The Richmond Communication Directors’ Forum were our wonderful headline sponsors of EVCOMference this year. The Forum is taking place this November. We share their latest report, which features data around the industry’s buying intentions looking forwards.
By Richmond Events
As part of their attendance at The Richmond Communication Directors’ Forum each delegate completes a profiling questionnaire which tells us, amongst other things, what products and services they are currently buying, and which areas they are looking for support with, from external agencies and suppliers.
This report shows a summary of the information they have provided for this year’s event, which takes place at The Grove hotel, Hertfordshire, on Thursday 11th-Friday 12th November. A sample of the delegates attending the event, who have provided this information can be found at the end of this report.
A summary of the attendees at The Richmond Communication Directors’ Forum:
- Organisation’s average annual turnover – £843m
- Organisation’s average annual communications budget – £7.6m
- Average individual annual communications budget – £2.1m
- Position within company –
- Head of Business Unit – 61%
- Board Director or equivalent – 21%
- Senior Manager – 11%
- Owner/partner/Company Director – 4%
- Communications responsibility –
- Internal communications – 15%
- External communications – 15%
- Both – 70%
- Organisation’s average number of employees – 8,316
- Average number of employees working in Comms – 100
- Organisation type –
- Private company – 44%
- Public company – 36%
- Government / public sector / NGO – 20%
- Operate a policy of preferred supplier list
- Yes, in all instances – 31%
- Only in some instances – 57%
- No, never – 12%
INDUSTRY SECTORS REPRESENTED
| Financial services | 26% |
| Healthcare | 15% |
| Other | 11% |
| Education | 7% |
| Energy/utilities | 7% |
| Aerospace and defence | 4% |
| Business services and consultancy | 4% |
| Construction/civil engineering | 4% |
| Hotels, leisure and tourism | 4% |
| Media | 4% |
| Pharmaceuticals | 4% |
| Property services | 4% |
| Technology/IT | 4% |
| Transport and Travel | 4% |
PURCHASING AREA RESPONSIBILITY
Q. Please indicate which of the following areas you are responsible for purchasing:
| Corporate communications, marketing and branding | 67% |
| Corporate social responsibility | 30% |
| Digital and social media | 52% |
| Events | 56% |
| Internal communications and employee engagement | 74% |
| Media and data analysis | 52% |
| People and training | 15% |
| PR, public affairs and investor relations | 59% |
| Print and publishing | 33% |
| Video and moving image production | 59% |
PRODUCTS AND SERVICES ACTIVELY WISH TO DISCUSS WITH SUPPLIERS
Q. Please indicate which of the following areas you wish to discuss with suppliers and which you
may have a need for in the coming 12 months.
| Corporate Communications, Marketing & Branding | |
| Brand activation management | 4% |
| Brand advocacy | 26% |
| Brand asset management | 7% |
| Brand communications | 19% |
| Brand governance | 7% |
| Corporate communications | 63% |
| Crisis communication | 44% |
| Educational communications | 15% |
| Influencer marketing | 11% |
| Influencer relations | 19% |
| Stakeholder engagement | 44% |
| PR, Public relations & Investor relations | |
| Analyst relations (industry analysts) | 7% |
| Corporate reputation adviser | 15% |
| Crisis and issues management | 30% |
| Engaging with national government | 7% |
| Influencing policy development | 11% |
| Influencer relations/marketing | 15% |
| Investor relations | 7% |
| Lobbying | 7% |
| Media relations | 37% |
| Planning communications | 19% |
| PR | 41% |
| Public affairs | 19% |
| Reputational risk assessments | 15% |
| Internal communications & employee engagement | |
| Change management communications | 48% |
| Confidence skills | 4% |
| Employee advocacy | 37% |
| Employee engagement | 59% |
| Internal branding and values | 41% |
| Internal communications | 56% |
| Reward and recognition/incentives | 30% |
| Speaker training | 11% |
| Tone of voice development | 22% |
| Workshops | 7% |
| Hard to reach employees | 52% |
| Hybrid team engagement | 33% |
| Mobile apps | 22% |
| Digital and social media Apps for internal comms/employee engagement | 59% |
| Augmented reality | 11% |
| Content strategy | 26% |
