Axios House: Communications leaders rebuild credibility
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Recursion's Ryan Kelly at Axios' private roundtable. Photo: Sam Popp for Axios
NEW YORK — Communications leaders are leaning on plain language, trusted voices and face-to-face interactions to reach splintered and skeptical audiences, experts said.
Why it matters: Confidence in institutions is near historic lows while AI and disparate information channels are making it harder for audiences to determine which messages — and messengers — are the real deal.
Axios' Kerry Flynn moderated the Sept. 22 roundtable discussion. The event was sponsored by Burson.
5 big takeaways from the conversation:
- Speak accessibly and to your whole audience, said David May, chief communications officer at the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. "If you're talking in what could be seen as a secret language of experts, you're by definition kind of closing people out."
- The messenger matters, Ocean Conservancy chief brand and communications officer Jenna DiPaolo said. "We have decades of data" on who Americans listen to, and it's typically athletes or performers, and not necessarily who organizations would choose themselves.
- Sticking to company values is "incredibly important," said Recursion chief communications officer Ryan Kelly. "People understand external pressures" and shifting tactics, he added, "as long as we're not pivoting who we are intrinsically."
- Keep the same message across platforms, said Bill Smith, global head of communications at Russell Investments. "There's so many channels … you don't know exactly where [your content] is going to get picked up."
- In-person experiences can cut through digital uncertainty at a time when AI makes it difficult to determine what's real, said World Resources Institute head of communications Alison Cinnamond.
Content from the sponsor's remarks:
In opening remarks, Burson U.S. CEO Craig Buchholz said that communicators can help bridge the confidence gap between Americans and institutions.
- "There's a lot of hypotheses out there that one big thing happens and then reputation crumbles," Buchholz said. "But the fact is that reputation can sort of also erode over time. … Communicators have the opportunity to address that."
