Studies increasingly central to the company storytelling process

A round table organised by the Unipol Group and dedicated to the role of Company Studies as research and business tools was held at the International Journalism Festival this morning.

The meeting entitled “Gli Osservatori sono strategici per lo storytelling dell’azienda?” (“Are Studies strategic for the company storytelling process?”) was held at Hotel Brufani and involved the participation of Fernando Vacarini, head of Media Relations at the Unipol Group and Editor of Changes, Liliana Cavatorta, Head of the Unipol Group Reputational & Emerging Risk Study, Fiammetta Fabris, CEO of UniSalute, and Marco Lanzoni, Head of the Finance Market at SCS Consulting. It was moderated by Giampaolo Colletti, Head of Digital Communications at Sanofi Italia and contributor to Il Sole24Ore, StartupItalia!, Millionaire and free press publication Metro.

Fernando Vacarini, Head of Media Relations at the Unipol Group, commented: “In recent years, businesses have transformed into media companies in order to tell their story directly to the public. The Unipol Group’s choice stems from a combination of traditional and innovative communication tools, founded on the solid base of Company Studies”.

The debate revolved around the results of an analysis carried out by the Unipol Group together with SCS Consulting on Italian businesses currently active in the production and dissemination of Studies on socio-economic issues. The analysis was performed on a sample of 80 Italian businesses using public sources (web), with particular reference to the 2016-2019 period and a focus on ongoing Studies, thereby excluding one-off initiatives. According to the results, 15 businesses have adopted this form of communication, with 33 reports produced in the period in question, 84% of which ongoing and 16% occasional. The issues covered are mainly connected with the business in which the companies operate (82%), while 9% of the studies are on topics related to corporate social responsibility and the remaining 9% on social issues. The survey shows how Company Studiesare increasingly transforming into genuine protagonists of the company storytelling process, even if their scope still remains quite limited. However, as the analysis underlines, there is a positive correlation between the communication efforts of the businesses that carry out Company Studies and the general public’s trust in them, even if few companies have successfully adopted this practice so far.

Of this handful of companies, the Unipol Group represents a best practice with its three major projects: the Osservatorio UnipolSai sulle Abitudini di Guida degli italiani (the UnipolSai Study on driving habits in Italy), the Osservatorio Reputational & Emerging Risk (the Reputational & Emerging Risk Study) and the Osservatorio UniSalute (the UniSalute Study), which led to the creation of the digital magazines Changes and InSalute. The follow-up on the studies and the entire study is available on the Group website at the link: http://www.unipol.it/en/our-identity/unipol-group-observatories.