STAKEHOLDER RELATIONS:
Building trust-based relationships

Advertisers were given a new way of looking at Public Relations at the 2nd PANA General Membership Meeting held last February 28, 2008 at Tropezz Bar and Restaurant. Mr. Junie Del Mundo, Managing Director of EON - the Stakeholders Relations firm, talked about the need of companies to build mutually beneficial, trust-based relationships with its various publics - the consumers, its employees, trade partners, media, the government and the community.

Junie urged the advertisers to look into Public Relations (PR), as an alternative cost-effective means of reaching the consumers. PR’s definition should not merely be limited to publicity, launches and sponsorships. Public relations practice is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organization and its publics. It encompasses co-branding, employee engagement, partnership, online conversations, research, editorial publicity, public launches, road shows, among others.

“Consumers want to do business only with companies that share their values and concerns,” he stated. Junie also shared the paradigm shift happening, from the old communication model to the new one. From using awareness as the driver of brand building, dialogue, connections and relationships are now recognized as equally important drivers, from one-way messages sent with little feedback mechanism to opinion sharing and communication, from mass audience to segmented audiences or communities, from the influence of experts and authority figures to influence of peers, family and other unbiased people.

Based on this development and in the mantra that trust is the foundation of corporate reputation, it is important to build trust-based relationships between organizations and their stakeholders through dialogue, credible sources of information and meaningful experiences to generate positive perception and solid corporate reputation. This can be achieved through stakeholder relations. Later, Junie also discussed the strategic approach on stakeholder relations.

A picture of the present communications landscape was also expounded. In the Philippines, there was a significant increase in internet and mobile phone usage. Junie also cited that in the 2007 Edelman Trust Barometer study, web-based media surpassed television as the most trustworthy source of information.

He also mentioned the concept of 360o World with the following characteristics: a) information overload, b) advertising is no longer the mass appeal bullet, c) diversity in the audience, products and channels, d) technology means more connection and more access to information and e) consumers are at the center, in control and more demanding. In order to engage the trust-suspicious 360o consumer, companies must use experience and presence, advocacy-building, relationship-building and credibility-building tactics.

Branding himself as the “salesman of the Philippines to the world,” Junie ended his presentation with EON’s flagship advocacy and case for Stakeholder Relations – “Branding the Philippines”.