PR HEADS FOR 'GREENER' PASTURES
The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR), or operating a business in a manner that meets or exceeds the ethical, legal, commercial and public expectations that society possesses, is not a new one. But the current heavy focus on environmental issues like carbon emissions and water conservation are seeing businesses respond with new initiatives, and with them, new PR and marketing campaigns.
For example, in March, Virgin Blue made headlines when it announced it was ‘going green’ with a comprehensive and certified carbon offset program that forms part of its integrated strategy to address environmental impact issues, including greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, Timberland have introduced a food nutrition style label on the outside of its shoe boxes – providing information about its environmental and community impacts, as well as where the product was manufactured. Its catch phrase for this program is ‘What kind of footprint will you leave?’.
While the underlying intentions behind environmental initiatives should always be ‘pure’, promoting your business’s CSR activities and achievements is equally important. Consumers are expecting more from businesses in the area of social responsibility – so businesses need to ensure their customers and the community are informed about what initiatives are in place and how successful they are.
The line between promoting CSR initiatives and maintaining a ‘we are genuinely doing this for the community’ feel is a fine one to walk, but it can lead to a very rewarding outcome. No matter what your businesses size or industry there are bound to be ways you are (or plan to) positively contribute to your environment or community – and it is valuable to promote this to your current customers (through information on packaging, in newsletters) and to potential customers and the wider community (through public events, advertising). Media is also a crucial factor in this equation, and involving your PR consultant during the process of identifying, defining and promoting CSR initiatives is important. You will also find that when certain topics are dominating the public arena (such as the current focus on water), there are many opportunities to be had across a wide variety of media outlets who are naturally focusing on these topics regularly.
This is also a trend towards public involvement in corporate CSR initiatives, and providing avenues for this involvement to take place. This may mean showing the public specifically how their purchase (or that extra dollar, in the case of Virgin Blue) is positively affecting a particular issue or charity group. It may also mean inviting the customer to go a step further and actively participate in an environmental or social initiative.
There is no doubt that a tinge of green (or a whole paint tin’s worth) will begin to appear as one of the many strategic ‘colours’ that compose a corporate organisation, but be mindful of following when promoting CSR initiatives in the media:
- Don’t exaggerate or stretch the truth because you will quickly be discovered
- Support your initiatives with statistics and evidence
- You are setting an expectation for the future. Promote your initiatives only when you plan on continuing your efforts and applying your theories across you entire business model.
