My travels as a communications professional lead me to exotic places—and relevant questions. And the question that I get asked quite often has to deal with the ‘s’. It typically happens after an intense session on branding and communications at an exotic locale. So, imagine a beautiful tropical destination—a hill top resort overlooking an azure sea and out of the blue (in this case, literally) comes the question: “Is it Corporate Communication or Corporate Communications?”

Good question.

One of the early definitions is found in P. Jackson’s 1987 book Corporate Communication for Managers: ‘Corporate Communication is the total communication activity generated by a company to achieve its planned objectives’. In my book, Corporate Communications is described as ‘the strategic initiative taken by a corporate organization to communicate the corporate brand and its core messages to a spectrum of growing audiences in a globalised market environment…Beyond traditional tools of communication, it harnesses the potential of the print, audio-visual and digital media to impact the long-term process of building a company’s brand among its target communities.’

Corporate Communication focuses on the strategic message. Corporate Communications also focuses on the platforms through which it is communicated. This distinction, when realized, saves organizations millions of dollars (or the equivalent in your country’s currency). It realizes the true potential of communications teams. Corporate Communicators craft strategic messages. Internal communicators build employee loyalty. Webmasters nurture intranets and websites. PR specialists focus only on external audiences. And, all is well on our corporate planet.That’s the answer. Corporate Communication is about the Message. Corporate Communications focuses on its Platforms. That is how I interpret the ‘s’.

So, what do you think?