Proving your organization contributes significant, measurable good and shares your audiences’ concerns is essential to public trust. Our Public Trust Brand Strategy helps your brand demonstrate action, investment, progress and achievement, earning the social license to continue to operate without an increase in detrimental government or market mandates.

Our Public Trust Brand Strategy includes:

• Profiles for highest-priority audiences with whom your brand needs to attract and gain trust, including demographics, psychographics, identified needs, and current awareness and perception
• Public trust brand attributes: two to three public trust ideas attributed to your brand with proof points
• Public trust brand personality: what traits your brand portrays in public trust communications, closely connected to your company’s original brand personality

A Public Trust Brand Strategy will:

• Provide your brand with a tailored, data-based strategy agreed upon by all leaders
• Allow your brand to feature your commitment to contributing social good
• Improve your brand’s performance (effectiveness) by highlighting your social license qualifications as differentiation points
• Act as a tone and voice litmus test for every new communications piece
• Foster trust by eliminating confusion and building consistency regarding public trust topics

Development process may or may not include (and is not limited to):

• In-depth interviews with internal communications leaders
• Facilitated sessions with internal communications leaders
• Focus groups with a sample of highest-priority target audiences
• Omnibus surveys
• Sourcing and analysis of secondary research studies for your industry
• Online review of similar organizations’ public trust brand strategies
• Internal or board presentation of a pilot draft (initial take per the gathered input and research) for direct feedback and refinements

You will benefit from a Public Trust Brand Strategy if your brand:

• Struggles with consistency regarding public trust
• Is in need of a light strategy refresh with an emphasis on public trust
• Has never communicated public trust messages before

Achieving your public trust communications goals is easier with a formal plan that considers the current state of public trust, key audiences and stakeholders’ needs and concerns. A Public Trust Communications Action Plan fits your existing resources, including internal and external teams, to determine the right mix of time and budget investment.

Our Public Trust Communications Action Plan includes:

• Public trust communications objectives
• Success measurement
• Profiles for highest-priority audiences with whom your brand needs to attract and gain trust, including demographics, psychographics, identified needs, and current awareness and perception
• Communications information and action goals
• Public trust key messages
• Public trust brand personality
• Public trust communications tactics and mediums
• Financial and internal investment
• Timeline

A Public Trust Communications Action Plan will:

• Provide an immediately actionable communications program that can be consistently executed, managed and optimized
• Help form internal consensus on past, present, and future public trust objectives and results
• Arm your team with professional tools to support your communications
• Improve the regularity and consistency of your public trust communications efforts

Development process may or may not include (and are not limited to):

• In-depth interviews with internal communications leaders
• Facilitated sessions with internal communications leaders
• Focus groups with a sample of highest-priority target audiences
• Omnibus surveys
• Sourcing and analysis of secondary research studies for your industry
• Online review of similar organizations’ public trust brand strategies
• Internal or board presentation of a pilot draft (initial take per the gathered input and research) for direct feedback and refinements

You will benefit from a Public Trust Communications Action Plan if your brand:

• Has an important public trust message to communicate
• Has limited resources to achieve your public trust communication goals
• Doesn’t have the time or expertise to create your own comprehensive public trust communications plan

A crisis is a time of intense difficulty, trouble or anger. It’s essentially a calamity — an event that bears the potential to obliterate public trust surrounding your organization and throughout your sector. Failure to prepare for a potential crisis can have consequences beyond the loss of sales and support. It can affect every area of your organization, from relationships with customers and key partners, to market share to employee trust.

Though it’s impossible to predict every possibility, planning and preparing for a potential crisis is the most effective way to overcome the situation. A Public Trust Crisis Preparedness Plan can go a long way to showcase leadership and commitment as a well-managed and empathic organization.

Our Public Trust Crisis Preparedness Plan could include any number of the following:

Context and preface:

• Communication response goals (tangible outcomes)
• Invoking the crisis communications plan
• Defining risk from crisis
• Plan overview
• Crisis Task Force (CTF)
• Key messages & holding statements

Crisis Task Force communications protocols:

• Rules of engagement
• Internal communications/streamlining CTF communications
• Guidelines for early response/comment
• Daily schedule
• Communicating with farmers
• Communicating with media/public
• Communicating with employees
• Media training and employee preparedness
• Social media crisis management
• Monitoring systems
• After the crisis communications response

Tools and resources:

• Crisis onset checklist
• Frontline phones/email, log
• Contact information for CTF and executive
• List of stakeholders, roles/contact info
• Media list(s)
• Email databases (internal, external)
• News release template(s)
• Media questions (expected; per crisis)

