Investment in the sector was R$ 30.2 billion last year; 83%
of professionals are VPs or directors, according to Aberje
Corporate communication is no longer just a support area to assume a strong role in companies. With an increasingly strategic role and relying on various tools such as social networks, corporate chat and streaming, it defines how the brand conveys its messages to stakeholders, whether they are employees, investors or partners. According to a survey by the Brazilian Association of Business Communication (Aberje), investment in the sector reached BRL 30.2 billion in 2022. According to the institution, growth was 6%, above the average GDP (Gross Domestic Product) .
Another piece of data that highlights the relevance of corporate communication today revealed by the survey A Comunicação da Governana Corporativa, released by Aberje in September last year, shows that 83% of communication professionals hold vice-presidency and director positions (46% vice-president -presidency and 37% board) and 61% of the professionals responsible for the communication area are part of the company’s board.
And what explains this growth? Hamilton dos Santos, executive director of Aberje, lists three reasons. ESG culture has been on the rise in the business world for some time. As a result of this new scenario, companies are increasingly relying on communication as a strategy to relate to the public, and their strategies are becoming more sophisticated. And that public demand is for transparent information in dialogue, not just publicity. The outbreak of the pandemic accelerated this trend. Because when everyone had to adopt the home office, internal communication, for example, became even more important. There was also a growing need to communicate with people outside the company, such as social media and broader social issues. All this made companies invest in communication and increase their budgets to meet these new demands.
Organically, says the executive director of Aberje, the pandemic also had an impact on an already existing phenomenon, which is the breaking and diffusion of boundaries between investors and stakeholders, between employees and customers, between business and political and social issues, between online and offline, between work and home. These boundaries in companies have become permeable, and the communicator is the professional within organizations who needs to deal with this breaking down of boundaries, he is the one who must deal with the public.
Santos says that this lack of limits brings risks to the business and they must be monitored, in addition to observing the opportunities that can generate value for the business. In this context, communication directors have reached a position to demand adequate budgets for the challenges they must face, he says.
Curatorship
Rodrigo Cogo, curator of Sinapse Contedos de Comunicação em Rede and responsible for the digital distribution of the platform’s channels, having worked for 14 years at Aberje, talks about the importance of having a corporate communications executive today. Probably the biggest challenge they face is not the lack of data creation, but the lack of someone who can connect all the floating points inside and outside the organization that lead to meaningful decisions.
While some aspects can be automated, I’m a strong advocate of having a human curator to recognize patterns and deliver personalized results. I understand a curator as a sharer, who has the task of making knowledge available to the community. an opening of dialogues, a moment in which spaces for coexistence, for common life, are organized, until now still structured in some institutions such as schools, religious dogmas and the media that would be responsible in the kaleidoscope of data for the organization of the knowledge, bringing to the fore an expansion from the healer’s spirit.
He leaves professionals in the area as a tip to dedicate time to points such as curatorial act, community management and informative intelligence. These three areas of action will be increasingly demanded of those responsible for managing organizational reputation, which is not naturally disconnected from the real and effective interests of society in its multiple agents and interactors.
trust bonds
Malu Weber, vice-president of communications for the Bayer Group in Brazil and vice-president of the Deliberative Council of Aberje, sees corporate communication as a beacon that sheds light on what is important for business and society. I don’t know if all companies have already understood the relevance of communication and if all areas can see that we have a much more relevant role for the business. I’ve heard so many times about the difference in acting, for example, in being in a B2B company or in a B2C company. Before it was anything, P2P ie person to person. We had to spend 70% taking care of people and 30% understanding how to deliver results. But this is it: if you take good care of people, the result will come. I understand that communication is closer to business when professionals understand their task of building, strengthening and protecting the company’s reputation.
The only Brazilian member of Bayer’s Global Communications Council, Malu says that communicating is building bonds of trust. Based on your technical competence, you convince people about the paths you suggest. But it’s not just the what, it’s the how. The way we do it will make all the difference.
Malu reveals that Bayer is undergoing the greatest transformation in its 156-year history. The company operates on three major fronts in Brazil: consumer health (products for day-to-day health care), pharma (medicines that require a medical prescription) and Crop Science (products for agribusiness).
She states that the changes are important to face the socio-environmental challenges we are experiencing through evolution in health, nutrition and essential products for the future. The world is changing and society expects companies to collaborate in building that future. So, we need to join efforts, because a company will not be able to solve anything in isolation. In addition, we need ESG commitments, metrics and action plans to apply all of this in practice. Our role is to understand how we communicate in order to transform. My role is to strengthen that voice, both internally and externally, helping and giving visibility to business strategies. Another important role is listening to society’s expectations, to ensure coherence and consistency in what we are doing.
Read the full interview in the print edition of propmark May 29th
(Credit: Tyler Franta at Unsplash)
