Beyond Advertising - Public Trust Management
This is the third and final excerpt translated by James Haft from a speech presented by Professor Parichart Sthapitanonda, PhD, dean of the Faculty of Communication Arts, Chulalongkorn University, entitled Communicating Sustainability: The Challenge for Thai Corporations in the Digital Age.
Manufacturers and brands are commanding more and more advertising and promotion through multiple channels and formats. However, a control, or governance mechanism, is still required.
Digital communication is entering an era where many see the need for supervision and verification, particularly corporate communication, to ensure facts are true and not misrepresented or fake.
At the same time, we are seeing an upsurge in social digital platforms like change.org that allow the public to put pressure on companies and organizations that can force them to make adjustments because of their environmental record, for example, Costco ending its sale of a Monsanto weed killer because of an online petition.
This has also led to greater critical thinking through social listening. So that Thai digital agencies are taking these changes in attitudes and communication behavior into account and now offering management service solution partnerships.
Whatever the case, we must return to the core of communication, which must convey and create a sense of acceptance and trust.
The digital era is a challenge for us all as a new media landscape is revealed. We must remain focused on sustainability. This is the challenge for all industries, including advertising. We must learn to adjust and develop the mechanism to protect and support the harmonious, sustainable development of our planet and society, and we must continue to learn through observation, after which we can incorporate this new knowledge into harnessing the technology that can be so disreuptive.
