Americans flock to TikTok for news

Chart: TikTok's rise

TikTok's counteroffensive 

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Gen Z calls for more open communication in the workplace

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Spotlight: Margaret Richardson, GoFundMe's chief corporate affairs officer

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🐦1 stat to go

1 big thing: Americans flock to TikTok for news

2. Chart: TikTok's rise

3. TikTok's counteroffensive

4. Gen Z calls for more open communication in the workplace

5. Spotlight: Margaret Richardson, GoFundMe's chief corporate affairs officer

6. 🐦1 stat to go

Communicators

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Axios Communicators

Communicating through the corporate spinoff surge

1 big thing: Comms baggage from a spinoff surge

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2. What they're saying

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3. Workplace conflict intensifies

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New survey: Consumers will pay more

4. New survey: Prioritize people over politics

Communicator Spotlight: Paula Davis, Colgate-Palmolive's chief communications officer

5. Communicator Spotlight: Paula Davis, Colgate-Palmolive's chief communications officer 

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How UPS did it

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 Do's and don'ts of labor comms 

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What to watch in 2024

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Communicator Spotlight: Coca-Cola's Beatriz Perez 

Photo illustration of Beatriz Perez, Coca-Cola's Chief Communications, Sustainability & Strategic Partnerships Officer, next to graphic shapes

🏆 1 fun thing to-go: What's popular on Wikipedia

1 big thing: How UPS did it

2.  Do's and don'ts of labor comms

3. What to watch in 2024

4. Communicator Spotlight: Coca-Cola's Beatriz Perez

5. 🏆 1 fun thing to-go: What's popular on Wikipedia

The dangers of under-communicating

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The Altman approach

Screenshot of a Tweet from Sam Altman on November 22, 2023 announcing his return to OpenAI.

Chart: OpenAI's media frenzy

The comms board seat

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BONUS: Ask ChatGPT

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🎶 1 quote to-go

1 big thing: The dangers of under-communicating

2. The Altman approach

3. Chart: OpenAI's media frenzy

4. The comms board seat

5. BONUS: Ask ChatGPT

6. 🎶 1 quote to-go

Cox Enterprises names Craig Hodges as head of corporate affairs

Bonus: One Strategy Group adds Brian Ellner as president

💼 Corporate moves

📣 Firm moves

 🇺🇸 Government and nonprofit moves

🗞 Media moves

1 big thing: Cox Enterprises names Craig Hodges as head of corporate affairs

2. Bonus: One Strategy Group adds Brian Ellner as president

3. 💼 Corporate moves

4. 📣 Firm moves

5.  🇺🇸 Government and nonprofit moves

6. 🗞 Media moves

FetchError

National

After an executive is fired, they typically go underground — and when they do resurface, it's with legal representation or defensive messaging.

Why it matters: By being very vocal and striking the right tone, Altman salvaged the reputation of OpenAI and his own.

What they're saying: "It's really impressive that he very much kept his wits about him and really thought about communicating in a smart and strategic way," says one Altman adviser who requested to speak on background. "Sam had a good sense of what the right message should be and how he wanted to communicate about this." 

Zoom in: He maintained open communication and reached investors, former employees and the media in a way the board didn't.

His communication also provided runway for his founder friends — like Airbnb's Brian Chesky and Coinbase's Brian Armstrong — and his former employees to be vocal too.

They formed a social media army, which rallied around the ousted founder and in turn shaped the public narrative.

Of note, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was also highly visible throughout the transition, and conducted several media interviews in which he sought to provide context and instill confidence.

Reality check: Board coups happen but rarely do you see employees rising up in defense of the outgoing executive.

Much of this can be attributed to Altman's communication style, which remained very positive and at times humorous. Not once did he disparage the board — instead he focused on the mission and people of OpenAI.

"Sam's open, nondefensive way of representing himself made folks very skeptical of the board's decision. His communication reinforced how [employees] were feeling and filled a void left by the board's silence," said the adviser.

The bottom line: Everything communicates — even silence. In this instance, the board's muddled explanation and decision to stay mum gave Altman the upper hand.

How Sam Altman’s communication approach helped get his job back

By being very vocal and striking the right, balanced messaging, Altman salvaged the reputation of OpenAI and his own.

Communications

Technology

No corporate mishap has highlighted the need for communications quite like the recent firing — and rehiring — of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

Why it matters: By not communicating clearly with employees, investors or the media, OpenAI's former board of directors almost imploded the company.

Catchup quick: Altman, who co-founded the ChatGPT parent company and has since sparked an AI boom, was abruptly ousted for not being "consistently candid in his communications with the board."

The nonprofit board's decision, which dropped on a Friday afternoon, caught employees and key investors like Microsoft by surprise, and its vague explanation didn't sit well.

