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Our work
Barclays
Measuring business impact
Barclays asked Good Business to help with the creation of a framework to measure the business impact from its Community Investment activity, to support its existing measurement activities and improve links to other parts of the business.
Barclays has a well-established Community Investment programme and is well versed in measuring the social impacts of its activities, but felt that more could be done to understand the commercial value that Community Investment delivers to the business. We worked with Barclays to identify the parts of the business that Community Investment’s activities influence, and conducted a series of interviews with these teams to explore how they measured the impact of their own activities and quantified their return on investment. From this, we created a map of existing measurement processes within the business, and identified opportunities for the Community Investment team to work with other departments, whose activities are complementary, to develop more effective measurement methodologies (with HR and Sponsorship, for example).
“Good Business helped us to see the bigger picture about how we can improve our evaluation of the commercial value of our work in Community Investment. Through a structured process, they have helped us to understand the range of opportunities available to us for measuring and working with other parts of the business”
Mark Thain, Associate Director, Barclays
Old Mutual
Carbon audit
In the process of moving beyond just communicating its community investment work, Old Mutual approached us to deliver a more comprehensive narrative, both on and offline, for its stakeholders.
A core part of this was helping deliver the corporate responsibility section of the Old Mutual Annual Report. During the process we co-ordinated the information and data gathering from over 30 different business units and drafted the individual sections which covered its key impact areas. In addition to this content, we also updated the corporate responsibility section of the website with expanded case studies and content.
“Communicating with our stakeholders on our progress on social and environmental issues is essential. Good Business have been vital in helping us gather the information, find the right tone and deliver the right messages."
Helen Wilson, Head of Corporate Responsibility, Old Mutual
Website and annual report
In 2007, Old Mutual committed to complete its first open submission to the Carbon Disclosure Project as part of its desire to better understand its environmental impacts.
We worked closely with Old Mutual to manage the quantitative data collection, conduct the carbon footprint calculations, and then write a cohesive and robust report, in line with the CDP reporting requirements. As a result of this work we are now working with Old Mutual to complete their third open submission for 2009.
“Good Business took responsibility for gathering the data and calculating our footprint and were invaluable in organising our CDP submission.”
Helen Wilson, Head of Corporate Responsibility, Old Mutual
Microsoft
Community investment research
On behalf of Microsoft, we carried out a piece of work to research and analyse the current community investment landscape, and to benchmark the community investment activities of the leading European companies in this area.
We conducted a series of interviews with community investment professionals and other experts in the field, and produced a thought leadership report which was published by Ethical Corporation, and sponsored by Microsoft, that examined best practice and provided evidence-based recommendations for community investment in the 21st century. We also convened a roundtable discussion with senior executives from the business and charity sectors to explore the challenges involved in delivering effective community investment programmes. Click here to download and read the full report.
“Good Business carried out a detailed piece of research which shed new light on the many facets of community investment practices across Europe. Their insights were compelling and their analysis was spot on”
Sylvie Laffarge, Director Community Affairs Europe, Microsoft
Yorkshire Water
Vision and values development
In 2010, the senior management team of Yorkshire Water was seeking to understand stakeholder perspectives of the company, its responsibilities and the sustainability of the water industry.
Good Business designed and carried out a comprehensive piece of stakeholder research, involving interviews with politicians, regulators, the media, academia, NGOs, think tanks and the civil service, to explore thoughts on business critical issues facing the UK water industry. We also organised an expert roundtable forum on water sustainability, to explore these issues in more depth. This dual research produced a focused yet extremely rich insight into stakeholder opinions and recommendations for the secto
Kelda Group then asked Good Business to support the development of a new company Vision and Values, which would be informed by the findings of the research. We held a series of creative workshops with the Kelda senior management team to discover, develop and test a new sustainable strategic direction for the company. We also supported the company in gathering input from employees, and fostering support from the Board.
The internal response to the final output – a new Vision, Values and strategic direction for the company – was overwhelming. Just weeks after they were communicated internally, internal awareness stood at an impressive 64% – and this was before the launch of an internal campaign to raise awareness. The company is now reviewing five-year plans and setting ambitious long-term goals, using sustainability as a platform for leadership and success.
“Our new vision and values express what we want to say about ourselves, our responsibilities and our sustainability as a business. The new values are beginning to feel obvious and intuitive to everyone here, and decisions are being made as a result of the vision. The support and expertise of Good Business helped us to reach where we have got to, and continues to influence where we’re going.”
