Best Practices In Sustainability Communications

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

As executives embrace sustainability across many strategic and operational areas of their business, marketing will be among the fastest growing areas of spending as they try to capitalize on the brand benefits of being seen as responsible. But to date, firms have relegated sustainability either to the corporate social responsibility report – underselling the strategic importance of key initiatives – or ‘green marketing’ campaigns, which the public views with scepticism. This report provides guidance to communications executives and senior managers driving specific sustainability initiatives as to how to build a collaborative relationship that reboots sustainability communications. The sustainability function needs to educate and direct the communications functions, while communication groups need to adopt a more fact-based approach to messaging, commit to a consistent level of sustainability messaging, and embed these messages into business-as-usual communications vehicles to all core audiences.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FIRMS GET ON THE SUSTAINABILITY BANDWAGON; CSR GETS LEFT BEHIND

Communication Strategies Need To Reflect Sustainability’s New Business Role
CSR Reporting Is Out Of Tune With New Market Realities
Barriers Block Evolution From CSR To Sustainability Communications

HOW TO IMPLEMENT A NEW SUSTAINABILITY COMMUNICATIONS PLAN

1) Set The Stage With Organization, Education And Orientation
2) New Perspectives Required For Communications Plan Components
3) Execution: Integration And Consistency, Not Isolated Campaigns

FIRMS AT ALL STAGES OF SUSTAINABILITY SHOULD BEGIN TRANSFORMING COMMUNICATIONS

TABLE OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Firms Face Questions That CSR No Longer Answers
Figure 2. Communications Teams Bring Strengths And Baggage To Sustainability
Figure 3. How To Implement A Sustainability Communications Plan
Figure 4. Sustainability Communications Rewrite The CSR Reporting Playbook
Figure 5. Fund, Develop And Measure Campaigns
Figure 6. Firms Can Begin Sustainability Communications At Any Point On The Maturity Curve

ORGANIZATIONS MENTIONED

Alcatel-Lucent, Babson College, Best Buy, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Carbon Disclosure Project, CarbonSystems, Ceres, Climate Counts, Coca-Cola, Cognizant, Colgate, Cone Communications, Deloitte, Dow Corning, Dow Jones Sustainability Index, Edelman, Earth Day, EMC, Eurostar, evolve24, Folgers, GE, Georgia State University, Good Guide, Green Order, Hanes, HP, IBM, IHS, International Integrated Reporting Committee, Johannesburg Stock Exchange, John Gilfeather & Associates, Newell Rubbermaid, Newsweek, Nike, Ogilvy earth, Philips, Procter & Gamble, SABMiller, SAP, Saunders Hotel Group, Siemens, South Africa Integrated Reporting Committee, Starbucks, Timberland, Toyota, UN Global Compact, Unilever, WSP Environment and Energy