COMPANY: Dell Inc.
PR AGENCY: GCI
Read-Poland
CATEGORY: Environmental Communications
BUDGET: $500,000 globally
TIMEFRAME: 2004
It was an increasing problem we all faced: what to do with our
old computer(s) collecting dust in the attic. Somehow, tossing it
in the garbage along with the coffee grounds seemed inappropriate.
Enter Dell Inc. on a white charger of an environmental
program, saving all those old computers and dispatching them to
recycling heaven.
By 2002, 21-year-old Dell was well on its way to becoming the
No. 1 company in America for everything from laptops to hard
drives, but it was also seen as the industry laggard when it came
to electronic waste and recycling.
At the time, it was being pressurized by a consortium of
environmental groups including the Silicon Valley Toxics
Coalition and the GrassRoots Recycling Network along
with such socially responsible investment funds as the Calvert
Group. Together, they had formed the "Computer Take-Back
Campaign." Clearly, the tech giant had some catching up to do
environmentally.
"These investors had our business interests at heart; they were
our shareholders and they also had environmental interests," says
Bryant Hilton, Dell's global sustainability communications manager.
"They helped us see we could accomplish both ends; we got a bit of
a wake-up call. The other big motivator was that we realized our
customers needed [recycling]. There hadn't been an answer to what
to do with old computers. That's what got the momentum going."
It also coincided with changes at the company. "We had grown up
the underdog, the scrappy competitor and, suddenly, we're the
biggest. It was an interesting transition time for us, which meant
we had to have a different outlook and approach to things," Hilton
adds.
Previously, Dell had been providing product recovery through its
leasing arm for large business customers. In 2001, it had also
launched a donation program, placing old computers in appropriate
non-profits. "A survey showed that people liked donation programs
and held onto their computers, intuitively knowing not to throw
them out and sensing they were still valuable," Hilton says.
Whether computers actually harmed the environment was
questionable. "In the right landfill, a traditional model with a
screen that used leaded glass is probably OK," Hilton adds, "but
glass, plastics and metals can all be broken down and reused, so
it's probably more efficient to recycle."
Hence, in March 2003, Dell launched "No Computer Should Go To
Waste," a recycling service to pick up used computers at the
donator's home. "We launched it at a low price, it was easy with
home pick-up, and so the final barrier was awareness," Hilton
says.
Which is where GCI Read-Poland, Dell's agency of record,
came in. "We thought, 'This is such a grassroots-type of issue.
Let's go into the community, put on events and show people what
it's all about,'" says Tally Summerlin, GCI group senior account
executive, who claims there's nothing more compelling than sitting
in a parking lot all day and watching trucks pull up with old
computer equipment. "People involved on the volunteer and service
sides were literally moved by that experience."
What resulted was the March 2003 Dell "drive through and drop
off" nationwide tour of one-day events, partnering with local
environmental and community groups. "It was like bringing the
circus to town," Summerlin explains. Donors received "greeter bags"
containing materials describing the environmental work of both Dell
and the community groups. "We felt strongly that this should be a
media event," Summerlin says, "so we partnered with groups already
tapped into environmental advocacy and the municipal
infrastructure." Success was measured by the tonnage of computers
collected--massing some two million pounds worth of unwanted gear.
The effort also notched up some 80 million media impressions, with
coverage in all local markets.
But while progress was made, a consumer survey at the end of
2003 showed that awareness still was low. "We'd raised awareness,
but then had to get people to act on that and to drive the point
home in different ways," Summerlin says. To do this, Dell held an
event in late 2003 at Stanford University, inviting key municipal
waste managers, recyclers and environmental agencies to a workshop
before the event. The aim? By giving people personal experience of
the issues, they would be empowered to run their own
computer-recycling events. Others followed, leading to the idea of
a national grant program in November 2003.
"We saw it as a way to empower these communities both with
financial support and with sharing best practices we learned," says
Carolyn Dietz, Dell communications specialist. "We got together
with our partners at the National Recycling Coalition to come up
with a curriculum to train municipal, state and local organizations
as well as some non-profits," Dell offered 12 grants of $10,000.
"The demand was so great, particularly on the state level, that
it's become huge," Dietz says. Dell decided to expand it to 20 more
grants in the fall of 2004.
By the end of 2004, Dell had awarded 30 grants, had trained all
recipients and had reached five million consumers with its "No
Computer Should Go To Waste" message. "Rather than Dell going into
a community and holding an event, it was empowering the community
to hold its own event as well as helping with media outreach,"
Dietz says.
It also helped that Dell chairman Michael Dell was involved from
the beginning, speaking at recycling events, talking to
shareholders and getting involved in a student Web cast. "His
leadership was key," Hilton says. "He got this right away, and that
was a big motivator."
Summerlin adds, "From a PR perspective, this was a very
interesting part of our goal last year. Both Dell and CGI encourage
risk, so we got environmental advocates to tell Michael what they
thought and we invited the press. The payoff was accolades and
'thank you's' for Dell's work, but it could have gone the other
way. That sort of exposure might be frowned on elsewhere, but
Michael and everyone said 'let's do it.'"
Dell also devoted a page in its catalog to asset recovery and
recycling, reaching 36 million customers. Then there was the Web.
"More than half of our computers are sold online, so that's the
most popular channel to get to a customer," Hilton says.
It was also the conduit for a scheme Dell launched with the
Environmental Protection Agency, called "Free with
Purchase," offering the ability to recycle an old computer when
buying a new one.
Dell was not alone in its concern for the environment. Other
computer companies also had addressed the problem, some actually
investing in recyclers. Days before Dell was due to announce the
"Free with Purchase" offer, competitor Hewlett-Packard came
out with a similar scheme, forcing Dell to move up its own
announcement. "The national media saw two big competitors suddenly
announce free recycling on same day, so the coverage became
exponential and more of a trend piece," Dietz says.
Another success was the October 2004 launch of the Computer
Recycling Project in Austin, Texas, Dell's home town.
Austin has a huge environmental community, which attracted
coverage not just from local media but also from global media. "It
took an issue the community is concerned about -- 'what do I do
with my old computer?' -- and created job opportunities for people
in the community," Summerlin says. Dell also went international
with its program, launching events in Ireland and Malaysia,
followed by Canada, Brazil and the U.K.
Since then, Dell has won a Business Ethics award for
environmental progress, and it has gone from being a laggard to
being a category leader in recycling. "It was an amazing turnaround
in a relatively short period of time," Hilton says. "People who
were originally our critics came to praise us."
Contacts: Bryant Hilton, 512.723.4780, [email protected];
Caroline Dietz, 512.724.2847, [email protected];
Talley Summerlin, 512.542.2840, [email protected]
Challenged By Change
Dell, a fast-growing company, had not been significantly
challenged or criticized in the way it was by environmental groups
in 2002. This motivated the company, in a very short period of
time, to take such stakeholder criticism and engagement seriously.
"Dell listens to outside parties on these sorts of decisions, and
we wanted to have positive effects, not negative effects, on the
environment as well as trying to grow our business," says Bryant
Hilton, global sustainability communications manager. "And just
dealing with that pace of change was probably the biggest
challenge."