Corporate Communications Conference Europe: Session Report 1

I participated in the " Corporate Communications Conference Europe " (organized by Global Insight Conferences Ltd.), which was held in Amsterdam on June 25, 2024. The conference was aimed at professionals responsible for corporate communication and public relations.

Across a series of three Column-related follow-up articles, I will share reports on attended sessions. This article is the first.

Kicking the summit off was Can Okar, Vice President/Head of Communications & Public Affairs, International Operations, Novo Nordisk, with a discussion around the two aspects of corporate communications. The first, he noted, was communications as a support function - with teams, when directed by C-suite executives, performing a kind of “explain this to our various stakeholders” role. He noted that while such an approach is important it is narrow in scope, reactive and slightly dated. Rather Okar viewed contemporary communications teams as being the custodians of the corporate brand, that they were working to ensure the long-term sustainability and growth of their organisations. He went on to note that comms teams should function as equity builders that proactively share and promote the company’s purpose, values, what the firm stands for, and where it is going.

In line with the above, in Japan, I too feel that communications teams are now evolving - they are increasingly using their online estates to better promote their organisations and, through stories and other online media, highlight the many positive aspects and impacts of their corporate activities.

In a following panel discussion, titled “Take Control Back In A World Of Permacrisis: Quickly Get Ahead Of Crisis Issues To Cut Problems Off Early With Flexible, Effective Crisis Comms Strategies on Communications in the Current Era of Increased VUPA”, which included Klaus Nørskov, Director of Communication & Public Affairs, Danish Red Cross, Felipe Contreras, Global VP of Comms, Too Good To Go , Mathieu Guillot, Head of Media Relations, Air France & Air France-KLM, Air France-KLM and Petra Kok, Head of External Communications & Spokesperson, TUI Nederland N.V., a number of universal, resounding themes arose.

The most prominent were the importance of authenticity and transparency. While noting that not every detail needs to be shared, in the SNS era where reputations that have taken many years to build can be damaged in mere minutes, it’s now ever more important to be as honest and open as possible. Of course, regarding such openness, there is no go to recipe, no rules, no set plan, no “one size fits all solution.” Rather corporate communications is about understanding oneself as both a company and brand, your activities, data and numbers, your audiences and their needs, as well as being media savvy enough to judge when and where content should best be presented - for example either through a formal press release or on a social network.