Turning reporting challenges into opportunities: Communications case studies from our clients
This time of year, we hear from folks who are feeling a little apprehensive about the upcoming sustainability reporting season. We get it. There are often just a few months of breathing room in between launching last year’s report and starting the hard work all over again.
No need to fret. In this blog, we’ve compiled innovative solutions to some of the most common reporting communication challenges from the work we’ve done with our clients. You may just find an exciting idea to ease some of the anxiety.
Challenge #1: Balancing data and storytelling
ESG reports are by necessity, data-driven, factual documents. Investors demand and need facts and figures from publicly traded companies. But a data-centric report could leave other key audiences—your employees or customers, for example—uninspired. How do you meet the needs of audiences who desire the human side of the story without getting in the way of those who just want the facts? Here are a few ideas with real-life examples:
First, think beyond the report itself. Consider creating companion communications that are narrative driven. Our clients at Hunter Industries created a video to tell the story of their long-term commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR), placing it in a highly visible position on their CSR reporting website, right next to the button to download the report. The video features interviews with the founders of the company, providing a personal take on Hunter’s impact over the years, and demonstrates commitment from the very top of the organization. At just four minutes, the video is an attractive alternative to the comprehensive written report, and may be even more meaningful to audiences such as employees.
Opportunities to consider: Make videos, visual report summaries, and blog posts written from a personal perspective available on your reporting site.
Next, embrace visual storytelling. This can be a great option if you’re looking for storytelling devices within the report. We work with the team at Royal Caribbean Group to embed infographics throughout theIr ESG report (different from data visualizations). Infographics are a great way to help non-technical audiences grasp and summarize complex topics. And as a bonus, they are easy to repurpose in presentations, social media, or as posters around the office.
Opportunities to consider: Add infographics and photo essays to your report.
Finally, think about weaving first-person perspectives into your report. For example, WNBA’s Changemakers Impact Report dedicates several pages to its corporate partners, such as AT&T, Nike, and Google, allowing them each space to provide their vision for the future of women’s sports and celebrate their collective impact. Written as essays or letters from individual leaders at the companies, these perspectives give the report a much more personal feel, revealing the people whose efforts are behind the work.
Opportunities to consider: Include interviews or Q&As with employees, executives, and partners, or even analysis from third-party experts.
Challenge #2: Avoiding a “kitchen sink” report
How long is too long for an ESG report? Of course, your report is the go-to resource for anyone who wants to understand your organization’s efforts, but a 200-page document is tough for any audience to wade through. Even in the most complex organizations, uber-lengthy reports are not necessary. But it’s sometimes hard to decide what’s in and what’s out.
Many companies have streamlined their reporting in recent years by abbreviating their narrative to the most salient strategy details and strictly reporting on annual progress against published goals. This produces shorter reports, but puts the burden on the reader to find other sources for broader context or technical details.
Royal Caribbean Group has tackled this challenge by providing stand-alone fact sheets on key topics, such as energy and emissions, and health and safety, making them available on their reporting website. The company’s latest and greatest can be found in the most recent report, but for audiences who want additional background, the fact sheets provide a home for descriptions of long-term strategies and technical details that carry over consistently from year to year.
Opportunities to consider: Pull evergreen strategy, policy, and technical details into separate companion pieces such as fact sheets or white papers.
Challenge #3: Making it easy to cross reference reporting frameworks
With multiple reporting frameworks to adhere to (and new ones on the horizon) it’s not only challenging for organizations to align their reporting with these industry standards, it’s also challenging for readers to map disclosures from the report back to the frameworks they rely on.
It’s become standard to include separate GRI and SASB indexes in the report appendix and make a brief mention of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We recently helped Royal Caribbean Group go beyond standard-issue by working with them to update and reformat their performance table, making it easier to map KPIs to the multiple frameworks the company aligns with.
Our client, Millicom, went even further by releasing a SDG Report in addition to a consolidated Annual Report of its ESG and financial performance. This piece makes it easier for readers who prioritize the SDGs to see how the company is contributing to progress against the goals.
Opportunities to consider: Create stand-alone communications aligned with a specific framework and include third-party references in performance tables.
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Looking for more ideas and inspiration? Or perhaps you have an ESG communications challenge you just haven’t been able to crack? Don’t hesitate to reach out. We have several brand, content, and storytelling experts on our SustainabilityNext team who can help.
For more tips on creating strategic ESG communications, read our blog post, 4 strategic steps to take your ESG communications from “check the box” to “must-read.”