Microsoft quickly hired Altman to lead a new research unit.

Meanwhile, 95% of OpenAI employees signed a letter threatening to quit unless the board members resigned.

By the following Tuesday, Altman was reinstated as CEO and a new board is currently being formed.

Between the lines: Board members fired Altman for his lack of candor and communication, so it's ironic that the same infractions led to their own fate.

Yes, but: Silicon Valley's culture clash over the risks and rewards of commercialized AI tools is a legitimate one.

And we will never know if board members' rationale for Altman's firing was just due to their lack of communication.

What they're saying: Part of good governance is thinking through the unintended consequences, says Megan Shattuck, vice chair and global managing partner of Diversified Search Group's corporate practice.

"Boards should never be igniting chaos —  if anything, they should be the steady hands guiding a company through the chaos."

"Any big decision like this one needs to be grounded in really sound reasoning, and that sound reasoning needs to be communicated clearly to all audiences," Shattuck told Axios.

The big picture: Miscalculating employees' sentiment and underestimating their influence can stain a company's reputation.

"We saw previews of this trend when many employees left following Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter and after Disney hesitated to join other companies in condemning Florida's noxious Don't Say Gay bill," says Brian Ellner, One Strategy Group president.

"But we've never seen it on this dramatic scale, and every company should see this as a wake-up call to really understand what motivates their teams and factor them into key decisions."

The bottom line: There was a clear disconnect between the board members and their stakeholders, and that chasm was only made wider by their continued lack of communication compared to Altman's consistent outreach throughout the transition.

OpenAI’s saga highlights dangers of communication failures

By not communicating clearly with employees, investors or the media, OpenAI's former board of directors almost imploded the company.

No corporate mishap has highlighted the need for communications quite like the recent <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="firing" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/11/17/sam-altman-openai-chatgpt-departs" data-vars-content-id="4e1de3f1-835e-46d6-a176-42b450e86656" data-vars-headline="OpenAI’s saga highlights dangers of communication failures" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/11/17/sam-altman-openai-chatgpt-departs" target="_self">firing</a> — and <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="rehiring" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/11/23/open-ai-sam-altman-board-investigation-microsoft" data-vars-content-id="4e1de3f1-835e-46d6-a176-42b450e86656" data-vars-headline="OpenAI’s saga highlights dangers of communication failures" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/11/23/open-ai-sam-altman-board-investigation-microsoft" target="_self">rehiring</a> — of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.Why it matters: By not communicating clearly with employees, investors or the media, OpenAI&#x27;s former board of directors almost imploded the company.

Latest news on Wall Street, Corporate America and financial regulation.

Business

UPS managed to reach one of the biggest union deals of the year and came out seemingly unscathed.

Why it matters: Throughout 2023, many companies saw their corporate reputation take a hit as they hobbled through labor negotiations.

 Strategic communications play a critical role in union negotiations, which show no sign of slowing down in 2024.

And there are lessons to learn from those who did it correctly.

Catch up quick: The UPS union contract — which was ratified in August 2023 — is the largest in North America, and is highly influential across the broader organized labor movement, reports Axios' Emily Peck.

State of play: According to Genny Bowman, UPS vice president of reputation management, the communications team had two key goals throughout the negotiations:

Support the overall business objective, coming to an agreement before the contract expired, thus avoiding a strike.

Protect corporate reputations throughout what they knew would be a "loud and late" negotiation process. 

Flashback: In the lead up to the negotiations, the team developed a clear corporate narrative that reduced tension and then created specific channels for deploying it. 

"We focused on finding ways to reduce that perceived tension by demonstrating that UPS is actually more aligned with the Teamsters than not," says Glenn Zaccara, UPS vice president of media, investor and crisis communications.

Once the message was established, the team conducted ongoing in-person media briefings, employee and manager-level updates or trainings, and created a central news hub for employees, media, elected officials, customers and the general population.

Zoom in: Axios spoke to several members of the UPS communications team to better understand their strategy.

✅ Do start laying the groundwork early, and create a narrative that seeks to cut tension, not create more.

❌ Don't be adversarial in your messaging or try to paint unionized employees as rivals.

✅ Do publicly acknowledge areas for improvement and communicate shared goals.

"Because we offer the best pay and benefits in our industry — and the fact that our industry changed since the last time that we negotiated the contract — we knew that there were areas that we needed to solve for, and we were willing to say that publicly. I think that's part of the reason we were so successful in our communication strategy," says Bowman.

✅ Do identify your audiences and meet them where they are.

"We found that when we looked at the variety of audiences that we were communicating with, we had a lot of stakeholders with differing levels of understanding — so our work early on involved education and providing context," says Zaccara.

✅ Do invest in digital infrastructure and create a central website for information during the negotiations.