| Content strategy and execution | 33% |
| Digital marketing strategy | 19% |
| Digital transformation | 19% |
| Integrated communications strategy | 52% |
| Interactive multimedia (eg apps, tablets, touch screens) | 7% |
| Intranet strategy and design | 44% |
| Mobile communications | 19% |
| Online PR | 15% |
| Search engine optimisation (SEO) | 15% |
| Social media crisis simulations | 30% |
| Social media management | 33% |
| Social media monitoring | 15% |
| Online learning | 4% |
| Corporate social responsibility | |
| Community relations | 26% |
| Corporate reporting | 15% |
| CSR strategy | 26% |
| CSR events/activities | 11% |
| Video and Moving Image Production Animation / motion graphics | 48% |
| Broadcast | 22% |
| External communications videos | 26% |
| Images / moving images | 19% |
| Internal communications videos | 89% |
| Multimedia production | 19% |
| Slide/graphics production | 30% |
| Social media films | 44% |
| Video production | 44% |
| Virtual reality | 19% |
| Webcasting, IPTV, webinars, on-demand | 37% |
| Events | |
| Award dinner design and execution | 15% |
| Away days | 15% |
| Bespoke presentation design | 0% |
| Celebratory events | 22% |
| Concept creation | 11% |
| Conferences and meetings | 30% |
| Event management | 11% |
| Experiential/live events | 19% |
| Internal conference and event management | 22% |
| International events | 19% |
| Leadership and management events | 44% |
| Recognition programme design and execution | 7% |
| Roadshows | 26% |
| Teambuilding and motivational events | 41% |
| Virtual and hybrid events | 48% |
| Event navigation/facilitation | 0% |
| Event production – within events | 0% |
| Sustainability in events/experiences | 11% |
| Media and data analysis | |
| Market research | 15% |
| Media monitoring | 15% |
| Media planning | 15% |
| Press cuttings | 11% |
| TV, broadcast and online analysis and evaluation | 22% |
| People & Training Crisis communications training | 30% |
| Crisis exercise and simulations | 26% |
| Crisis media training | 22% |
| Executive alignment | 19% |
| Executive presentation coaching | 7% |
| Leadership capabilities building | 19% |
| Leadership communications training | 37% |
| Media training | 30% |
| Professional communication qualifications | 11% |
| Leadership development | 30% |
| Enabling organisation change | 19% |
| Print and publishing Design services | 41% |
| Editorial services | 19% |
A sample of delegates attending The Richmond Communication Directors’ Forum:
• Accenture – Corporate Communications Director
• AXA Health – Head of External Comms & Content
• Bank of America Merrill Lynch – SVP, Head of Global Research Communications
• Bupa – Group Director of Internal Communication
• Canon Europe – EMEA PR Lead
• Carpetright – Head of Communications, PR & CSR
• Cisco Systems – Senior Director, Communications EMEA
• Close Brothers – Head of PR & Internal Communications
• DAZN – VP, Employee Experience
• eBay – Head of Employee Communications
• Google UK – Head of Communications EMEA, Google Cloud
• GSK –Communications Director (Culture & Trust)
• Henkel – Head of Corporate Communications, UK, Ireland & Nordic region
• MetLife Europe Ltd – Head of Communications, EMEA
• Pearson Plc – Director – Corporate & Financial Communications
• PwC – Director of Media Relations
• Quintessential Brands – Global Communications Director
• Roche – Head of Public Relations
• SAP – Communications Director, Corporate Affairs, EMEA
• Sky Studios – Director of Marketing & Comms
• Smith & Nephew – Head of Corporate Communications
• Sony Music Entertainment – Head of Communications
• The National Trust – Director of Communications & Insight
• Utilita Energy – Chief Marketing Officer
The suppliers attending The Richmond Communication Directors Forum: 72Point. l AI Media Data Ltd T/A Vuelio l Briefcase.news l Broadsword Event House l CDS l Cheerful Twentyfirst l DRPG l Echo Research l Electric Airwaves l Evolution International l Flotilla Media l Impact l Karian & Box l Maverick Marketing & Design l Nucco Brain l Onalytica l Parable l Paradigm Creative l Pukka Films l Reputation Institute l Smyle l The Storytellers l The 10 Group l Thrive l Unily l Visible Leaders l World Wide Group
For any further questions on the information or about the event please contact David Clark, dclark@richmondevents.com or call 07720 075155.