Strategic Communication

Waste management and local conflicts: a smart city needs a smarter communication strategy

by Giuseppe Tipaldo

accepted @ INPUT 2012, Cagliari, 10-12 May 2012

2012 published in Campagna, M., et. al. (ed.), Planning Support Tools: Policy Analysis, Implementation and Evaluation, Milano, Franco Angeli - ebook

Over the past few years, the notion of ‘smart city’ has increasingly circulated among policy makers and experts,... more Over the past few years, the notion of ‘smart city’ has increasingly circulated among policy makers and experts, becoming quite fashionable. Among the many dimensions the concept is usually related to, the work focuses the attention on the theme of ‘smart environment’, particularly discussing the social phenomenon of local controversies and conflicts in urban waste management. Moving from some of the results of an on-going research on the incinerator in the city of Turin, Italy, it is argued that plant and infrastructure settlements with a heavy ecological impact represent a highly sophisticated and diverse social phenomenon, to which old-school communication strategies, based on ‘dirigistic’ approaches, seem to have no effect or, worse, a boomerang effect. After a brief critical introduction to the main issues, a proposal for a proactive and more participatory communication strategy is presented.

Strategic organizational communication - A case study on the Danish cartoon controversies

by Fabian Bethge

The author of this article suggests a model to analyze strategic organizational communication and applies it for the... more The author of this article suggests a model to analyze strategic organizational communication and applies it for the case of the Danish cartoon controversies, 2005 – 2008. The model consists
of the four dimensions timeline, meaning (connotative vs. denotative), actors (radical other vs. self) and policy (communicated policy vs. executed policy). According to that strategic organizational communication was defined as an intentional set up plan that integrates activities along these dimensions and between them to control the outcomes in a way that enables future success.

Keywords: Strategic communication, Denmark, cartoon controversies

American Strategic Communication in Iraq: the “Rapid Reaction Media Team”

by James Pamment

Online Journal of Communication & Media Technology, volume: 2, issue: 2, April - 2012, Pages: 1 -18

The purpose of this paper is to interpret an American military media strategy designed for the Iraq war from a... more The purpose of this paper is to interpret an American military media strategy designed for the Iraq war from a perspective drawing on recent theoretical discussions of space and time. The material consists of a short white paper that was declassified under the Freedom of Information Act and published by the NSA in 2007. It outlines a ‘Rapid Reaction Media Team’ which was tasked with designing and implementing the US-led media system at the onset of war in March 2003. Despite aiming to create a ‘balanced and fair’ public service television network equivalent to the BBC or PBS, the $100 million budget was derived from the $87.5 billion military budget, with the Department of Defense overseeing implementation. Hence there was a fundamental contradiction between the stated intentions of the network as a provider of balanced news and its broader position within US military objectives. The RRMT plan reveals a series of strategies, inherent conflicts, and assumptions which can be seen to enact forms of symbolic violence complimentary to that of the military. By this, I mean that it sheds light on sophisticated strategies for the ‘transposition’ of military force to the discursive sphere; for the exertion of violence by other means in US attempts to manage perceptions of the war. In a fundamental sense, the RRMT strategy uses media as an extension of warfare, and this paper will look at how ‘actual’ violence was transferred from the military battlefield to the discursive.

The Hidden Grand Narrative of Western Military Policy: A Linguistic Analysis of American Strategic Communication

by Saara Jantunen

Corporate Reputation & Brand Architecture: the Debate

by Dalija Hasanbegovic

Published in South East European Journal of Economics and Business, Volume 6, Number 2


My article starts on page 37 of the uploaded Journal.

Gender Violence, Fan Activism and Public Relations in Sport: The case of “Footy Fans against Sexual Assault”

by Roumen Dimitrov

2008, Public Relations Review, 34, 90-98.

