BURSON-MARSTELLER’S

Most Valuable Platforms Study

Executive Summary

May 2017

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New Opportunities and Growing Challenges as Executive Visibility Platforms Proliferate Executives who wish to raise their public profile may choose from a myriad of digital and social

media platforms, and a growing list of business conferences, events, awards and rankings. At

the same time, corporations and the people who lead them face rising expectations for

increased transparency, authenticity and a commitment to something more than profits and

shareholder returns. In this environment, where options abound and competition for “air time”

is intense, the path to becoming an effective company spokesperson and thought leader can

be a daunting one.

The increasingly complex landscape has also made the job of managing executive visibility

more difficult. Communications counselors face a growing list of tough questions: Should we

be active online and off? Which conferences, awards and networks are worth our effort and

dollars? How do we know if we’re reaching the right audiences? Which platforms are becoming

more prominent and influential? How do we measure success? In this context, having a

rigorous approach to executive positioning that enables you to determine which platforms to

leverage, when and how, is critical to the success of any program. Yet, according to our

research, many companies lack precisely this kind of strategic, systematic methodology.

The Research Burson-Marsteller, in partnership with Penn Schoen Berland (PSB), interviewed business

decision-makers about the value of and challenges associated with executive visibility

platforms—specifically conferences and events, corporate awards and rankings, digital and

social channels. Our research sought to identify which platforms are most relevant today, and

which emerging platforms companies are gravitating toward to reach and influence

stakeholders in the future. The research was both quantitative and qualitative, including an

online survey of 300 vice presidents and above (“business decision-makers”) from large

enterprises (10,000+ employees or $5 billion+ in revenue) and mid-sized enterprises (1,000 –

9,999 employees or $500 million – $4.9 billion in revenue) and eight in-depth-interviews (IDIs)

that delved deeper into the quantitative findings. The online survey was conducted between

June 8 and June 17, 2016. The IDIs were conducted between October 14 and November 15,

2016.

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What We Discovered – Topline Insights Increased choice is driving confusion: Business and communications executives think

events, awards and rankings, and digital platforms are all important, but struggle to

prioritize where to spend time and money. Most do not feel sufficiently well-informed

about the options to make strategic decisions. In fact, on average, one in four respondents

say they only “kind of understand” the executive visibility platforms available to them. In the

survey results, many tied for the top spots, perhaps indicating that the sheer volume of

options and lack of strategic approach has led to challenges in prioritization.

Measurement is ad-hoc and under-resourced: Decision-makers and communications

professionals want a more structured and systematic approach to determine Return on

Participation (ROP), but often lack the resources to do this or don’t know where to begin.

Respondents believe measuring success is as much art as science; what is important to one

person or department may not be important to another.

Sales leads are the default success metric: In the absence of better and more relevant

indicators, sales activity is the default metric used by business leaders to gauge the value of

different platforms. Decision-makers and communicators recognize there are other, less

tangible benefits, but need assistance to identify specific objectives and measures of

success.

Most Valuable Platforms of the future differ from today’s: Respondents see CEO

summits and councils as important conferences and events today, but think technology,

women’s and ideas-focused conferences are gaining importance. Corporate reputation,

workplace and CEO awards and rankings are seen as important now; however,

opportunities related to innovation, diversity and sustainability are expected to increase in

importance in the coming years.

Increasing focus on digital platforms and “owned” events: Moving forward, decision-

makers and communicators want to be more active on digital platforms. Also, recognizing

the opportunities in creating their own branded channels, many want to host their own

events rather than participate in third-party conferences.

CEOs have markedly different priorities: When it comes to choosing platforms, CEOs are

more concerned about visibility, thought leadership and connecting with multiple

stakeholders, while decision-makers and communicators are more focused on clients or

customers and new commercial opportunities. In measuring ROP, CEOs value impact on

reputation over sales generated, whereas other decision-makers prioritize sales and number

of new business leads generated.

