By Thaís Muniz
Corporate communications is the term that refers both to internal– and external communications, that is, communications with employees, the public, partners and different institutions. It is therefore an essential aspect of communications that needs to be put into practice across the organization to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its activities.
Initially, corporate communications emerged in the United States in 1906, when journalist Ivy Lee decided to recover the credibility lost by the powerful John Rockfeller (who at the time was the country’s most hated businessman). Lee’s work for his client was successful in the press and public opinion and Rockfeller went from being a “scary boss” to a “benefactor of humanity”.
A few decades later, the concept of corporate communications activities arrived to Brazil in the 1950s, attracted by the advantages offered by the government of President Juscelino Kubitscheck. And, in the 1960s, Antônio de Salvo (one of Brazil’s best-known communications professionals) began to visit newsrooms in São Paulo. He did the job of persuading editors to publish news about the activities and products of the company where he worked.
Since then, the activity of corporate communications has gained strength in the country. And that’s how press conferences and the traditional New Year lunches emerged, when companies bring together reporters, editors and newsrooms’ directors to announce the results of the year that ends, the plans for the new year and the distributed gifts to each one.
Corporate communication is today an essential tool with a strategic value. Its main objectives are to motivate, convince and inform the internal and external public. Therefore, it continues to be concerned with the analysis of the environment in which the company is inserted, identifying and understanding its different stakeholders and publics.
