Responsible Communications Services

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Products and Services | Who we work with

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Core components of responsible communications

1. PURPOSE & CLARITY

Good communications are based upon clarity of purpose. The purpose of the communications is also strengthened if your organisation has a recognised purpose. Communications should include corporate purpose and intent, commitments made, and actions taken. Messaging should be consistent with the implications of business ambition and help build engagement and understanding of sustainability.

2. ENGAGEMENT

It is important to ensure you understand stakeholder needs and can answer their questions. Developing, maintaining and nurturing constructive dialogue with key stakeholders outside the company helps build relationships and knowledge. This will often also include a component of disclosure about company ambitions and intent and will typically include partners, suppliers and customers.

3. DISCLOSURE

Disclosure can include informal communications but also includes more formal and structured information on company strategy, direction and intent and, perhaps most importantly, evidence of performance. Investors, funders, partners and regulators all require information. While the form and detail of requests will vary, the fundamentals are often consistent.

4. MARKETING

Telling your customers about your sustainability ambition, story and progress is now a crucial part of effective marketing. But there are often tensions between positive marketing messages and responsible communications and keeping quiet (green hushing) is no longer an option. It is therefore vital that messages are accurate, authentic and avoid greenwashing.

Our Services – avoiding greenwash

Terrafiniti’s approach

We’ve worked with companies in the UK, Europe and beyond to help avoid greenwash by developing responsible communications approaches, content and copy. Ranging from corporate strategic corporate reporting and disclosure to brand guidelines or in-store packs, we can help you develop content that’s clear, accurate and substantiated.

Who we work with

We’ve had the pleasure of working with a range of clients from charities and start-up businesses to large global companies and NGOs.

Major UK / European retailer

Outcomes:

• Review of major new product category launch messaging, copy, collateral and imagery
• Reactive advisory support on brand book and multiple product lines copy, collateral and content
• Training on responsible communications.

Preparing for a major brand launch this international retailer sought advice on copy for the campaign and a wide range of products to minimise the risk of greenwashing and contravening the Green Claims Code. Together with copy support, we briefed teams and helped develop procedures.

Ajinomoto – report assessment, peer review and SDGs

Outcomes

• International best practice review of corporate reports and communications against key peers
• Clarity on strengths and weaknesses of communication with suggestions for improvement
• Specific support and feedback on engagement with and reporting against SDGs.

Ajinomoto is one of Japan’s leading companies and a global manufacturer of chemicals, pharmaceuticals and food ingredients. We provided benchmarking, assessment and peer review of their approach to sustainability/CSR disclosure and reporting, delivering a clear picture of good practice, opportunities for improvement and insights into the ambitions and actions of their global peers

3StepIT – strategic communications for the circular economy

Outcomes

• Strategic ESG narrative for fast-growing international business
• Alignment with EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy
• Development of methods and metrics for the carbon reduction business case of refurbished laptops in circular computing.

Lactalis UK & Ireland/Lactalis Nestle Chilled Dairy – responsible communications/avoiding greenwash training

Outcomes:

• Insights into increasing focus on greenwash
• Clarity on greenwash types and risks
• Experience of spotting greenwash and insight into developing responsible sustainability communications.

Part of Groupe Lactalis, one of the world’s largest dairy companies, Lactalis UK and Ireland and Lactalis Nestle Chilled Dairy (LNCD – a joint venture between Lactalis and Nestle) are one of UK and Ireland’s largest cheese and chilled dairy companies, sourcing and buying sourcing milk from UK farms and manufacturing cheese and yoghurts for supply to major UK retailers and shops of all sizes.

We worked with commercial and sales professionals from across the business to explore and understand greenwash and how to avoid it.

Intersnack – responsible communications/avoiding greenwash training and consultancy for commercial and sales teams

Outcomes:

• Built staff understanding of greenwash, its dimensions and risks
• Spotting greenwash, how and where it occurs and how to avoid it
• Identification of customer communication needs and channels
• Clear guidance and approved responsible communication messages for use across direct customer communication and on-pack messaging channels.

Intersnack Group is one of Europe’s largest snack firms, sourcing products from across the world. Driving the sustainability of their sourcing, manufacture and supply is a strategic focus of the company and its customers.

We delivered training and consultancy to commercial and sales staff across the business to spot and avoid greenwash and developed clear guidance for the responsible communication of their achievements and ambitions for customer communication and on-pack messaging.

8020 Communications – responsible communications/avoiding greenwash training

Outcomes

• Insights into increasing focus on greenwash
• Clarity on categories and types of greenwash
• Experience of spotting greenwash and insight into developing responsible sustainability communications.

8020 Communications is a multiple-award strategic communications consultancy for aviation, travel and mobility. We provided sustainability training and capacity building, focusing on best practice in sustainability management and avoiding greenwash.

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How can we help you?

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