EUROPEAN SEMINAR

ON DIGITAL CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS

@jabosborne

JAMES OSBORNEPartner @Lundquist, head of sustainability

“License to communicate:

Why ‘sustainability’ hold the key”

The external perspective

Why you should care about what the outside world things and how it will

transform your communications

EUROPEAN SEMINAR ON DIGITAL CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS AND 14TH WEBRANKING AWARDS

Really?

CONSUMPTION

is

king!

How to eat a sustainability report for breakfast

The situation:• 8:15am… the time-stretched and under-prepared SRI analyst suddenly

remembers the 9am company meeting and has the time of a taxi ride across town to prepare

The materials• Latest sustainability report• Recent-ish broker note• The company’s latest results statement• Out-of-date ratings report from MSCI/Sustainalytics/EIRIS/Vigeo etc.

The challenge• Arrive at your meeting well informed and with 5 pertinent questions for

the CEO/CFO/head of sustainability

How do analysts work?a) Reactive: “I need an answer (or a question) now in response to this

immediate request that’s just landed in my lap”b) Comprehensive: “I’m at my desk and really want to get to know this

company”c) Thematic: “I’m exploring a sustainability theme that touches this

company and I need deep but specific information”

Who: Mike Tyrrell

Now: Editor of SRI-Connect

Previously: Sustainable

Investment analyst for 12

years with Jupiter Asset

Management, HSBC

Investment Bank and Citi

Global Equities

Key takeaways for today

• License to communicate has to be earned (all licenses are given to you, and

do not constitute an automatic right)

• Audiences need to be won and retained over time

• It is through an understanding of the external agenda and responding to critical issues that you build trust (relevance)

• Open engagement, on an equal footing, is essential to relationships and audience: it’s an act of communication in its own right

• Transparency goes beyond data and is not viewed in isolation: dialogue and collaboration are critical to stakeholders

• In strategy, “distribution” and “engagement” are as important as “content”

EUROPEAN SEMINAR ON DIGITAL CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS AND 14TH WEBRANKING AWARDS

Why bother?

Source: M&S/GlobeScan, 2015

What all this about “materiality”?

GU

ESSW

OR

K O

R E

NG

AG

EMEN

T?

Does materiality drive strategic communication choices?

…because it certainly drives external perceptions and judgements

An

example:

H&M

and back in 2009…

Deutsche Bank: making its positions clear

Role of external perspective for content strategy

CONTENT

STRATEGY

IN-BOUND REQUESTS

User expectations, market context, critical issues, relationships

Gain trust and

differentiate your

brand

Earn “license to

communicate” from

audiences

ABILITY TO PRIORITISE

JAMES OSBORNE

@jabosborne

Lundquist company page

Lundquist

Lundquist page

Lundquist channel

Slideshare account

Lundquist page

Thank you

14TH WEBRANKING AWARDS

#webranking

EUROPEAN SEMINAR

ON DIGITAL CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS

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