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Key Findings by Platform Respondents believe conferences, events, awards and rankings, in addition to digital platforms, are

all important, but currently they prioritize conferences, events and digital platforms over

awards and rankings platforms. Respondents also believe, however, that platforms they

think are important today are not necessarily the ones that will be important in the coming

years. For instance:

CEO summits and councils are seen as important today, but respondents believe topic-

focused events particularly technology, women’s and ideas-focused conferences are

gaining importance;

Executives are most active on their own company websites today, but business leaders want

their executives more active on Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube moving forward.

Corporate reputation, workplace and CEO awards and rankings are seen as important now;

however, opportunities related to innovation, diversity and sustainability are expected

to increase in importance in the coming years.

Conferences & Events CURRENTLY IMPORTANT GAINING IMPORTANCE

Rank Platform % Platform % 1 Bloomberg LIVE Events, hosted by

Bloomberg

Consumer Electronics Show, hosted by

Consumer Technology Association

42 Aspen Ideas Festival, hosted by The Atlantic

and The Aspen Institute

Bloomberg Technology Conference, hosted

by Bloomberg

Milken Institute Global Conference, hosted

by Milken Institute

Events hosted by YouTube

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2 AWS re:Invent, hosted by Amazon

CEO Council events, hosted by The Wall

Street Journal

Microsoft CEO Summit, hosted by

Microsoft

41 Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit,

hosted by Fortune

Events hosted by The New York Times

Women in the World Annual Conference,

hosted by Women in the World and The New

York Times

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3 Forbes Global CEO Conference, hosted

by Forbes

Events hosted by The New York Times

WSJ ECO:nomics, hosted by The Wall

Street Journal

40 Brainstorm E, hosted by Fortune

Conference of the Parties (COP), hosted by

United Nations Framework Convention on

Climate Change

Corporate Conference, hosted by Council on

Foreign Relations

Dreamforce, hosted by Salesforce

Events hosted by LinkedIn

Zeitgeist events, hosted by Google

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5

4 CEO Summit, hosted by Yale School of

Management

World Business Forum, hosted by

World of Business Ideas

39 Annual Meeting at Davos, hosted by World

Economic Forum

AWS re:Invent, hosted by Amazon

Buttonwood, hosted by The Economist

CERAWeek, hosted by IHS Markit

FT Innovate, hosted by The Financial Times

Events hosted by Politico

Sustainable Brands’ Annual Conference,

hosted by Sustainable Brands

TEDGlobal, hosted by TED

The Future Of: events, hosted by The Wall

Street Journal (formerly known as Viewpoints

Executive Breakfast Series)

World Innovation Forum, hosted by World

of Business Ideas

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5 Annual Meeting at Davos, hosted by

World Economic Forum

APEC CEO Summit, hosted by

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

Forbes Healthcare Summit, hosted by

Forbes

WSJ D.Live, hosted by The Wall Street

Journal

38 APEC CEO Summit, hosted by Asia-Pacific

Economic Cooperation

BSR Conference, hosted by Business for

Social Responsibility

Forbes Healthcare Summit, hosted by

Forbes

GreenBiz Annual Conference, hosted by

GreenBiz

SXSW Conference, hosted by South By

Southwest

Techonomy Annual Conference, hosted by

Techonomy Media Inc.

World Retail Congress, hosted by Ascential

World Water Week, hosted by Stockholm

International Water Institute

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Awards & Rankings CURRENTLY IMPORTANT GAINING IMPORTANCE

Rank Platform % Platform % 1 Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to

Work For 47 Fast Company’s Most Creative People

in Business 33

2 Forbes’ America’s Best Employers

Fortune’s World’s Most Admired

Companies

44 Glassdoor’s Highest Rated CEOs 29

3 Forbes’ World’s Most Innovative

Companies

42 DiversityInc’s Top 50 Companies for Diversity

Newsweek’s Top Green Companies in

the World

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4 Barron’s World’s Best CEOs 40 Fast Company’s World’s Most Innovative

