Nothing beats bringing together some of the world’s brightest communicators in one room—or, in this case, two rooms. Signal AI hosted back-to-back Exec Connect events in New York and London to discuss the most pressing issues facing communicators today—from AI adoption to managing geopolitical changes to leveraging data for better decision-making.
The New York event featured guest speakers Mark Walters, SVP and Head of Communications at Capital Group, and Dan Hunter, Chief of Staff for North America at Santander. Elaine McCrimmon, Group Director of Corporate Affairs & Communications at Nomad Foods, joined our London event.
While the event is a private space for attendees to come together and share ideas, we’ll highlight the key themes that attendees shared that are top-of-mind for communicators.
What’s on the minds of Communicators in 2025?
To break the ice, we asked attendees to share what was top-of-mind about the state of Communications today. The answers were varied but not altogether surprising, considering today's state of global affairs:
- Taking Advantage of AI: How to leverage the opportunity of AI and use it efficiently for better inferencing, optimizing the day-to-day work for efficiency, productivity, and prioritization.
- Fragmented Media Landscape: Navigating the changing media landscape to allow messaging to break through the noise in varied sources and geographic regions.
- Difficulty Proving Impact: Managing effective measurement, proving impact and ROI by reporting on not just any data, but the right data.
- Adapting to Change: Stepping into the changing role of Communications, diversified stakeholders, internal transitions, and new leadership.
- Controlling the Narrative: How to have messaging break through to better connect to the right audiences, seize positive storytelling opportunities, and capitalize on brand differentiations in the market.
- Managing Turbulent Times: Volatility in corporate affairs, like Trump’s impact, misinformation/ disinformation, DEI policy shifts, and more.
Top 3 Conversation Themes
1. ‘Active vs. Passive’: Managing Reputational Risks in an Era of Global Complexity
Geopolitical Tensions:
2025 is off to a historic start. From Trump’s flurry of executive orders in his first days in office involving tariffs, immigration, and DEI rollbacks—to name a few—to continued geopolitical tensions in both the Middle East and Ukraine, the geopolitical uncertainty and unpredictability has never been more significant.
We asked, "How do you deal with volatility to promote and protect your brand?" The answers focused on being active rather than passive—passivity is not an option. We’ve shifted from ‘what we say’ to ‘how we move forward’ without becoming a target for crisis communications and reputational risks. Proactivity and strong messaging that maintains credibility and trust are the only ways to defend against these reputational risks.
Geopolitical fragmentation forces businesses to make tough choices. In some cases, employees can have strong views and opinions on world events and pressure their employers to take a stance on a controversial topic. Whether you choose to take a side or remain neutral, the advice is to align with your customers and company values.
Fragmented Media Landscape:
The media landscape is suffering the same fragmentation as the geopolitical. Now, controversial opinions have a platform to be shared—it’s in the palm of our hands. The turbulent and noisy social media landscape is another massive challenge for Communicators in managing and controlling their corporate narrative.
Many corporate executives use social media to share opinions and comments, which is difficult to control and even more challenging to track. Having alerts to early signals in the social media sphere and beyond is crucial to managing brand and executive perception. Communicators need to have the earliest heads up on something that may impact reputation—they are the ultimate decision-makers on how these reputational risks will be communicated to stakeholders.
2. ‘Using it Smartly’: Leveraging AI, Data & Insights to Stay Ahead
Artificial Intelligence:
Of course, AI is on everyone’s minds, and attendees did share some positive use cases. AI has been helpful and is proving impactful for efficiency, helping to measure impact and determine what resonates, as well as where to focus time and resources.
However, there are still major concerns: trust in AI, fears of job displacement, and the difficulty of widespread adoption. According to KMPG’s latest “Trust in Artificial Intelligence” report, 3 in 5 people are wary of trusting AI systems. For example, generative AI tools sometimes offer repetitive and homogenized answers, raising concerns about their use in portfolio management.
We asked, “How are you getting the broader organization to adopt AI? What are the major blockers?” The conversation proved that the answer to AI is leveraging the power of this technology to enhance intelligence, not replace expertise—using it smartly to stand out. For one guest, their company requires the use of chosen AI tools at least three times a week to enhance adoption; otherwise, access is revoked.
The discussion also covered proving the ROI of AI implementation. With the increase in productivity, automation, and optimization, cost savings and efficiency will be the key to proving ROI without needing to increase headcount.
Where is AI headed next? David Benigson shared his thoughts on the future of AI, where it will become as ubiquitous as electricity. Applied AI is the most important factor for business value. It was agreed that AI adoption will undoubtedly shape the future of corporate affairs. Here were some main takeaways:
- Policy & Governance – Set AI guidelines.
- Education & Awareness – Train teams on AI’s role.
- Experimentation & Adoption – Use a maximum of three AI tools to maintain focus.
3. ‘Be the Voice of Reason’: The Evolution of the Comms Role in 2025
Stakeholder Management:
Corporate Communications sits at the center of the organization. One of the major challenges to Corporate Communications is balancing competing strategies and prioritization, especially when dealing with multiple stakeholders.
Neil Morrison shared this about the current state of Communications: “Communications has never been so complex, and you have to carefully consider how messaging will impact multiple stakeholders. This has elevated the communications role and given senior communicators a seat on the board as trusted advisors.” The communicator's role is to be the voice of reason when managing diverse stakeholders.
Data-Driven Decisions:
As the impact of communication remains challenging to measure and prove, reliable and trusted data is more critical than ever. One way to get stakeholder buy-in and expedite decision-making is through data. Understanding the landscape of a specific issue or sector can help expedite decisions. This will help communications professionals advise internal stakeholders more effectively to drive clear and actionable insight.
Final Thoughts
We look forward to hosting our next Exec Connect event with today’s leading Communicators! Here's some parting advice:
- Corporate Communications should balance promotion and protection—both play a role in reputation and risk management.
- Not every crisis is truly a crisis. Denial is more critical than direct attack—many perceived crises are not emergencies.
- Communicators must speak the C-suite’s language. There will continue to be a shift towards data-driven decision-making.