This paper is based on the belief that online activism is essential for understanding the role and potential of public... more This paper is based on the belief that online activism is essential for understanding the role and potential of public relations in modern campaigns. In relation to the issue of gender violence against women in football, analyzed and compared are the responses of two official, resource-rich organisations – the National Rugby League (NRL) and Australian Football League (AFL) – and an unofficial, resource-poor fan advocacy group, called Football Fans against Sexual Assault (FFASA). In cooperation and conflict with the leagues, FFASA positioned itself in the market place, taking the widely unoccupied niche of “fan advocacy”—different from “expert advocacy” or “player advocacy”. The article discusses in more detail the major strategy of the group, the Purple Armband Games, which carries many elements of cutting-edge public relations such as advocacy as third-party endorsement; “fan activism” as empowering of “expert advocacy”; “symbolic outsourcing” of participants by facilitating theirmodeof engagement, the “emblematic richness” of the purple armband symbol, the “oneness” of which overcomes any confrontational dualism.

Embracing Humanimality: Deconstructing the Human/Animal Dichotomy.

by Carrie Packwood Freeman

BOOK CHAPTER:  Freeman, C. P. (2010). Embracing Humanimality: Deconstructing the Human/Animal Dichotomy. In G. Goodale & J. E. Black (Eds.). Arguments about Animal Ethics (pp. 11-30). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

in seeking to rhetorically combat speciesism, how can animal advocates talk about humans and other animals in ways... more in seeking to rhetorically combat speciesism, how can animal advocates talk about humans and other animals in ways that are posthumanist?  In answering this question, I draw upon posthumanist scholarship to critically analyze how these humanist tensions not only affect, but also exist within, animal rights philosophy itself, likely weakening arguments in favor of animal rights. My goal is to improve the logical basis upon which this philosophy informs animal rights advocacy.

I begin by analyzing the paradoxes involving animal activists’ deployment of humanist adjectives like "humane" and "ethical," as well as tensions over whether animal rights strategies should promote humanity’s similarity to other animals or take a new tack toward embracing the diversity amongst all animals.

I will suggest that animal advocates more humbly represent humans as social animals who are uniquely prone to excess, explaining the biological need for humanity’s complex ethical systems (in comparison to other social animals) as opposed to viewing human morality solely as a magnanimous cultural choice. Animal advocates’ efforts to promote humans’ ethical treatment of nonhuman animals, rather than continuing to primarily craft messages saying “they are like us,” should begin to promote the idea that “we are like them” in many ways that are worth acknowledging. However, the challenge in this focus on humanimality and expanded notions of identity is to find a way to respect the diversity represented in the animal world (in groups and individuals) so as to avoid creating new hierarchies or revised notions of “the animal other.”  I, thus, conclude by presenting a blended approach as a solution to better understanding the human/nonhuman relationship.

A Greater Means to the Greater Good: Ethical Guidelines to Meet Social Movement Organization Advocacy Challenges

by Carrie Packwood Freeman

JOURNAL ARTICLE: Freeman, C. P. (2009). A Greater Means to the Greater Good: Ethical Guidelines to Meet Social Movement Organization Advocacy Challenges. The Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 24(4), 269 - 288.

Existing public relations ethics literature often proves inadequate when applied to social movement campaigns,... more Existing public relations ethics literature often proves inadequate when applied to social movement campaigns, considering the special communication challenges activists face as marginalized moral visionaries in a commercial public sphere. The communications of counter-hegemonic movements is distinct enough from corporate, nonprofit, and governmental organizations to warrant its own ethical guidelines. The unique communication guidelines most relevant to social movement organizations include promoting asymmetrical advocacy to a greater extent than is required for more powerful organizations and building flexibility into the TARES principles to privilege social responsibility over respect for audience values in activist campaigns serving as ideological critique.

Strategic communication in international negotiation situations: A study of the negotiations between Turkey and the EU in Turkey's EU accession bid.

by Sarah VanSlette

VanSlette, S.H. (2009).  Strategic communication in international negotiation situations: A study of the negotiations between Turkey and the EU in Turkey's EU accession bid.  Ohio Communication Journal, 47, 137-157. 

