Category Archives: Insight

When is the right time to hire a PR agency?

This is a question that frequently arises as companies grow. We have 25 years’ corporate communications experience to draw on in being able to advise on this. We have worked with hundreds of companies at different points in their development, from seed funded start-ups to listed multinationals looking for a reputational reboot or an image refresh. There are probably just 2 key questions that you need to ask yourself when thinking about whether it is the right time to work with a PR agency regardless of size and life stage of organisation.

 

1.  Are you clear on what you want PR to deliver?


2. Do you have enough time and resource to work with a PR agency?

 

This article addresses question one, with part two to follow next week.

1. ARE YOU CLEAR ON WHAT YOU WANT PR TO DELIVER?

This might seem like an obvious question, but it is more complicated than it may appear. PR is just one discipline in a big bag of ever blurring marketing competencies. If you asked most people to describe what PR means to them, most would say ‘press coverage’, but media relations (or some call it publicity) is just one of the ways in which PR does the job of building awareness, preference and influence with different groups of stakeholders.

Public relations, to give it its full name, can be relevant for all the different audiences that matter to organisations, from perhaps the most obvious one – customers, to others including investors, commercial partners, trade and industry groups, regulators, NGOs and even internal audiences like staff and other companies in a group.

With these potential audiences there are naturally different ways to reach them. The media is certainly one route, but it is by no means the only one. Social media channels are what we PR firms class as ‘owned’ rather than ‘earned’ media and they need content strategies and pro-active management in order to do their work of engaging with relevant audiences.  Speaking at conferences and events, organising your own events from attention grabbing stunts, to product sampling, round tables and panel discussions, winning awards, publishing research and white papers, making a podcast or a video, holding a staff townhall – all of these are valid ways of reaching an audience and PR firms get involved in delivering all of them to a greater or lesser degree, depending on client needs.

So, if you know the who? (audience) and the how? (the channel you are going to use to reach them), then you need to figure out the what? Or rather, the content, what you are going to say – your messaging. This is also a very typical part of a PR firm’s mandate, to help clients figure out what they want to communicate when they stand on platforms or give press interviews to make the desired impression. All this may appear to be achingly obvious, but ask anyone who has experienced the messaging inconsistency of a fast-growing company’s leadership team who are all going off in different directions with their own agenda and they will tell you that projecting a consistent and clear message doesn’t happen without some professional intervention. The other classic is the untrained spokesperson who lets slip some information before they should to a journalist, either because they are nervous, distracted or pressured into it.

Let’s assume for the sake of brevity, that you have figured out your messaging, (naturally it flows from your vision and mission), and you have a clear comms plan in place that is going to get your story in front of the people that matter, the only thing left to figure out is how you will know what success looks like?

There are plenty of people who think PR is an expensive waste of time. There are others, like Bill Gates who share the opinion, “If I was down to my last dollar, I would spend it on public relations.” I would put money on the fact that the main difference in their experience is that those in the Gates camp were clear from the outset what they wanted their PR to deliver and they agreed with their PR team how it would be measured, evaluated and reported on.

Too often, inexperienced people – on both the client and agency side – fail to do this part well enough at the outset. The result is that they discover too late that their expectations were never aligned, or that their understanding of the impact of the outcomes was not the same.

In its broadest definition, (that of attention that has been earned because something was clever,  entertaining or thought provoking rather than paid for through advertising or sponsorship) PR can deliver an outsize return on investment.

But it is important to be realistic. One press release about a product upgrade isn’t going to set the world on fire. Generally speaking, to get attention, you need to invest careful thought and realistic amounts of money, but that’s not to say that an unusually creative idea, or a brilliantly charismatic spokesperson won’t generate a huge return on investment (ROI). That’s the holy grail that every client and every PR person is always chasing.


NEXT TIME:

2. Do you have enough time and resource to work with a PR agency?

When is the right time to hire a PR agency?

In part two of our guidance on when is the best time to hire a PR agency, the second key question to ask is: Do you have enough time and resource to work with a PR agency?

Very often companies hire a PR agency too early before they are fully able to dedicate enough attention to ensuring that it will be a success. So, consider whether you are set up for an agency to succeed. As we explored in part one, success is dependent on good fundamentals. Is there a clear brief? Are we all in agreement on which audiences are the priorities and what we are going to focus on in terms of key messages? Do we know what good looks like?

This sounds flippant, but it gets to a much more important truth about experience. Is there someone on your team who has worked on or in PR before? It’s completely possible to know nothing of the workings of PR and be a great client, you just need to choose the right agency that is experienced at guiding you through the process.

The other major consideration is who is going to be the PR firm’s main point of contact? This may not necessarily be the same as the person who is accountable for PR in your organisation. Setting the strategy and the budgets and judging the results isn’t the same as getting hold of a spokesperson or approving a quote or a social media post on a daily basis.

