Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR
Issue link: http://vanguardcanada.uberflip.com/i/196923
c coMMunicationS leigha cotton is an account director with hill+Knowlton strategies in Ottawa. UnChARTEd TERRiTORy: nEW EXpECTATiOnS fOR CORpORATE COMMUniCATiOnS T he Canadian public is more engaged in defence procurement than ever before. Gone are the days when the government of Canada could spend billions of taxpayer dollars on a military platform with little or no public reaction. Some might say we have the Joint Strike Fighter program to thank for this, while others might just attribute the change to the evolving nature of our country's procurement process and the communications context within which it is changing. Whatever the reason, Canadians are becoming more involved in where their tax dollars are going, government is investing more than ever in industry consultation, and the procurement process itself is being opened up for all eyes to see. Increased public and government scrutiny, however, means that industry finds itself in uncharted territory, with communications expectations that far exceed those of days gone by. While some defence companies have embraced the concept of engaging the public, many are falling desperately behind the curve – hiding behind the age-old belief that no news is good 42 OcTOBer/nOVeMBer 2013 www.vanguardcanada.com news. Admittedly, there are times when 'flying under the radar' is the best-case scenario, but more often than not, these times are offset by day-to-day communications opportunities that exist inside and outside of program pursuit. Defence companies are no longer allotted the luxury of communicating solely with their primary customer, even if the term 'customer' is expanded to include all the government departments that own even a sliver of the procurement pie. If companies are betting that they can win large-scale defence procurement programs without public opinion on their side, they are taking a risk – one that does not fully account for how decision-makers are approaching these decisions today. For the current federal government, public opinion is king, and as a result, now, more than ever, industry is expected to communicate with the Canadian public and build public support (or neutralize opposition) for program decisions. Since its election in 2006, this government has closely monitored public opinion. Simply put, it is always in election mode. If a decision, purchase or change does not have public support, regardless of its purpose, this government will turn its back to it. Some thought this approach would end with a majority government, but it hasn't. And from now until 2015 – especially in light of recent procurement troubles, a tight fiscal environment, and a more challenging political landscape – the government's focus on public opinion will likely only intensify. This won't be a problem for defence companies who consider themselves 'plugged in' and fully aware of the need to have a voice in the public domain. But those who still think a press release posted to a corporate website every few months is 'communicating with the public' won't be so lucky. After all, moving from limited or negligible interaction with the general population to regular engagement is no small task – especially when you're also trying to stay abreast of new communications platforms that change rapidly each and every month. For those still in denial about whether the defence industry needs to join the communications movement – meaning those who still view broad-scale public communications as something reserved for consumer-centric, marketing-focused organizations – rest assured that many individuals in the industry, even those at the most senior level, have already done so.