Correlation between PR investment and reputation
US research relating to the annual Fortune 500 ‘Most Admired Companies’ listing in 1999 found that companies which invested in corporate communication experienced a better reputation than companies which didn’t.
The study analyzed spending in a broad array of corporate communication functions: media relations, speechwriting, investor relations, annual/quarterly reports, social responsibility and community affairs, donations, corporate and issues advertising, employee communication, department management and counseling and spending on public relations firms by 476 companies.
Spending on communication by the top 200 of the most admired companies far exceeded the spending by companies that were ranked in the bottom half of the table of most admired companies. This supports the view that reputation, as measured by the ‘most admired ranking’, can be influenced significantly by good communication practices.