Richard Flint, Chief Executive Kelda Group
Fiat
Communications strategy (eco:Drive)
Fiat asked us to support the launch of eco:Drive, its environmental driving tool, through the development of a global communications strategy, and a delivery plan for Fiat UK to implement this for the eco:Drive launch.
We worked closely with Fiat and its creative agencies to develop resources and content to support the launch of eco:Drive. We developed a communications story that brought together Fiat’s heritage and current environmental efforts that informed press releases, agency briefing and internal communications. We developed strategic partnerships with TfL and the AA, a communications toolkit for European markets on how to position and deliver eco:Drive communications, and copy writing services.
Click here to read about the recently launched White Paper on eco:drive.
“Good Business’ expertise in environmental communications was invaluable during the launch of eco:Drive. They created a clear and effective strategy for the UK and Europe, ensuring that our messaging was sensitive and consistent, and also helped to facilitate useful strategic partnerships for us. Their support has given us a clearer understanding of the best ways to talk about our environmental activities and credentials, and much more confidence in doing so.”
Brane Bosancic, Marketing Manager, Fiat UK
Liberty
Climate Challenge
Employee engagement is a core element of Liberty Global’s Climate Challenge programme and we developed a number of activities to raise awareness among employees and drive behaviour change, both at work and at home.
In order to raise awareness, we developed the Climate Challenge Quiz, an interactive online initiative that tests environmental knowledge and provides information about how small changes can help the environment. Employees are able to see how their company scores against other companies in the Liberty Global group. We also created the Carbon Pledge, an online tool to enable employees to calculate their personal carbon footprint and pledge to take steps to reduce their footprint across their daily lives. The idea was that, by making pledges, employees would be able to understand the positive impact of making small changes collectively. Both these online initiatives have been complemented by campaigns around the themes of energy ‘Switch Off’ and travel ‘Eco travel’. We helped Liberty Global develop the campaign strategies and created the visual aids and interactive tools for delivery. The next campaign will be about waste.
“Climate Challenge has not only been extremely effective at raising awareness about the environment and encouraging behaviour change, but it has also been fun! Good Business has supported us throughout the implementation of all the different elements of the programme and we have been impressed by their innovative engagement ideas and creative flair for communications.”
Roy Sharon, Senior Corporate Responsibility Manager, Liberty Global
Corporate responsibility strategy
When Liberty Global wanted to review its approach to managing its social and environmental impacts, it asked us to help them.
We conducted a stakeholder prioritisation review to understand the important that key stakeholders in different regions placed on different aspects of Liberty’s performance, and then worked with the company to develop a strategy that would help take the business to a CR leadership position, and that would support its broader business objectives. The strategy prioritises “lead” issues, united by a common theme of “digital confidence”, together with supporting themes. The strategy is now used to structure Liberty’s approach to managing and communicating its CR impacts globally.
“Good Business was instrumental in helping us shape our CR strategy. They provided a clear research and strategy development process that worked extremely well for our global organisation. We have found the client-consultant relationship to be very effective”
Roy Sharon, Senior Corporate Responsibility Manager, Liberty Global
CR reporting on corporate website
Following the launch of Liberty Global’s CR strategy, we supported the development and implementation of corporate responsibility communications on the corporate website.
We carried out cross sector review of CR website, evaluating the content and presentation, drawing out case studies and identifying the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to online communications. This led to recommendations for the structure, content and functionality of the site. Once agreed, we wrote and developed the core content for the website and worked with each affiliate to identify engaging and inspiring case studies from across the business that reflected the variety and breadth of CR activity in progress. We were also involved in finding suitable images for different areas of the site.
Since the site was launched, we have supported Liberty Global to establish a process for collecting and organising content going forward.
“Good business carried out a thorough review of CR online communications which supported the entire website development process. The style and scope of the content was engaging and comprehensive and a great starting point for our external CR communications.”
Roy Sharone, Senior Corporate Responsibility Manager, Liberty Global
CenterParcs
Consumer research
Good Business was asked by Center Parcs to conduct a piece of qualitative consumer research examining what contributes to quality family time and what factors make the time that families spend together as valuable as possible.
The research was conducted to help Center Parcs keep in tune with their target family market and help ensure their ongoing investments in improvements to facilities and activities are relevant, contemporary and therefore appealing to modern families. We carried out a series of focus groups with parents around the UK, exploring the concept of family time and followed this with a larger scale quantitative research project, before compiling the findings into a public report. The research found that contrary to popular opinion, family time has not fallen victim to the pressures of modern life. Although family life today is different to family life 20 years ago, it is a more fluid, equal and collaborative approach that offers enjoyment and pleasure to all family members.
