Category Archives: Communications

Corporate Sustainability: Moving from Acceptance to Action and Innovation

Last week, a diverse group of private- and public-sector representatives from around the country met in Boston for EnergySmart 2012. Convened by energy management solutions provider EnerNOC,* a common theme that emerged during the program was the increasingly mainstream nature of the sustainability movement. Just a few years ago, this movement was on the relative outskirts of corporate best practices. Today, however, it has been largely validated – whether for bottom-line savings, benefits to corporate reputation or the moral imperative of sustainability.
Posted on Friday, October 12th, 2012 By SharedPurpose
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Making the Case for Integrated Reporting

A few weeks ago, UBS released a comprehensive report on integrated reporting, sometimes known as the “one report” concept. This concept integrates medium- and longer-term issues into the traditional annual report, giving investors a better overall picture of a company’s trajectory. In a world too beholden to quarterly earnings, the integrated report attempts to counteract some of this all-too-often shortsighted thinking.
Posted on Thursday, August 9th, 2012 By SharedPurpose
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A New Take on “Innovation Time” to Address Something Workers Want and Companies Need

Companies like 3M and Google are well known for products and concepts that were born during their companies’ innovation time – when employees are allowed to use a portion of their paid time to hatch their own ideas. Think of the Post-it note and Gmail, developed by employees through 3M’s “15 percent time” and Google’s “20 percent time,” respectively.
Posted on Monday, June 25th, 2012 By Leela Stake
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Social Media Week Reflection: Using Social Media to Communicate Corporate Responsibility

It’s Social Media Week – here in Washington, D.C., and in several other cities – and there’s a lot going on. We’re always looking for innovative ways to infuse corporate responsibility and sustainability information into company communication, and this week we’d like to highlight a few brands succeeding online. Unilever, for example, incorporates its corporate responsibility messages into much of its online communication. The company made a video posted on YouTube and its corporate site about communicating sustainable behavior to consumers; tweets from @Unilever_Press via a handle that talks about standard corporate news as well as information related to its corporate responsibility and sustainability platform; and uses Facebook to communicate, too.
Posted on Wednesday, February 15th, 2012 By SharedPurpose
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Universities Need to Protect Their Brands, too

Athletic conference realignments altering cherished rivalries within college sports. Alleged acts of pedophilia by coaching staff against children in their care. Compliance violations and a range of sometimes controversial penalties assessed against member schools. This is the context for which the NCAA and several of its marquee institutions enter into the previously hallowed football bowl season. Lack of preparation and poor decision-making have resulted in several senior administrators becoming a part of the anticipated December unemployment statistics instead of leading their schools or departments. This will indeed be a winter of unprecedented criminal investigations, litigation and adverse media coverage. As daily stories regarding the aspects of these events have unfolded on our TV screens and social media, several friends and journalists have called to ask how or if any of this could have been possibly prevented. Of course, no one can fully prevent horrendous judgment committed by individuals within an institution if a person is intent on engaging in morally reprehensible or criminal acts. However, more than ever before, boards of directors of corporations and university trustees are asking their senior executives to ensure that their institutions have a fresh crisis plan and that all the requisite stakeholders in the enterprise are equipped to operationalize it when the inevitable mayhem visits their doorstep.
Posted on Thursday, December 8th, 2011 By Tara Greco
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Corporate brands must add value to society

In my previous posts, I made the case that corporate branding is out of step with the reality of the market. Why, when given the ability of companies to adapt quickly to technological change, would corporate brands be out of step? To some degree, I think companies have been forced to adapt their operations and product marketing to technology because it has hit them over the head like a sledgehammer. The market quickly makes winners and losers, but the corporate brand doesn't cry out in the same way. It is harder to diagnose the harm a brand suffers from being left behind, making it less likely to get attention. There is, however, very tangible science available that documents the value of the corporate brand and its ability to predict things like sales, customer and employee loyalty, and even market capitalization.
Posted on Tuesday, December 6th, 2011 By SharedPurpose
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Europe and the missing debate on economic sustainability

As Europe’s governments inched toward a long-overdue grand bargain on dealing with the Eurozone debt crisis, I’ve been struck again by several curious lacunae in the way this crisis is described by its major players. Language matters, as it shapes our understanding of what’s happening and also the prospects for responding with shared purpose. Here [...]
Posted on Monday, October 3rd, 2011 By Rachel Thompson
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Looking Forward to Better Reporting

The International Integrated Reporting Committee published a Discussion Paper on September 12 that presented a compelling case for integrated reporting. One of the more interesting statistics cited was that physical and financial assets represent a shrinking percentage of market value – falling from 83 percent in 1975 to 19 percent in 2009! Many of these intangible assets aren’t covered in most reports, which speaks to the need for different and more interconnected reporting. Some of the reasons it’s worth the read:
Posted on Thursday, September 15th, 2011 By Julie Jack
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New Decade, New Consumer

On February 10, APCO Worldwide’s San Francisco office hosted an executive roundtable on the “New Decade, New Consumer: A ‘2020’ look at how brand and reputation drives business results in a connected, global economy.” Moderated by Shelby Coffey, former editor of the Los Angeles Times and member of APCO’s International Advisory Council, the panel featured senior-level communication executives from such leading companies as University of Phoenix*, IKEA*, Redphlag, and Facebook. The event attracted more than 90 attendees from Bay Area companies, including representatives from Gap, PlayFirst, Kodak Gallery* and Greenpeace.
Posted on Friday, February 11th, 2011 By Tara Greco
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Has CR Become a Parody?

We all saw it. We probably cringed a little. Groupon’s controversial “Save the Money” spot got the most ink for mocking the plethora of CR-focused advertising. It made me ask the question – are the feel good, socially responsible ads believable or has it just become a joke?
Posted on Wednesday, February 9th, 2011 By Aman Battish
Also posted in Cause Marketing, Communicating CR, CR in North America | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments