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The purpose of this paper is to examine what formal executive-level committees senior corporate communications executives are members of and what value they contribute.

The researcher conducted in-depth interviews with 30 senior executives at four US companies who discussed corporate communications’ involvement in eight strategic issues.

The focus on the C-Suite is too narrow as strategic issues arise at the division level and in executive-level committees. Corporate communications is often in competition with marketing for influence and coveted seats in the board rooms. Corporate communications is most likely to be included in decision making when issues are perceived as falling within their domain, when the function has support from the CEO, when working in industries with frequent crises or those focussing on reputation management, and in companies that utilize integrated decision teams.

Corporate communicators need to enhance their research skills and educate other colleagues about their domain beyond media relations.

Study includes the perspectives of executives outside of corporate communications such as marketing, sales, human resources, investor relations, finance, and operations as well as division presidents.

This study aims to examine how a manager’s learning goal orientation (LGO) influences frontline service employees’ (FSEs’) engagement in cross-selling activities. Such engagements must exist before they can achieve service–sales ambidexterity. Drawing on achievement goal theory and the meaning-making perspective, this study predicts that learning-oriented managers encourage and foster FSEs’ cross-selling behaviors by facilitating their ability to derive positive meaning from the cross-selling initiative. They do so by conveying high-quality information about the initiative and related changes to individual employees, as well as by encouraging the formation of a collective perception of open communications within the work unit.

Hierarchical (nested) data from 39 managers and 357 FSEs of a major logistic service company are used to test the hypotheses.

As predicted, a manager’s LGO relates positively to FSEs’ cross-selling activities, through sequential mediations of the hypothesized communication mechanisms and employees’ benefits-finding.

A manager’s LGO is an important antecedent of FSEs’ cross-selling behaviors. This study establishes this influence and clarifies the processes by which it occurs. This study also extends previous research by specifying the important role of employees’ meaning-making, which prompts them to adopt cross-selling, as a mediator of the multilevel communication influences that result from their managers’ LGO.

This study seeks to examine the effects of three communication avenues, namely controlled communication (e.g. advertising/promotions), uncontrolled communications (word‐of‐mouth (WOM)/publicity), and brand name, on consumer service brand evaluation.

This study employed a quantitative methodology and data were gathered from consumers intercepted in a shopping mall via a self‐completed survey.

The results show that controlled communications and brand name have a significant effect on customer satisfaction, brand attitudes and brand reuse intentions. WOM was shown to have a significant influence only on brand reuse intentions. In addition, comparisons made across different retail service types (e.g. stores and banks) showed differences in relationships between the examined variables.

The brand stimuli used in the survey instrument limit the findings to retail stores and banks and, thus, may not be applicable in all service situations. On this basis, it is recommended that future research should further explore the key constructs of this study in other service settings.

The findings suggest that controlled communications and brand name are pivotal in establishing consumer expectations, thus influencing satisfaction and brand attitudes. Therefore, these types of advertising should be utilised to communicate realistic service experiences, while brand names should reinforce consumer confidence, trust and safety in usage. Positive WOM advocating proven reliability and consistency of the brand should be encouraged and rewarded to encourage new usage and reusage behaviour.

The value of this paper lies in the comparison of different brand communications with different consumer responses to the brand not previously examined. The results therefore suggest ways in which marketers can maximise the benefits of their communications.

Drawing on the stimulus–organism–response (S-O-R) model, the purpose of this study is to investigate mediating effects of controlled and uncontrolled communications of corporate brand perceptions on consumer satisfaction and loyalty.

Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the hypotheses on a sample of 271 Australian automobile consumers.

The authors find that while consumer satisfaction is indirectly influenced by corporate-level attributes via controlled and uncontrolled communication, the authors did not find an indirect effect between consumer benefits on consumer satisfaction via controlled and uncontrolled communication. By contrast, the authors find highly significant indirect effects – via controlled and uncontrolled communication as well as consumer satisfaction – for the relationship between, on the one hand, corporate-level attributes and consumer benefits and consumer brand loyalty on the other. Uncontrolled communication was significantly associated with consumer loyalty, a relevant finding that indicates an importance of tracking media coverage and maintaining favorable relationships with the media.

The cross-sectional method limits data collection to one point in time.

This study adds to a better understanding of how to leverage corporate brand through communications in ways that it positively resonates with consumers. A fine-grained analysis of corporate brand attributes and consumer-perceived benefits can aid managers in developing specific and more effective marketing strategies.

The overall thrust of this empirical study, which is to investigate how corporate brand perceptions influence short term (satisfaction) and long term (loyalty) via controlled and uncontrolled communications is original. This study comprehensively conceptualizes and operationalizes the corporate brand as a multidimensional construct consisting of corporate-level attributes and brand-level attributes such as perceived consumer benefits. To examine the hypothesized relationships between and among our constructs, the authors go beyond the commonly studied single mediator model and test a multiple mediator model instead.

Corporate communications is often less successful when it is competing for influence with neighboring functions such as marketing or sales within organizations. This article addresses the internal positioning of communication departments by developing a conceptual framework which helps to understand, analyze and optimize their standing in organizations.