"Good Business took time to understand our business and worked with us as a team. They seamlessly managed the research process for us, carrying out the qualitative elements with great insight. The findings were illuminating and presented in a thoughtful and detailed way that has added value, to both our communications and product development processes.”
Colin Whaley, Sales and Marketing Director, CenterParcs
Morgan Stanley
Social leadership programme
Morgan Stanley asked Good Business to develop and deliver a programme that would demonstrate its credentials as a thought-leader and a responsible organisation with a commitment to global issues.
We worked with the Morgan Stanley International Foundation and Unicef to create the J8 programme, running in parallel with the annual G8 summit and giving young people from around the world the opportunity to learn about international issues, debate them at a national level, and ultimately to present their own solutions and suggestions to world leaders at the G8 summits in Edinburgh and St Petersburg.
“Good Business took us from the original idea to the final conclusion of the project – a youth summit in St Petersburg held alongside the G8 summit, with the best and brightest young people from around the world seated at a table with world leaders, presenting their ideas on how to bring about a better world. From the start of the project, Good Business provided sound strategic advice, built on solid research and insights, coupled with efficient and effective project management. A strong working partnership between the Foundation, Morgan Stanley, Unicef and Good Business delivered a successful and inspirational outcome”
Justin Simpson, Former Chairman of the Morgan Stanley International Foundation
Orange
Corporate responsibility strategy development
We worked with Orange to identify which social and environmental issues it should lead on and develop its corporate responsibility (CR) strategy to deliver against those issues. Following this strategy development process, Orange requested we develop and implement the internal management structure to deliver the strategy across the business.
The process involved creating taskforces for each of the leadership areas which were headed up by senior members of the business and included decision makers from key business units. We led the taskforce process by identifying targets and activities for each area that would take the business to a leadership position in that issue. We then worked with the taskforces to agree action plans that would ensure the delivery of activity and enable the business to communication internally and externally.
“Good Business provided a robust implementation process that enable us to put the internal structures in place to manage and deliver our CR strategy. It helped us map out where we want to be and what we need to do to get there. It also gave us the opportunity to bring together key people from across the business and engage them in our corporate responsibility activities”.
Helen Davies, Head of Responsibility, Everything Everywhere (parent Group of Orange)
Green Ambassador Programme
Having successfully delivered a strong environmental action plan through the Environment Task Force, the Orange CR team tasked Good Business with designing a Green Champions network for employees.
We designed a programme around high quality training (developing bespoke coursework for a nationally recognised vocational qualification (BTEC Level 2)) clearly defined champion responsibilities and attractive rewards. The result is a programme that will provide the CR team with a useful network for the delivery of environmental messages and change management.
“We were keen to develop a programme which would allow enthusiastic employees to participate in the environmental agenda and assist us in delivering on our environmental objectives. Good Businesses have created the infrastructure for a champions network which does exactly this, and which will provide participants with the opportunity to acquire a national recognised qualification”
Helen Davies, Head of Responsibility, Everything Everywhere (parent Group of Orange)
SRA
Not-for-profit development
The Sustainable Restaurant Association is a new not-for-profit initiative which aims to make UK restaurants global leaders in sustainability.
Good Business was responsible for incubation of the project, from inception through to launch in March 2010 and including design and production of all advisory content, accreditation scheme development, marketing and PR, recruitment and partnership brokerage.
“The SRA is establishing itself as a crucial component in the restaurant industry; a vital partner for anyone who wants to take sustainability seriously and a way for customers to get consistent guidance on which restaurants are doing things well. The success of the SRA is down to the fantastic support, insight and guidance which Good Business provided in its development ”
Henry Dimbleby, Founder of Leon and Director, SRA
L’Oreal
Sustainability strategy and communications
As part of its sustainability journey, L’Oreal wanted to understand how it could embed environmental practices across its network of salons and communicate more effectively with its consumers.
Through detailed stakeholder research with employees, salon owners and customers we identified a prioritised list of concerns. This was combined with a complete salon environmental assessment allowing us to develop, with the L’Oreal sustainability team, a salon toolkit and set of options for engaging salon owners.