Companies

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Barron’s World’s Most Respected

Companies

Chief Executive Magazine’s CEO of

the Year

Forbes’ World’s 100 Most Powerful

Women

Forbes’ World’s 100 Most Powerful Women

Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work

National Association for Female Executive’s Top

Companies for Executive Women

5 Dow Jones Sustainability Indices

Fortune’s Businessperson of the Year

39 Corporate Knights’ Global 100 Most

Sustainable Corporations in the World

CR Magazine’s 100 Best Corporate Citizens

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Choosing is Challenging Choosing the right platform or opportunity is challenging for a range of reasons:

Choosing the right platform varies depending on the goals of the company and/or

executive, and whether pursuing an opportunity will support their goals;

The process for determining participation is often ad-hoc and informal; on average only

one in four respondents say they “kind of understand” each platform;

Word-of-mouth, especially if an executive mentions or recommends a platform, drives

decision-making: 58 percent of respondents say executive recommendations are the

leading determinant in choosing an event or conference;

Several other variables further complicate the process.

“Very important” decision-making factors:

Conferences and Events

Top 7 - Ranked by Overall (%) Overall

Awards/Rankings

Top 7 - Ranked by Overall (%) Overall

Networking opportunities with

customers/clients 60

Is relevant to our clients/customers 54

Relevant agenda 59 Important within our competitive set/ our

competitors are ranked 47

Networking opportunities with influencers 58 Reaches multiple important

audiences/stakeholders 46

Audience attending conference/event 55

Helps with recruitment and retention 46

Aligns with our company’s aspirations 53 Issued by a top tier publication or

organization 45

Ability to create and distribute thought

leadership related to the event 51

Leads to additional opportunities 45

Provides practical guidance for our business 50

Typically awarded to prestigious companies 44

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Prioritization and Preferences Are Not Aligned CEO perceptions differ from those of other executives. CEOs don’t necessarily have the

same priorities and expectations as other business decision-makers when it comes to choosing

platforms. Overall, CEOs are more concerned about visibility, thought leadership and

connecting with multiple stakeholders. Other decision-makers are more focused on clients

or customers and new commercial opportunities.

For awards and rankings:

CEOs believe the top benefit of awards and rankings is the opportunity to position

themselves as leaders and influencers (53 percent). When making decisions about the

opportunities to pursue, CEOs prioritize opportunities where their competitors are ranked

(64 percent), and those that will reach multiple stakeholders (60 percent);

Other decision-makers are more interested in how the award or ranking will raise the

profile of the company (50 percent), its relevance to customers or clients (534 percent)

and if it will lead to additional communications opportunities (43 percent).

Regarding conferences and events:

CEOs are more likely to place importance on networking opportunities with influencers

(69 percent) and the ability to create and distribute thought leadership at the event (69

percent) when choosing which conferences and events to attend, while others are more

likely to place importance on the relevance of the agenda (58 percent) and potential

networking with customers or clients (57 percent);

CEOs (55 percent) are also more likely than other decision-makers (35 percent) to think that

media exposure is an important decision-making factor in choosing conferences and

events to attend.

Measuring Return is Biggest Challenge

The biggest challenge across platforms is how to measure Return on Participation (ROP).

Almost four in five respondents say they need a more formal process for measuring ROP.

Determining the metrics (which, per our research, can be even harder for large enterprises) and

executing a measurement system are the key challenges when it comes to measuring ROP,

followed by allocating the necessary financial and human resources. In the absence of a more

developed ROP measurement system, the default metric used by business leaders to judge the

success of a platform or executive visibility program is the number of sales generated as a

result of participation. Business decision-makers, however, say they are open to using

additional metrics moving forward.

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Top Current Metrics for Measuring ROP (%)

Preferred Metrics for Measuring ROP in Future (%)

CEOs and other business decision-makers have different methods and preferences for

measuring ROP:

CEOs currently measure ROP through their satisfaction from participation (44

percent) and the impact it has on their reputation (42 percent). Impact on

reputation continues to be CEOs’ preferred measure of ROP in the future (40 percent),

followed by sales generated and audience survey results (both 37 percent);

Other decision-makers currently measure ROP by sales generated (35 percent),

number of new business leads generated and informal feedback (both 33 percent).