The research is based on a literature review across several disciplines (e.g. organizational communication, strategic management) and supported by 26 qualitative in-depth interviews with board members, executives and communicators in a global industry company. By combining the theoretical and empirical insights, a framework for positioning communication departments within organizations was developed.

The framework depicts seven strategies (e.g. expectation and impression management, supporting ambassadors from other departments) and three spheres of influence (organizational integration, internal perceptions and social capital) to strengthen the position of corporate communications.

The conceptual framework has been supported by one case study so far, and future research may further develop and verify it by applying it to a larger number of companies in different industries.

Practitioners can use the framework as an analytical tool to reflect the current situation in their organization and identify opportunities for strengthening it.

This article introduces a novel view in the academic debate about the role and influence of corporate communications. It establishes a framework that helps to identify different drivers and strategies, and lays ground for future research.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relative impact of brand communication on brand equity through social media as compared to traditional media. In a juxtaposition of different industries it aims at: investigating whether both communication instruments have an impact on consumer‐based brand equity; comparing the effect sizes of these two communication instruments; and separating the effects of firm‐created and user‐generated social media communication.

A total of 393 data sets from three different industries, namely tourism, telecommunications, and pharmaceuticals, were generated using a standardized online‐survey. Structural equation modeling was used in the analysis of the data obtained to investigate the interplay of social media and traditional media in general, as well as in an examination of industry‐specific differences.

The results of the empirical study show that both traditional communications and social media communications have a significant impact on brand equity. While traditional media has a stronger impact on brand awareness, social media communications strongly influence brand image. Firm‐created social media communication is shown to have an important impact on functional brand image, while user‐generated social media communication exerts a major influence on hedonic brand image. Furthermore, the present study highlights significant differences between the industries under investigation.

The research described in this paper is pioneering in that it juxtaposes the impacts of social media and traditional media on brand equity – a topic of increasing interest to firms in the era of Facebook and Twitter but so far largely uninvestigated. Moreover, the differentiation between firm‐created and user‐generated social media communication, which is gaining increasingly in importance, as companies see their brand marketing power devolve to the consumer through social media platforms, offers valuable insights to marketing practitioners and academics.

The concept of integrated marketing communications (IMC) was developed in the 1990s and has gained significant interest from academics and practitioners, yet it is seldom achieved in practice. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the reasons behind this assertion.

Knowledge needed for this study was generated from a case study of a global company, operating a decentralized organizational structure in the health-care industry.

Thirty semi-structured interviews were performed with marketing employees and management. This paper contributes to facilitating marketing communications by developing a conceptual model using strategic guiding principles to align marketing communication activities.

Thematic analysis generated three integration areas: efficiency, consistency and relationship.

The information generated from this research paper should assist managers when attempting to implement an integrated approach to marketing communications.

As IMC is intertwined with the concept of strategy, if it is implemented as a strategic process; similar social influences are relevant for strategic IMC implementation.

This paper contributes to facilitating marketing communications by developing a conceptual model using strategic guiding principles to align marketing communication activities.

This paper is a case study which explores the impact of a variety of communication tools and the way in which they influence the recycling behaviour of residents in Rushcliffe Borough Council. Despite the fact that household waste is growing at a significant rate, very little empirical research has been conducted to explore the role that effective corporate communications can play in influencing attitude change and recycling behaviour or to determine which communication tools are considered to be most effective by local residents. The research reported is longitudinal involving three large‐scale surveys assessing attitudes to current refuse collection, the recycling service and the effectiveness of the various communication tools used. Results are presented together with recommendations for improving the effectiveness of any council's corporate communications strategy for increasing recycling rates.

Declares that diffusion (a term employed to describe the process whereby an innovation or a new idea or practice spreads through a social system over time) is a summary term used to embrace studies which trace the process of diffusion, the process of adoption and the patterns of influence involved. Acknowledges that even allowing for low involvement of marketing research in diffusion, marketing management's interest in this area can be guided and controlled. States that information is diffused through some form of communication channel – these may be one of two types: vertical channels, which exist if ‘there is a meaningful difference in the interests, social status, demographic or economic characteristics of the communication units’; and horizontal channels, which occur where communications flows among members of groups with similar interests and characteristics – these groups may be work groups, social groups, etc. Investigates sources of information and influence – in particular the two basic ones of: impersonal sources via the mass media; and personal sources involving the opinion leader in a two‐step flow of communication. Closes by discussing the implications of the two‐step flow for marketing in depth, with recommendations.

This monograph presents a review of the frontiers' ideas in marketing communications as of today, in six exploratory steps. It begins with an examination of the nature of acceptable goals for marketing communications and then examines what and with whom we should communicate. Where and when communications should be placed is next discussed in terms of the objective functions of multimedia models and frequency effects. The sixth step focuses on the match between evaluative instruments and initial objectives and exhorts communicators to experiment better and more often and indicates how. A Self‐Audit questionnaire enables the reader to score himself badly or well according to conscience, whilst acting as a device for defining improvements that can sensibly be made. The monograph is empirically based on the Cranfield Programme's findings from 1972–1976 of which the author was Co‐Director; he is now its Co‐Chairman.