58% of Global Corporate Communications Officers Now Report to CEO and Tenures Rise,...

58% of Global Corporate Communications Officers Now Report to CEO and Tenures
Rise, According to Annual Survey

- Crisis Expertise Grows 45% as Requirement for Success -

- Blogging/Social Media Increases as Corporate Communications Function -

NEW YORK, May 11 /PRNewswire/ -- In a time of unprecedented economic
volatility, global corporate communications executives have actually seen
their "stock" rise over the past 12 months. In The Rising CCO, an annual
survey conducted by global executive search firm Spencer Stuart and global
public relations firm Weber Shandwick with KRC Research, 58% of global chief
communications officers(1) (CCOs) surveyed report to the CEO, compared to 48%
a year ago. Not only do more CCOs call the CEO their boss, but 40% of CCOs
consider the CEO to be their biggest ally in the organization. This leadership
momentum coincides with an increase in CCO tenure: in 2008, CCOs' average
tenure was 65 months, compared to 54 months in 2007. By comparison, the
average tenure of chief marketing officers is 28 months, according to research
conducted separately by Spencer Stuart.

"The data reinforces the fact that when many organizations endure critical
times, CEOs are increasingly looking to the CCO for their strategic crisis
communications and ability to quickly react to a variety of scenarios," said
George Jamison, who leads Spencer Stuart's Corporate Communications and
Investor Relations Practice.

The survey also found that experience in crisis communications and issues
management is critical to a CCO's success. According to CCOs surveyed, the
need for crisis/issues management experience has increased 45% since 2007.
Additionally, CCOs cite social media/blogging as the most frequently added
function to their corporate communications departments in 2008, and they
believe that social media/blogging will be their most important tool in 2009.

"It goes without saying that CEOs and boards are under tremendous pressure to
navigate through the stormy seas of the current economic tsunami. Like never
before, CEOs are depending on CCOs for crisis and issues counsel to steady
their company reputations and calm stakeholders," said Weber Shandwick's Chief
Reputation Strategist Dr. Leslie Gaines-Ross. "CEOs who do not communicate
using traditional and social media do so at their own peril."

As corporate reputation -- anticipated to be the number one communications
priority in 2009 -- endures extreme stress and the Internet provides
unanticipated opportunities and risks, skills often "owned" by the CCO are in
greater demand: crisis and issues management, social media monitoring and
online engagement, reputation management, and management of a complex
portfolio of stakeholders such as employees, investors, nongovernmental
organizations and trade media. As one CCO said, "Crisis communication work,
leading in a rapidly changing environment, and understanding new
business/financial challenges" will be among the most challenging
communications issues in the year ahead.

RISING CCO VALUE

2007 2008 Change

Tenure as CCO in organization 54 months 65 months +11 months
Report to CEO 48% 58% +21%*
Crisis/issues management
experience needed for
corporate communications
professionals 33% 48% +45%*
Fastest growing
communications resource
for next year Company Web site Social media/blogging NA
Top function/responsibility
added to department in
past 12 months Not asked Social media/blogging NA

*Percentage change

Other key findings:
-- Social media played a greater role in 2008 in North American corporate
communications departments than in European ones. Nearly two in 10
(18%)
communications departments in North America relied upon social
media/blogging in 2008 as communications tools/resources, compared to
less than one in 10 (7%) in Europe. Further, nearly twice as many
North
American CCOs report they added a social media/blogging function to
their department in 2008 as European CCOs (41% vs. 22%, respectively).
However, European CCOs are just as likely as their North American
peers
to expect social media to grow as a critical tool in 2009 (26% and
30%,
respectively).
-- CCOs report 11 board interactions in 2008 vs. 7 in 2007 (a 57%
increase).
-- CCOs who work for companies with "most admired" reputations
are more closely aligned with CEOs. More than six in 10 CCOs (62%) at
Fortune's Most Admired companies report to CEOs, compared to only
four in 10 (39%) at less esteemed Contender companies.(2) Further,
CCOs
at Most Admired companies are much more likely to cite the CEO as an
organizational ally than those at Contender companies (46% vs. 34%,
respectively).

