Corporate Communication Analysis: Vodafone UK Case Study

This report provides an analysis of Vodafone UK's corporate communication strategies, examining its functions, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats through a SWOT analysis. It explores communication integrity via consistent messaging across media, corporate social responsibility initiatives, and barriers to effective communication within the organization, including semantic, organizational, and psychological factors. The report evaluates Vodafone's “More than Mobile” campaign using Lasswell’s communication model, offering recommendations to enhance Vodafone's corporate communication effectiveness. It covers areas such as connectivity, technology for society, equality, digital future, youth skills, and ethical behavior.

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(student name)
12-6-2018

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Executive Summary
This report discussed the corporate communication, which is the flow of information within and
outside the organization effectively, to all the stakeholders. For this discussion, Vodafone UK
was considered for better understanding of corporate communication. In the report, the relevant
communication function of the Vodafone was described.
The major strengths of the communication of company observed, were renowned brand name
worldwide, providing a high level of infrastructure of networking, innovation through ringtone,
chats, video messages, customer-focused strategy, total communication strategy, and new
product development. Weakness included lack of rural communication, and opportunities were
conquering emerging markets, personal relationships with customers, and research and
development. Lastly, the threats were a competitive industry, competitor’s communication
strategy.
Vodafone communication through CSR included the power of connectivity, technology for
society, championing equality, digital future, youth skills, employment, transparency, and ethical
behavior. For Vodafone, the barriers to the communications were language issue, use of jargons,
clarity in the message, many transfer stations, under or over communication, negative tendencies,
superior influence, inappropriate media, wrong assumptions, varied perception, resistance to
change, prejudiced views, communication selectivity, cultural difference, poor listening and
retaining skills, and conflicting information.
For analysis and evaluating the communication of Vodafone, a campaign was considered to be
analyzed, the campaign was “More than Mobile campaign” while using Lasswell communication

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model. Moreover, some recommendations were provided to enhance the corporate
communication of Vodafone.

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Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................1
Introduction/ organization overview................................................................................................3
Communication function of Vodafone UK.....................................................................................5
A SWOT analysis of communication..........................................................................................5
Communication integrity through consistency of messages across media..................................6
Communication of corporate social responsibility......................................................................7
Barriers to communication..............................................................................................................8
Communication analysis................................................................................................................10
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................16
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Introduction/ organization overview
For an effective understanding of corporate communication, its function, and barriers, of an
organization will be taken for discussion that is “Vodafone UK.” Vodafone is considered one of
the leading mobile communication provider worldwide, which is serving twenty-six nations.
The company has initiated this organization in 1985 from London. Considering the employees,
there are more than 13000 individuals working across the UK (Vodafone, 2018). The mission of
the company is to create and gain new opportunities each day using communication as a key, for
which the company stands for. The company wishes to provide a positive contribution to the
nation and society by making mobile network possible with a certain degree of freedom and
flexibility to the customer that they have not experienced yet. The goals and objectives of the
company includes customer-oriented working from the company’s employees and are ambitious,
competitive, and innovative to achieve the vision and mission of the company. The values that
company shares include simplicity, trust, and speed (vodafoneintegratedreport, 2014).
The company major focus includes creating recognition, positive awareness, and reputation of
the company, achievement of distinctive, memorable, and relevant differentiation, facilitate
trustworthy relationships between the companies, are its external and internal key audience.
Moreover, the company considers building future asset value, brand equity, and bridge to new
customers. In addition, the company believes that the brand must not be the outward expression
of the inside commitment. The company sees, “Branding as communication, not decoration”
(vodafoneintegratedreport, 2014).
Companies major concern is customers, which the company feels is a most important aspect.
Corporate communication is a function of management like finance, operations, and marketing,

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involved in the dissemination of important information to key constituents. Moreover, it includes
the execution of the strategy of the corporate and messages are developed for conveying it
outside and inside the organization (vodafoneintegratedreport, 2014).

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Communication function of Vodafone UK
For analysis the communication function of the company, the strengths, opportunities, weakness
and threats must be well known, which are as follows:
A SWOT analysis of communication
1. Strengths
 Renowned brand name worldwide
 Integration of subsidiaries
 Providing a high level of infrastructure of networking
 Innovation through ringtone, chats, video messages
 High geographical exposure
 Customer focused strategy
 Total communication strategy
 New product development
 Advertisement with new brand ambassador
 Adding value through services
 Magazines promotions
 Good brand image
2. Weakness
 Lack of rural communication
3. Opportunities
 Conquering emerging markets
 Research and development
 Personal relationships with customers

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4. Threats
 Competitive industry
 Competitors communication strategy
Communication integrity through consistency of messages across media
Vodafone through its marketing messages, conveyed a strong brand image and influence
customers to enhance recognition of the brand, and increase brand loyalty. The messages
include:
 Female appealing – through its messages and advertisements the company focuses to
attract female customers. This will create a positive image of the company to influence
people for women empowerment
 Fashion icon – through its campaign like Beckham campaign, the company focuses to
change customer perception, as to use mobile with the best network as a fashion icon.
This will influence people to use the network as a symbol status
 Empathetic and caring family man – through its campaign the company portrayed an
empathetic and caring man of the family
 Brand migration – through its Beckham campaign, the support gained was to drive
Vodafone for brand migration
 Enhanced internet browser – through its messages the company focuses to convey the
enhanced browsing internet for mobile phones
 Small business approach - My campaign was to influence small business to established
and run in a more cost-effective manner.
 Ease of use – the message through media is generally conveyed that the service is
provided to become quick, simple, and easy to use (Griffiths & McLean, 2014).

