CSR and PR SCMC_Viman Nagar

Case Studies: Different Approaches to CSR communication with different Stakeholders

Whirlpool’s Care Counts

Situation

The Whirlpool brand is part of Whirlpool Corporation, the world’s leading manufacturer and marketer
of major home appliances. Whirlpool Corporation is also one of Habitat for Humanity’s largest
corporate partners for more than 15 years, donating a refrigerator and range to every new Habitat for
Humanity home built in North America. In 2015 an elementary school principal in Fairfield, California,
asked Whirlpool to donate a washer and dryer to the school. The reason? Students weren’t going to
school because they didn’t have clean clothes, staying home instead to avoid bullying and mockery.

Research and Strategy

A Whirlpool survey conducted together with its PR firm, Ketchum, discovered that as many as one in
five American students struggle with access to clean clothes. In response, Care Counts by Whirlpool
was born. Whirlpool brand worked with internationally recognized developmental psychologist and
researcher, Dr. Richard Rende, Ph.D., to design this pilot laundry program, exploring the connection
between access to clean clothes and attendance rates. As a part of the program, each school identified
students with a need for clean clothes and anonymously tracked their loads of laundry, attendance,
and grades throughout the school year. To measure additional behavioural changes, each student’s
primary teacher also completed a qualitative survey asking if they believe access to clean clothes
improved his or her student’s ability to do a variety of activities, from participating in class to enjoying
school.

Execution

The pilot program began in the 2015–2016 school year with washers and dryers placed in 17 schools
in two districts, St. Louis, Missouri, and Fairfield, California. Program leaders equipped with data-
tracking tools let students manage the laundry schedule and the machines. In the first year, the
program provided approximately 2,000 loads of clean clothes to students across two school districts.
After examining the correlation between student attendance and loads of laundry washed and dried,
more than 90% of tracked students in the program improved their attendance, averaging 6.1 more
days in school than the previous year. The program impacted the most at-risk participants even more,
with an average of nearly two more weeks in school than the previous year. “When we learned that a
child’s education could be at risk because they do not have access to clean clothes, we were
determined to help,” said Chelsey Lindstrom, brand manager, Whirlpool brand. “It’s incredible to see
how the simple act of laundry can have such a profound impact on students’ lives and we are excited
to bring this resource to even more schools across the country” (Whirlpool Corporation, 2016).

Evaluation

Students in the pilot program improved more than just attendance rates. Teachers surveyed saw the
results listed in Table 6.2:
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“Every single day of school matters. When students miss school, they are missing an opportunity to
learn,” said Martha Lacy, principal, David Weir K–8 Academy. “Absenteeism strongly impacts a
student’s academic performance. In fact, students with excessive absence rates are more likely to fall
behind, graduate late and even drop out” (Whirlpool Corporation, 2016). With the success of its
inaugural year, the Care Counts program will continue to help students gain access to clean clothes by
expanding to additional school districts starting this summer.

A documentary-style video, media materials, microsite, and school officials and brand spokespeople
told the story of the program and shared its results with more than 600 earned stories in outlets
including ABC World News Tonight, Today.com, Business Insider, U.S. News & World Report, and NPR.
There were 64 broadcast segments across 18 states and more than 700 interested school
representatives spanning 48 states.

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World Wildlife Fund’s Campaign to Stop Wildlife Crime

Media relations can play a significant role in an advocacy or issues-based communication program.
Good examples of this work are the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) campaigns. They generated major
media coverage in their target media to support the WWF fight to protect endangered animals
globally. This is a key initiative for the WWF due to some alarming global trends.

Research and Strategy

Illegal trade in wildlife, including timber and fish, is a serious worldwide issue. It comprises the fourth-
largest global illegal trade after narcotics, counterfeiting of products and currency, and human
trafficking and is estimated to be worth at least $19 billion per year. It is a lucrative business for
criminal syndicates because the risk involved is low compared to other crimes and high profits can be
generated. It significantly hinders social and economic development, including potential economic
loss for governments, and has direct consequences on rule of law, national and international security,
and the environment (WWF, n.d.). protect endangered animals globally. This is a key initiative for the
WWF due to some alarming global trends.

