As a business, committing yourself to corporate social responsibility communications shows that you are willing to balance your money-making efforts with activities that have a positive impact on your team and on society.
CSR can also drastically improve the company’s brand image, productivity and performance. A recent study found that 66% of consumers were willing to pay more for goods from brands that demonstrated social commitment.
It can be challenging to create a strategic CSR communications plan that delivers the right message to the right people at the right time. Although it may not be the first method you consider, an animated video is one of the most effective ways of communicating your CSR practises. Below, we’ve outlined some of the most important reasons why.
It has consistent & simple messaging
When dealing with CSR subjects, you want to ensure that your messages aren’t confusing or can’t be interpreted in a way that could potentially damage your brand. Animated video is well-known for communicating subjects in an entertaining and straightforward way, which minimises that risk significantly.
Furthermore, if you are a large corporation, it’s likely that you have offices around the world. Animated video opens up the possibility for you to have a video with different voiceovers in different languages to ensure a consistent and well-understood message. To achieve this with a live-action film would be much more difficult and not as cost-effective.
It allows for authenticity
For any messages or information about your company’s CSR initiatives, you want your approach to be as authentic and professional as possible.
With a bespoke animated video, you have the option to work with a scriptwriter to help perfect the message and as a result, trigger an authentic emotional response amongst your brand’s target market.
It can reach more people
Video is the most convenient way to consume content, especially on mobile devices where a large portion of the content is made up of video.
By presenting your CSR initiatives in an easy to access format, you are opening it up to a wider audience. This includes social media, where your video can easily be shared or through your website where it can be hosted and used for a long period of time.
If you were to present your CSR information in the form of a report, it’s possible it would only reach a small audience and the information would not be fully digested.
Turner & Townsend CSR Film
Now that we’ve understood the benefits of using video to communicate CSR, let’s look at an example.
We previously worked with Turner & Townsend, a multinational consulting company specialising in property, infrastructure and natural resources. The scope of the work included branded moving image assets to ensure consistency across their video output, as well as a film to highlight the company’s CSR initiatives.
In the past, their videos had taken a retrospective approach by flagging key successes. However, they failed to achieve the results they hoped for – the videos were long, text-heavy and struggled to engage those who hadn’t been directly involved. To solve these issues, we proposed a simple and beautiful kinetic type animation that would focus on their long-term CSR goals.
The concept was to present their SDG’s (Strategic Development Goals) as a company-wide ambition that all their employees and external partners would connect with.
In the end, the video was a huge success. The CSR team shared the final video on LinkedIn and received 50,000 views organically. At nearly twenty times the number of employees, the engagement levels far exceeded all past attempts at a CSR video.
Ready to get started?
If you are considering investing in an animated video for your CSR communications plan, we invite you to get in touch today. We offer free consultations that can give you a better understanding of the process behind successful campaigns, as well as what to expect when working with an animation studio.