Corporate Newsroom: Future or passing trend?

Axa Winterthur has been coordinating its communications from a corporate newsroom since October 2015.Companies are increasingly turning to corporate newsrooms. They are combining their communications departments into a single spatial and organizational unit and coordinating all operational communications issues from there. Is this new corporate form a trend or can we already talk about the future? Has the classic communications department had its day?A look inside the companiesThe Institute for Applied Media Science at ZHAW Zurich took a look at this up-and-coming organizational form and surveyed Swiss companies and administrations about their structures. Overall, it emerged that the corporate newsroom is more widespread in companies than in administrations. Of the 77 respondents, 20 said they had a newsroom. A further 15 organizations plan to introduce one in 2017. The proportion of companies that do not know what a corporate newsroom is is also surprising. Eight percent said they knew nothing about this form of organization. The other results prove that the concept of a newsroom is abstract, but more companies and administrations have newsroom-typical features than they ascribe to themselves.//THE FIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF A CORPORATE NEWSROMM1. subunits: Structuring by topics, Contents2. spatial organization: Open plan office3. individual responsibility: According to topics4. discussion of the news situation: Daily meeting for discussion the topicality5. knowledge management: A large proportion of the employees has an overview about which topics are covered by who are being processed.Source: IAM from the report "Corporate Newsrooms in Switzerland"//The characteristics of a corporate NewsroomsIn the second step of the survey, the participants were asked to what extent they had typical newsroom organizational structures and processes. Five criteria were defined for this purpose. In terms of spatial organization, 26 out of 70 stated that they conduct their communications in an open-plan office. This includes 18 companies that do not have a corporate newsroom. In addition, discussing the news situation is part of everyday life, and thus the majority of employees also have an overview of the topics. There is a clear differentiation in the structure. A large majority still organize their communications department according to target groups and channels. In a corporate newsroom, however, the focus is on content and topics.Not everything that says Corporate Newsroom is actually in itIn summary, the study shows a considerable spread of corporate newsrooms - a trend that will continue according to the Institute for Applied Media Science at the ZHAW. However, newsroom-typical features are not present everywhere a corporate newsroom is mentioned. For example, ten organizations stated that they had a corporate newsroom, but only had one or two newsroom-typical features. At the same time, the five criteria defined as newsroom-typical have apparently become so relevant in communications departments that they can also be found where there is no newsroom.The Corporate Newsroom in actionWhile the study still speaks of a trend, the music of the future is playing from a different direction. Neidhart + Schön has dealt intensively with this topic. The realization agency specializes in corporate communications and offers corresponding system solutions. With the tool "ns.wow" enterprises have the possibility of seizing editorial contributions and of publishing on-line. In order to introduce the corporate newsroom to interested parties and to present the tool, Neidhart + Schön organized two workshops. Not only were the functions of a corporate newsroom explained in more detail (graphic), but companies were invited to provide insights into their corporate structure. Among other things, they explained why they had set up a corporate newsroom.

Source: Neidhart + SchönMore focus on the topicsAxa Winterthur is one of them. The insurance company set up a corporate newsroom within six months, which went live in October 2015. "Axa Winterthur's communications department was previously organized by target groups. We have combined departments such as external, internal communications and the media office. The focus is now on topic and media competencies ", explains Lorenz Heinzer, Head of Communications at Axa Winterthur. From the newsroom, the company magazines are coordinated, video contributions are produced, media work is done and positioned on social media. In addition, the Axa Blog was launched, on which intensive storytelling about Axa takes place. For these new tasks, the topic and channel managers were created according to newsroom characteristics. A total of twelve employees work in the hub, who are responsible for all target groups. "The topic managers are responsible for the networked communication of their dossier to all target groups, be it the media, employees or the public. The channel managers' task is to monitor the mix of topics in the respective channel and to constantly develop it further," says Heinzer.Reasons for a corporate newsroomThe team decided on the corporate newsroom for six reasons. "We noticed, firstly, how many other channel boundaries between target groups are eroding, and secondly, how the demands on content have increased." In addition, digitization has picked up the younger generation in particular. "You have to become a publisher yourself to reach this target group in theSocial Media, for example," explains the communications manager. Heinzer cites Axa's structure, which was previously internally driven, as the third reason. With the corporate newsroom, the company wants to focus more on the outside and become a news generator. This in turn requires speed and visuality, which can only be guaranteed by the newsroom. "With the multimedia expert, we have created a new position to create videos and infographics. In addition, we are now training media technicians," Heinzer continues. The last reason he mentions is the cooperation with the media, which can be optimized through the newsroom.Over the mountain to successHeinzer counts the change in the team as the biggest challenge. Someone who had only done corporate communications was suddenly a press spokesperson. "You have to be aware that a newsroom means a massive change, where you can't overwhelm the employees," he explains. In this regard, you have to be responsive to them, show a high level of tolerance and provide training. After one year, the corporate newsroom team can take stock: "We have managed to be more present in the public eye. We generated 39 percent more positive neutral mentions in the press and 450 percent more reach," Heinzer reports. However, he adds that they have not yet achieved all their goals; in the future, they want to position themselves even more strongly in social media.