. She also emphasizes the importance of defining the measures of success before beginning an initiative; otherwise, goals can get lost in the
shuffle. And, finally, understand that outcomes can change and progress can dwindle, so measure again to ensure that positive results are maintained.
In short, Comalco's mission was accomplished - and lauded by the communications industry as a whole. It won the Institute for Public Relations' Golden Ruler Award for
Excellence in Public Relations Measurement in 2004, as well as a number of other national and international merits for excellence.
In the end, Comalco was able to position itself as an industry leader, and Shayon credits the accomplishment to the company's attention to one key lesson:
"Communications must act as a mechanism to connect to the business of the business. Otherwise, you will be off track all along."
Contact:
Diana Shayon, 212.614.4191, [email protected]