Our Sustainability Trends Summary Has Arrived
The Works is pleased to announce the release of its fifth annual Sustainability Reporting Trends.
Numbers are crunched, the data is compiled, and we’ve finished judging more than 100 sustainability programs in over 11 sectors. For us, this is a months-long process, and the result is we’re ready to offer free, custom trends workshops to current and prospective clients. If you’d like to get a sense of the quality of our research, we invite you to sign up to download our free Sustainability Trends Summary. It includes observations and best-practice guidelines on a few topics, including integrated and smart reporting.
If you’ve had us in to see you in the past, we’re excited to tell you that our research has expanded to cover more social media tactics, the use of video and additional data about online reporting in general. Have us back, and stay on top of these emerging trends.
A Growing Mandate
Our Sustainability Reporting Trends research grows and expands a little bit every year, along with the range of techniques we see being used to communicate concepts and ideas. We watch sustainability and business strategies become ever more closely integrated, and as that happens, companies are making bigger investments in their reporting. In order to stand out, companies are harnessing many types of new technology. Patagonia uses drones to film breathtaking videos, and are blurring the lines between responsibility and revolution. Siemens is using AI on its homepage to dynamically guide stakeholders to the most relevant content. Companies like Newmont are creating rich, interactive content for social media audiences: purpose-built microsites that take transparency to a whole other level and allow users to explore every aspect of their operations.
Patagonia uses sweeping drone footage and Virtual Reality to drive home the fact that Bears Ears National Monument is worth saving. When it comes to CSR, Patagonia is carving out a space for themselves as “The Activist Company,” and using technology to do it.
This is exciting for us as consultants (because it’s obviously fun to work on projects that are innovative). But it’s exciting for us as researchers, too. To fully understand these applications, we have had to open our research up within the studio. While we previously limited audits to a handful of analysts, we now must seek input across our broader team: from our video editors, UX team, writers and social media specialists. No one person’s opinion can complete an audit; the process has become quite collaborative, presenting an opportunity for our team to come together and discuss applied design, technology, data, writing and communications. To fully understand each report, we look with both the head and the heart. Philosophically, that’s what we believe excellent communications require: emotions and substance.
And for what it’s worth, here’s what I believe: this year, we had some very fine people pull together some damn fine ideas. So check out our thoughts – then give us a call to discuss your next report.