Different agencies work in different ways, but they all need help to be effective. Let me share an example. An experienced PR client will know that media opportunities need to be acted on quickly. If your PR secures an opportunity for you to provide a comment for something that is in the news, or if there’s a journalist who wants to speak to you, you have to act quickly to secure the opportunity.

Journalists very often have a few conversations on the go because they know that busy executives aren’t always going to be available to meet their deadlines. Similarly, if the PR comes up with an idea they want to pitch to a journalist around specific moment in time or news item, you have to be responsive enough so that they can land it in time. Responsiveness is a biggie. Otherwise you will be wasting your money paying for your PR team to develop opportunities that are going to waste. It’s not only morale that suffers in that scenario: Journalists like people who get back to them as they are usually working to deadlines. If you are a bottleneck, relationships will suffer and you won’t get the best result.

Other ways in which inexperienced clients can unwittingly do more harm than good is in scope creep. Like so many other service businesses, time is money. In order to be a well-run business, PR agencies need to keep an eye on over-servicing clients. If the fee you’ve agreed covers an amount of time or is set against delivery of a particular activity, introducing new tasks and asking for lots of extra calls and meetings uses up the time and takes the focus away from delivery of the agreed deliverables (sometimes referred to as KPIs). And we’re back to creating conditions to enable success again.

One final watch out is whether you have anyone who is happy to step up and actually be the public face of the organisation (if it’s that kind of PR, product campaigns rely less on people than PR that’s designed to work at company level). But again, this can really be a major factor in whether the agency is enabled to succeed. Spokespeople should be media trained. There is no such thing as a ‘natural’ it’s just that experience makes it look easy.

Too many communications consultants may be familiar with a scenario in which you have a request from the BBC for someone to appear on the Today programme, (the flagship business focused morning radio show), the one o’clock news and the six o’clock news. But none of your potential spokespeople are willing to move their day around to do it. So, after many, many calls and conversations and attempts to coerce and cajole the various spokespeople, a day is lost, as is the opportunity that had probably taken months to foster.

The real point here is that someone on the client side needs the authority to make it happen. PR can very often be seen as a discretionary activity by people inside an organisation who are the subject matter experts the media wants to interview. Setting clear expectations on both sides at the outset can be helpful if this situation arises.

Other areas that need addressing are often somewhat creative and therefore often subjective. Writing for a media audience is a case in point. There is an art and science to writing a good press release.  Endless rounds of reviewing and revisions of media materials by people inside client organisations can become problematic and time consuming. We have a saying which is ‘be careful who you ask’ because most people have a point of view and will fiddle around with a document given half a chance. This can end up with a Frankenstein’s monster of a press release over-long, overtly salesy and stuffed with bland quotes from everyone and their dog. This segues into a great cliché – why get a dog and bark yourself? If you’ve gone to the trouble of hiring a PR agency, they should be more than capable of advising you on the contents of a press release.

And this is a good place to end. Trust is key. Don’t be surprised if your agency sets out a ‘ways of working’ manifesto that helps to frame reasonable expectations on both sides at the beginning of your relationship. In fact, be happy if they do, because it means they are determined to remove all barriers to doing a good job for you, even the ones you might not realise are there.

Getting your sustainability story right

Gone are the days when it was enough to report on the financial health of a company once a year. Sustainability reporting is now not just an optional extra; it is increasingly becoming a legal requirement.

In April 2022, the UK became the first G20 country to make reporting aligned to the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) mandatory. TCFD reports are designed to help companies reassure investors of their commitment to tackling climate change, specifically their plan to meet the Paris Climate Agreement’s target of limiting global temperature rise to under 2C.

Hot on the heels of the TCFD is the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD). Very much aligned to the TCFD, it is designed to help organisations report and act on evolving nature-related risks. The taskforce was only established in 2021 and is still collecting feedback from the market on how it should work. Its overarching aim is to shift capital away from nature-negative outcomes but, unlike the TCFD, it is voluntary.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

When it comes to reporting on sustainability performance, the options can be overwhelming. While some companies report only on their greenhouse gas emissions, others produce reports on their corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives and their environment, social and governance (ESG) ratings. Over the past decade, the choices have spiralled, and the legal requirements continue to stack up.

In November 2022, the European Union adopted the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), requiring companies to disclose their impact on people and the planet. And the US Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed new climate and ESG disclosure requirements.

Attempting to make sense of the recent explosion of both voluntary and mandatory rules is the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). Founded in November 2021, its job is to come up with a comprehensive global baseline of sustainability-related disclosure standards and is expected to issue its first two finalised frameworks by June 2023.

