2009 IABC Silver Quill Award of Excellence Winner Communication Research Study

Situation

The International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Accreditation Council holds accountability and responsibility for the Accredited Business Communicator (ABC) credential for the association. The association serves more than 15,000 organization communicators worldwide. The Value of Accreditation Study was conducted by an independent, research firm to identify the value of accreditation to organizational communication practitioners, their employers and the organizational communication industry. The significant findings of the study needed to be communicated to key stakeholder groups throughout the world.

Strategy

Working with member, Joanne Kitsos, ABC, we developed a stakeholder communication plan to deliver targeted messages to each of the 20 stakeholder groups. All stakeholder groups received their respective targeted messages within 24 hours of the study findings release to 1200 media points. A toolkit was developed for those stakeholder groups who held “trickle-down” responsibilities within the association organization. A password protected central depository website enabled access to the toolkit from around the world in a timely and controlled distribution once the findings were public.

Impact

Interest in pursuing accreditation rose by 186% in 2008 for the Chicago group. In addition, respondents to the Fall 2008 IABC member survey, showed awareness of value of accreditation messages as their responses mirrored message language almost verbatim. More than 40% of IABC members indicated an interest in pursuing the ABC credential.

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