With the Wikipedia Corporate Index (WCI), communications agency Fleishman-Hillard now offers companies a comprehensive analytical tool that evaluates all approx. 15,000 German company articles in a standardised score card. The WCI was developed by a team led by Arne Klempert, Director Digital at Fleishman-Hillard and former spokesman for Wikipedia in Germany. The tool provides a solid decision-making basis for corporate communications officers in terms of measures to improve corporate entries on Wikipedia as well as a basis for competitor comparisons. For the technical implementation and design of the online platform, Fleishman-Hillard worked with compuccino, an agency experienced in data visualisation.

Despite the significance of Wikipedia corporate entries, no suitable analytical tool has been developed to date that evaluates the presence of one’s own company or that of competitors. Yet, the quality of such entries is of major importance. Corporate Wikipedia entries are also always included among the top hits in Google. Articles on prominent companies can easily have more than 100,000 hits per month.

Arne Klempert, Director Digital at Fleishman-Hillard Germany: “With the Wikipedia Corporate Index there is now finally a standard for evaluating company articles on Wikipedia. At the same time, we want to use this kind of analysis to create a deeper awareness among communications officers of how Wikipedia works.”

The WCI includes all the approx. 15,000 German entries on companies. The data are summarised on an individual comprehensive Report Card for each company. The evaluation of the approx. 40 influence factors is categorised into four areas:

• Authors and edits: incl. the age of the article and number of authors, visualisation of the editing process and overview of the most active authors
• Content and structure: incl. the scope, categorisation, completeness and currency of the data, images, references and community evaluations
• Links: incl. presence in other languages, incoming, outgoing and reciprocal links and categories
• Page views: average number of views per month and daily representation of access statistics

A score value is determined for each of the four categories. These scores are then used for an overall evaluation of the article which is ranked on a scale of 0 to 100. In future, Fleishman-Hillard will also offer different kinds of rankings – for example, for DAX and Eurostoxx companies as well as for various industries. Registered users can update articles selected by them in real-time and create customised rankings such as competitor comparisons.

Hanning Kempe, General Managing Director of Fleishman-Hillard Germany: “By linking analysis and measurability, we again demonstrate the pioneering role our agency plays in the field of online communication. The service that we provide with the WCI is of major significance, above all, in terms of the strategic further development of Fleishman-Hillard.”

The Wikipedia Corporate Index by Fleishman-Hillard is now available free of charge at http://wikipedia-corporate-index.de.

Press contact:
Fleishman-Hillard Germany GmbH
Julia Richter
+49 69 – 40 57 02 516
julia.richter@fleishmaneurope.com

In this issue: Start-up PR +++ Digital Influence Index +++ Online Newsrooms +++ Xerox selects Fleishman-Hillard “Agency of the Year” and much more.

http://newsletter.fleishmaneurope.de/tech/2012-06_e

After the successful start of working together with Levitra^® ODT Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals consigned the healthcare specialists from Frankfurt additionally with the PR budget for the area of Andrology, which embraces the testosterone portfolio of Bayer Healthcare. “We are very proud that we were able to expand our work with such an important client”, Dr. Stephan Kühne, Senior Vice President of Fleishman-Hillard and leader of the Healthcare Team, reports happily. Besides the new budgets, Fleishman-Hillard is in charge of the area of animal health of Bayer Vital GmbH.

For more information, please contact:

Dr. Stephan Kühne
Director Healthcare
Tel.: +49-69-40 57 02 – 357
stephan.kuehne@fleishmaneurope.com

Arne Klempert, Digital Director for Fleishman-Hillard, and Thorsten Feldmann, attorney-at-law specialized in copyright and media law who is based in Berlin, presented their thesis in short impulse lectures that the much quoted swarm intelligence does not exist on the web in the very sense of the word at all. Instead it is individuals who produce undulating movements, set trends and focus on topics or oust politicians from ministerial posts (catchword Guttenplag).

An additional insight of the evening: social networks offer lots of opportunities but should be considered with caution. Companies, for example, are consistently skating on thin ice if they share links, photos or videos with the community. There are many stumbling blocks, from copyright law all the way to personal rights that need to be considered to avoid legal consequences.

Together with around 30 participants, the speakers vividly discussed digital trends. The 2. Marcom Round Table received very positive feedback and the third of the series will presumably be held at the end of the year featuring a new topic. If you would like to join, please register for an invitation today. Just send an email to marcom-runde@fleishmaneurope.com.

Clients, colleagues and affiliate partners from the network – many of them gathered for the Fleishman-Hillard Global Public Affairs Summit that started the next day in Berlin, too – and stakeholders from politics, media and industry associations payed tribute to the achievements of the German Fleishman-Hillard team in the past twenty years. What started in Frankfurt in 1991 grew over the years to a multi-offices operation with further offices in Berlin and Munich. A highlight of the anniversary reception which was followed by a dinner in the spectacular restaurant under the Reichstag cupola was key note speaker Professor Peter Wippermann . He spoke about swarm intelligence as the Web 2.0’s new dimension.

Among guests were Fleishman-Hillard`s International Advisory Board members former Ambassador Sir Christopher Meyer, former EU Commissioners David Byrne and Günter Verheugen as well as Fleishman – Hillard Presidents Martha Boudreau and Jack Modzelewski and Regional President John Saunders.

On its 20th anniversary, visitors to Intersolar Europe 2011 experienced a trade show that presented a really “mature” industry. Those who came to Intersolar a decade before could hardly foresee this dynamic development. Top level booth design, marketing and communication characterized the 168,000 sqm of exhibition space. Compared with many established companies in the energy sector, the industry has learned to communicate with customers and citizens and build up clear brand cores. This helps the industry now to successfully sustain under different market conditions.

This is so important because the business and market development (not only) in Germany directly depends on the political environment based on the Renewable Energy Sources Act (Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz, EEG). Under such conditions, one would expect that companies primarily control their resources through lobbying activities. This has not been the case in the solar industry as Munich showed.

Intersolar 2011 once again illustrated the massive increase in significance of Asian and Chinese manufacturers.

This trend is also reflected in the political debate about the solar industry. Not only are cost and competitive advantages of Chinese manufacturers regarded as critical, but also the flow of funds to Asian manufacturers associated with the EEG levy. One would like to protect the recently established domestic industry and fears a long-term loss of legitimacy among German consumers who drive renewable energies as power customers. A populist argument which is unlikely to endure in the export country Germany.

April weather can today be considered as the epitome of the German energy policy over the last 12 months. The breathtaking turnaround in the German nuclear policy will reverberate for a very long time. The political, social and economic costs associated with the nuclear exit adopted at the end of June by the Bundestag are changing structures and hardly reversible.

On the same day, the Bundestag also decided on the future remuneration and conditions for renewable energies. The worst steps like the ones around the discussion of introducing a “cap” on solar subsidies did not take place and cuts were less significant than expected. But, it has also become clear that competition for the distribution of renewable energies will increase, while political weight threatens to be lost. Representatives of the “fossil energy industry“ will continue to enjoy the political April weather because again, the implementation of new energy strategy of the Federal Government is subject to tactical considerations.

In any case, that day on Intersolar ended with sunshine and beautiful views for the next days.