Execution

In response, the WWF put a major focus on this issue in its PR efforts, which included lobbying,
features pitched to prominent news outlets, a social media campaign, and newsworthy events. The
WWF’s success at pitching stories about the tragedy of wildlife crime was a big part of the
organization’s strategy to boost its agenda in 2013.
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Evaluation

In 2013 the WWF accomplished important breakthroughs in the worldwide fight against animal
traffickers:

▶ President Obama designated an additional $10 million on July 1, 2013, for training and technical
assistance in Africa to stop animal trafficking.

▶ He also created the Presidential Task Force on Wildlife Trafficking to receive advice from an advisory
council of independent experts, appointing Carter Roberts, WWF CEO, to serve.

▶ Consequently the WWF was by far the most prominent NGO in traditional and social media
coverage of the president’s executive order, mentioned in nearly 65% of related content on Twitter.

The campaign resulted in a 50% increase in mainstream global media coverage of the wildlife crisis
from July 1, 2013, to June 30, 2014. High-profile pieces on the slaughter of big animals appeared on
NBC, in Time magazine, and in The Wall Street Journal. In November 2013 the U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service destroyed the U.S. stockpile of seized illegal ivory. The WWF helped plan and stage this event
that raised awareness. Several other countries followed by destroying their own illegal ivory.

The WWF had two consecutive outstanding years of award-winning media relations achievements.
From July 1, 2012, when the WWF first alerted the world to the critical dangers being faced by rhinos,
tigers, and elephants from poachers until June 30, 2014, the WWF saw an increase in coverage by the
media of these issues of nearly 270%.

The WWF’s communications outreach created unprecedented media attention and provoked strong
action by the U.S. government on many conservation fronts. This successful and meaningful issues-
based advocacy campaign illustrates how important work is done well through media relations.

Note: This campaign won PR Daily’s Grand Prize: Media Relations Campaign of the Year Award 2014.

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Canon: Living and Working for the Common Good

Canon is guided by a company culture called Kyosei, a Japanese word that means “living and working
for the common good.”

Most people today know Canon from its business in cameras and printers. Founded in Japan in 1937,
the Canon name has always been synonymous with photography and visual imagery—from medical
to CCTV. The company culture, called Kyosei, a Japanese word that means “living and working for the
common good,” guides how it treats its employees and customers.

Miru Helps Employees Collaborate A unique internal project, Miru, meaning “to see,” was designed
by the marketing and corporate communications team to bring employees in different countries, and
different parts of the company, closer together via a new and engaging company intranet. Its intent
was to encourage diverse teams across the company to work collaboratively instead of within their
own offices. Canon employs 17,000 people throughout 116 countries—with obvious language
barriers.

Cutting-Edge Digital and Social Platforms

The technology of Miru helped empower employees to truly experience Kyosei, to live and work
together for the common good. It did this by bringing cutting-edge digital and social platforms like
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Yammer, Skype for Business, and OneDrive into the employees’ daily lives—and facilitating the
employees’ digital dexterity. It’s helped shift a culture of “knowledge is power” to one of
“knowledgesharing is power”—no longer rewarding heroes but celebrating collaboration.

Collaborating for the Environment

From product development, procurement, and manufacturing to logistics, usage, and recycling, Canon
strives to reduce its environmental impact through every stage of the produce-use-recycle product
life cycle.

Social Contribution

Guided by its corporate philosophy of Kyosei, Canon contributes to enriching lifestyles for people
around the world: Its Adopt a School project supports education in developing countries; Canon Wind
employs persons with intellectual disabilities; and it served as official sponsor of the World Scout
Jamboree, hosting more than 30,000 youth from 150 countries.

Source:

1. Introduction to Strategic Public Relations Digital, Global, and Socially Responsible

Communication by Janis Teruggi Page and Lawrence J. Parnell