“Sustainability in the hairdressing salon industry is relatively uncharted water. This piece of work was vital in helping us understand what the opportunities are and what routes we might take as a business to embed sustainability across our network of salons. Good Business always managed carefully the mix between a stretch goal and operational realism.”
Minter Dial, Managing Director, International Professional & Business Development, L’Oreal Professional Products Division
Innocent Buy One Get One Bee
Consumer engagement
Innocent is renowned for its innovative and engaging consumer promotions. Good Business were engaged to create three alternative communications properties to complement existing activities.
Through our creative brand campaign process, consumer research, and development work with Innocent we created consumer engagement campaigns around issues close to innocent’s heart. We developed brand designs, consumer engagement mechanics and a set of potential delivery partners for each campaign idea. Following an employee vote at Innocent this led to the launch of its most recent campaign ‘Buy one get one bee’ in April 2010.
“Good Business brought a deep understanding of sustainability, brand building and importantly how to combine this to creatively engage with consumers on the issues. Their critical thinking was indispensable throughout the creation of the exciting and innovative consumer proposition “Buy one get one bee”. Not only will this campaign drive sales, it will also ensure that some of our unsung hardest workers - the bee population- are protected!”
Richard Reed, Co-Founder Innocent Drinks
McDonald’s CCI
Consumer research
Originally commission in 2007, we have now completed three years of quantitative consumer research for McDonald’s.
As part of our regular Concerned Consumer Index (insert link) we developed a set of bespoke questions exploring consumer awareness and perception of the brand, its initiatives and its planned future activity. The quantitative research was conducted with 1,000 adults from across the UK. The data and the strategic analysis delivered as part of this work is now part of McDonald’s regular brand tracking conducted each year.
"The Concerned Consumer Index gives an excellent snapshot of consumers' social and environmental concerns. This is at both a general business and at a sector-specific level. The analysis and strategic input that Good Business wrap around the information is top rate; clear, incisive and business oriented".
Tom Peck – Head of Research and Insight, McDonald’s UK
Thomas Cook CCI
Consumer research
As part of the Concerned Consumer Index, Thomas Cook commissioned a set of questions exploring ethics and the travel industry.
As part of the research and analysis we looked at the main social and environmental concerns of consumers, explored how consumer perceptions, and made a series of recommendations of particular avenues that could be pursued to build brand reputation and value. The research and analysis were then used internally by Thomas Cook to help identify areas of focus in sustainability for the brand.
"Getting a clear understanding of what the consumer is thinking in relation to social and environmental issues is vital for Thomas Cook and our future success. The research and analysis provided by Good Business through the Concerned Consumer Index provided us with an excellent insight into the challenges we face not only in our sector but also our business.”
Andrew Cooper, Director of Government and External Affairs, Thomas Cook Group plc
Coca Cola
Brand responsibility
As part of the development of The Coca-Cola Company’s sustainability programme, Live Positively, we worked with the brand teams from across the business in the UK to develop a framework to help embed sustainability issues at a brand level.
We created a set of sustainability impacts for the brands, an agreed set of minimum performance standards in each impact area and conducted a brand audit for each of the brands in the portfolio. The output from the work also included a roadmap of recommended actions and a set of potential leadership areas for each brand.
"Sustainability is a core part of how we operate. Part of making this a reality required us to develop a detailed understanding of where each of our brands was and establishing a road map of where each brand is going, in relation to sustainability. The Brand Responsibility process delivered by Good Business started that journey helping our brand teams understand their role in delivering sustainability across the business."
Lauren Branston – Head of Corporate Communications, Coca-Cola Great Britain
Carbon coaching
The impact of any environmental programme is invariably increased through effective employee engagement.
With this in mind, we worked with Coca-Cola Great Britain to develop an engagement programme to help each employee reduce their personal carbon footprint as part of CCGB’s commitment to reduce its own environmental impact. Through carefully designed employee communications, a series of one-on-one consultations, and an online feedback tool we developed a set of personal carbon reduction plans for each employee. Using a series of green incentives and the natural spirit of competition within the business we achieved a 96% participation rate and helped deliver three priority actions for each employee. The project was extremely well received by employees and was cited in coca cola’s 2009 entry in The Times Great Places to Work report.
“Getting all our employees engaged in helping reduce company and individual environmental impact has been vital. The Carbon Challenge provided an excellent starting point to this engagement, helping our employees see how they could each play a role in reducing not only their carbon footprint at work, but also at home, with a plan tailored to each individual."
Mark Wallace, Head of Green Team, Coca-Cola Great Britain
