Dentsu Inc. PR's "Public Relations Octopus Model" Wins Department Grand Prize ~ PR Awards Grand Prix

On December 8, Dentsu Inc. Public Relations (hereinafter Dentsu Inc. PR) received the top prize in the "Innovation/Skill" category of the "2014 PR Awards Grand Prix" for its "Development of the PR Octopus Model: Comparative Study of PR Capabilities Among Listed Companies," conducted by its newly established Corporate Communications Strategy Research Institute.

From left: Takehiko Chikami, Chairman of the Japan Public Relations Association; Kanji Sakai, Deputy Director of the Dentsu Inc. PR Corporate Communications Strategy Research Institute; and Koichi Kitami, Senior Researcher at the same institute.	Presentation at the award ceremony

 

The PR Award Grand Prix is an industry award hosted by the Japan Public Relations Association, now in its 14th year.
The 'Innovation/Skill' category, in which Dentsu Inc. PR's project was honored, evaluates activities that contribute to the innovation of public relations as a whole or the advancement of specific PR functions through original ideas or methods (including theory/research, human resource development, management, and the development or implementation of services, technologies, systems, or tools).

<Overview of the Award-Winning Project>
The Corporate Public Relations Strategy Institute conducted a "Survey on Corporate Public Relations Activities" targeting 3,503 listed companies in Japan from January to February 2014, receiving responses from 479 companies. This survey developed the "PR Octopus Model," which analyzes companies based on eight PR capabilities: "Information Gathering," "Information Analysis," "Strategy Building," "Information Creation," "Information Dissemination," "Relationship Building," "Crisis Management," and "PR Organizational Capability." This unique model enables responding companies to compare their PR capabilities against all listed companies and against other companies within their industry.
The study also analyzed the correlation between companies' PR capability scores and financial data such as operating profit and ordinary profit. It particularly demonstrated that "information analysis capability" and "strategy development capability" contribute to mid-to-long-term financial performance.
The findings from this analysis were not only provided as feedback to participating companies but were also widely disseminated through seminars and contributions to industry media.

Mr. Kanji Sakai, Head of the Corporate Communications Strategy Office at the company and Deputy Director of the Corporate Communications Strategy Research Institute, who led the project, commented: "We were able to clarify the strengths and weaknesses of Japanese companies' communications capabilities thanks to the 479 PR managers who responded to the survey. Based on this data, we aim to work towards the positive development of Japanese companies' communications capabilities."

Details and results of the PR Capabilities Survey are available here (on the Dentsu Inc. PR website).
Web Dentsu Inc. News Column Series: " A Must-Read for PR Professionals! The PR Capabilities of 479 Listed Companies "
Dentsu Inc. PR News Release
http://www.dentsu-pr.co.jp/releasestopics/news_releases/2014_12_1.html