THE CHANGING FACE OF SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING

Sustainability reporting has changed remarkably over the years. KPMG has tracked it since 1993, when only 12 per cent of companies globally published sustainability reports. By 2020, that figure had risen to 80 per cent and even higher (90 per cent) for the largest companies in the world. In the report’s introduction, KPMG’s Adrian King said: “Sustainability reporting is now so nearly universal that the small minority of companies not yet reporting will find themselves seriously out of step with global norms.”

For the past 13 years, PwC has reviewed sustainability reporting across the FTSE 350, public interest entities and inbound companies – 450 organisations in total. It found that just over half of them indicated that ESG matters were integral to strategy or underpinned their strategy and 48% included a KPI on carbon reduction.

SEVEN TOP TIPS FOR A GOOD SUSTAINABILITY REPORT

  1. Where a good sustainability report sets itself apart from the rest is in transparency. That means two things: proof, and honesty. Acknowledge bad results and explain how improvements will be made. No organisation is going to be perfect from the get-go, but with a sustainability strategy in place, measurement procedures, and regular reporting on the results, the journey to a more sustainable future will be faster and smoother.
  2. Proof of impact should be non-negotiable for all sustainability reports. Policies and strategies show good intention, but good intention is not enough. Any policy implemented should have clear metrics against it and be measured regularly (quarterly or monthly) to understand progress. Measuring should not be just for the sake of reporting; it will also allow a company to identify where a policy is or isn’t working and address it quickly. Some areas of reporting might require more qualitative evidence of impact. Case studies are the most frequently used tool to qualitatively show impact and tell the story behind the numbers. Opening and closing notes, often penned by the CEO or the Chief Sustainability Officer, should also be used as an opportunity for storytelling.
  3. Don’t forget ‘social’: While much of the current regulation discussed in this article looks at climate and environmental reporting, this is only one part of the story. Social impact is frequently overlooked and underreported, with many organisations only including the bare minimum – diversity and workforce data – and most struggling to do even that. Social viewed through the lens of workforce issues is only half the picture. Reporting on impact on the local and wider community, or in your entire value chain, will give a far fuller view of your social impact.
  4. Clarity around Governance, ie how the organisation is managed, and how the board and management attend to the interests of employees, supplies, stakeholders, and customers, is also a key essential component to sustainability reporting.
  5. Underpinning a good sustainability report is the financial component. How has your sustainability strategy impacted the bottom line? And can you quantify your economic and environmental impact in monetary terms?
  6. Most sustainability reports are published in the spring and cover the work done over the previous year. It is not so much the date of publication which matters, but more that reports are brought out in a consistent fashion so that year-on-year comparisons of data and progress can be easily made.
  7. There is no set length for a sustainability report, but it is recommended that 30-40 pages is sufficient to cover the critical components in the right level of detail. Depending on your sector and business requirements, this might need to be longer.

 

WHAT IS NEXT FOR SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING?

While most companies now publish sustainability reports, they are rarely independently verified by a third party. This is beginning to change as new laws, such as reporting aligned to TCFD, come into force. Standardised rules and regulations, similar to those which apply to financial reporting, will give sustainability reporting the transparency and credibility it needs.

Please contact us on info@gongcommunications.com if you need support writing your sustainability report.

Why communicators should embrace multilingualism

Anna McShane, Gong Alumni

 

The benefits of speaking more than one language are widely recognised: improved memory, better job prospects, easier and more enjoyable travel, reduced risk of dementia, and numerous other cognitive, social and lifestyle advantages. 

“Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things.” – Flora Lewis, American journalist 

 

In fact, one Swiss study found that multilingualism has a clear positive correlation with an individual’s salary, the productivity of firms, and even a country’s GDP, stating that the GDP of Switzerland, a nation of polyglots, is augmented by 10 per cent thanks to multilingualism. 

The Covid-19 pandemic sparked a rise in new linguists; popular language learning app Duolingo reported a 300 per cent jump in new users during March 2021. This growth is undoubtedly down to lockdown boredom encouraging people to try something new, but it could also in part be attributed to rising job insecurity urging people to strengthen their CVs with a foreign language. 

In the workplace, multilinguists bring valuable skills to the teams they work with in every industry and specialism. Alongside their language talents, multilinguists are proven to be better problem-solvers and listeners, with expanded vocabularies and strong interpersonal skills. 

In the current social context, where much is being said about inclusion in the workplace, as exemplified by Gong Communication’s work with the annual Dive In festival, a diversity and inclusion festival for the global insurance industry, being multilingual improves our understanding of different ways of thinking. Each language has its own historical, social, and economic background, shaping a country’s culture and idiomatic traditions (e.g. regional dialects or familiar expressions). With Dive In now taking place in 40 different countries having colleagues that can interact easily with other cultures enhances a company’s social environment and leads to greater inclusivity. 

