Economic
Our economic impacts include our products and services, the wealth and employment we generate, and the work we do for our clients. We believe the application of sustainability principles in this area will be profound, both in terms of our strategic development and the management of our impacts.
Products and services
Within our CSR
framework, we have a workstream specifically focused on developing
products and services with sustainability in mind. This will
include a review of our entire supply chain. Notable examples of
sustainable product development in Synovate include our 2007
Climate Change survey in partnership with BBC Worldwide and
Synovate Motoresearch’s sixth annual survey on consumer
attitudes towards advanced propulsion and alternative fuels.
Economic and environmental impact
measurement
Early work in this area includes the
licensing of Noughtilus by Vizeum UK: the first UK media agency to
adopt this new campaign measurement tool which measures the
environmental impact of communication channels by CO2
equivalent.
Our targets
- Products and services: launch of services and product definitions workstream through initial workshops in 2008; delivery of new products and services to clients as part of ongoing business, embedding sustainability principles in products and service creation by 2010;
- Products and services: launch of services and product definitions workstream through initial workshops in 2008; delivery of new products and services to clients as part of ongoing business, embedding sustainability principles in products and service creation by 2010;
- Economic and environmental impact measurement: launch of Noughtilus in selected pilot case studies for 2008; definition of measurement approach on how economic impact should be calculated by end of 2009.
As a Group, we are actively embracing sustainability as a positive force for our business. We have made considerable progress during 2007 in understanding our impacts and defining our broad ambitions in this area. 2008 will be a significant year in terms of implementing some early Group-wide policies and developing further business initiatives to underpin our commitment to this area. We will measure progress and report back on this progress to our shareholders and other stakeholders in 12 months’ time.