7 Communications and Marketing
Key
Communicating your commitment to sustainability is important both internally and externally. Internally it helps with the adoption of sustainable behaviours, demonstrates your intentions to your supply chain and encourages the whole company to get on board with sustainability objectives. Externally it brings you reputational advantages, stimulates the wider industry and encourages a wider adoption of sustainable practices.
Starting Points Basic practices to start embedding environmental sustainability into your decision-making.
Talking publicly about your sustainability achievements is an important but sometimes daunting task. Selecting the activity to communicate – those bits which set you apart from the crowd when it comes to environmental initiatives – can be a challenging job for marketing and communications departments new to the concept of sustainability.
Industry Good Practice Pushing it a bit further; impact reducing initiatives that will raise you just above the norm.
Work closely with your communications department to ensure the information that goes out is accurate and clear. Stick to your main achievements, avoid jargon and don’t gloss over anything. Remember that telling stories is the most effective method of communication, so when presenting a bevy of statistics use names, pictures and anecdotes to add colour and interest. Energy data and statistics make valuable appendices but are not your lead message. Like any other communications, sustainability messaging should be targeted for your audience, on brand and shouldn’t be boring. Evidence is already showing that creative events can engage audiences in challenging their own behaviour, and the more productions, organisations and venues disclosing their environmental concern, the bigger the impact on wider social change.
Leading Ideas Stuff to shout about; the ideas and practices that are beginning to fundamentally change the way we make theatre.
PRE-PRODUCTION Action Get involved with establishing the show’s environmental objectives at the start of the process with the production manager. Help the production manager to create a environmental production policy that will engage the relevant audiences and encourage sustainable behaviour change. Factor in time with the marketing and communications team from the very beginning of the production process so that they can see the story develop and understand the environmental process the production has been through. Help them understand both what and why you are doing environmental initiative. Be energy efficient in the office – switch off printers, computers, lights and other equipment when not in use. Think before you print and always print double sided.
sustainable production guide – Measure and manage your carbon emissions
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