Acumen

C OMMUNICATIONS FOR A DEMANDING WORLD

Recession Communications
Imperatives for Corporate Leaders
Now more than ever, direct, candid and substantive communications are required to
strengthen business relationships. They form the foundation for business survival and
future success.

The immediate Communications are not optional

impulse to reduce Prescient executives recognize that today’s uncertainties require a crisp business focus
communications communicated to critical stakeholders through effective, ongoing outreach.
can exacerbate These corporate leaders are maintaining — and, indeed, increasing — their contact
this crisis situation, with key audiences. They’re creating precise messages and media to address the
and threaten well-defined concerns of customers, investors and employees. And they are
corporate viability. undertaking these aggressive efforts despite tighter budgets, smaller staffs and
demanding timelines.

Seven keys to success

Upwards of 80 percent of all CEOs polled worldwide earlier this year say the credit
crisis (and the resulting global recession) is affecting their business. Another survey of
corporate leaders found that half believe the structure of their industry will change
dramatically because of the crisis.

Each corporation faces its own set of challenges in managing through the current
uncertainty and communicating its actions. Each corporation’s strategic messages will
be unique, as will the information individual stakeholder groups expect.

But the fundamentals of recession communications strategies are based on seven keys
important to all companies caught in the storm.

I N S I G H T — Recessions alter stakeholder opinions and priorities. You must

clearly understand how these changed attitudes relate to your own company
and its products or services.

C L A R I T Y — Your communications must be clear, concise and easily

understood by all of your key stakeholder groups.

T I M E L I N E S S — You must precede news and rumor. You can never fully correct
a media misstatement, and the drip-method of information delivery only
AcumenStrategies.com prolongs the agony in a bad news environment.

New York 917-843-0056 I N C L U S I V ENESS — You must simultaneously inform all stakeholders of

Boston 617-771-1212 significant news. The grapevine can be more extensive, faster, and less
accurate than you think.
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C OMMUNICATIONS FOR A DEMANDING WORLD

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Recession Communications...
L E A D E R S H I P — You and your leadership team must remain actively engaged in
delivering the company’s strategic messages as well as evidence that the recession
management plan is working.

D I A L O G U E — Your stakeholder outreach must be a two-way street. Enabling

true dialogue enhances your credibility and increases confidence in corporate
leadership.
Business survival VA L U E — As your customers, investors and employees grapple with economic
in this economic uncertainties, they reexamine their priorities. Messages must emphasize your
environment competitive corporate value and how this aligns with your stakeholders’ interests.
requires ongoing Using these keys in their communications strategies, companies can successfully work
communications through this global crisis and deliver messages that engage stakeholders and inspire
that precisely confidence in a positive future.
address stakeholder
interests. The Acumen Advantage

Acumen communications professionals have been through many crises, and we've
favorably weathered them all.

We are strategic. We see the broad perspective. We understand how corporations must
integrate stakeholders’ widely diverse interests into a cohesive strategic initiative.

We are very tactical, too. We understand that a successful communications plan

requires carefully devised and precisely executed components that reinforce one
another and help achieve immediate and long term objectives.

Acumen has the right mix of skills, experience and business structure to help
companies achieve their objectives cost effectively. We’re knowledgeable
communicators, each with more than 20 years of corporate or agency experience. We
plan, write, organize, pitch, strategize, execute and evaluate. We are nimble, perceptive
and prudent.

In this environment, it is natural for companies to constrict organizational size and

budgets. But in doing so, they risk sacrificing the loyalty of key stakeholders. Acumen
can deliver essential communications capabilities that will allow you to tighten up,
compete and prevail.

AcumenStrategies.com References
PriceWaterhouseCoopers 2009 12th annual global CEO survey presented at the World Economic
New York 917-843-0056
Forum, Davos, January, 2009
Boston 617-771-1212 “Recession Response: Why Companies Are Making the Wrong Moves,” Booz & Company, January, 2009