Public Relations Octopus Model Part 1: "Information Gathering Capability"

The fifth installment of our series on the " First Survey on Corporate Public Relations Activities, " conducted by our institute targeting 479 listed Japanese companies, is now available. Starting with this installment, we will finally explain the proprietary analysis model used in this survey: the "PR Octopus Model Analysis" (Figure 1). As the name "Octopus" suggests, a key feature of this survey is its decomposition of corporate PR activities into "Eight PR Capabilities" from the perspectives of activity flow and organizational structure. The "Eight PR Capabilities" comprise a total of eight categories: the preparation phase's "Information Gathering Capability," "Information Analysis Capability," "Strategy Development Capability," and "Information Creation Capability"; the outreach/engagement phase's "Information Dissemination Capability" and "Relationship Building Capability"; and the organizational strengthening phase's "Crisis Management Capability" and "PR Organizational Capability." This time, let's focus on "Information Gathering Capability."

 

■ "Electricity and Gas Industry" Ranks First in PR Capability Due to High "Information Gathering Capability"

Among the 479 listed companies that responded, the overall trend shows "Information Dissemination Capability" as the highest. The "Electricity & Gas" industry, which ranked first in overall PR capability, similarly scored significantly above the overall average at 61.5 points (Figure 1). Another reason this industry achieved the top overall ranking is its high "Information Gathering Capability." While the overall average for information gathering ability was 37.0 points, this industry scored 60.3 points, a positive 23.3 points (Figure 2). This significant gap from the second-place "Food Products" industry (49.2 points) was a major factor in securing the overall top position. It is speculated that within the power industry's recent challenging environment, PR departments have increased their activities as they strive to grasp and understand the perspectives of their communication counterparts.

■ "Information Gathering Capability" means "the ability to understand one's own PR environment"

Our institute defines this "Intelligence" as "the ability to gather and grasp media sentiment regarding one's own company, industry, and competitors, as well as stakeholder movements." In essence, it is the "ability to understand one's own PR environment." It consists of 10 questions, covering everything from publicly available information like news reports and social media to the collection of non-public information from journalists and experts through proprietary networks (Figure 3).

*Percentage of 479 listed companies that responded indicating they possess intelligence capabilities.
  Asterisks indicate the top 3 items prioritized by the expert panel (numbers indicate ranking)

■Are you gathering information about your company's "reputation"?

The gap between the actual activities revealed by responses to these questions and the items deemed important by the expert panel (journalists, experts, etc.) is intriguing. The item experts rated as most important was "Regularly collecting consumer/customer perceptions, actual conditions, and evaluations of the company." Only 20.3% of companies reported practicing this (Figure 3). Conversely, the most commonly practiced item was "Continuously monitoring newspaper and magazine coverage about the company" (76.2%).

The role expected of PR departments in recent years has shifted from a focus solely on media relations activities like publicity to reputation management. This involves managing not just perceptions of products or services, but also consumers' and customers' familiarity with and favorability toward the company itself. It is presumed that the low level of awareness of this shift among companies led to the gap in perception with the expert panel.

While the proliferation of social media and the internet has made gathering open information easier, PR leaders should re-examine whether they are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information and whether they are truly collecting the necessary non-public information—such as the perspectives and underlying motivations of key stakeholders.

Sun Tzu's famous Art of War states, "If you know your enemies and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles." Before engaging in the information warfare against competitors that public relations entails, it is essential to make the effort to know what needs to be known.

About the Corporate Communication Strategic Studies Institute
The Corporate Communication Strategic Studies Institute (CSI) is a research organization within Dentsu Inc. Public Relations. It collaborates with experts in corporate management and public relations (including university professors and researchers) to conduct surveys, analyses, and research on corporate communication strategies and frameworks.