Whilst a significant proportion of global listed companies have, over the past few years, chosen to represent their approach to CSR in the exclusive setting of an annual standalone publication, others have attempted to deploy the latest internet technologies, in a bid to bring this slice of corporate information to life organically ‘on the page’.
What we’ve found, whilst following the many varied approaches and trends to communicating this data, is that there exists a broad playing field of ability, when you want to talk “just how successful is it?”
Though no single company can claim ownership of the paradigm approach, there are, as always, best-in-sector examples. What is frequently absent, where the internet route is chosen (as opposed to that of the purely standalone CSR report), is actually a basic sense of imagination. CSR has tremendous potential to be both interactive, and engaging, with its various audiences, if it is compiled and presented with care. Not convinced? Well, take the trouble to look up General Electric’s ‘ecomagination’ section of their website, which houses some truly excellent examples of creative, yet informative, presentation of data. Specifically, see the ‘Smart Grid’ and ‘WaterExplorer’ sections.
