Powerful ESG brand messages are not just about the progress done but progress willing to be made.
We view ESG as a lens for your communications program rather than a stand-alone service. The concept of ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) was born out of the need to evaluate businesses financially through a new viewpoint, one that moves beyond traditional financial disclosures and accounts for issues such as climate change, social inequity, resource constraints, and technological innovation. lNK works with leaders to uncover and communicate your company’s strategy through an ESG lens to key stakeholders.
Here’s our ESG process in action:
Audit
INK supports marketers in uncovering their company’s ESG story. Through an audit process, we identify potential threats or weaknesses and learn what a company is currently doing – and how it can do better – to readdress them as strategic opportunities for value creation. Auditing involves conversations with internal experts and leadership, as well as a deep understanding of stakeholder priorities and the competitive landscape. You may be surprised how much work is already in action on ESG issues – it’s all about asking the right questions to put these pieces together.
Prioritize
Next, we work with internal experts to prioritize what information is material. What do your key stakeholders – like investors and employees – expect your company to act on to maintain a competitive edge? Prioritization also requires collaboration with top leadership to ensure the businesses’ overall strategy directly aligns with these ESG initiatives.
Position
Marketing is awash with greenwashing, and this serves no one. With the risk of regulatory fines to potential loss of customer trust, it quite literally pays to be open and transparent with your stakeholders. Powerful ESG brand messages are not just about the progress done but progress willing to be made. We work with your team to build narratives that leverage your material topics to communicate authentic brand stories.
Report
Communicating about ESG serves as both a progress report and roadmap for your stakeholders. Once we have positioning on material issues established, it’s time to evaluate how we promote it. There are two broad paths to choose from: One, we apply our learnings as an “ESG lens” for our work across your communications program. Two, we directly create an ESG report focused on progress and the company’s sustainability roadmap.
Through an ESG lens, from media relations to digital promotion, we’ll strategize and advise to reinforce messages on your material topics. For ESG and DEI reports – from concept to design, content, and promotion – INK has experience collaborating with marketing, business, and legal teams to ensure we capture accurate and transparent information that will truly push the needle for your company.