Public Relations and the 'Triple Bottom Line'

Somehow, wealth and prosperity need to be continuously created, as this provides the foundation for funding social enhancement and environmental preservation.

We face a huge dilemma. To attain the ideal goal of poverty eradication on a global scale, we would need the resources of over 25 planet earths!

Today, there is a much greater awareness of the responsibility of corporate business towards social and environmental issues. Business is no longer just about monetary profit. Wealth is being assessed in broader terms, and companies which draw heavily on the planet's natural resources (including people) for their sustenance and growth, are expected to make meaningful and measurable contributions to social and environmental development.

What is the role of Public Relations in this process?

In an industrialised, free market society, the principal objective of corporate public relations has been to project the success and influence of the companies they represent. For the most part, this has involved presenting the company to the public in terms of its more tangible activities and achievements - usually relating to the wealth it creates for shareholders and the benefits its products and services have for (paying) customers.

But the public mindset is shifting. Awareness of social and environmental issues is increasing. Companies that extract more from our natural resources than they are seen to be putting back run the risk of public ostracism and may even face the prospect of being boycotted by customers. Clearly, the bottom line can now be significantly influenced by the company's approach to, and measurable involvement in, social and environmental activities. Monetary profitability is now very much dependent on the other two fundamentals in the "triple bottom line" - social development and environmental preservation.

In recent years, the PR industry has seen and understood the importance of these qualities in maintaining and enhancing the public image of the companies they represent. Most industrial companies now have detailed and well-planned PR strategies to convey their 'social responsibility' activities. Many make concerted efforts to include these activities in most of their publicity campaigns. Some even employ PR operatives to handle these issues exclusively, and larger portions of the publicity budgets are being devoted to promoting the company's efforts in areas of environmental and social management.

It is therefore the responsibility of PR operatives to acquaint themselves with much more than just the introspective business operations of their clients, and to start developing a broader and more detailed understanding of what issues the public now consider as being important. PR should be guiding clients in this respect, and ought to be much more proactive in the planning and execution of meaningful participation of their clients in areas of social and environmental responsibility.

While management focuses on the more immediate and tangible challenge of building shareholder wealth, the PR division should be examining strategies which favourably project the company to an ever-more critical and concerned public. Every opportunity must be found to position the company as one which demonstrates concern for social and environmental issues.

There is an important caveat: Smoke and mirrors won't work. Even the finest PR campaign, crafted by brilliance and innovation, cannot mask insincerity. Social and environmental involvement must be real, tangible, and measurable - just like the monetary profits the company strives to improve in its efforts to impress its shareholders.