At its peak, UPS' negotiations website saw upward of 1.7 million views, according to the team.

❌ Don't forget to update the site regularly and optimize it based on audience habits and needs.

"Our team functions like a newsroom, especially during contract negotiations, and we were making updates to the site based on traffic trends," says Jennifer Griffith, UPS vice president of communications technology and analytics.

"We were also looking at SEO, and top search queries became a very important practice for us. … We would develop our content and keywords based on what people were searching for. This ensured that our site always appeared in the top three search results about labor negotiations."

✅ Do capture compelling content like personal testimonies and community spotlights.

❌ Don't forget to engage third-party spokespeople.

Surrogates or experts advocate in a way that corporate spokespeople can't, which can in turn create a stronger case.

❌ Don't hide from the media with vague corporate statements.

Engage with them directly through phone calls and in-person meetings — only then can you provide the proper context or nuance.

✅ Do monitor news stories closely and ask for corrections or updates to include your point of view.

It can often provide insight into what's percolating and arm your team with the right messaging for the moment.

✅ Do educate your internal leaders and non-union employees.

About 70% of UPS' 25,000 frontline operations management employees were not sitting in the same seat during the last round of negotiations, says Bowman.

"We started communicating with them in 2022 about big-picture matters in the world of logistics so they had this information to use in conversations with their union employees. Then in 2023, we shifted from that type of messaging into actual specifics around the negotiation — the do's and don'ts and ways in which they could talk about it."

"We also had a team of 800-plus senior leaders in our organization who received updates so that they could educate, inform and provide context for their frontline management teams."

✅ Do stay agile. Know your messaging, have your proof points and be able to position it quickly in front of all audiences.

The bottom line: These communication tactics helped UPS avert a strike and bad press, something you can't say about automakers, media or Hollywood.

How UPS communications helped avert a labor strike

These communication tactics helped UPS avert a strike and bad press, something you can't say about automakers, media or Hollywood.

UPS managed to reach one of the <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="biggest union deals" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/07/26/ups-union-deal-teamsters-worker-rights" data-vars-content-id="c6c0d38c-4aba-4e83-86c6-4d0a3a6dc073" data-vars-headline="How UPS communications helped avert a labor strike" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/07/26/ups-union-deal-teamsters-worker-rights" target="_self">biggest union deals</a> of the year and came out seemingly unscathed.Why it matters: Throughout 2023, many companies saw their corporate reputation take a hit as they hobbled through <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="labor negotiations" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/10/16/union-strike-numbers-uaw-sag-wga-kaiser" data-vars-content-id="c6c0d38c-4aba-4e83-86c6-4d0a3a6dc073" data-vars-headline="How UPS communications helped avert a labor strike" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/10/16/union-strike-numbers-uaw-sag-wga-kaiser" target="_self">labor negotiations</a>.

Closer

Axios Closer

Data: Wikimedia Foundation. Chart: Axios Visuals

When people want to know what ChatGPT is, they're not asking ChatGPT — they're going to a more traditional source: Wikipedia.

Why it matters: An article describing the AI system was the most popular topic on the online encyclopedia's English-language site in 2023, the Wikimedia Foundation reported Tuesday.

Driving the news: Each year, the Wikimedia Foundation releases a list of the most-viewed articles.

The articles that received the most traffic offer a snapshot in time and highlight the topics that piqued our interest in 2023.

By the numbers: English Wikipedia garnered over 84 billion views this year, with "ChatGPT" receiving the most page views at 49.5 million.

ChatGPT saw consistent levels of attention throughout the first half of the year, with its page views ranging between 100,000 and 400,000 nearly every day, according to the Wikimedia Foundation,

Across all of the languages Wikipedia supports, ChatGPT articles had 78 million page views.

Between the lines: The top 10 list — which includes four articles on cricket and two on Bollywood movies — points to the size and reach of India's English-speaking population.

Cricket made the list for the first time coming in at No. 3 with 38 million views — a 304% increase over last year — and Indian Premier League was No. 4 with 32 million views.

The intrigue: While the "Barbie" movie won the Barbenheimer battle at the box office, it received 57% fewer page views than the "Oppenheimer" film.

The Wikipedia pages for both "Oppenheimer" and the biographical page for J. Robert Oppenheimer landed in the top 10.

Zoom in: Taylor Swift was the most popular celebrity page of 2023, with roughly 19.5 million views. 

Swift also raised the online footprint of her love interest, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, whose page received 11 million views.

Other most-visited celebrity pages included that of the late Matthew Perry (16.5 million) and Lisa Marie Presley (13.7 million). 

Elon Musk also secured interest with 14 million page views.

ChatGPT was Wikipedia's most viewed article of 2023

From ChatGPT to Cricket to Taylor Swift, curious internet users have flocked to Wikipedia this year to learn more.

