Quality improvement through communications controlling

It has been a tradition for half a decade: in June, Swiss communication controlling specialists meet for their annual conference at the HWZ University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration Zurich. On June 21, Dr. Manfred Schwaiger, Professor at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, opened the high-profile event. As a business economist, he demonstrated the value-enhancing effect of a good corporate reputation and showed how an established system of control and management can be used in practice to take the right communication measures. Ludwig Schönefeld, Hoerbiger Holding AG, Zug, then demonstrated how an international group based in Switzerland plans, implements, monitors and improves its global communication activities in detail. The basis for this is a communication scorecard, which defines the communication goals in the short and medium term. The strategy map is then used to plan specific internal and external communication measures. It was impressive for the participants how detailed the speaker provided an insight into his global controlling system.

The other case studies presented in the subsequent breakout sessions also showed how communications controlling can be used to improve day-to-day communications work. Nadine Dusberger, Edelman Frankfurt, presented the case of the market launch of a new drug by AstraZeneca. Christian Lüdi, Social Media Manager at Swiss, impressively demonstrated the reactions of the community to the volcano crisis and the introduction of the new logo; Carsten Dieckmann gave an insight into the management of the Swiss Life brand, and Nadia Vitale, Project Manager Media Analysis, Argus der Presse AG, Zurich, used examples to show how efficient communications controlling can be carried out.

Finally, Kaspar Loeb, Partner Dynamics Group, amused the participants when he reported on the practical experience of Swiss companies. Far too often, communication budgets are still not spent on the cause, but on the personal goals and ambitions of the decision-makers and agencies involved. Many of those responsible for corporate campaigns could not in good conscience answer the simplest controlling question with a yes. "Would you have spent the money if it had been your own?".

2013 together with the controllers

The Communications Controlling Expert Group of the International Controller Association (ICV) will take part in the next Swiss Communications Controlling Conference on June 20, 2013. In cooperation with the German Public Relations Association DPRG, the ICV is developing standards for the value-oriented management of corporate communications and aims to establish them internationally. "With our participation, we want to help intensify cooperation between controllers and communication specialists in Switzerland too. We have had very good experiences with this in Germany and Austria. We will be happy to provide detailed information on some of the practical applications next year in Zurich," says Rainer Pollmann, Deputy Head of the ICV Communications Controlling Expert Group, during his visit to this year's conference in Zurich. Andreas Jäggi

Notes at the symposium
"The market value of a company is largely explained by intangible assets...." "Communication managers will have to make control transparent." Prof. Dr. Manfred Schwaiger, University of Munich. "Institutional communication must be available to the company at all times with a reliable quality standard: Internal and external resources ensure top implementation." Ludwig Schönefeld, Head of Corporate Communications, Hoerbiger Holding AG, Zug. "Internal processes and necessities determine the course of events more than the brand and its customers." "We hardly understand the drivers that influence the reputation of our brand positively and negatively." Kaspar Loeb, Senior Partner Dynamics Group, Zurich "Maximum impact with minimum effort": communication managers are also subject to this aspiration, if only because they are considered to be a walking cost factor in many places and are therefore subject to special scrutiny." Cyril Meier, Head of the Center for Communications HWZ.