Since the 1980s, even as hairspray canisters released toxic chlorofluorocarbons into the atmosphere and the Exxon Valdez oil spill tainted the Gulf of Alaska,
environmental concerns were better left to tree huggers and hippies, save for a few half-hearted "green" PR initiatives. Now, 20 years later, CEOs and PR pros alike are catching
wind of the social and financial benefits of environmentally sound corporate innovations, according to the 2005 Arthur D. Little "Innovation High Ground Report."
"From a global perspective, environmental issues are huge, and these issues are driving the agenda," says Gib Hedstrom, co-author of the report and president of Concord,
Mass.-based environmental consulting group Hedstrom Associates, which conducted the study in conjunction with management consultant Arthur D. Little. "That means [senior
managers] have to believe that, in the business world, they are putting their PR on green issues."
The report follows up on a 1999 study in which Arthur D. Little partnered with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) to investigate how 80
global companies integrated sustainable development - defined by the report as "the creation of new market space, products, and services driven by social, environmental or
sustainability issues" - into their decision-making. The 2005 update surveyed 40 international tech companies, including Kodak, Sony, Motorola and Hewlett-
Packard, and the biggest difference is that "five years ago, consumers didn't care [about sustainable development]," Hedstrom says. "Now, they do." (See charts.)
The findings have a far-reaching impact on PR pros, and a bevy of Fortune 500 companies already are making strides in putting their greenest feet forward. The major
oil companies pin almost every print advertisement on something environmentally related, while General Electric's online "Ecomagination" initiative shows, via the Web, CEO
Jeffrey Immelt espousing the benefits of environmental performance and energy efficiency.
Such reputation- and brand-building strategies are essential in the changing ethos, and their execution is up to senior PR managers. "Reputation and brand value are the huge
intangibles," Hedstrom says. "They are most important, and they are right in the PR pro's lap - and the lap of the CEO."
The three-legged stool of most effectively integrating sustainability innovations into the game plan sits squarely on: your company's current mission or strategy, your
customers and your market's biggest issues. "Then find the angle of what differentiates the company, and integrate it directly with the brand," Hedstrom says.
There are some major risks, like doing nothing or allowing the company's efforts to seem insincere; being unaware of financial impacts; and, most recently evidenced by
Hurricane Katrina's wrath on the U.S. Gulf Coast, choosing to ignore potentially catastrophic environmental factors that could wipe out your company.
"The substantive nature of issues is very real - and increasingly so - and companies are hearing it from their consumers," Hedstrom says. "The [PR pro's] job is to position
the company to profit from these issues as opposed to fighting them. Don't dance on the sidelines."
Contact: Gib Hedstrom, 978.371.9814, [email protected]