Strategic communication planning and its requirements have evolved considerably over the past 20 years as a reflection of the needs of our changing world; people, technology and the requirement for military and civilian actors to work together. Nowhere has this change been more pronounced than with the development of international humanitarian intervention missions that necessarily involve military and international aid actors working in mutual dependence in areas of natural and man-made crises. Using the 2007-2011 period of the combined war and humanitarian intervention mission in Afghanistan, this study develops the requirements for a strategic communication plan for the humanitarian aspects of that mission with implications for practical reach to all long-term crises. It establishes the real from the ideal practices by the international community (military, humanitarian aid, international bodies) and, based on recommendations from the expert literature, presents a strategic communication planning format that guides both the practitioner and theoretician.

Businesses that actively engage in integrated internal communication practices should theoretically be more likely to foster employee engagement during change management interventions. Competitive forces and a dynamic business environment compel most organisations to continuously review the relevance of their current business operating model. As a result, organisations develop new strategies or revise existing ones. Part of the change management process of executing a strategy is the ability to communicate it to employees, in a manner that ensures alignment between strategy and employee. The communication process therefore must seek to effect behavioural changes among its recipients. This paper investigates the practices of a business unit of an organisation in the financial services sector which has recently undertaken an extensive strategic communication exercise. Through a series of survey questions and interviews, the research seeks an answer to the question of whether integrated internal communication initiatives are effective in changing employee behaviour. Furthermore, the report investigates the forces that either inhibit or promote internal communication; and engages communication practitioners to determine whether return on investment metrics are implemented that link internal communication initiatives to financial performance. Results from the research revealed that strategic communication does have the capacity to affect employee engagement, but if left unchecked, factors such as language, distance and education have the capacity to inhibit effective communication initiatives. Furthermore, the absence of financial metrics and indicators related to the strategic communication initiative render it improbable to determine a return on investment for the internal communication initiative. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

This study is a rhetorical analysis of strategic communication in the Amalga Barrens wetlands controversy during the 1990s. The Bridgerland Audubon Society (BAS) in Cache Valley, Utah, was able to influence a change in public policy that removed the unique wetlands from consideration as a possible reservoir site for water taken from the Bear River. BAS led a successful grassroots effort by being civil, targeting specific individuals who had influence with the Utah legislature, focusing less on the environment and more on cost arguments that mattered to decision-makers, creating a portfolio of arguments grounded in scientific and economic data, and educating the community. BAS’s experience may be helpful to other environmental groups that are trying to lead efforts in their own communities. Although the strategies presented cannot be generalized to fit all groups and situations, they may serve as a starting point.

The growing evidence of harm caused by pornography calls for interventions to counteract the influence of explicit sexual media. Fireproof Ministries conducts a major Christian anti-pornography campaign called XXXchurch. This case analysis of the campaign evaluated if the messages were appropriately designed in light of what persuasion research has discovered about motivating attitudinal and behavioral change. Theories about agenda setting, attitude accessibility, exemplars, evidence, cognitive dissonance, guilt, reactance, fear appeals, and self-efficacy were the basis of identifying the themes of the campaign, evaluating the credibility of XXXchurch, and assessing the theoretical foundation of the campaign. The study found three dominant objectives of the campaign: awareness, prevention, and recovery. XXXchurch has set the pornography agenda in many Christian churches, and also brings the issue to a wider public through news media; they have been featured in thousands of media publications and broadcasts. XXXchurch measures their own success by the stories and feedback they hear from their audience, the media attention they receive, and their increased acceptance by churches. The three main groups of themes in the messages of the campaign are prevention and recovery, the harm of pornography, and how God's purposes for life are impacted by pornography. These themes are essentially persuasive messages encouraging people to consider the negative consequence of using pornography and the benefits of resisting it. The attitudes influenced through these messages are the precursors to taking action to overcome pornography. The XXXchurch campaign establishes credibility with their audience through six elements: (a) prior experience or perceptions, (b) credentials, competence, and expertise (c) honesty and lack of bias, (d) similarity to the audience, (e) bold, confident delivery, and (f) plausible messages. Examples of self-efficacy, exemplars, and fear appeals were the most frequently found theories in the campaign messages. Persuasion theories functioned as useful tools for analyzing and understanding the campaign. Although the XXXchurch team did not design the campaign with these theories in mind, the theories strongly explain the foundation of the campaign. Taken as a whole, the campaign clearly demonstrates research-based principles, which suggest a prediction of successfully influencing attitudes and behavior.

This Master's thesis sets out to learn why internal strategic communication is not improving as quickly as one might hope in one office of the Department of Defense. Many articles support the need for improved internal strategic communication. But during the author's summer internship, she noted the communications team struggled to make this happen. The author therefore wondered why these communication professionals were not successful. What is hindering their success? Two earlier research papers showed trust, transparency, leadership, diversity and conflict were all connected to internal strategic communication- either positively or negatively. But one new theme arose from these studies: that of power. The current study employs an exploratory case study to look more closely at why power may be a factor- as well as exploring any other possible reasons in order to answer why internal communication is not improving very quickly in this one office. Current and former members of a strategic communication team were asked for their opinions through open ended survey questions about experiences they had illuminating these concepts. Those responses were triangulated with documents and participant observation. This study illustrates that themes including lack of trust, transparency, empowerment, and inappropriate use of power, all play a role in the success or failure of internal strategic communication. The literature helps explain why these themes are having such an impact.