Preparations for the above may include:

• Developing communications materials required for the “fair weather” before a crisis
• Considering internal and external audiences
• Gathering information and assess the situation
• Generating a full list of possible crisis events
• Distributing best practice reminders
• Documenting revision history

A Public Trust Crisis Preparedness Plan will:

• Provide your team with detailed instructions and actions required for effective coordination and execution of public trust crisis communications within your organization and any applicable outside agencies, including the media, regulatory agencies, customers, suppliers, stakeholders (board of directors, shareholders, unions), and the general public
• Decrease confusion, uncertainty and stress in the event of a public trust crisis by defining roles and responsibilities within your organization
• Avoiding a hasty, unprepared approach to the sensitive topics while in a vulnerable state

Development process may or may not include (and is not limited to):

• In-depth interviews with internal communications leaders
• Facilitated sessions with organization leaders
• Focus groups with a sample of highest priority target audiences
• Sourcing and analysis of secondary research studies for your industry
• Internal or board presentation of a pilot draft (initial take per the gathered input and research) for direct feedback and refinements

You will benefit from a Public Trust Crisis Preparedness Plan if your brand:

• Operates in an environment or sector prone to uncontrollable events, like food contamination, animal welfare, environmental disasters, etc.
• Operates in a tightly interconnected sector (such as agri-food), where a crisis in another organization or geographical location somewhere along the value chain creates a crisis-like situation for you
• Suffers from constant concerns of an impending, hypothetical crisis and would benefit from and be appreciated by stakeholders for choosing proactive action

Measuring the effectiveness of your public trust communications is challenging but essential. A clear picture of how you’re doing is informed by several factors, including communications frequency, duration, and consistency which affect trust and perceived quality in the minds of your audiences. Public Trust Measurement and Audience Research measures a large audience’s long-term trust level results and ensures a successful road map for your next steps, leaving short-term monitoring useful for day-to-day direction.

Our Public Trust Measurement and Audience Research deliverable includes:

• Research goals
• Research methodology and tools
• Research key takeaways (varies per research goals but could include):
  • Audience segmentation and priorities
  • Primary audience demographics
  • Primary audience psychographics
  • Primary audience public trust needs expected to be fulfilled by your organization
  • Primary audience’s attitude towards market category
  • Primary audience’s attitude towards your organization
  • Volume of media coverage about your organization or sector
  • Media coverage and social media tone
  • Operating environment (shifts in government goodwill, regulation changes)
  • Financial transactions (sales / investors / government grants / sponsors / partners)
  • Primary audience perception shifts
• Research implications and recommended next steps

Our Public Trust Measurement and Audience Research will:

• Provide an objective understanding of the organization’s actual public trust level so you can identify what to build on, what needs work, and how to optimize
• Supply data-based insights on your audiences and their perceptions
• Give direction on how to optimize creative assets and your messaging approach
• Help determine what media to invest your communications budget into
• Present evidence that your stakeholders’ investment in public trust is paying off

Research methodologies may or may not include (and are not limited to):

• In-depth interviews with internal communications leaders
• Facilitated sessions with organization leaders
• Focus groups with sample of highest-priority target audiences
• Omnibus surveys
• Sourcing and analysis of secondary research studies for your industry
• Online review of similar organizations’ public trust brand strategies
• Internal or board presentation of a pilot draft (initial take per the gathered input and research) for direct feedback and refinements

You will benefit from Public Trust Measurement and Audience Research if your brand:

• Lacks market-based knowledge about the breadth and depth of public trust challenges and opportunities they face
• Struggles where and on whom they should focus their messaging or tactics
• Requires evidence of progress or a major issue to justify allocation of funds for communication investments to their owners, members, or board of directors
• Has financial resources for proper public trust due diligence and decision making based on solid real-time research-based knowledge

Clear prioritization of accurate audience profiles ensures the effective use of a finite communications budget. Our Public Trust Audience Profiling allows you to concentrate on a primary audience, so messaging is more relevant and has enough frequency to affect their perceptions and trust levels.