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Communication of corporate social responsibility of Vodafone
Through its sustainability and corporate social responsibility, the message that the company
coveys are:
 Power of connectivity – the company, is providing connectivity to millions of customers.
Good connectivity is the heart of what the company is delivering to open up new
opportunities for people, helping society in prosperity and response to major
environmental and social issues.
 Technology for society – some of the environmental and social challenges are faced by
the society, by enhancing technology for the society and enhancing the customer
experience of connecting people, things and places to help to create a safer, healthier,
and low carbon society
 Championing equality – the message of equality conveys through the sustainable
business of the company. The company believes in equality and drive forces to do so.
For this, the company uses its products, people, and brand to perceive a meaningful
change for society. This will enhance women empowerment, and change customer
perception as a positive brand image
 Digital future – in today’s world, where the digitalization is playing an important role in
the society, the company through its CSR, and for suitability is encouraging digital
future through kick-start bringing a revolution for mobile in the UK. The company
focuses on helping people in operating organizations and unlocking government
opportunities for a digital-focused future (vodafone, 2018).
 Youth skills and employment – for maximum jobs in near future, digital skill would be
required, and the majority of school going children has indulged the digital skills through

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education itself. The company wishes to become the employer for youth and helping
youth to build such skills. Therefore, the company is conveying a message to youth for
employment and brand recognition.
 Transparency and ethical behavior – the company through its activities, covey the ethical
behavior that is adopted by the company, and transparency within and outside the
company. As the company is committed towards responsible behavior, and strive to
work lawfully, with integrity, and ethically, in whichever country it is operating
(n.vodafone, 2018).
Barriers to communication
Barriers to communication are responsible for conveying the message to the receiver either in a
disrupted form or conveying different meaning or do not reach to the customers. These barriers
to Vodafone include:
1. Semantic barriers
 Language issue – the major issue is language because the company is
international, the meaning of a statement in one language is different in another
language
 Use of jargons – too many uses of jargons, make the message unclear, or not
understandable to the receiver, and acting as a barrier
 Clarity in the message – the message has to be clear enough to reach to the
customers or another stakeholder in a similar way the company or management
wishes to convey (Chung, 2015)
2. Organizational barriers

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 Many transfer station – in case the communication is transferred through a long
chain, it becomes difficult to transfer the same message from every level of the
chain, it is the issue within the organization, and for outsiders as well
 Under or over communication – the information must be disseminated in the
perfect quantity, the more of information, or lack of information, leads to the
misleading and wrong message is conveyed.
 Negative tendencies – this depends on the work teams in an organization that
leads to negative tendencies, like having similar values, opinion, attitude, and
believes in the same team.
 Superior influence – the influence of superior for providing a different point of
views can exist within the organization
 Inappropriate media – if the message is not conveyed through an appropriate
channel of media, it may end up with non-delivery of a message to most of the
customers or stakeholders (Gabriel, 2016)
3. Psychological barriers
 Wrong assumptions – the assumptions to convey message has to be right to an
extent, in case it conducted to be wrong, it may lead to wrong delivery of
messages
 Varied perception – the perception of every individual is different within the
organization, and also to the customer, the messages are conveyed
 Resistance to change – this is the biggest barrier, as people within and outside the
company are not ready to accept any change, and resist to adapt to something new

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 Prejudiced views – these barriers are about making a judgment about a thing or
some individual, and then want to see a similar impression.
 Communication selectivity – the selection of communication is also important, as
it the combination of words and meaning of those words must be clear to the
receiver, to make a message reachable to the stakeholders or customers (Hargie,
2016)
4. Other barriers
 Cultural difference – this is another major barriers, the company with numerous
employees and serving to various countries, the culture is the major factor that can
change the message meaning and relevance to the receiver
 Poor listening and retaining skills
 Conflicting information – the information that has been shared verbally or non-
verbally, should not have a different meaning that conflict for their statement, as
this can be a barrier (Libert & Gibon, 2015)
Communication analysis
For analyzing and evaluating the communication of Vodafone, the relevant theory to study
includes the Lasswell’s model of communication. This model was propounded in 1948 by
Lasswell, according to which the mass communication process was explained and justified using
a model. The model includes the combination of four factors that are a communicator, message,
medium, and audience, that results into an Impact. According to his perception, the impact of an
communication, whether it is positive or negative, depends on who is the speaker, what message
is being sent by the speaker, what the media through which the message is been conveyed, and
who is your target audience or who is the receiver of the message (Soranno, 2014).