Improved communication skills are another well documented advantage of multilingualism. Various studies have shown that children growing up in environments where more than one language is spoken were better at understanding other people’s perspectives, a key social skill that drives good communication. Multilingualism can also bring heightened sensitivity towards cultural awareness. Speaking different languages makes you more open to dialogue with other cultures. 

As international sustainability PR experts working with a global client base, the skills that multilinguals bring to our industry are undeniable. Gong Kenya’s African client base makes us especially aware of this. We work with a variety of businesses across a continent that is home to more than 2,000 distinct languages – a third of the world’s languages. In a  team of 30, we’re proud to speak a total of 13 languages between us, from Arabic to Yoruba. Cultural awareness and sensitivity are a core part of what we do as communicators, and linguistic diversity is a notable valuable asset. 

 

If you are looking for opportunities to join a corporate communications firm in the UK, please feel free to explore our vacancies. We are growing at Gong and would be interested in hearing from sustainability PR experts who share our passion for purpose-driven brands making a positive impact. 

The UK – the go-to destination for climate tech

Dismissed as “woke capitalism” by some, the trend of making investment choices based on the positive impact they will have on society is here to stay. In the UK, much of this shift has focused on climate tech, so much so that the country is fast emerging as a global investment hub for climate tech start-ups.

A report by PwC shows that more venture capital funding is being ploughed into climate tech start-ups in the UK than any other country in Europe. Globally, the report found that climate tech is growing quickly as an asset class, with £71 billion invested over the second half of 2020 and the first half of 2021. From January to June 2021, record investment levels over £48.8 billion reflected a 210 per cent increase compared to the twelve months prior.

UK LEADS THE CHARGE

The UK has been at the forefront of this boom. According to a report by London & Partners and Dealroom, London is one of the leading hubs for climate tech globally, with £2.68 billion invested since 2016. London-based venture capital (VC) firms have raised over half of all European dedicated climate tech funds in the last two years.

Earlier this year, Climate VC launched in London to support start-ups in the UK that focus on climate change and carbon emissions. It will invest in 120 early-stage climate start-ups in the next three years, with £10 million to be invested in the first year. Climate VC is looking to double its funds every quarter, which would result in over £35 million by 2025. The firm has already invested in Global OTEC, which converts ocean thermal energy into clean power for tropical island nations, and Treeconomy, a nature-based carbon removal company.

Elbow Beach Capital launched a £20 million venture vehicle in March to back start-ups focusing on decarbonisation, sustainable energy and social impact opportunities. It plans to invest between £500,000 and £1.5 million in pre-seed to Series A businesses in the UK and globally. So far, it has led the seed round for WASE, a wastewater treatment and bioenergy company, and invested in Glasgow-based electric 4×4 manufacturer, Munro Vehicles, which plans to decarbonise vehicle fleets in the mining, forestry and agriculture sectors.

The money is starting to flow in the right direction, but not fast enough, according to the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) report. IPCC authors warn that financial flows are three to six times lower than the levels needed by 2030 to limit global warming to below 1.5C or 2C.

WHERE SHOULD THE MONEY GO?

According to PwC, investors are prioritising low-carbon transport when they should be focusing on five other areas which could collectively deliver 80 per cent of emissions reduction by 2050: solar power, wind power, green hydrogen production, reducing food waste and scaling proteins with a lower greenhouse gas footprint than animal proteins.

The report found that by 2050, almost half of global CO2 emissions reductions will come from technologies that are currently only at the demonstration or prototype phase. That is why more patient capital from early-stage VC investors is needed to deliver future breakthroughs, according to the report’s authors. “Investors need to look beyond the low-hanging fruit to help scale technologies in harder-to-abate sectors,” they conclude.

A SLOW DOWN?

In the UK, VC funding into climate tech start-ups stood at £329.6 million in Q1 2022, down from £857.6 million the previous quarter. Globally, a Climate Tech Report by PitchBook, which examines VC trends, found that investment in climate tech took a hit in Q1 of 2022 and predicts that it could fall further in Q2. But the report concludes that ultimately climate tech investment will continue to accelerate, partly due to the war in Ukraine and resulting calls for energy independence and partly due to the climate change crisis.

As Peter Gajdoš, Climate Lead at VC firm Fifth Wall, told a TechCrunch climate technology event in California: “Climate doesn’t care about inflation. The oceans are warming up. The forests are burning. These problems are still there, and someone needs to solve them, which creates opportunities.”

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Investment in hydrogen, solar, batteries, nuclear and wind will all accelerate, according to PitchBook’s research. The UK is already on the case. London-based HydrogenOne Capital, for example, provides investors with opportunities in clean hydrogen and energy storage. Earlier this year, it led a round of funding that secured £35 million for Bramble Energy. The investment will allow the company to roll out its portable power products globally and continue its ground-breaking work on hydrogen fuel cells.

