I was recently asked to represent Kite Hill at the Sustainability in Tech Conference in London. This was a great event that highlighted the issues that businesses face on their path to sustainability and the difficulty resulting from the various frameworks and conflicting guidelines here in the UK. Trust and liability issues also arose in terms of working with suppliers and complicated supply chains. Apparently, there are many hoops to jump through to ensure your business can be recognized as truly sustainable.
One session, however, stood out to me as someone who works with clients to promote their business. It was a talk by a UK TV presenter and author, Philippa Forrester who spoke about her experience researching and writing a book about the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Park. It was entitled, The Power of a Story.
Philippa spoke about how wolves were demonized and hunted to extinction. As the alpha predators of the local area, humans propagated negative stories about the harm that wolves cause to the local farming industry. Following a PR campaign of sorts, local conservationists led the reintroduction of wolves to the region 25 years ago, which has now proven to have had a huge positive impact on the whole ecosystem of the area.
This heartwarming tale demonstrates the “power of the story.” Humans shared a negative story about wolves because they wanted their cattle to be safe from predators, by changing that story to be one of how they are intrinsic to a flourishing natural environment has led to them being regarded in a different way.
She went on to link this to telling the story of climate change and how whilst facts might change our minds, stories change our hearts. As someone who works with clients to develop and showcase brand stories that get under the skin of media and potential clients alike, I thought this was a great analogy!
Whilst it is clearly a complex path for any business to implement the right environmental practices, telling the story behind your sustainability journey in line with your business ethos will cement authenticity and trust in your brand.
Wondering how? Check out Kite Hill PR CEO, Tiffany Guarnaccia’s thoughts on best practices for sustainability comms in IPRA.
- Caroline Brunton, Senior Account Manager