Downturn.  Recession.  Unemployment.  These terms may be just as associated with 2010 as they were with 2009.  But what will 2011 look like?  Will we see an unemployment rate back near 6%?  Will fewer houses sit on the market for months and months?  Will consumer confidence be higher than we’ve seen in the past two years?  Will we start to see more “good” in the news?

The latest business barometer scores show that senior executives’ perceptions on revenue growth and cost pressures over the next 12 months remain slightly negative.

However, the latest 2010 resource allocation benchmarking results show that Communicators may have a slightly more positive outlook when they think about their own resources for 2011. Read More »

As a part of CECs latest project around CSR and Sustainability, we’ve asked our members to tell us about their CSR programs.  Often, they tell us about their programs for philanthropy, and in many cases, they will spend up to 3% of company revenue on these programs!

Now, this seems like a staggering figure: if my company has revenues of $1billion, there’s a good chance that we’ll be spending $30million each year on philanthropic exercises.  Where progressive companies such as Nestlé look to “Create Shared Value” (CSV) for both themselves and for society (which method we’ll look at, below), others simply share the value that they’ve already created.  And what do they get in return?  Some cite a boost in employee engagement, whilst others cite intangible reputational benefits.  Few can quantify either gain very well. Read More »

I live at the epicenter of American politics just blocks east of the U.S. Capitol.  The Statue of Freedom that adorns the Capitol dome scrutinizes my morning commute.  As I scurry toward the Metro that will take me the enclave of the private sector for the day, she reminds me of the role and influence of government in our lives.

That influence is growing.  Don’t take my word for it or the collective voices of the masses that have coalesced in DC for various rallies and protests this past year.  Take instead the cold hard facts of the corporate communications budget.

In 2010 Communications’ government relations budgets increased by 7%, the largest shift in Communications budgets according to CEC’s annual Resource Allocation Benchmarking Survey.  CEC members can view the full survey on the website: 2010 Resource Allocation Benchmarks. Read More »

By Rebecca Canan

We hear it over and over again from companies in Insurance, Healthcare, Pharma, Energy/Utilities, and Financial Services:

“We want to use social media, but we just can’t! There are too many regulations and risks.”

We’ve been investigating this claim and how much of it is true…what CAN you actually do?  Based on conversations with social media pioneers/”survivors” from the highly regulated space and quantitative research from our social media diagnostic (CEC members, take the diagnostic here), we’ve come up with a few conclusions.  Check out our article on Forbes.com about six social media principles for companies in highly regulated industries!  Let us know what you think.