Fusion energy is being touted as another solution to achieving a clean energy transition. Not to be confused with nuclear fission – the splitting of atoms to release energy (think nuclear power stations) – fusion is the opposite: the fusing together of hydrogen atoms at ultra-high temperatures to release energy (think the sun).

The technology is still in its infancy. Fusion start-up Tokamak Energy, based in Oxfordshire, is calling for more investment into this emerging sector.

Technology may not be the magic pill that cures all climate change problems, but it is becoming increasingly clear that limiting global temperature rise to 1.5C will not be possible without it. The innovative solutions climate tech start-ups are providing will continue to be an essential part of the mix.

Unlocking the wildlife economy

Africa is taking the lead when it comes to realising the potential the wildlife economy has to offer. Home to abundant wildlife and diverse habitats, it is perhaps not surprising that the journey to unlocking and diversifying the wildlife economy begins on this continent.  


 

Investing in natural infrastructure is a win-win. It means habitats can be restored, species saved and jobs created. It benefits people, nature and business alike, but governments and policy makers often fail to see nature as a key strategic asset. Instead, conserving wildlife is frequently viewed as a direct threat to economic development.   

Helping to turn this view around is the School of Wildlife Conservation (SOWC) at the African Leadership University in Rwanda. Its Director of Research Sue Snyman says the economic value of wildlife in Africa is still not recognised. To remedy this, SOWC has published a report on the State of the Wildlife Economy in Africa to show governments in concrete terms just how much the continent’s natural capital contributes to the economy.  

The report focuses on the ‘Big Five’ activities of the wildlife economy: ecotourism, carbon markets, forest products, hunting and fishing, and game ranching. Snyman hopes the research will encourage governments to invest more in nature.  

 

HOW DO YOU PUT A PRICE ON AFRICA’S WILDLIFE?

Traditionally, the wildlife economy has centred on ecotourism. In Africa alone, the wildlife safari industry is estimated to bring in between US$12.4 billion and US$42.9 billion in revenue. In 1981, our client African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) helped found one of the most famous ecotourism projects on the continent – the Mountain Gorilla Project in Rwanda. Thanks to its work, the mountain gorilla population has grown from only a few hundred at its lowest point to over 1,000 today – giving them the dubious honour of being the only great ape species whose population is increasing.  

The project has been such a success that it is now facing another problem: a lack of space. The gorillas are so numerous that they are frequently roaming outside the park boundary, putting them in direct conflict with people. The Rwandan Government is planning to expand the park by 37.4 square kilometres, increase tourists’ viewing opportunities and invest more than $70 million in social housing and infrastructure for Rwandans living around the park. This will provide jobs for more than 7,500 people in tourism, construction, agriculture and service sectors.  

 

WHO BENEFITS?

 This is the wildlife economy operating at its best. A system where everyone and everything benefits – wildlife, habitats and people alike. But the Covid-19 pandemic threw this, and many other ecotourism projects across the world, into chaos. When the tourism industry shut down, it became very clear that the wildlife economy needs to diversify if it is going to survive.   

One way to do this is to find other uses for species. Developing a sustainable wild meat sector through game farming (think ostrich, crocodile, antelope) can bring benefits to local communities, like food security, and even to the environment if it is done in the right way. So can game ranching – if management practices are up to scratch. The South African government is working with experts to explore the potential for a certification scheme within the ranching sector.  

Hunting remains a highly emotive topic. Some countries, like Kenya, have banned it altogether. Others, like Zimbabwe, focus on foreign hunters rather than locals, and countries such as the UK have plans to ban the import of hunting trophies from Africa. Francis Vorhies, Director of the African Wildlife Economy Institute (AWEI) at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, believes that 2022 needs to be the year we start a serious conversation about hunting. To this end, AWEI will be researching the role wild harvesting – including hunting – can play in conservation and economic development.  

It can be easy to forget that the wildlife economy is about more than just animals. Traditionally, definitions exclude plants but according to Gus le Breton, CEO of African Plant Hunter, that is wrong. Plants provide both the habitat and food for wild animals and are integral to the wildlife economy, he argues. In his vision, Africa is the new frontier for natural ingredient research. 

 

WHAT IS THE GLOBAL IMPACT?

The FairWild Foundation is trying to ensure that plant species, such as the baobab, rooibos, myrrh and frankincense, are harvested and traded responsibly. It has already certified 25 species from 14 countries. Newly appointed CEO Deborah Vorhies says she hopes the scheme will grow the market for wild-harvested plants and at the same time conserve landscapes and enhance local livelihoods.   

Plants and trees also form a central plank to another facet of the wildlife economy – carbon markets. Last year Gabon became the first African country to receive payment for reducing carbon emissions by protecting its rainforest, which covers 90 per cent of its territory and captures more carbon than the country emits. So far Gabon has received $17 million, the first tranche of $150 million from the UN-backed Central African Forest Initiative, by showing it has reduced deforestation.   

