Green
Green Issues
Cohn & Wolfe has formed the first global practice to offer communications strategy and implementation for three key groups:
• Energy companies who are being asked by society to find lower carbon power and fuels.
• Major corporations who cannot afford to risk their reputations by being careless on the environment and who need a strong ‘Sustainable Business’ story.
• FMCG brands who aim to connect with consumers through ‘greener’ products.
We have brought together a team of consultants who have established expertise in the energy business and who have already advised on ‘green’ communications strategies for major corporations. This team offers Cohn & Wolfe clients the ability to maximise opportunity and minimise risk on environmental issues on a global basis.
Core services are:
Green Communications Audit
All major organisations should undertake a Green Communications Audit as part of a responsible corporate risk evaluation. Business managers may not believe that they are at risk of being criticised publicly for environmental practices. The evidence suggests this is when companies are at their most vulnerable, and can be attacked by pressure groups without warning.
Cohn & Wolfe’s consultants will examine every aspect of your business to identify risks to your reputation from environmental issues. Looking at your CO2 footprint in the context of peer groups is an important starting point of the process. Your use of scarce resources such as water, recycling policies, and manufacturing processes, are all areas where you may find your organisation held to account.
Issue Management on Environmental Strategies
For corporations thinking about environmental strategies – for example carbon offset projects – it’s vital to understand what the key issues are in the public debate and how that might impact any new initiative. For example, it’s clear from our issue analysis that carbon offset programmes involving tree planting have fallen very much out of favour. Even though companies are still undertaking such programmes, we would advise against it because the stakeholder reaction is likely to be negative, not positive.
Developing the Green Message
Getting the message right is one of the most difficult aspects of developing a green strategy. Consider the following questions:
When launching new ‘greener’ consumer products, will the environmental message be enough to boost sales?
According to a new study from Cohn & Wolfe’s parent, WPP, ‘Climate Change’ is the issue which British consumers have heard most about in 2007. Will that influence their purchasing decisions? The evidence is mixed. According to a major consumer study in the USA, many traditional factors – such as price and convenience – will stop people making ‘green’ purchases. Mixing ‘green’ messages with good-old ‘usefulness’ seems to be more effective.
Should major energy companies follow BP in heavily promoting alternative energies?
There is no doubt that BP has enhanced its reputation dramatically with ‘Beyond Petroleum’. But where does that leave other energy producers and suppliers?
There is a defensiveness around the industry in 2007 because of its role as a major producer of CO2. Yet we rely on it to keep almost every aspect of our modern lives going. The major challenge for the energy business is to explain to its stakeholders that it is committed to reducing CO2, but that fossil fuels – which we depend on for 85% of our energy needs– can be a part of a cleaner energy future. The industry’s message on Sustainable Business needs to be much stronger and clearer than it is now.
Cohn & Wolfe has experts in green message development.
Green Communications Training
Strong messages can be heavily devalued by poor communicators. It is a vital component of any strategy to have your key staff skilled in communicating effectively on your environmental issues. They need to be able to get the message across to customers, shareholders, the media, government and all of your stakeholders – down to the man in the village pub! Cohn & Wolfe’s management communications training programme, Lumina, is used to maximise the effectiveness of the best ambassadors you have: your staff.
Blogs, Social Media
We live in an era where online communities increasingly dominate brands. With the advent of blogs and other social media, organisations find it increasingly hard to control reputations as vast networks of connected individuals decide for themselves what they believe.
Nowhere is this more true than the environment. The number of bloggers on environmental issues listed on Google runs into the tens of thousands. If your organisation is exposed on environmental issues, there is an increasing chance it would have originated from comment on a blog.
With the support of our technology partners, Cohn & Wolfe offers clients the ability to track sentiment on environmental issues across huge numbers of blogs. We will be able to spot problems as they arise and suggest strategies for dealing with them. Our consultants also advise on how to engage with influential bloggers directly.
Green PR & Marketing Programmes
Cohn & Wolfe is a global PR company, and can implement international ‘Green’ programmes for clients in our core areas of Healthcare, FMCG, Technology, B2B, Energy & Transportation, and the Public Sector.
The message has to be original, and the thinking fresh. That’s why Cohn & Wolfe’s legendary creative skills are so valuable to any client launching a green PR programme.
What does success look like? When key media and other stakeholders are aware of a client’s environmental strategies and initiatives and when its reputation has been maintained or enhanced as a result.
Please contact Geoff Beattie, Managing Director on +44 (0)207 331 5465 for an initial chat