In the future, their top preference for measuring ROP continues to be sales generated

(39 percent), followed by number of new ideas generated (31 percent) and number of

new business leads generated (30 percent).

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33 33 31 31

2027

31 3136

26 27

Sales generated Number of new

business leads

generated

Informal

feedback

Executive’s

satisfaction from

participation

Impact on CEO’s

reputation

Number of

business

connections

formed

Large Enterprise Mid-Size

3933 30 29 27 26 25 24

3929

1926

31 27 27 27

Sales generated*

Number of new ideas generated

Number of business

connections formed

Impact on CEO’s

reputation

Number of new business

leads generated

Attracting or retaining

talent

Impact on company's reputation

Ability to stay ahead of

trends in the industry

Large Enterprise Mid-Size

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Conclusion The explosive growth of events, conferences, annual awards and rankings, and digital and

social platforms has made the job of executive positioning more complex than ever. The

process of vetting and pursuing the ever-increasing number of online and offline opportunities

for executives is straining available resources and revealing the limitations of traditional

approaches to executive visibility.

Our research confirms that building an effective corporate and executive positioning program

does not follow a one-size fits all approach. What is right for one company may not be right

for another. And, what is valued by the C-suite may not reflect the priorities of other executives

and decision-makers. Aligning on priorities is critical.

Communications counselors need to create more structured and strategic approaches to

measuring the ROP of each platform—particularly new ones—if they are to effectively manage

both opportunities for executive positioning and the expectations of their business leaders.

Developing a proactive strategy using a formalized, yet adaptable rubric that reflects key

metrics, preferences and business drivers identified throughout this survey is critical to

cutting through the clutter, choosing the right platforms and effectively measuring ROP

post-participation.

About Burson-Marsteller’s Corporate Positioning & Thought Leadership Offering For more than 60 years, Burson-Marsteller has provided clients across a broad spectrum of

industries and in every major world geography with expertise in defining—and realizing—their

executive positioning goals. Our offering is rooted in research, informed by experience and

focused on helping our clients achieve sustainable results. Our approach is customized to

address the specific needs of each individual client, their business goals and executives’ visions,

passions and ambitions.

We position our clients where they need to be by developing the strategy and bespoke criteria

to vet platforms, identifying where to put resources and how to measure the impact:

Positioning & Thought Leadership Platforms: We help our clients articulate a

differentiated point-of-view, identify appropriate and meaningful partners, engage in

substantive conversations and develop vital solutions on issues that matter.

Executive Positioning & Visibility: We develop a customized approach for each executive

based on their leadership vision, goals, experience and passions. We identify opportunities

that enable corporate leaders to evolve their profiles over time – from being a

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spokesperson on a particular issue or in a specific industry, to being recognized in the

media and in the market as a thought leader and change maker.

Corporate Positioning & Visibility: Our team has deep experience in developing and

executing awards and rankings strategies that promote corporate achievements in a variety

of areas, including brand reputation, corporate responsibility, innovation and workplace. We

use an extensive benchmarking process to assess client and competitor performance and

inform our strategy and tactical planning.

Content Partnerships: Our team often works with other leading organizations,

like Palisades Media Ventures, to create innovative and engaging media partnerships.

Together, we specialize in developing content projects that support the thought leadership

objectives of our clients and are important and relevant to our media partners. Our work

resonates through events, newspaper articles, special sections, television programming and

digital projects.

Alan Sexton leads the U.S. Corporate and Financial Practice at Burson-Marsteller, a team with deep

experience in executive positioning, visibility, and awards and rankings. Jen McClellan is an expert in

executive visibility and thought leadership and Megan Woolley specializes in awards and rankings.

Contact the team at MVP@bm.com.