By Lisa Schievelbein

For many communicators, Legal is a slayer of dreams.

I’ve heard this (paraphrased) complaint countless times across six years of CEC member conversations. The source of the conflict varies, but the storyline is usually the same: Legal vetoes communication ideas that depart from a “command and control” approach to corporate communication. It probably goes without saying, then, that social media has been a virtual Celebrity Deathmatch between the functions.

That said, we’re seeing some promising signs of a relationship thaw. Exhibit A: last week, CEC members joined their Legal and Marketing brethren at a panel discussion about cross-functional collaboration in social media. The 90-minute session was co-hosted by two of CEC’s sister programs (GCR and MLC) and headlined by Wal-Mart, Allstate, and Coca-Cola. Despite some differences of opinion, the overall consensus was clear: these three functions need to work together to manage the legal landmines of social media WHILE aggressively using it to the company’s advantage in engaging stakeholders. Here are 4 tips specifically for Comms in negotiating this balance with Legal: Read More »

By Rebecca Canan

Last week, I learned a firsthand (and inadvertent) lesson about the new rules of media relations.  Here’s the story timeline:

• Washington DC has a series of blizzards across the week, leaving behind more than 50 inches of snow.
• Mid-blizzard, CEB (parent company of CEC) sends out an email stating that the office would be open regular hours, but to let your manager know if you were unable to come in.
• I laugh in disbelief.
• In aforementioned state of disbelief, I sign on to my personal Twitter account and tweet about it.
• Thursday morning I wake up to find that my seemingly personal and innocuous tweet has been cited in the Washington Post (PRINT AND ONLINE VERSIONS) with the context below—my own emphasis added:

Some Washington businesses that urged employees’ attendance have been getting pounded on washingtonpost.com and Twitter. Employees of Rosslyn-based Corporate Executive Board expressed exasperation that their office was initially open: “bec54″ wrote, “Boycotting CEB’s decision to stay open today by sitting on the couch in my fleece onesie. This snow is INSANE.”

[INSERT PANIC]  Pounded!?!  My fleece ONESIE?!?!  NOOOOooooo! Read More »

By Mike Wellman

It’s not often that you hear the words “banjo” and “communications” in the same sentence.  I think most CEOs would be hesitant to put the boy banjo player from Deliverance up on a podium, much less put him in charge of their reputations!  As silly as the concept sounds, in many ways we have become a fish out of water in our own field, and it turns out that a banjo-player is the exemplar for learning how to adapt.

In the recent documentary, Throw Down Your Heart, a favorite musician of mine, banjo player Béla Fleck, journeys to several countries in Africa to play the banjo with local musicians—rare collaborations that produce a whole new type of music.  In taking this journey, Béla hoped to challenge his own abilities and grow as a musician as well as dissociate the banjo from stigma and reveal its ancestry as a descendant of African instruments.  His journey as a “stranger in a strange land” parallels recent sentiments I’ve heard from communicators’ less voluntary journeys, and I think we can only hope to emulate his success in adapting to a changing environment. Read More »

By Evelyn Ostrovsky 

If two weeks ago you didn’t know about the American Red Cross’s social media use, you do now. The Red Cross’s innovative fundraising efforts for Haiti relief show that a little social media can go a long way in rallying global support for a common cause.

Given this success, it’s ironic that the Red Cross’s social media manager, Wendy Harman, was initially hired 4 years ago to “make the internet stop.” Red Cross executives were concerned about the volume of negative comments about the organization after Hurricane Katrina, and they wanted to somehow make the criticism go away. (Now, all good communicators out there realize that this is impossible, but can certainly relate to the sentiment.) Instead of staying in combat mode, however, Wendy saw an opportunity to enable advocates to rally around the Red Cross cause. Her journey from “make it stop” to empowering supporters took a few rogue experiments, some excellent listening skills, and the know-how to rein in overzealous business partners.

We’re thrilled to have Wendy share her story at a CEC webinar next Tuesday (February 9 at 11 EST). CEC members can register now for this event; if you’re reading this after the fact, you can check out the event replay here.

Now, let’s hear from you. What did you notice about social media’s role in fundraising for Haiti? What takeaways do you find transferable to the corporate setting?