Wikipedia

Chart: Most viewed Wikipedia topics of 2023

When people want to know what <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="ChatGPT" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/11/28/chatgpt-big-tech-microsoft-google-apple-meta-amazon" data-vars-content-id="cfe17ca2-f911-4c09-adf6-f3365179a3ea" data-vars-headline="ChatGPT was Wikipedia&#x27;s most viewed article of 2023" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/11/28/chatgpt-big-tech-microsoft-google-apple-meta-amazon" target="_self">ChatGPT</a> is, they&#x27;re not asking ChatGPT — they&#x27;re going to a more traditional source: Wikipedia.Why it matters: An article describing the AI system was the most popular topic on the online encyclopedia&#x27;s English-language site in 2023, the Wikimedia Foundation <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="reported Tuesday" data-vars-click-url="https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2023/12/05/announcing-wikipedias-most-popular-articles-of-2023/" data-vars-content-id="cfe17ca2-f911-4c09-adf6-f3365179a3ea" data-vars-headline="ChatGPT was Wikipedia&#x27;s most viewed article of 2023" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2023/12/05/announcing-wikipedias-most-popular-articles-of-2023/" target="_blank">reported Tuesday</a>.

From overseeing big brand and celebrity partnerships to managing the environmental impact of the world's largest beverage distributor, Beatriz Perez plays a key role in crafting the story of Coca-Cola.

Why it matters: As chief communications, sustainability and strategic partnerships officer, Perez is a prime example of how the role of communications and marketing has become more elevated. 

📍 How she got here: Perez joined The Coca-Cola Company in 1994 and held various marketing roles before being named chief marketing officer for North America in 2009. 

In 2011, she was named as Coca-Cola's first chief sustainability officer, and in 2017 she took over the communications and strategic partnership portfolios.

🏗 How it's structured: She reports to chairman and CEO James Quincey and manages the company's global sustainability, communications and strategic partnerships portfolio. 

She also oversees the licensing and retail business and The Coca-Cola Foundation.

🧸 Communication hack: Present in front of your kids. They will ask tough questions and force you to finesse your messaging. 

"When I first started practicing for my kids, my son would ask these very innocent questions like, 'Why does that say 30% and not 100%? You're Coke, Mom — isn't Coke supposed to be 100% on everything?' Simple questions like that forced me to rethink what was I actually talking about and how I was framing it," says Perez.

As they've gotten older, Perez's kids started asking tougher questions, like, "How are you going to put the math to that? What is that worth to your company's reputation? How do you know that, financially, this is making an economic impact on your business? How do you tell the consumer — the real people — the value you bring by changing these things?" 

🌱 Zoom in: The ESG function sits squarely between business impact and corporate reputation, but it's difficult to message, says Perez.

"You have to really get down to what problem are you solving, which brands don't like to do because typically you're a part of the problem. So how do you then legitimately and credibly say you're solving the problem that you're a part of?"

"When we tested our messaging in Germany, we found that the social aspect of [storytelling] really resonated and outscored most other campaigns. While in Mexico, we found that messaging around community water really connected with the consumer."

"I study to see how they're communicating because they get quickly to what sets the problem to the solution, and they're very clear about their action and accountability."

🧠 Best advice: She has two pieces of wisdom that she says have made her personally better:

Reject your first thought. Wait and hear other perspectives before blurting out your first instinct. 

"I have found that by doing that, I sometimes change my perspective based on new data, information or a new concept that has been brought to the table."

Don't major in the minors, which means don't let the details bog you down.

"Details do matter, but sometimes it stops us from moving forward. Focus on getting to the destination — and if we make mistakes along the way, we will fix them."

Communicator Spotlight: Coca-Cola's Beatriz Perez

Perez is a prime example of how the role of communications and marketing has become more elevated.

From overseeing big brand and celebrity partnerships to managing the environmental impact of the world&#x27;s largest beverage distributor, Beatriz Perez plays a key role in crafting the story of <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Coca-Cola" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/11/30/coca-cola-meta-target-us-companies-talent" data-vars-content-id="cfe52209-3257-4c7f-a791-1e0740e6f9e3" data-vars-headline="Communicator Spotlight: Coca-Cola&#x27;s Beatriz Perez" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/11/30/coca-cola-meta-target-us-companies-talent" target="_self">Coca-Cola</a>.Why it matters: As chief communications, sustainability and strategic partnerships officer, Perez is a prime example of how the role of communications and marketing has become more elevated.

Eleanor Hawkins

Stories

Communicator Spotlight: Coca-Cola's Beatriz Perez

How UPS communications helped avert a labor strike

ChatGPT was Wikipedia's most viewed article of 2023

How Sam Altman’s communication approach helped get his job back

OpenAI’s saga highlights dangers of communication failures

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