Dry mouth, sweaty palms and butterflies in the stomach may all be hallmarks of giving a speech, but boosting your company's image is worth the small discomfort. Most CEOs and
senior executives are called upon to represent their companies before important audiences - trade shows and conference participants, shareholders, gatherings of business leaders -
yet these speeches often are seen as obligations, rather than opportunities.
One company that has moved aggressively to use its executives' speaking engagements as part of its overall PR plan is UPS. Over the past decade, especially the last four years,
executive communications has emerged as a critical component in advancing the company's strategic objectives.
UPS chairman and CEO Jim Kelly gives eight to 10 major speeches a year, says executive communications manager Steve Soltis. But the top executive team - Kelly and about a dozen
senior executives - total 100 speeches a year. "We go out and proactively find the forums we want to [speak in], that make sense from a business development standpoint, a
relationship standpoint, a geographic standpoint." Soltis says. "I've seen a group of executives who, prior to the development of this program, could count on two hands - some of
them on one hand - the number of times they ever spoke publicly. Now they like it. They see it as a power platform, a very effective [strategic] platform."
The elements of the executive communications program are straightforward in theory, tough in execution. First comes the determination of the key messages that senior executives
should deliver. "Our primary goal is message delivery, and the message is directed by the strategy," says Ken Sternad, VP of PR for UPS. "We spend a lot of time examining through
research, product priorities and sales priorities, what message will drive our reputation and, therefore, support the growth of the business."
Soltis and his staff then evaluate potential speaking opportunities against the message to be delivered. They have categories to which they assign each opportunity:
- marketing/business development
- policy
- association relationship
- professional development/networking
- key industry groups
- geographic segmentation
Some of the scheduling is dictated by the corporate calendar. "We always check the business calendar first for what I call 'blackout days,'" says Ron McCall of Executive
Communications, Inc., a consultant who works with Sternad and Soltis to devise the communications plan. "Then everything else is pretty much fair game."
"There are three things that are the most critical to me," Sternad says. "One, setting it up right, and that includes setting up the expectations. We may be about the most
apolitical company around, but you still have politics and egos at the highest levels, so having them understand their roles is [crucial]. Then they see where we're working
together carrying the brands." The company works with Virgil Scudder, of the eponymous New York firm, to train the executives for their speaking responsibilities.
Bruce Jeffries-Fox, former director of public relations research for AT&T and now a VP with Burrelle's/VMS Information Services, recalls that AT&T gave some thought to
matching speakers and subjects. "We looked at this topic when it came to who should be spokespersons for particular topics at particular times," Jeffries-Fox says. "We would match
up the person with the topic, then get credibility readings [through consumer] surveys." The goal was to determine who audiences would consider the most credible speaker.
The second most important consideration, Sternad says, comes after the speech, with repackaging opportunities. Soltis and his staff actively look for ways to leverage the speech
- articles, op/ed pieces, reprints, interviews, and Web sites, to name a few.
When Kelly spoke before the Commonwealth Club of California last year, Soltis says, it resulted in press in the San Francisco and Los Angeles dailies and was picked up by NPR's
"Marketplace."
"We had the potential of touching several million people. Lay that out against the cost of advertising," Soltis says.
"Using this effort to align your people internally to the company's goals and messages" is Sternad's third consideration. On its intranet, UPS has "Speaker in a Box," a page for
UPS employees to read senior executives' speeches. Every manager can draw upon those speeches to craft his or her own message, whether to employees at a staff meeting or a
presentation to the local Chamber of Commerce.
"It's an incredible alignment of internal and external messaging that's been driven by the executive speakers' program," Sternad notes.
The UPS program is not cheap. Sternad estimates the company spent between $750,000 and $1 million on executive communications last year, not including travel expenses or the
executives' time. And that's less than 10% of the company's total PR budget. UPS has speechwriters on staff, but about 25 to 30 speeches are produced by outside writers, Soltis
estimates; then there are freelancers who draft articles and opinion pieces, which get polished in-house.
But at a time when concern for corporate reputation is high on everyone's list, UPS believes this program shows real results. "Last year... we won the Page award for best public
relations team in the land, and the chairman was on the cover of Forbes magazine as the best company of the year," Soltis says with pride.
The company's measurement of the program's success lags behind its achievements in placing speakers. "It starts getting a little weaker when looking at results measurement,"
Sternad acknowledges.
(Soltis and Sternad, 404/828-4029; McCall, 423/288-2929 or [email protected]; Jeffries-Fox, 800/631-1160; Scudder,
212/627-4400)
Watch for Part 2 of this story in the Oct. 30 issue of PRN - a look at sound techniques for measuring the success of corporate PR programs. Sternad
will be speaking at PRN's upcoming seminar, "Best Practices in PR Measurement," Nov. 14 in New York City; 888/707-5814.