By Rebecca Canan

Nearly every day, I get to talk to members about CEC’s major research initiative for 2010, and over the course of the past couple months, this has summed up to A LOT of conversations!  I’m asking them about external stakeholder outreach…how the media landscape is changing…how this is tangibly affecting their teams.  Really rich and interesting conversations.  THEN, the conversation turns to media monitoring.  It goes something like this:

Rebecca: So, how do you monitor conversations about your company? How much do you spend?  How do you USE the information?

CEC Member: [Yawn.]  [Then rattles off responses like a robot.]

Now, I’ve got nothing against robots (er, total tangent and perhaps inappropriate, but I actually think robots are HILARIOUS).  That said, I sense that members waste a lot of money on robotic “going through the motions” in this area. To them, monitoring is simply a part of the Communications function.  A box to check off.  Something that has to get done and does not necessarily require much reflection.  It may be the obsessive analytic in me, but I think that (1) communicators typically lack a deliberate and integrated objective for monitoring and that (2) they don’t use the information spit out of their monitoring machines.  Alas! Read More »

By Lisa Schievelbein

I spent my winter break at a yoga retreat in Oahu, Hawaii—a mere 10-minute beach stroll to Barack Obama’s vacation getaway. (Or at least, that’s how long it took to walk to the literal line in the sand drawn by the Secret Service, clad in Hawaiian shirts.) Though I was intent on unplugging from all thoughts of Corporate Communications on this trip, Obama’s brush with crisis communication (re: the airline terror attempt on Christmas Day) did call to mind the many communication challenges that Comms and POTUS share.

Read More »

By Mike Wellman

It’s January 2010, and internal communicators everywhere are pulling Christmas trees into their driveways, turning up the thermostats in their offices, and—most importantly—thinking about what they want to accomplish this year. CEC members are putting creative energy to work in a lot of good places, like smart use of internal social media and supporting manager-led communication. I’ve also heard a few unusual ideas lately—ranging from a corporate pirate radio station to video games that reinforce messages.

All that said, my favorite member experiments usually involve one thing in particular: the giveaway. Since the dawn of time, when a cro-magnon communicator placed a dinosaur egg on a cro-magnon employee’s desk and asked him to “think egg-cellently,” the kitschy giveaway—also known as corporate swag—has been widely used to attract employee attention. And almost everyone I’ve talked to has a funny story about work knickknacks that are, let’s say, ill-conceived. Read More »

By Rebecca Canan

One of my favorite parts of work is getting the non-obvious, top-secret scoop about what communicators are doing. With social media as my specialty, I especially like getting the behind-the-scenes tour of their social media platforms. Who manages their blog? What’s being censored (if anything)? How does the company get value from the site? I recently asked these questions of Nick Caplin, Corporate PR Manager for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Check out what he had to say here:

Read More »

By Evelyn Ostrovsky 

Every fall, the CEC research team spends nearly every waking minute on one activity: talking with the membership about their biggest concerns for the coming year. In my dozens (and dozens!) of conversations with members across over the last few months, one theme has come up repeatedly: the effect of new media on traditional media.

The week between Christmas and New Years brings much needed quiet to the office, and this year, Rebecca and I decided to explore a less traditional research method—one that actually got us out of our cubes for a change. On Rick’s recommendation, we made out way to D.C.’s own Newseum to learn about the history and changing role of journalism first-hand. Read More »

Welcome to the CEC Insider—the official blog of the Communications Executive Council (CEC). We’re an insight-based research shop that exists to give a professional edge to the world’s best network of corporate communicators.

Now, if you’re visiting this blog (and aren’t thinking, “where’s my latest celebrity gossip?”), you’re likely a sharp thinker about the world of Corporate Communications.  So are we!  So, let’s start a conversation—an insider’s circle, if you will—about the communication topics that we all care about.

Here are a few ways that you can get involved on the CEC Insider:

• React to the newest ideas from our research lab
• Share your thoughts on emerging communication issues
• Get the inside track on what the most progressive communicators are talking about

One parting note: our posts will often contain links to the CEC website for the sole benefit of members—aka, the ultimate Insiders. If you’d like to learn more about membership, contact us at any time.