Substance Sells:
Aligning Corporate Reputation and Corporate Responsibility
The Tisdall Lecture in Communications
The Canadian Public Relations Society Conference
Calgary, Alberta (June 16, 2005)
by Bennett Freeman
I want to thank Charles Tisdall, Barbara Sheffield and the Canadian
Public Relations Society for inviting me to give this lecture. I would
also like to thank Luc Beauregard and his National Public Relations
colleagues in Calgary, Montreal and Toronto for the chance to work so
closely together over the last two years.
It is a particular
challenge to address such a distinguished group of public relations
professionals. I hope to bring you a multi-dimensional perspective
based not only on my work with multinational corporations over the last
two decades, but also on my State Department experience and my current
relationships with major international NGOs. My perspective on the link
between corporate reputation and corporate responsibility has been
informed most significantly by my work over the last two years with
Burson-Marsteller—the gold standard global public relations and public
affairs firm. So I come to our subject today both as an insider and an
outsider, and hope to be both reflective and provocative.
My
argument is that in this new era of accountability and sustainability,
corporate reputation and corporate responsibility are inseparable.
Multinational corporations in particular face growing pressures and
expectations from diverse and demanding stakeholders around the
world—pressures that they cannot escape and expectations that they must
address. From human rights and labor practices to the environment and
sustainable development, corporate policy and conduct is on the public
agenda now more than ever before—at a time when trust in business
remains low after the battering it has taken on both sides of the
Atlantic over the last several years.
How agencies counsel their
clients—and what companies communicate to their stakeholders—influences
trust in brands and shapes the world for better or worse. Public
relations and public affairs professionals have a fine line to walk in
aligning private and public interests. They can walk that line and
align those interests if they recognize that real commitment and
performance matter most—and that only substance sells.
I am
going to make this argument in three parts: first by explaining why and
how corporate responsibility and corporate reputation are converging;
second, by suggesting how the corporate responsibility agenda is moving
toward an even more challenging one focused on accountability and
sustainability linked to corporate strategy; and finally, by putting
forth a series of brief propositions as to how public relations and
public affairs professionals can align corporate reputation with
corporate responsibility in ways that contribute to business success
and a better world at the same time.
Download the full report (pdf)