This document summarizes the key findings of a study conducted by Burson-Marsteller and Penn Schoen Berland on the most valuable platforms for executive visibility. The study found that the increasing number of options for conferences, awards, and digital platforms is causing confusion for companies in prioritizing opportunities. It also found that measurement of return on participation is ad hoc and that sales leads are typically used as the default metric of success. Going forward, decision-makers want executives to be more active on owned events and digital platforms, and see emerging areas like technology and sustainability increasing in importance. The biggest challenge is how to systematically measure return on participation across different platforms.

1. BURSON-MARSTELLER’S
Most Valuable Platforms Study
Executive Summary
May 2017

2. 2
New Opportunities and Growing Challenges
as Executive Visibility Platforms Proliferate
Executives who wish to raise their public profile may choose from a myriad of digital and social
media platforms, and a growing list of business conferences, events, awards and rankings. At
the same time, corporations and the people who lead them face rising expectations for
increased transparency, authenticity and a commitment to something more than profits and
shareholder returns. In this environment, where options abound and competition for “air time”
is intense, the path to becoming an effective company spokesperson and thought leader can
be a daunting one.
The increasingly complex landscape has also made the job of managing executive visibility
more difficult. Communications counselors face a growing list of tough questions: Should we
be active online and off? Which conferences, awards and networks are worth our effort and
dollars? How do we know if we’re reaching the right audiences? Which platforms are becoming
more prominent and influential? How do we measure success? In this context, having a
rigorous approach to executive positioning that enables you to determine which platforms to
leverage, when and how, is critical to the success of any program. Yet, according to our
research, many companies lack precisely this kind of strategic, systematic methodology.
The Research
Burson-Marsteller, in partnership with Penn Schoen Berland (PSB), interviewed business
decision-makers about the value of and challenges associated with executive visibility
platforms—specifically conferences and events, corporate awards and rankings, digital and
social channels. Our research sought to identify which platforms are most relevant today, and
which emerging platforms companies are gravitating toward to reach and influence
stakeholders in the future. The research was both quantitative and qualitative, including an
online survey of 300 vice presidents and above (“business decision-makers”) from large
enterprises (10,000+ employees or $5 billion+ in revenue) and mid-sized enterprises (1,000 –
9,999 employees or $500 million – $4.9 billion in revenue) and eight in-depth-interviews (IDIs)
that delved deeper into the quantitative findings. The online survey was conducted between
June 8 and June 17, 2016. The IDIs were conducted between October 14 and November 15,
2016.

3. 3
What We Discovered – Topline Insights
 Increased choice is driving confusion: Business and communications executives think
events, awards and rankings, and digital platforms are all important, but struggle to
prioritize where to spend time and money. Most do not feel sufficiently well-informed
about the options to make strategic decisions. In fact, on average, one in four respondents
say they only “kind of understand” the executive visibility platforms available to them. In the
survey results, many tied for the top spots, perhaps indicating that the sheer volume of
options and lack of strategic approach has led to challenges in prioritization.
 Measurement is ad-hoc and under-resourced: Decision-makers and communications
professionals want a more structured and systematic approach to determine Return on
Participation (ROP), but often lack the resources to do this or don’t know where to begin.
Respondents believe measuring success is as much art as science; what is important to one
person or department may not be important to another.
 Sales leads are the default success metric: In the absence of better and more relevant
indicators, sales activity is the default metric used by business leaders to gauge the value of
different platforms. Decision-makers and communicators recognize there are other, less
tangible benefits, but need assistance to identify specific objectives and measures of
success.
 Most Valuable Platforms of the future differ from today’s: Respondents see CEO
summits and councils as important conferences and events today, but think technology,
women’s and ideas-focused conferences are gaining importance. Corporate reputation,
workplace and CEO awards and rankings are seen as important now; however,
opportunities related to innovation, diversity and sustainability are expected to increase in
importance in the coming years.
 Increasing focus on digital platforms and “owned” events: Moving forward, decision-
makers and communicators want to be more active on digital platforms. Also, recognizing
the opportunities in creating their own branded channels, many want to host their own
events rather than participate in third-party conferences.
 CEOs have markedly different priorities: When it comes to choosing platforms, CEOs are
more concerned about visibility, thought leadership and connecting with multiple
stakeholders, while decision-makers and communicators are more focused on clients or
customers and new commercial opportunities. In measuring ROP, CEOs value impact on
reputation over sales generated, whereas other decision-makers prioritize sales and number
of new business leads generated.

