ATREVIA has organized the II Edition of its #CommunicationToday Congress, leading event on everything communication in Spain.
Across three major blocks, the greatest threats and challenges facing companies like talent management and culture as internal lever for transformation were discuss, as well as, the development of brands with a purpose that connect with people, transcend and influence, all while taking in to account new drivers, social responsibility, dialogue and co-creation as a means to obtain that social license that companies must have today in order to properly operate.
The first block was dedicated to “Talent and Motivation”, with the participation of companies like Pepsico and Lilly. Experts agreed that we are facing a paradigm shift in which a company’s communication should not only flow from top to bottom, but from bottom up as well, with a need to raise the employee’s long-term growth in the company and involve them in different projects that allow for that to happen.
Belén Moreu, Human Resources Senior Director South West Europe for PepsiCo, pointed out that younger generations, “want to organize their day and work as it better suits them, while still using technology in their spare time and do it for work at the same time”, she also added that, “in the future, workers will be connected from different physical places, and it will be our responsibility to know how to manage this change.”
In the second block “Customer Connection”, we were able to know the opinion of experts from companies such as Samsung and P&G. Throughout different tables a multitude of topics were addressed, such as the advancement of 5G and its impact on society and companies, a technology that will change business models, organization, operations and will also affect decision-making. Additionally, neuroscience was also talked about, and its impact on marketing and management of stakeholder relationships.
In this space, Alberto Andreu, senior partner of ATREVIA, highlighted how, “it is essential that companies are able to listen, understand and dialogue with their clients, to identify common problems and seek solutions. Where, both successes and failures will have to be held publicly accountable afterwards”.
The table, ‘Brands with a purpose and stories’, featured Alfonso Fernández, director of Marketing, Communication and Public Affairs for Samsung in Spain, which emphasized that this type of ideas, “in addition to raising the culture of the company and employee engagement, it improves consumer predisposition towards the brand.” However, he warned that, “the important thing is to show and not just say. We must escape communication actions that have little to do with the commitments of companies”.
“At P&G we channel social projects through brands. These are about gender equality, diversity and inclusion or the environment,” said María Luisa Chacón, Director of Communication at P&G Spain and Portugal.
The third and final session/block, “Influence and Opinion Creation”, began with the conference ‘The Age of Cities: Keys to Energize Growth and Generate Opportunities’ by Joan Clos, former Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism of Spain, former mayor of Barcelona and former executive director of the UN-Habitat program of the United Nations. For Clos, this 21st century is the century of cities and that entails a change of mindset, of ways of consuming and producing.
The round table ‘The new drivers of influence’, featured Elena Bule, director of Communication of Twitter Spain, who argued that the “people have always been an activist, only now they have a multitude of channels to make their voice heard instantly and globally. Every day there are small revolutions and small micro-activisms.”
Manuel Mostaza director at ATREVIA, has been in charge of analyzing the latest trends in Public Affairs. “From our field of public affairs work, what we seek is to generate consensus between public opinion, companies and regulators, pursuing a positive sum result and not zero sum.”
The congress hashtag #CommunicationToday was a trending topic throughout the day in Barcelona, the event was attended by more than 300 directors of communication, marketing, HR and public affairs, with a reach of more than 4.3 million users on Twitter.