Using the literature of negotiation planning as an analytic framework, this paper examines accession negotiation... more Using the literature of negotiation planning as an analytic framework, this paper examines accession negotiation between the European Union (EU) and Turkey. Rather than assuming that negotiators only plan for negotiation before talks begin, this essay analyzes how plans continue to evolve over time in response to multiple goals and obstacles. This framework helps clarify how the diversity of issues involved, disagreements among EU member states, public opinion in EU countries, and cultural differences all have created a complex planning environment.  I suggest that the EU currently may be focusing on instrumental goals to the neglect of identity goals, overestimating its power, and holding too inflexibly to current plans for accomplishing long-term goals. I also argue that the rhetorical signaling that goes on in the European media between the two parties is a great predictor of what goes on behind closed doors between their respective negotiators.  By focusing on this highly publicized international case, this essay offers a more complicated, dynamic view of negotiation planning.

Fear attenuated and affection augmented: Male self-presentation in a romantic context

by Dina Dosmukhambetova

Manuscript accepted for publication in the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, co-authored with Antony Manstead

We investigated whether males use facial behavior strategically in order to increase their desirability as romantic... more We investigated whether males use facial behavior strategically in order to increase their desirability as romantic partners. Participants were led to believe that a female research assistant who was either attractive or unattractive was observing them. Their task was to watch three short films: an excerpt from a horror film, a video of infants, and a neutral film. Males who thought they were being observed by the attractive assistant frowned less (AU4) while watching the horror film and smiled more (AU12, with and without AU6) while watching the infants film. Assistant attractiveness did not affect males‟ facial behavior while they were watching the neutral film.

Eco Manufacturing: Pioneering as Legitimacy Ground for Advocacy

by Roumen Dimitrov

2008, Conference Proceeding, Ninth Biennial Conference of the Australia and New Zealand Third Sector Research Association, AUT University, Auckland, New Zealand, 24 – 26 November 2008

The paper analyses an Australian case of industrial advocacy, in which a coalition of organisations, led by a small... more The paper analyses an Australian case of industrial advocacy, in which a coalition of organisations, led by a small manufacturing plant (even not a business association), the Fuji Xerox Eco Manufacturing Centre (EMS) in Sydney, has become a national and global player in the fight for landfill-free (that is also sustainable) manufacturing. An engineering invention, the so-called “remanufacturing”, is the technical basis for an industrial advocacy network with nonprofit organisations and academic institutions that promotes a win-win formula for community and business: the lower the waste, the higher the profits. What is good for the environment is also good for business. The paper follows the stages of its unique public campaign: (1) legitimacy (awards recognition), identification (site tours) and reinforcement (public presentations). Combining government lobbying with forums for experts and opinion leaders, the initiative is setting up a public attitude, which is in favour of policy and legislative changes. If successful, such changes will move the responsibility (and costs) for the environment from the consumers to the producers. In conclusion, the paper argues that business needs the nonprofit sector to fully realise its competitive advantage. As the case of ecological manufacturing demonstrates, community advocacy may provide the space for business strategies to grow and evolve far beyond the artificial point of “corporate responsibility”.

Poor Resources, Rich Communication: Public Relations by Four Refugee Advocacy Groups

by Roumen Dimitrov

2006, Conference Proceeding, Navigating New Waters? Australia and New Zealand Third Sector Research Eight Biennial Conference, Adelaide, 26-28 November, 2006

This paper examines the public relation strategies of four refugee advocacy organisations – the Refugee Council of... more This paper examines the public relation strategies of four refugee advocacy organisations – the Refugee Council of Australia (RCA), Australian Refugee Rights Alliance (ARRA), A Just Australia (AJA) and Rural Australia for Refugees (RAR) – in the period 2001-2005, during which an invigorated refugee rights movement managed to turn the public opinion in Australia in favour to detained refugees and facilitate the government’s decision to release children and their families from the detention centres.

Identified and discussed are the distinctive strategies of each organisation. RCA was mostly influential through internal consultancy and advice to the government. ARRA exercised public diplomacy by direct lobbying to UN based on academic research. AJA worked efficiently with political and lawyer elites, making use both of parliamentary procedures and electronic campaigning. RAR established local networks and facilitated relationships between MPs and refugees.

The conclusion is that even resource-poor advocacy groups could be effective in changing the context of political decisions, if they act strategically. The unique asset they have are their highly skilled volunteers – often with professional communication and academic research affiliations. Besides volunteering, two further factors reduce the costs of mobilisation for such resource-poor groups and increase the leverage of their impact: the new organisational form of virtual, online networks and the community engagement of university research.