Our Public Trust Audience Profiling deliverables include:

• Public trust audience segmentation
• Audience behaviour (ethnography)
• Audience prioritization
• Audience profiles (primary, secondary, tertiary, etc.)
  • Demographics
  • Psychographics
  • Needs
  • Perceptions
• Key takeaways

Our Public Trust Audience Profiling will:

• Equip your communication efforts with detailed audience intelligence
• Streamline and focus messaging by identifying your most important audience
• Inform your public trust messaging by what affects your primary audience

Research methodologies may or may not include (and are not limited to):

• In-depth interviews with internal communications leaders
• Facilitated sessions with organization leaders
• Focus groups with a sample of highest-priority target audiences
• Omnibus surveys
• Sourcing and analysis of secondary research studies for your industry

You will benefit from Public Trust Audience Profiling if your brand:

• Has a variety of audiences with opposing ideologies
• Aspires to streamline communications to make the most of limited resources
• Has financial resources for proper public trust due diligence and solid real-time research-based knowledge about its audiences

Social media is a powerful, effective, and efficient communications tool that enables you to engage audiences in relevant, meaningful conversations. Share your organizational or sector position on hot issues and build trust in an environment where many influential audiences form their opinion. A Public Trust Social Media Strategy helps you enhance your communication efforts to get the most out of your social media platforms, while safeguarding your brand.

Our Public Trust Social Media Strategy includes:

• Social media public trust goals
• Measuring success in social media
• Primary social media audience profiling
• Public trust positioning and messaging
• Primary social platforms
• Content development and publishing
• Platform management strategies
• Social media best practices
• Social media policies
• Execution tools and training

A Public Trust Social Media Strategy will:

• Rate your organization’s level of social media resources and appetite (spectrum of social media engagement and investment) as it relates to addressing public trust topics
• Take advantage of a natural forum for two-way dialogue, which creates a perception of transparency and trustworthiness
• Provide your team with an immediately actionable social media strategy that can be consistently executed, managed and optimized
• Improve the regularity, consistency and management of your public trust social media efforts
• Increase the likelihood of achieving your overall public trust goals
• Help you reach your audiences where they spend their time, in a personal space with an improved chance to be “let in”
• Help engage the audience via a personal medium, encouraging a perception of authentic connection amidst value-based conversation

Research methodologies may or may not include (and are not limited to):

• In-depth interviews with internal communications leaders
• Facilitated sessions with organization leaders
• Focus groups with a sample of highest-priority target audiences
• Omnibus surveys
• Sourcing and analysis of secondary research studies for your industry
• Online review of similar organizations’ public trust social media efforts

You will benefit from a Public Trust Social Media Strategy if your brand:

• Has audiences highly present on social media
• Is searching for a cost-effective medium with a wide reach
• Endeavours to monitor and address public trust issues in real-time
• Must initiate a two-way dialogue with audiences seeking transparency

Canadian agri-food companies are operating in an environment in which their long-term success depends on certain non-financial factors that increasingly have a financial impact. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) is a framework that measures risk. ESG is used to evaluate the behaviour of companies, determine their future financial performance, and their ability to mitigate risk and improve financial resiliency.

Our ESG Launch Communications Plan methodology, includes:

• Supporting the creation of the ‘Purpose Council,’ the ESG leadership and communications committee, if one does not already exist
• Performing an independent top-level ESG communications audit of your organization’s current communications activities
• Analyzing your competitors’ ESG commitments
• Administrating an ESG communications questionnaire for the Purpose Council to verify the organization’s desired ESG-related communications goals and its ESG guiding principals to support these goals
• Developing and presenting the Current State Report to the Council
• From this Report, an Executive level Current State Snapshot ‘poster’ will be developed, essentially, the current ESG lay-of-the land, that shows the good the organization is doing today, and the gaps and priorities that will be addressed moving forward
• And finally, the pragmatic ESG Launch Communications Plan will provide directions to communicate the current and future state of your ESG commitments to key stakeholders

This methodology and Current State Report and Snapshot poster will:

• Develop and capture the current state of your organization’s ESG status
• Identify and prioritize stakeholders (audiences) in-which you need to communicate
• Identify ESG risks, gaps and future opportunities and priorities
• Identify previously un-identified existing ESG-related initiatives and third-party partnerships

An ESG Launch Communications Plan helps by:

• Providing the organization with a research-based Current State Report on the status of your ESG activities
• Providing the organization with a plan to communicate the good it is already doing, one that proactively reduces the risk of losing your social license amongst stakeholders
• Featuring your organization’s commitment to be an ESG leader in your sector
• Providing insight into your competitors’ ESG journey
• Providing your organization with a baseline for measuring ESG efforts in the future

You will benefit from an ESG Launch Communications Plan if:

• You are increasingly noticing your stakeholders’ expectations to know what ESG considerations are integrated across your organization.
• Your investors, customers, supply chain, employees, the public and regulators are demanding ESG reports that are measurable, verifiable and complete.
• You want to be proactive and strategic in responding to your stakeholders’ increasing ESG interests and mandatory reporting requirements.
• You believe an ESG report is now a license to operate.