4. 4
Key Findings by Platform
Respondents believe conferences, events, awards and rankings, in addition to digital platforms, are
all important, but currently they prioritize conferences, events and digital platforms over
awards and rankings platforms. Respondents also believe, however, that platforms they
think are important today are not necessarily the ones that will be important in the coming
years. For instance:
 CEO summits and councils are seen as important today, but respondents believe topic-
focused events particularly technology, women’s and ideas-focused conferences are
gaining importance;
 Executives are most active on their own company websites today, but business leaders want
their executives more active on Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube moving forward.
 Corporate reputation, workplace and CEO awards and rankings are seen as important now;
however, opportunities related to innovation, diversity and sustainability are expected
to increase in importance in the coming years.
Conferences & Events
CURRENTLY IMPORTANT GAINING IMPORTANCE
Rank Platform % Platform %
1 Bloomberg LIVE Events, hosted by
Bloomberg
Consumer Electronics Show, hosted by
Consumer Technology Association
42 Aspen Ideas Festival, hosted by The Atlantic
and The Aspen Institute
Bloomberg Technology Conference, hosted
by Bloomberg
Milken Institute Global Conference, hosted
by Milken Institute
Events hosted by YouTube
28
2 AWS re:Invent, hosted by Amazon
CEO Council events, hosted by The Wall
Street Journal
Microsoft CEO Summit, hosted by
Microsoft
41 Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit,
hosted by Fortune
Events hosted by The New York Times
Women in the World Annual Conference,
hosted by Women in the World and The New
York Times
27
3 Forbes Global CEO Conference, hosted
by Forbes
Events hosted by The New York Times
WSJ ECO:nomics, hosted by The Wall
Street Journal
40 Brainstorm E, hosted by Fortune
Conference of the Parties (COP), hosted by
United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change
Corporate Conference, hosted by Council on
Foreign Relations
Dreamforce, hosted by Salesforce
Events hosted by LinkedIn
Zeitgeist events, hosted by Google
26

5. 5
4 CEO Summit, hosted by Yale School of
Management
World Business Forum, hosted by
World of Business Ideas
39 Annual Meeting at Davos, hosted by World
Economic Forum
AWS re:Invent, hosted by Amazon
Buttonwood, hosted by The Economist
CERAWeek, hosted by IHS Markit
FT Innovate, hosted by The Financial Times
Events hosted by Politico
Sustainable Brands’ Annual Conference,
hosted by Sustainable Brands
TEDGlobal, hosted by TED
The Future Of: events, hosted by The Wall
Street Journal (formerly known as Viewpoints
Executive Breakfast Series)
World Innovation Forum, hosted by World
of Business Ideas
25
5 Annual Meeting at Davos, hosted by
World Economic Forum
APEC CEO Summit, hosted by
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
Forbes Healthcare Summit, hosted by
Forbes
WSJ D.Live, hosted by The Wall Street
Journal
38 APEC CEO Summit, hosted by Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation
BSR Conference, hosted by Business for
Social Responsibility
Forbes Healthcare Summit, hosted by
Forbes
GreenBiz Annual Conference, hosted by
GreenBiz
SXSW Conference, hosted by South By
Southwest
Techonomy Annual Conference, hosted by
Techonomy Media Inc.
World Retail Congress, hosted by Ascential
World Water Week, hosted by Stockholm
International Water Institute
24
Awards & Rankings
CURRENTLY IMPORTANT GAINING IMPORTANCE
Rank Platform % Platform %
1 Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to
Work For
47 Fast Company’s Most Creative People
in Business
33
2 Forbes’ America’s Best Employers
Fortune’s World’s Most Admired
Companies
44 Glassdoor’s Highest Rated CEOs 29
3 Forbes’ World’s Most Innovative
Companies
42 DiversityInc’s Top 50 Companies for Diversity
Newsweek’s Top Green Companies in
the World
26
4 Barron’s World’s Best CEOs 40 Fast Company’s World’s Most Innovative
Companies
25

