The team at Astute.Work are constantly curious about anything that might impact the world of business communications.
Here managing director and management and PR consultant Sarah Waddington shares five things that caught her attention and might interest you and your organisation too. 1. BBC remains strong under fire Insight from Opinium shows that despite the recent furore around the ethics of Martin Bashir’s interview with Princess Diana, the BBC remains an indispensable brand for UK consumers. The only broadcaster to appear in Opinium’s Most Connected Brands Index, the findings show it is held in high esteem by UK consumers. Of those surveyed, 78% think the BBC is inclusive, 63% associate it with belonging and 42% say they couldn’t live without it. 2. Customer loyalty The Brandwatch Customer Loyalty Report published in partnership with GWI brings together social data and survey data from the US and UK to understand the key factors that retailers should be aware of in 2021. There are two clear findings. The volume of social media posts that detracted from top retail brands in 2020 was 20% higher than those that suggested loyalty or advocacy. The biggest issue that customers had with brands was related to delivery, while the biggest driver of advocacy was affordability. It’s worth a read for organisations keen to engage successfully with target audiences online. 3. A hiatus in R&D and innovation Research from the National Centre for Universities and Business and the University of Cambridge has resulted in the publication of a report called ‘Innovation and resilience in a crisis: The impact of COVID-19 on UK Business R&D.’ The survey of 500 R&D active businesses shows that the pandemic caused 81% to delay or stop research and 77% saw delays to product/service demonstration, testing and/or trial production. The findings are a matter for concern considering the necessary role of innovation and R&D as the UK moves to strengthen its position as a global science superpower, as set out in the 2021 Queen’s Speech. 4. Ethics matter The CEO of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) recently sparked fury after accepting a six-figure bonus, despite the organisation having accessed the Government’s furlough scheme and having made widescale redundancies during the pandemic. The move appears to be at odds with RICS’ positioning which is to ‘deliver confidence through respected global standards.’ It’s not the first and won’t be the last story of its kind. If your business benefited from a Government intervention, think carefully about the ethics and optics of big shareholder payouts. It’s not a good look. 5. ONS economic review The ONS economic review into management practices, homeworking and productivity during the COVID-19 pandemic is well worth a read. This reveals that the biggest determinants of good management in British businesses are firm size, firm age and employee human capital. Those organisations using good management practice have adapted more easily to homeworking and online sales and retained their labour productivity advantage over comparable peers in 2020
