Heroes Corporate Sector

Background:

While often cast as 'the villain of the piece' when responsible energy consumption is discussed, in the case of the UAE, the corporate sector is actually not the biggest consumer.  But it still has a significant role to play in reducing the nation's ecological footprint. 

Our overarching strategy was to give practical advice to corporations on how to make significant savings, plus practical incentives for making them. We wanted to appeal to their sense of humanity but also to that great motivator, their bottom line.

Objectives:

• Raise awareness of the problem of energy and water consumption 
• Show how detrimental energy consumption can be
• Educate specifically on of the effects of overuse of water and desalination
• Demonstrate the benefits - both financial and social - of conservation
• Cross-fertilise with other streams of the Heroes campaign: schools, consumers and the government.
• Literally change the behaviour of a nation and bring about real change in people's everyday habits.

Our role:

• Development of the strategy
• Development of a proposition to the private sector that would resonate with them.
• Development of staff and corporate engagement tools to help companies get started on the path to a more sustainable future.
• Development of all communications materials to connect with the audience - film, digital, print, PR event
• Engagement with third party providers of consultancy services and data.

The campaign:

• Influencers in key organisations were invited to attend the launch event which included a film communicating the urgent need for corporates to take a stand against climate change and the resultant business benefits.

Keynote speeches were delivered by Emirates Wildlife Society, Environment Agency-  Abu Dhabi, Dubai Chamber of Commerce and the Minister for Environment & Water. We enlisted the help of environmental consultants to perform makeovers of two organisations in the UAE and followed the progress of their efforts to become more sustainable in two short films.

Attendees were invited to pledge to make a real commitment to change in their own organisations and invited to submit their own case studies to be featured on the website. 

• A digital campaign used banners and e mails to drive traffic to the dedicated Corporate Heroes microsite.

The site featured tips on how to reduce water and energy consumption, a gallery of   case studies  featuring companies who have managed to reduce their consumption,   as well as an application to win a Green Makeover- consulting services and products         worth Dhs.100,000 each.

It also offered a downloadable business toolkit with engagement tools such as posters, stickers, tip sheets and animations that can be shared with employees to help spread the word.

• A spotlight video was produced for the launch event and used on the website. It combines short testimonials from UAE companies who have taken positive steps, as well as soundbites from Sir David Attenborough, President Barack Obama and Lord Brown, on the impact of climate change.
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• An incentive programme, where corporations who develop strategies that can demonstrate that they have made real, verifiable savings over a 12 month period can be publicly recognised as a "Corporate Hero" by the Ministry of Environment and Water and EWS-WWF.              

Results:

• Over 200 companies downloaded the business toolkit within the first eight weeks of the launch. 
• The Kanoo Group of companies has been confirmed as the first Corporate Hero.
• A number of case studies have been posted on the website. 
• Thousands of unique visitors to the website have browsed content on how to reduce the CO2 footprint of their organisation.
• Post launch, the sponsors of Heroes of the UAE have engaged with a number of enthusiastic companies with workshops that share global best practices and provide detailed, individual advice on their efforts.
  
  

Creative rationale:
The creative for this campaign features everyday “business heroes” giving advice on how to reduce energy and water consumption in the office

Click here to view the creative.