Private sector interest in natural climate solutions has also grown significantly. French multinational Danone, for example, has invested €3 million in a project to restore a mangrove forest in Senegal, which is expected to capture and store around 600,000 tons of CO2.  

Relationships between investors – be they from the private sector, governments or UN agencies – and those on the ground delivering conservation need to be nurtured if the wildlife economy is to blossom. In March, we helped AWF do just this at an event for more than 50 guests from the sustainability, finance and investment sectors and expert speakers from AWF Rwanda, Wilderness Safaris and FSD Africa, at the Royal Geographical Society in London.  

 

If you are a charity or startup business seeking investment and require PR support, please contact our expert communications team direct at info@gongcommunications.com and we’ll be in touch.

B Corp Month 2022 Part 3: A celebration of 10 international companies #BehindTheB 

PART 3: HOW CAN OTHERS B THE CHANGE?

In the finale of our 3-part series zooming in to focus on 10 inspiring international B Corps, we’re heading out East Asia to spotlight 3 more certified organisations. Gong’s B Corp Committee member and Senior Account Executive, Ryan Witton, acts as your guide to the final fab three.

If you missed Part 1: Where it all started, click here for the full blog.

To catch up on Part 2: B Corps all over the world, click here.

TREE PLANET

Tree Planet began life as a simple tree planting game on smartphones in South Korea and led to the planting of over 1 million trees in areas suffering from desertification like China and Mongolia. Now environmentally conscious individuals can plant trees by ‘adopting’ a pet tree that will sit in one of Tree Planet’s many themed forests. 

Tree Planet aims to plant 100 million trees worldwide by 2050, and more recently began its ‘Make Your Farm’ project to introduce environmentally friendly and sustainable coffee production methods to independent farmers. 

 

MYCOTECH

In West Java, Indonesia, Mycotech binds agricultural waste with mushroom mycelia to literally grow 100% natural building and textile materials. These eco-tech building materials offer effective heat insulation while its leather-like durable fabrics are animal-free and used in a variety of fashion apparel like shoes, wallets and bags. 

Mycotech has a strong circular economy model, re-using, recycling and composting its side streams and waste products, with very little entering landfill at the end of the process. The company-wide mantra is, “Change is a choice – and we choose to take the steps forward towards sustainability.” We’re with you Mycotech! 

 

ETHIQUE

And last but by no means least, we head down to NZ to meet a cosmetics brand based out of Christchurch, with a core guiding principle: healthy products, made with sustainable, naturally derived ingredients. Ethique eschews plastic bottles and harsh chemicals and instead produces super dense beauty product bars. These types of solid cosmetics have a long shelf life and can be used endlessly due to a high concentration of ingredients. Ethique advises consumers that their solid bars last up to 5 times as longer than their liquid alternatives with the added bonus being chemical and preservative free – great for all budgets, skin types and local water quality. 

 

That’s a wrap! We hope you’ve enjoyed following us on this virtual trek to meet just 10 of the amazing7 4,700+ B Corps across the globe. If your organisation is on a mission to make positive change for people and planet, access B Lab’s free eLearning toolkit at https://gongcommunications.com/gong-tapped-for-danone-and-b-lab-employee-engagement-brief/ 

B Lab is the non-profit network transforming the global economy to benefit all people, communities, and the planet.

B Corp Month 2022 Part 2: A celebration of 10 international companies #BehindTheB 

PART 2: B CORPS ALL OVER THE WORLD 

Welcome back for part 2 of this 3-part blog celebrating the achievements and commitments of international B Corp organisations. With 4,700 of them already certifying as part of a movement that believes business can be a force for good, we’ve picked 10 companies dotted around the world to shine a light on their activity, creating change for people, community and planet.  

Here’s more from Gong’s B Corp Committee member and Senior Account Executive, Ryan Witton. 

If you missed Part 1: Where it all started, click here to read the full blog.

 

TAZE & KURU 

In the city of Ankara, Turkish brand Taze & Kuru (meaning fresh and dried) is using ancient methods of food preservation to reduce food waste and embrace cultural traditions. It has pioneered a unique renewable energy powered food-drying process. 

How does it work? Well, the facility produces healthy snacks free from preservatives and additives. And its carbon footprint? An impressive 0 tonnes of carbon emissions are released in the process. The company believes that health and happiness is driven by the food we eat saying, “changing our eating habits can create miracles.” 

