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Compass 2009

Porter Novelli's Communication Planning Approach

Compass is Porter Novelli's approach to communications planning. It is our way of doing business - the business of "change." Clients come to us because they want change to happen - opinions, decisions, impressions, attitudes and behaviors. What we at Porter Novelli do expertly is identify the right "change," discover what will trigger that "change" and activate the 'change' with the audiences who matter most. Compass enables us to do this successfully and measurably. Simple, accessible and logical, this planning approach empowers us to uncover underlying assumptions about our clients' needs, identify target audiences we hope to influence and generate the Big Idea that will motivate them to change. In the process, we create value - both for our clients and for ourselves.

Destination Future

PN develops new tools and amplifies existing proprietary strategies to keep clients on the cutting edge

In the space of one year, Porter Novelli has launched innovative new social-media-based measurement tools and creative processes as well as giving increased global reach to popular existing planning instruments, all to ensure clients are armed with best in class solutions that keep them on budget and ahead of the curve.

Helping brands and businesses big and small understand what online conversations really mean to them, Porter Novelli has deployed the Crimson Hexagon platform throughout its offices this year, thanks to a new strategic partnership with the Cambridge, Mass.-based listening platform provider. Going beyond simple online keyword volume or sentiment analysis, Crimson Hexagon actually monitors the nature and proportions of online conversations with little need for human intervention.

Social media also informs the brand-new Influencer Navigator suite of products that help identify the “right conversations with the right people at the right time”—bringing the Porter Novelli value proposition of Intelligent Influence to life by identifying who is driving the conversation about a brand, company or product in the digital space.

The PN Styles program has expanded over the past year and is being widely used by major global clients such as the Almond Board of California and Procter & Gamble. The suite of surveys enables clients to profile target audiences, strategize communications programs and track the results over time, PN has also given one of its most valued client strategic tools a refresher. The Compass Planning Process is Porter Novelli’s four-step approach to communications planning in which the agency identifies the right change, discovers what will trigger that change and activates the change with the audiences that matter most.

And the popular PN Point Insights program—the proprietary approach to developing insights that lead to strategies and tactics that deliver business impact—has gotten a real shot of adrenaline, now boasting insights Masters and Apprentices in offices around the world thanks to a comprehensive global training program. Add to that a new process called BigItUp, in which the strategies garnered from the PN Point process are translated into creative Big Ideas for client programs.