Corporate communication: a futurist vision.

Dynamic forces reshaping business will redefine corporate PR as a knowledge-based profession. Driven by innovations in technology and telecommunications, these forces are expanding the:

* quantity, quality and speed of communication worldwide,

* impact of audio and visual media on public opinion,

* competition for reaching and affecting key constituencies, and

* concentration of media ownership.

But communication professionals are so absorbed in dealing with the "here and now" that they are not looking ahead to manage these forces of change. The end result is that more often than not we're reacting to today's realities rather than influencing them.

What are these realities? We can no longer control the speed at which information flows. Newswires and TV can communicate stories with lightning speed, visual impact ... and with potentially devastating effect on corporate image or stock value.

Companies no longer have the time for lengthy discussions to formulate strategy. We're compelled to better anticipate and plan the "if P then Q" scenarios long in advance.

Trying to imagine the world of PR beyond the year 2010 offers an effective springboard to map out new strategies and keeps us ahead of the curve.

In the future, information preparedness will be essential to manage and influence events -- not after they occur, but before they occur or as they are occurring. This constant state of readiness will require a strategic approach that recognizes the importance of:

* understanding how we're perceived by various corporate constituencies;

* gauging in advance how different decisions could potentially be perceived;

* measuring the effectiveness of messages as they're communicated and then using this information for revising them, if necessary;

* using these perceptions in developing targeted messages to distinct groups;

* creating the capacity for reaching large, diverse constituencies with precision and speed; and

* managing communication messages through preemptive activities to influence news as it is reported.

In the PR world of 2010, a corporate communication department will function like a war room in a political campaign headquarters. As in a campaign, sophisticated research on perceptions of various publics will become a standard practice. And technology will be used to reach those constituencies, once identified. Routine tools in the political world such as overnight polling and focus groups will be used to provide the critical baseline of information for deciding strategy ... and evaluating its effectiveness once executed.

Some companies in the U.S., such as Union Carbide, already have begun experimenting with overnight polling as part of their internal communication programs.

In this new era, media relations, issues management and advertising will be more closely integrated to ensure clear, consistent and constant emphasis on key messages. This integration, moreover, will offer the capacity to change advertising messages, sometimes overnight, to correspond with changing perceptions of various constituencies.

New corporate personalities have arisen

This shift toward integration acknowledges that the public no longer distinguishes between product performance and corporate image. The visual impact of media has created a corporate personality, where every decision or product is seen as a sign of corporate judgment and responsibility.

Sophisticated demographic targeting software will use polling results to more effectively direct advertising dollars and media strategy. This software, for example, will leverage zip codes from survey samples to identify large clusters of people with similar views, and to tailor corporate messages through newspapers, broadcast and magazine advertising, and even direct mail.

Access to, and use of, direct database marketing techniques will significantly redirect how corporate PR professionals generate support for corporate goals among diverse groups of stakeholders, e.g. employees, shareholders, customers and other groups.

In becoming a knowledge-based profession, the lines between current public affairs disciplines will converge. Corporate PR/public affairs will be structured around: 1) research and technology to guide strategy development and provide implementation tools, and 2) high-level communication strategists.

Today, public affairs professionals often see themselves within the different functions -- government relations, media relations, employee communication, advertising -- as clients to one another.

In the year 2010, the execution of communication strategy will require professionals who are well versed in each of the disciplines ... and can immediately see strategic implications of decisions across disciplines.

Competing for influence

This recognizes that competition for influencing public opinion will reach new heights in the information age of the 21st century. Outside interest groups will be better organized and have the same sophisticated arsenal of technology/telecommunications tools. Contingency planning will become the principal goal of effective communication strategy, and it will be a continuous process.

Information preparedness will allow the communicator to direct or shift strategy at the same speed at which external events are occurring.

Companies are already moving toward a higher state of readiness by integrating databases that track and allow the cross leveraging of information from contacts with the media, elected officials, philanthropic group members, shareholders and employees active in their communities.

The next phase of information preparedness will include a large-scale institutional memory for easy, on-line access to news clippings, corporate statements, photo files, a video library of all production/operating facilities, and linkages to external "information brokers" who can provide unlimited access to data when needed.

For example, within a week of news reporting of bottle tampering, Pepsi was able to quickly distribute video on the safety of its operations. But in 2010, the company's video library will distribute this footage over fiber optic networks almost simultaneously with newswire reports. This suggests a new dynamic in how messages will be managed.

Another important trend shaping our futurist vision of PR is the growing concentration of media ownership in the hands of a few. Newspaper chains are rapidly consolidating the fourth estate, under financial pressure caused by declining advertising revenues and shrinking subscriber bases.

As a cost-cutting measure, news reporting staffs are being reduced and greater reliance is being placed on syndicated coverage by the news chains. The result, sadly, is that there are fewer sources of independent news today. This trend applies to broadcast media as well, and it is going to continue.

The mergers of major broadcast and telecommunications companies signal a host of new opportunities for companies, but also pose new challenges. PR professionals, for example, will soon be able to provide newspapers and magazines with segmented advertorial messages and computerized listings of zip codes, which publishers will then use to personalize information found in advertising.

And the same targeted communication techniques of publishing could be used to tailor messages going into the homes of broadcast audiences.

Development of channels of communication

In 2010, the concentration of broadcast and telecommunications companies also will permit organizations to conduct their employee communication through dedicated cable stations.

At the same time, concentration of media ownership could create new restrictions on corporate PR because: a) public demand will emphasize broadcast entertainment, to the exclusion of news or b) the bias of media owners could influence coverage.

In the decade ahead, organizations will have to work harder to develop more direct channels of communication and influence. In addition, the fiscal constraints on news reporting will offer communication professionals the chance, increasingly, to become news sources.

Corporate PR departments in 2010 will broadcast interactive news information services, which will provide written, voice and video responses from a range of senior executives. At the same time, technology will allow PR professionals to track and analyze the patterns of media inquiries and coverage.

Interactive news information services also will be provided to shareholders, who will be able to: ask questions about corporate performance; vote on shareholder resolutions; answer survey questions on corporate issues ... and yes, even buy stock directly.

Remain a catalyst for change

Several of the trends cited here could appear to pose a threat to personal privacy, if organizations do not exercise good judgment and establish proper guidelines. Members of our profession must play an active role to safeguard privacy, emphasizing generic information such as zip codes in targeting communication to external groups.

The 21st century is just around the corner ... and the communication support required by business will be markedly different from what we know today.

As we face a communication world that will be greatly influenced by technology, we must begin to look at developing new strategies, skills and tools for the world of the future.

In the words of one great communicator, we must turn our advance worrying into advance thinking and planning. A futuristic vision for corporate PR represents the start of a dialogue that tries to tie it all together ... and to ensure through this effort that we continue to be a catalyst for change.

Stuart Z. Goldstein is VP of corporate communications at National Securities Clearing Corp., New York City.