The monthly PR News/VMS sponsored Thought Leaders Roundtable series "The Future of Integrated Communications" took the show to the Lone Star State, where the participating communications
executives contemplated a whole new set of issues and challenges that integration brings to their business. (See p. 7 for the full list of attendees and their companies.)
Three of the most striking discussions focused on organizational structures (i.e., how PR fits in with other communications functions and then reports upward); measurement; and integration in the
age of digitalization. With these topics in mind, here's a run-down of what's keeping your industry peers up at night as integration begs (or fights) to be accepted, and what they're doing to
cope.
Bottoms Up
When you're considering the multifaceted question of how to integrate communications functions throughout the organization, a good place to start brainstorming is by studying how other
organizations build teams and establish reporting relationships. Of course, there is no one-size-fits-all approach, but the following structure "sampler" provides a taste of how several of the
companies-next-door are getting it done:
WENDELL WATSON: Texas Health Resources has one person who oversees all communications activities - advertising, marketing, public relations and internal communications.
MORGAN LYON/Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART): All communications professionals report to a VP of marketing communications, and everyone meets twice a month to coordinate.
LAURA BARRINGTON/Lennox: PR falls under our international department, and we have yearly two-day meetings with all our agencies.
CARI KERNS: Countrywide is unique in that it has no brand advertising department - only direct response; therefore, messages aren't integrated.
CALLAHAN/Komen: PR is the driver. The brand director and PR [practitioners] are all coordinated and report to directly to the CEO.
SUMMERS/Mary Kay: We have a comprehensive solutions team from all disciplines that works together to solve problems. It meets monthly - more often if necessary.
These are just a few examples to highlight the varied approaches organizations take to integrate (or to not integrate, as the case may be) their communications efforts. Because of integration's
collaborative and connective nature, executives were quick to point out, it is an extraordinary challenge to navigate around any number of sand traps. The attendees named the following as their
biggest hurdles - but they were quick to offer one another potential solutions.
HERING/Temerlin: There are no clear roles/responsibilities.
SUMMERS/Mary Kay: It's difficult to keep people on track after the initial [plan is drawn up]. You must have a champion in place to keep everyone on task. Then there is the issue of short-
term versus long-term strategies. It's the tyranny of the urgent over the important.
MEDLICOTT/Boy Scouts: It's a challenge to establish the connection between tactical activities and the bottom line...
RAGLON/Dallas Housing: ...and to influence behavior when PR is on the bottom rung...
LYON/DART: ...and to establish a common basis for measurement.
Size Does Matter, But Who's Counting? And How?
Morgan then brought up another key point in the integration discussion: how measurement can facilitate the process. According to Lyria Howland of Howland PR, it is necessary to prove to the
C-suite that integrated communications is the key to mitigating risk. As the group discussed measurement solutions, digital tools began to bubble up in conversation, quickly proving that they are
both utilized and feared by many of the communications executives in attendance. Merk Harbour of Fossil suggested measurability on the basis of digital tracking, and other attendees quickly
jumped in to talk about how new media platforms were contributing to their efforts:
SMITH/M Strategies: We use new media to track and measure spikes. It allows us to come to the table with recommendations for other disciplines.
HARBOUR/Fossil: We use new media for testing because of the instant feedback it gives us. But it's important to be completely transparent - look at what Ford did with
Boldmoves.com.
HERING/Temerlin: Digital tools allow for the measurement of C2C feedback. It's just a matter of knowing how to make consumers advocates.
BROWN/Cedar Hill: C2C approval gives more credibility.
BARRINGTON: Our challenge is being in a low-interest industry [heating and air conditioning]. When everything is working right, you don't hear anything; it's when things break that people
start talking. But we did create an online game that became viral. It had to do with shooting bad air.
MEDLICOTT/Boy Scouts: We do podcasts. We have [a platform for] hero stories and photo essays contributed by members. We send them to councils and share them with volunteers.
SUMMERS/Mary Kay: We use digital tools to enable our consultants to interact with each other and their customers to grow their business. It's very interactive.
CALLAHAN/Komen: We create two- to four-minute video news releases and drop them on various online platforms. Then we can see which outlets best reach our target audience.
SMITH/M: You have to know your customers. Our job is to counsel our clients not to invest in tools their audience doesn't use.
KERNS: At Countrywide, we don't blog. There are negative blogs out there, but we don't know how to get in and respond, so we don't. Instead, we used SEO press releases, which usually come
up pretty high on search engines.
If you are interested in attending the upcoming Roundtable in Boston on June 19, please contact Diane Schwartz at [email protected].
Clarification: In coverage of the Chicago Roundtable (PRN 05.07), the comment on Nissan's "requirement" that employees rotate departments was misunderstood. Nissan is currently testing this
concept, which is not mandatory.
Roundtable Attendees
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Stephen Medlicott, Director of Marketing & Communications, Boy Scouts of America
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Corky Brown, Public Relations Manager, Cedar Hill Economic Dev. Corp.
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Cari Kerns, VP Corporate Communications, Countrywide
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Morgan Lyon, Senior Manager of Media Relations, Dallas Area Rapid Transit
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Michelle Raglon, VP Public Relations, Dallas Housing Authority
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Merk Harbour, Integrated Marketing & Promotions Director, Fossil, Inc.
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Lyria Howland, President, Howland PR
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Laura Barrington, Manager of Advertising & Communications, Lennox Industries
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Michelle Smith, President & CEO, M Strategies
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Shannon Summers, Director of Advertising & Brand Awareness, Mary Kay
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Kimberly Jackson, Director of Communications, North Texas Tollway Authority
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Bill Pentak, Director of Corporate Communications & Public Affairs, Panda Energy International
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Emily Callahan, Public Relations Manager, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer
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James Hering, Sr. VP, Director of Interactive Marketing, Temerlin McClain Advertising
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Wendell Watson, Director, Media Relations, Texas Health Resources
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Gary Getto, EVP, VMS
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Joe Guerrero, BDM, VMS
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Angie Jeffrey, VP, VMS
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Joan Kilanowski, Regional Sales Director, VMS
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Jeff Wynne, EVP, VMS