The Briefing.
A research note on leadership communications from Adventurous: the studies worth trusting, what they mean in practice, and who moved. Every edition is archived here.
Making the case for a communications budget in 2027
Around 40% of Swiss organisations surveyed by ZHAW report a shrinking communications budget, and job security fell from 81 to 71%. The cuts fall mainly on production that is now cheaper to deliver, which strengthens the case for strategic work in 2027 budgets. Plus two studies worth reading and two CCO moves.
A second AI Act deadline is coming, and most communications teams have already stopped tracking it
Article 50 of the EU AI Act has applied since 2nd August: deepfakes, and AI-generated text published on matters of public interest, must be disclosed. A second, narrower deadline falls on 2nd December, for machine-readable marking by providers of generative tools already on the market. Plus three reports worth reading and a comms move.
A second survey finds the same shape: more mandate, no more resource to meet it
VMA Group's 2026 report, drawn from more than 100 senior UK corporate affairs and communications leaders, describes a widening mandate under resource constraints, published within days of the Page survey in which 65.9 per cent of CCOs reported a wider scope and 45.9 per cent said they were not resourced for it. Plus Spencer Stuart on board refreshment, Ragan on AI ROI and a comms move.
The CCO job is growing faster than the budget behind it
65.9% of chief communications officers say their remit widened over two years and 45.9% say the resources did not follow. Headcount growth and budget increases both fell against Page's 2025 survey. Plus the report worth reading and a comms move.
Is it geopolitics, or is it economics?
Geopolitical risk has topped the Oxford-GlobeScan corporate affairs survey for seven years running, and this year it did not move, holding at 76 per cent. What changed is what the category is made of. Plus two reports worth reading and a comms move.
Where should communications sit?
Microsoft, SC Johnson and Meta all moved communications next to legal, public affairs or sustainability in one week. The common feature is adjacency, and the combined seat it produces has come with a wider brief rather than a narrower one. Plus two reports worth reading and the month's comms moves.
When faster outreach starts to cost relationships to journalists.
53% of journalists oppose AI generated pitches, and they are now saying so on the record, by name. A cheap pitch does not read as efficiency to the person receiving it. Plus two reports worth reading and the month's comms moves.
Comms teams are engaged and burning out at the same time.
88% of communicators call themselves engaged, 81% report burnout, up 22 points in a year. The driver the researchers name is relational, not workload. Plus two reports worth reading and the month's CCO moves.
Most communications teams cannot prove engagement leads to action.
62% of communicators say meaningful engagement means an employee doing something; 8% can show whether it happened. The measure has to exist before the content does. Plus two reports worth reading and the month's comms moves.
More communication is not the same as being understood.
Generative tools made producing communications cheap and did nothing for being understood. What closes that gap is decided before anything is written. Plus three reports worth reading and the month's comms moves.
A change of leadership tests what a communications programme is built on.
Lululemon's comms chief leaves four days before a new chief executive starts. The useful question is not who replaces him, but what survives him. Plus the reports worth reading and the month's comms moves.
Employees moved on AI before leadership's story did.
74% of frontline staff now use AI at work regularly, yet only a third find their leadership's AI message clear. The gap is credibility, not wording. Plus four reports worth reading and the month's CCO moves.
The year the CEO trusted comms, and the year that trust gets tested.
Only 2% of Fortune 1000 comms leaders report falling chief executive confidence, down from 13%. The next test of that trust is the AI claim made in a leader's name. Plus four reports worth reading and the month's CCO moves.