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A growing trend among fashion companies in today’s society is to communicate their take on CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility. This trend stems from the consumers expressing demand that exceeds the products themselves. Due to this, CSR is becoming coherent in fashion companies’ business and business communication (Bartlett et al, 2011:6-12; Grafström et al, 2008:34-39).  The purpose of this study is to evaluate Acne Studios’ CSR efforts by examining their visual image communication, which is represented by their Instagram account. The study is built upon three questions of interest; (1) Which, if any, aspects of CSR has Acne Studios chosen to work with? (2) How does Acne Studios’ take on CSR reflect in their visual image communication on Instagram? (3) What is the message that Acne Studios is trying to convey with their visual image communication?   The theoretical framework of the study consists of: (1) Corporate Social Responsibility and; (2) Public Relations. Furthermore, three methods have been implemented: (1) a qualitative interview; (2) a quantitative content analysis; and (3) a qualitative semiotic analysis. The empirical material consists of an email interview with an employee at Acne Studios Headquarters and an analysis of the images from Acne Studios’ Instagram account.    The results from the interview reveal that the aspects of CSR that Acne Studios engage in are not conveyed in the company’s visual image communication on Instagram. The single CSR aspect that could be identified in both Acne Studios own image of their CSR efforts as well as in the company’s visual image communication on Instagram is that Acne Studios challenges the normative perspectives with regards to playing on masculinity/femininity. The study concludes that Acne Studios’ main message in their visual image communication on Instagram is to challenge normative perspectives in terms of gender roles.

Kommunikationsdirektör vid Sundsvalls kommun önskade undersöka hur man på bästa sätt kommunicerar vid kris med personer som inte talar svenska. Detta eftersom att Sundsvalls kommun ansåg att man saknade tillräckliga språkkunskaper för att hantera kriser. Enligt forskningen är det just personer av annat ursprung än landet det bor i som är mer utsatta vid kris (Olofsson, 2007:7), varför det är viktigt att anpassa kommunikationen så att den når ut till och kan hjälpa alla medborgare. Jag fann det därför intressant att undersöka Sundsvalls kommun och dess kriskommunikativa anpassning genom att intervjua de som inom kommunen är ansvariga för kriskommunikationen samt undersöka hur det ser ut i landet i stort. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka om Sveriges kommuner anpassar sin kriskommunikation för medborgare med utländsk bakgrund med huvudfokus på hur Sundsvalls kommun arbetar strategiskt med sin kriskommunikation.   Metod och material: Kvalitativ samtalsintervju med Camilla Nilzén och Ulf Wallin vid Sundsvalls kommun med kompletterande kvantitativ webbenkät till 121 svenska kommuner. Huvudresultat: Sundsvalls kommun är inte anpassade i sin kriskommunikation till medborgare med utländskbakgrund vilket även antas gälla en större del av landets kommuner. Däremot visar resultatet på att kunskapen om att kommunicera på ett anpassat sätt finns varför Sundsvalls kommun och de av landets kommuner som inte är anpassade på ett enkelt sätt kan bli bättre på att anpassa sin

This research presents a comparative case study between the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the United State’s invasion of Iraq in 2003. It specifically examines how the two interventions were framed by the political executives. Frame theory and a qualitative content analysis served as theoretical­ and methodological benchmarks to assess selected speeches and public statements delivered by president George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin, in order to detect similar motives and justification patterns for the armed occupations. Four distinct war frames emerged from the text material: prevention, common good, state liability and imposed war. The results demonstrate that state leaders are prone to strategically communicate their military ambitions and legitimize their policy agendas through corresponding framing processes.

<p>Abstract</p><p>Title: Brand communication – An analyze of Borka and BayIcons communicative labor in relations with WJOS. (Varumärkeskommunikation – En analys av Borka och BayIcons kommunikativa arbete i relation till WJOS)</p><p>Number of pages: 53 (55 including enclosures)</p><p>Author: Johan Larsson</p><p>Tutor: Göran Svensson</p><p>Course: Media and Communications Studies C</p><p>Period: Second term / autumn 2007</p><p>University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University</p><p>Purpose/aim: The purpose of this essay is to study how two small Swedish clothing companies, Borka and BayIcon, manage their brand communication. Brand communication includes work with target groups, brands, media and finally communication in a bigger perspective. The clothing companies are compared and analyzed thru a perspective of an advertising agency.</p><p>Material/method: This essay uses two case studies with qualitative research interviews as methods. The material is combined by three interviews, one with Borka, one with BayIcon and one with WJOS.</p><p>Main result: Borka uses newspaper adverts, fairs and sponsoring as their mixture of mediums. BayIcon uses web pages, events and sponsoring. The events, fairs and sponsoring are arranged under the definition arrangements and it is the richest form of communication because it gives the opportunity of a dialog. The dialog is a good way to get in touch with the customers. Both Borka and BayIcon use a strategic way of working with communication, which emphasizes that communication is created in a dialog between the customer and the company. The biggest difference between WJOS and Borka and BayIcon is that the clothing companies work more with what they think is right and less with strategies.</p><p>Keywords: brand, communication, target groups, events, strategic communication, dialog, advertising.</p>