AMEC Virtual Summit Presented by Prof. Jim Macnamara

Illustrated by two of his recent research studies, esteemed Professor Jim Macnamara explained the organisational, political and societal value of evaluating the impact of communications.

The first study into disinformation informed his new book ‘Beyond Post-Communication– challenging disinformation, deception and manipulation’, which launched to coincide with the Summit. It recognised that we are living through a time of great disruption in global society – not only because of the pandemic, but also because of a heightened proliferation of disinformation or ‘post communication’, a term describing not only to intentional distribution of false information but also information designed for deception and manipulation.

Macnamara challenges the communications industry at large to think about the ethical decisions it makes on a daily basis, and use new and emerging technologies to create solutions rather than to add fuel to a fire.

Through analysis of more than 100 case studies and a series of in-depth interviews with senior leaders in journalism, public relations, advertising, corporate and political communications across several countries, he found disinformation and post communication escalated by new technologies.

From garnering public support for war and protecting the reputation of high-profile individuals with criminal pasts, to ‘churnalism’ and the blurring line of impartiality in ‘native’ advertising and ‘merged media’, the communications industry is undoubtedly complicit in the collapse of public trust.

Armed with this insight into the wider impact of communications, do we need to take a different approach to the part our industry is – and could be – playing?

The second study presented a more positive, yet powerful, real-life example of what happens when insight and recommendations from communications evaluation are fed forward into planning and action.

This two-year evaluation initiative for a major multinational corporation began by evaluating existing communication across all stakeholder groups… and ended with a €24 million return on investment (ROI). It demonstrates the value of gaining insight from stakeholders through a range of technologies and tools to inform strategies that, in this example, increase customer and employee satisfaction, reduce recruitment and training costs, and increase productivity.

With technology we can achieve 20:20 foresight. It enables us to accurately gather valuable insight on the impact of communications for informing future strategy, far above and beyond quantifying outputs and actions. Yet, as the frequency of disinformation originating in the communications industry raises concern, it also has a purpose in heightening awareness and a collaborative focus on ethics, standards and purpose.

The question to the industry is, which ROI do you want: disinformation, deception and manipulation or insights driven effective communication? In other words, are we contributing to a crisis or creating solutions?