Telenovelas, Culture and Social Change - from Polisemy, Pleasure and Resistance to Strategic Communication and Social Development

by Thomas Tufte

Tufte, Thomas. Telenovelas, Culture and Social Change - from Polisemy, Pleasure and Resistance to Strategic Communication and Social DevelopmentI. In: International Perspectives on Telenovelas. red. / Maria Immacolata Vassalo de Lopes. Sao Paulo, Brazil : Edicões Loyola, 2004.

Learning from Obama's Cairo Speech: Media Diplomacy, Non-Linear Narratives and Digital Emergence

by Ben O'Loughlin

Draft paper presented at Political Studies Association Annual Convention 2010

Great Power Politics and Strategic Narratives

by Ben O'Loughlin

March 2010

Great powers use strategic narratives to establish and maintain influence in the international system and to shape the... more Great powers use strategic narratives to establish and maintain influence in the international system and to shape the system itself. This is particularly the case in periods of transition in the international system when challengers to hegemonic powers emerge. Strategic narratives are an important tool which must be considered alongside material resources as a determinant of whether emerging great powers are able to shape a new systemic alignment. Strategic narratives are a tool through which great powers can articulate their interests, values and aspirations for the international system in ways that offer the opportunity for power transitions that avoid violent struggle between status quo and challenger states. Complicating this picture, however, is a complex media ecology which makes the process of projecting strategic narratives an increasingly difficult one. Analysis of international political communication within this media ecology is central to evaluating how strategic narratives are projected and the interactions that follow. We argue that empirical analysis of the formation, projection and reception of strategic narratives in that media ecology offers a framework through which to generate important findings concerning power transition, domestic and international legitimacy, and recognition and identity - important because many international relations scholars thus far failed to take into account the difference such narratives make, and can make.

Images as weapons of war: representation, mediation and interpretation

by Ben O'Loughlin

2011 In : Review of International Studies. 37, p. 71-91.

Integrated marketing communications: A survey of national consumer goods advertisers

by Clarke Caywood

The strategic communication in Samarco's sustainability policy

by Rafael Murta Reis

This article aims at analyzing and identifying the contributions of the strategic organizational communication for the... more This article aims at analyzing and identifying the contributions of the strategic organizational communication for the mining company Samarco sustainability policy. Based on the concepts of strategic organizational communication and sustainability it
researches the intersection of the possible interfaces between two objects of study (communication and sustainability) as they are implemented at the same context and organizational environment. For this analysis, it was investigated the presence of the components of strategic communication and how each of them are implemented in the policies and business practices focused on sustainable development. Finally, it raised the most important contributions of communication for this matter and it verified how each element of communication has been developed within the communication management strategy and also for the communication of the organizational policies management themselves.

Turkey's Public Diplomacy: The Genocide Resolution Challenge

by Yelena Osipova

Published in "The Washington Review of Turkish and Eurasian Affairs." December 2010

The Armenian Genocide is one of Turkey’s major foreign policy issues and, as such, is among the primary concerns for... more The Armenian Genocide is one of Turkey’s major foreign policy issues and, as such, is among the primary concerns for its public diplomacy efforts, as it strives to counter the information campaigns carried out by Diasporan Armenian communities around the world. In March 2010, the Foreign Affairs Committee at the U.S. House of Representatives passed, by a very narrow margin, the non-binding Resolution 252, recognizing the events of the early 20th century as Genocide. The issue threatened to deal a blow to the special relationship between Turkey and the United States, as well as to their strategic partnership. Somehow late to respond, the Turkish government gradually mobilized all its diplomatic capabilities – domestic and Diasporan – in early March, to counter the Resolution at the Committee level, galvanize support from the general American public, and ensure the backing of the U.S. administration to, at least, try and stop the bill from getting to a general Congressional vote. This paper adopts Zaharna’s Informational-Relational framework of public diplomacy to analyze and assess these immediate attempts by the Turkish side, and to suggest recommendations for enhancing their relational public diplomacy strategies, especially in terms of the Genocide issue, in the U.S.