6. 6
Barron’s World’s Most Respected
Companies
Chief Executive Magazine’s CEO of
the Year
Forbes’ World’s 100 Most Powerful
Women
Forbes’ World’s 100 Most Powerful Women
Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work
National Association for Female Executive’s Top
Companies for Executive Women
5 Dow Jones Sustainability Indices
Fortune’s Businessperson of the Year
39 Corporate Knights’ Global 100 Most
Sustainable Corporations in the World
CR Magazine’s 100 Best Corporate Citizens
24
Choosing is Challenging
Choosing the right platform or opportunity is challenging for a range of reasons:
 Choosing the right platform varies depending on the goals of the company and/or
executive, and whether pursuing an opportunity will support their goals;
 The process for determining participation is often ad-hoc and informal; on average only
one in four respondents say they “kind of understand” each platform;
 Word-of-mouth, especially if an executive mentions or recommends a platform, drives
decision-making: 58 percent of respondents say executive recommendations are the
leading determinant in choosing an event or conference;
 Several other variables further complicate the process.
“Very important” decision-making factors:
Conferences and Events
Top 7 - Ranked by Overall (%)
Overall
Awards/Rankings
Top 7 - Ranked by Overall (%)
Overall
Networking opportunities with
customers/clients
60 Is relevant to our clients/customers 54
Relevant agenda 59
Important within our competitive set/ our
competitors are ranked
47
Networking opportunities with influencers 58
Reaches multiple important
audiences/stakeholders
46
Audience attending conference/event 55 Helps with recruitment and retention 46
Aligns with our company’s aspirations 53
Issued by a top tier publication or
organization
45
Ability to create and distribute thought
leadership related to the event
51 Leads to additional opportunities 45
Provides practical guidance for our business 50 Typically awarded to prestigious companies 44

7. 7
Prioritization and Preferences Are Not Aligned
CEO perceptions differ from those of other executives. CEOs don’t necessarily have the
same priorities and expectations as other business decision-makers when it comes to choosing
platforms. Overall, CEOs are more concerned about visibility, thought leadership and
connecting with multiple stakeholders. Other decision-makers are more focused on clients
or customers and new commercial opportunities.
For awards and rankings:
 CEOs believe the top benefit of awards and rankings is the opportunity to position
themselves as leaders and influencers (53 percent). When making decisions about the
opportunities to pursue, CEOs prioritize opportunities where their competitors are ranked
(64 percent), and those that will reach multiple stakeholders (60 percent);
 Other decision-makers are more interested in how the award or ranking will raise the
profile of the company (50 percent), its relevance to customers or clients (534 percent)
and if it will lead to additional communications opportunities (43 percent).
Regarding conferences and events:
 CEOs are more likely to place importance on networking opportunities with influencers
(69 percent) and the ability to create and distribute thought leadership at the event (69
percent) when choosing which conferences and events to attend, while others are more
likely to place importance on the relevance of the agenda (58 percent) and potential
networking with customers or clients (57 percent);
 CEOs (55 percent) are also more likely than other decision-makers (35 percent) to think that
media exposure is an important decision-making factor in choosing conferences and
events to attend.
Measuring Return is Biggest Challenge
The biggest challenge across platforms is how to measure Return on Participation (ROP).
Almost four in five respondents say they need a more formal process for measuring ROP.
Determining the metrics (which, per our research, can be even harder for large enterprises) and
executing a measurement system are the key challenges when it comes to measuring ROP,
followed by allocating the necessary financial and human resources. In the absence of a more
developed ROP measurement system, the default metric used by business leaders to judge the
success of a platform or executive visibility program is the number of sales generated as a
result of participation. Business decision-makers, however, say they are open to using
additional metrics moving forward.