  

INSPIRA FARMS

Heading to West Africa, we spotted our innovative friends at InspiraFarms who provide agribusinesses across Africa with off grid cold chain solutions to reduce food loss and waste. With operations near clients in Kenya, Zimbabwe and Ghana and a UK HQ, the company provides tools, technology and expertise to support innovative farming and crop management. We salute its triple impact, reducing food loss and energy costs while helping farmers and coperatives unlock access to higher-value markets. Check out this agri-tech on a mission using the latest IoT and cloud-based systems, solar kits, cold rooms and other cool, cooling technologies. 

 

TRUTRADE AFRICA

Working out of Uganda and Kenya, TruTrade provides smallholder farmers with routes to market and fair prices for their produce. The social enterprise uses the ‘supply power’ of millions of small-scale producers connecting them with sustainable value chains. TruTrade also offers a mobile trading and payment platform which opens up new possibilities for farmers. This gives global commodity buyers the ability to connect with their smallholder farm suppliers. The B Corp is proud of its community impact too, helping local people drive rural development for future generations.  

  

LUBANZI WINES

Next stop, Cape Town! We’re shining the spotlight on the founders of Lubanzi Wines – they had a vision to create a social enterprise that would make a difference to the lives of agricultural labourers, with a strong focus on safeguarding the human rights of all their employees at every stage of production  

As part of Lubanzi Wines’ community pledge, 50% of net profits are recycled back into the Pebbles Project, a non-profit that supports families who live and work on South Africa’s wine farms. The company is planet-focused too and has achieved an impressive carbon neutral operation with 100% of its carbon footprint being completely removed or offset. 

 

There are a few more B Corps to reveal in our 10-stop international B Corp spotlight blog. Visit our social media channels for more in the finale of our 3-part series celebrating international corporate social responsibility (CSR) with 10 B Corp certified organisations. Can you guess where we’ll be going to next?  

B Lab is the non-profit network transforming the global economy to benefit all people, communities, and the planet. To learn more about how your organisation can change for good, take the free eLearning course with B Lab.

B Corp Month 2022 Part 1: A celebration of 10 international companies #BehindTheB 

With this year’s B Corp Month of March set to be the biggest on record, Gong’s B Corp Committee set off to learn more about the B Corp movement globally and how creating change from within our organisations can benefit people, communities and the planet. 

B Lab is a non-profit organisation on a mission to enable companies around the world to create a positive environmental and social impact. We think their mantra, “Make Business a Force for Good” embodies all the values of the B Corp movement helping to drive better standards and catalyse change – it’s already impacting more than 300,000 workers worldwide. 

Gong Communications, which celebrated its B Corp recertification this year, is a supporter of B Corp initiatives including the Better Business Act and related campaigns including greener pensions movement, Make My Money Matter, always striving to do more with other B Corps, both as clients and suppliers. 

In this new blog series, we hear from Gong B Corp Committee member and Senior Account Executive, Ryan Witton, who has been on the hunt for compelling B Corps based outside the UK to learn more about the diversity of impact around this growing global movement.  

 

PART 1: WHERE IT ALL STARTED

 

I’ve been engaged with B Corp for over a year now at Gong and in that time our B Corp Committee has learnt a lot about the different industries joining the movement. There’s a huge mix of products and services from various sectors, but one thing remains the same – a shared passion for social and environmental interdependence. 

At Gong, we feel it’s important to celebrate our fellow B Corps around the world using business as a force for good. There are currently over 4,700 certified B Corporations scattered across more than 70 countries, so whittling them down to just 10 was no easy feat! If you want to take a look at the wide range of certified B Corps out there, make sure to explore the online B Corp Directory. 

In the first blog of this 3-part series, we’re going to the Americas, both South and North – where it all started for B Lab. So in no particular order, let’s introduce our first B Corp. 

 

UNCOMMON GOODS

How much do you know about B Corp founding member, Uncommon Goods? The company founded an arts and crafts marketplace based in New York putting people and the environment at the heart of its business. Uncommon Goods offers consumers a place to discover creative designs by independent artists and craftspeople. Its catalogue is printed on recycled paper, delivered in environmentally friendlier packaging, and artists are also encouraged to use recycled or sustainable materials. Items available for sale are completely free of fur, feather, leather or pearl, and it donates $1 for each purchase to non-profits through its Better to Give programme 

  

ECO POOP

Sitting just north of the equator, Colombian company Eco Poop collects organic waste from pets and passes it through a bio-transformative process, creating excellent pesticide-free fertilisers for soils and plants. The enterprise installs kits in residential communities and provides all the tools (bespoke shovels and paper bags) that animal lovers need to create a culture of responsible pet ownership. 

Kudos to Eco Poop whose ingenious business model makes communal outdoor spaces healthier and free of pathogens for all. It’s also reducing CO2 emissions and helping to tackle climate change. 