-- CCOs differ in tenure and reporting line depending on their region.
North American CCOs have been in their current positions for
approximately 2 years longer, on average, than European CCOs (5 years,
10 months vs. 3 years, 9 months, respectively). Despite their shorter
tenures, European CCOs are more likely to report directly to the CEO
than their North American counterparts (66% vs. 53%, respectively).

Notes:
1. Corporate Communications Officers included individuals with titles such as
Chief Communications Officer, Head of Corporate Communications, Senior VP
Communications, Head of Corporate Marketing, and Global Chief Public Affairs
Officer.
2. Similar to the first annual survey conducted in 2007, responses are
compared between CCOs in Fortune's "world's most admired companies" and those
in "contender companies" (generally, most admired companies are the most
highly ranked companies in an industry on overall reputation; contender
companies are ranked in the industry's bottom half).

About the Survey
The Rising CCO, now in its second year, examined the roles, responsibilities
and opinions of CCOs in the world's largest companies. The 159 survey
participants come from companies based in North America, Europe and Asia
Pacific. Eighty-four percent of respondents work in global Fortune 500
companies.

About Spencer Stuart
Spencer Stuart is one of the world's leading executive search consulting
firms. Privately held since 1956, Spencer Stuart applies its extensive
knowledge of industries, functions and talent to advise select clients -
ranging from major multinationals to emerging companies to nonprofit
organizations - and address their leadership requirements. Through 51 offices
in 27 countries and a broad range of practice groups, Spencer Stuart
consultants focus on senior-level executive search, board director
appointments, succession planning and in-depth senior executive management
assessments. For more information on Spencer Stuart, please visit
www.spencerstuart.com.

About Weber Shandwick
Weber Shandwick is a leading global public relations agency with offices in 77
markets around the world. The firm's reputation is built on its deep
commitment to client service, creativity, collaboration and harnessing the
power of Advocates-engaging stakeholders in new and creative ways to build
brands and reputation. Weber Shandwick provides strategy and execution across
world-class practices such as consumer marketing, healthcare, technology,
public affairs, corporate/financial and crisis management. Its specialized
services include digital/social media, advertising, market research, and
corporate responsibility. Weber Shandwick received the highest
client-satisfaction honors in the 2007 Agency Excellence Survey by PRWeek
U.S., in 2008 won Large PR Firm of the Year (PR News U.S.), and in 2006 was
named European Consultancy of the Year (The Holmes Report) and Network of the
Year (Asia Pacific PR Awards). The firm also won the United Nations Grand
Award for Outstanding Achievement in Public Relations for the past three
years. Weber Shandwick is part of the Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG). For more
information, visit http://www.webershandwick.com.

About KRC Research
KRC Research is a full-service market research firm that specializes in the
kind of research needed for effective communications--communications that
reach, engage and persuade. A unit of the Interpublic Group of Companies
(NYSE: IPG), KRC Research offers the quality and custom service of a small
firm along with the reach of a global organization. For over 30 years, we have
worked on behalf of corporations, governments, not-for-profits and the
communications firms that represent them. Staffed with market research
professionals from the worlds of political campaigns, consumer marketing,
journalism and academia, we are flexible, practical, creative, knowledgeable
and fast, combining sophisticated research tools with real-world
communications experience. To learn more, please visit www.krcresearch.com.

Contacts:
Jennifer Norton Tim McNary
Weber Shandwick Spencer Stuart
1-212-445-8314 1-312-321-8341
jnorton@webershandwick.com tmcnary@spencerstuart.com

SOURCE Weber Shandwick

Jennifer Norton of Weber Shandwick, +1-212-445-8314,
jnorton@webershandwick.com; or Tim McNary of Spencer Stuart, +1-312-321-8341,
tmcnary@spencerstuart.com