The Rise of Communications Engineering:
Building the Semantic Supply Chain
Abstract
The traditional marketing funnel has fractured. In an era of AI gatekeepers and personalized echo chambers, the "Broadcast Model" of corporate communications is obsolete. This paper proposes a transition to a "Supply Chain Model"—treating the corporate narrative as a critical information asset that must be engineered to survive the logistics of the modern algorithm.
The Collapse of the Funnel
For a century, communications operated on a broadcast model: Create a message, buy distribution (ads/PR), and push it to a passive audience. Today, that infrastructure has fractured. Search Generative Experience (SGE) and LLM-driven "Answer Engines" now act as the primary gatekeepers of brand reality. If your narrative is not "computationally legible" to these intermediaries, it does not exist.
The Shift: From Broadcast to Supply Chain
We must stop thinking like broadcasters and start thinking like supply chain managers. Just as a physical supply chain manages the integrity of a product from factory to shelf, the Semantic Supply Chain manages the integrity of meaning from the source of truth to the stakeholder's mind.
The 4-Layer Architecture
To govern this supply chain, we define four critical layers of infrastructure:
1. The Verification Layer (Source of Truth)
The governed repository of substantiated facts (claims data, clinical evidence). Without this, AI hallucination is inevitable.
2. The Generative Layer (Production)
Where LLMs assemble content. This layer requires strict prompt engineering and CLI auditing.
3. The Governance Layer (Quality Control)
The "Human-in-the-Loop." Reviewing for regulatory compliance, safety, and brand drift.
4. The Experience Layer (Delivery)
The final "last mile" delivery to the stakeholder, optimized for their specific cognitive context.
Conclusion: The New Mandate
The CCO is no longer the Chief Storyteller. They are the Chief Supply Chain Officer for Information. The goal is no longer just "persuasion"; it is "fidelity"—ensuring the signal survives the noise.