8. 8
Top Current Metrics for Measuring ROP (%)
Preferred Metrics for Measuring ROP in Future (%)
CEOs and other business decision-makers have different methods and preferences for
measuring ROP:
 CEOs currently measure ROP through their satisfaction from participation (44
percent) and the impact it has on their reputation (42 percent). Impact on
reputation continues to be CEOs’ preferred measure of ROP in the future (40 percent),
followed by sales generated and audience survey results (both 37 percent);
 Other decision-makers currently measure ROP by sales generated (35 percent),
number of new business leads generated and informal feedback (both 33 percent).
In the future, their top preference for measuring ROP continues to be sales generated
(39 percent), followed by number of new ideas generated (31 percent) and number of
new business leads generated (30 percent).
42
33 33 31 31
20
27
31 31
36
26 27
Sales generated Number of new
business leads
generated
Informal
feedback
Executive’s
satisfaction from
participation
Impact on CEO’s
reputation
Number of
business
connections
formed
Large Enterprise Mid-Size
39
33 30 29 27 26 25 24
39
29
19
26
31 27 27 27
Sales
generated*
Number of
new ideas
generated
Number of
business
connections
formed
Impact on
CEO’s
reputation
Number of
new business
leads
generated
Attracting or
retaining
talent
Impact on
company's
reputation
Ability to stay
ahead of
trends in the
industry
Large Enterprise Mid-Size

9. 9
Conclusion
The explosive growth of events, conferences, annual awards and rankings, and digital and
social platforms has made the job of executive positioning more complex than ever. The
process of vetting and pursuing the ever-increasing number of online and offline opportunities
for executives is straining available resources and revealing the limitations of traditional
approaches to executive visibility.
Our research confirms that building an effective corporate and executive positioning program
does not follow a one-size fits all approach. What is right for one company may not be right
for another. And, what is valued by the C-suite may not reflect the priorities of other executives
and decision-makers. Aligning on priorities is critical.
Communications counselors need to create more structured and strategic approaches to
measuring the ROP of each platform—particularly new ones—if they are to effectively manage
both opportunities for executive positioning and the expectations of their business leaders.
Developing a proactive strategy using a formalized, yet adaptable rubric that reflects key
metrics, preferences and business drivers identified throughout this survey is critical to
cutting through the clutter, choosing the right platforms and effectively measuring ROP
post-participation.
About Burson-Marsteller’s Corporate
Positioning & Thought Leadership Offering
For more than 60 years, Burson-Marsteller has provided clients across a broad spectrum of
industries and in every major world geography with expertise in defining—and realizing—their
executive positioning goals. Our offering is rooted in research, informed by experience and
focused on helping our clients achieve sustainable results. Our approach is customized to
address the specific needs of each individual client, their business goals and executives’ visions,
passions and ambitions.
We position our clients where they need to be by developing the strategy and bespoke criteria
to vet platforms, identifying where to put resources and how to measure the impact:
 Positioning & Thought Leadership Platforms: We help our clients articulate a
differentiated point-of-view, identify appropriate and meaningful partners, engage in
substantive conversations and develop vital solutions on issues that matter.
 Executive Positioning & Visibility: We develop a customized approach for each executive
based on their leadership vision, goals, experience and passions. We identify opportunities
that enable corporate leaders to evolve their profiles over time – from being a

10. 10
spokesperson on a particular issue or in a specific industry, to being recognized in the
media and in the market as a thought leader and change maker.
 Corporate Positioning & Visibility: Our team has deep experience in developing and
executing awards and rankings strategies that promote corporate achievements in a variety
of areas, including brand reputation, corporate responsibility, innovation and workplace. We
use an extensive benchmarking process to assess client and competitor performance and
inform our strategy and tactical planning.
 Content Partnerships: Our team often works with other leading organizations,
like Palisades Media Ventures, to create innovative and engaging media partnerships.
Together, we specialize in developing content projects that support the thought leadership
objectives of our clients and are important and relevant to our media partners. Our work
resonates through events, newspaper articles, special sections, television programming and
digital projects.
Alan Sexton leads the U.S. Corporate and Financial Practice at Burson-Marsteller, a team with deep
experience in executive positioning, visibility, and awards and rankings. Jen McClellan is an expert in
executive visibility and thought leadership and Megan Woolley specializes in awards and rankings.
Contact the team at MVP@bm.com.