 

ECOFACTORY

Next we’re heading further south to sunny Buenos Aires to give a shoutout to Ecofactory which makes reusable, recyclable shopping bags. Each month it produces more than 5 million plant-based bags with biodegradable textiles made from crops home-grown in Argentina. As well as pledging carbon neutrality by 2030, Ecofactory believes in Fair Trade and has a commitment to fairness across its entire commercial chain. In 2021, it won a B Corp award in the ‘Best for the World’ category. 

 

B Lab is the non-profit network transforming the global economy to benefit all people, communities, and the planet. To learn more about the movement take the B Corp 101 – 4 super accessible and free eLearning modules that you can complete on any device, designed by Gong in response to an idea generously gifted to the community by Danone working in partnership with B Lab.

Come back for more in part 2 of our B Corp series where we shine a light on 10 B Corps who are using businesses as a force for good. 

The retrofit revolution

The UK’s commitment to reach net zero by 2050 means we will all have to change some aspects of our lives for good. Whether it is giving up petrol and diesel cars, switching to renewable energy or making changes to our homes and offices, everyone will need to do their bit.

ELIMINATING EMISSIONS BY 2050

The government’s long-awaited net zero strategy sets out how the UK plans to halve emissions in little over a decade and eliminate them by 2050. Introducing the strategy, Prime Minister Boris Johnson claims “the United Kingdom is not afraid to lead the charge towards global net zero because history has never been made by those who sit at the back of the class hoping not to be called on.”

Leading this charge will involve decarbonising our power sector by 2035, phasing out the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030 and decarbonising the way we heat and power our homes.

The UK has around 30 million buildings, including some of the oldest building stock in Europe, with 20 per cent of homes built before 1919. They are responsible for 17 per cent of our national emissions. Retrofitting them with better insulation, low-carbon heat and clean power sources is an essential part of the country’s journey to net zero.

Newly constructed buildings are far more energy efficient, but 80 per cent of the UK’s 2050 building stock already exists, hence the need for some large-scale retrofitting. A national retrofit programme has the potential to reduce household energy bills by up to £430 a year and create 500,000 green jobs.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has declared a “retrofit revolution” in the capital to upgrade ageing homes so that social housing landlords can cut carbon emissions and improve the cold, damp housing stock currently on offer.

He hopes the move will also help tackle growing fuel poverty. In London 11.4 per cent of households are fuel poor, in joint place with the West Midlands. Only the North West is worse, with 12.1 per cent of households affected by fuel poverty, according to the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy.

HOW CAN THE UK REACH ITS RETROFITTING GOALS?

So what does retrofitting actually involve? Modifications to existing buildings to make them more energy efficient can range from small additions to big building projects. From switching to energy-saving lightbulbs to cavity wall insulation, from installing smart meters to putting solar panels on the roof, the possibilities are endless.

One of the government’s central policies is to phase out natural gas boilers in homes and buildings by 2035 at the latest. It plans to support 600,000 heat pump installations a year by 2028, driving down the cost so that they are on a par with traditional gas boilers.

But who is going to carry out all this work? A report by the Green Finance Institute and Bankers for Net Zero, Tooling Up the Green Homes Industry, estimated that to reach net zero by 2050, an estimated 29 million existing homes will need to be retrofitted. That means a million homes a year, every year until 2050, will have to be modified.

That is an enormous task. The report revealed that the majority of companies which carry out this type of work are small and medium-sized businesses. The UK retrofit industry is relatively fragmented compared with some European countries and it is hard to find retrofit managers who can create end-to-end propositions for clients.

One organisation hoping to change this is not-for-profit cooperative RetrofitWorks. Its members include contractors, tradespeople and community groups. The cooperative offers homeowners a Retrofit Coordinator who assesses their house, produces a plan to make it more energy efficient, then works with contractors from the cooperative to oversee the process.

But it is not just housing stock that needs some TLC. Non-domestic building stock currently represents 23 per cent of UK built environment emissions, most of which is caused by fossil fuel heating systems. Heat pumps form a big part of the solution here. The UK Green Building Council’s Net Zero Whole Life Carbon Roadmap advises that 70 per cent of all non-domestic buildings should have heat pump systems by 2045 to reach net zero goals.

THERE’S HOPE FOR THE UK’S BUILDING STOCK

The good news is that retrofit solutions already exist. Organisations such as LETI, a network for built environment professionals in London, have published a Climate Emergency Retrofit Guide. Then there is the EnerPHit standard, which certifies retrofits to the high level required by the Passive House Standard. The Association for Environment Conscious Building also has a Retrofit Standard.

We already have the knowhow, the tools and the certification systems to retrofit the UK’s building stock. What we lack is a clear national retrofit strategy from the government that sets out long-term funding and political commitment to do this. The construction industry and consumers need to know that retrofitting is not just the latest trend, soon to be forgotten: it is the key to unlocking our ability to reach net zero by 2050.

 

For more news updates and insights around the global energy transition from Gong Communications, follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter at @gongcomms.