Silos end and true teamwork rises as corporations streamline comms

PRWeek's Corporate Survey, produced in partnership with Hill & Knowlton, is one of the most important pieces of work we produce each year. The findings cut to the very quick of the biggest issues in the communications industry today, with the biggest trend this year being a move toward streamlining communications operations so the whole operation stays on message: whether that is internal communications, investor relations, public affairs, media relations, corporate communications, or government relations.

As H&K's US president and CEO Dan Bartlett points out in the article, that's around five different people at a senior level, all with communications responsibilities, who often are not communicating with each other. This has to change. The trend toward working in silos is over. Everything is transparent and visible to stakeholders of all kinds.

That's a view our Newsmaker this month, the National Retail Federation's SVP of communications and public affairs Tita Freeman, definitely took when she joined the industry trade body in May. She quickly teamed up with the organization's head of government relations to put in place a concerted and integrated campaign on debit-card charge reform. It was such a success that, all of a sudden, the retail champion had beaten the might of the banking industry's campaigning groups to force change that will result in savings of approximately $10 billion a year for her industry - that's a testament to a smart communications strategy if ever there was one.

It is the type of clear PR thinking you will see exhibited in the case studies and articles throughout the pages of this month's issue. Enjoy.