Industrial Sustainability PR: 4 B2B Campaign Lessons

Industrial sustainability PR earns coverage when a manufacturer ties an environmental target to a number, a date and a customer. GE launched ecomagination on May 9, 2005, with a goal to double revenue from environmental products from $10 billion to at least $20 billion by 2010, per a GE press release. Four B2B campaigns below, from GE, Siemens, Interface and Maersk, show how each one made sustainability newsworthy.

These four are the business-to-business counterparts to the consumer brands in Virgo's twenty sustainability PR campaigns list. The buyers differ, so the proof differs.

How does B2B sustainability PR differ from consumer campaigns?

B2B sustainability PR differs because the audience is a buyer with its own reporting targets, so the proof is a number a procurement team can use. Maersk's 2021 vessel announcement said more than half of its 200 largest customers had set, or were setting, science-based or zero carbon targets for their supply chains.

Siemens made the same link from the supplier side. Its 2015 release reported that its Environmental Portfolio generated 33 billion euros, or 46 percent of revenue, in fiscal 2014. In Virgo's read, a consumer campaign asks for attention, while a B2B campaign asks a buyer to verify a figure and reuse it in its own report.

How did GE make ecomagination a coverage engine?

GE made ecomagination a coverage engine by publishing a revenue target and then reporting against it every year. The May 2005 launch committed GE to raise annual research spending on cleaner technologies to $1.5 billion by 2010, up from $700 million in 2004, and named 17 initial qualifying products, according to the launch release.

A year later, GE reported that ecomagination revenues reached $10.1 billion in 2005, orders nearly doubled to $17 billion and certified products rose from 17 to 30. The 2007 release reported $12 billion in revenue for 2006 and a $50 billion order backlog. FMLink repeated the 2005 revenue figures, and WaterWorld covered the launch.

Why it works: The annual report turned each year into a fresh news event with a comparable number. In Virgo's read, the repeating format gave editors a reason to return.

Copy this: Set a revenue or volume target for the sustainable product line, publish the baseline, and report against it on a fixed date each year.

How did Siemens announce a carbon-neutral target?

Siemens announced its target on September 22, 2015, saying it aimed to be the first major industrial company with a net-zero carbon footprint by 2030 and to cut its roughly 2.2 million metric tons of annual CO2 emissions in half by 2020. The Siemens release attached a price and a payoff: 100 million euros over three years, with 20 million euros a year in expected energy savings.

Maritime Executive carried the release the same day, and CEO Joe Kaeser published an opinion piece in the International New York Times on September 22, 2015, with the same commitment. The op-ed said Siemens would eliminate most of its emissions and also support offset projects outside the company.

Why it works: The release stated the cost, the saving and the date in one place, so a reporter could test the claim against Siemens' own energy spending. The "first major industrial company" wording is Siemens' own claim, and the release does not cite a source for it.

Copy this: State the investment, the expected saving and the deadline together, and place the CEO's byline in a major outlet on the same day.

How did Interface keep a 25-year sustainability story alive?

Interface kept the story alive by naming each goal and announcing when it was met. Founder Ray Anderson set Mission Zero in 1994 after a customer asked what the company was doing for the environment, with a goal of zero negative environmental impact by 2020, according to Interface's history page.

Interface announced in November 2019 that it had met Mission Zero ahead of schedule, and a case study on the UN climate site reports a 74 percent cut in its carpet's carbon footprint since 1996. The next goal, Climate Take Back, targets a carbon negative company by 2040, and the Carbon Leadership Forum reports that Interface introduced a carbon negative carpet tile, measured cradle to gate, in October 2020.

Why it works: Each stage had a name, a date and a proof point, so the story could be retold without repeating itself. Interface also published a "Lessons for the Future" report when it announced the result, per the same UN case study.

Copy this: Name the goal, set the date, and announce the result with a report that other companies can reuse.

How did Maersk make a ship order a sustainability story?

Maersk made a ship order a sustainability story by pairing a spending figure with customer demand. It announced on August 24, 2021, an order for eight container vessels of about 16,000 TEU that can run on carbon-neutral methanol, built by Hyundai Heavy Industries for $1.4 billion, according to ESG Today.

Maersk estimated annual CO2 savings of around one million tonnes, and Reuters, via Marine Link, reported that each vessel would cost 175 million dollars, 10 to 15 percent more than a conventional ship. The company also said that sourcing enough carbon-neutral methanol "will be challenging," according to CNN Business.

The release named customers including Amazon, Disney, H&M Group, HP Inc, Levi Strauss, Microsoft, Novo Nordisk and Procter & Gamble as collaborators on decarbonization, per The Mover.

Why it works: The price premium and the fuel-supply caveat gave reporters a cost and a risk to quote, which made the claim easier to believe. Named customers showed that the demand was real.

Copy this: Disclose the price premium and the main risk, and name customers who will confirm the demand on the record.

What did the four campaigns have in common?

The four campaigns shared a dated target, a published number and an outside outlet that carried the figure. The table below compares them.

CampaignDateTargetNumber that anchored coverageEvidence

GE ecomaginationMay 2005$20 billion annual sales by 2010$10.1 billion in 2005 revenueGE releases Siemens climate neutralSeptember 2015Net zero by 20302.2 million metric tons, 100 million eurosSiemens release and CEO op-ed Interface Mission Zero1994 to 2019Zero negative impact by 202074 percent footprint cut since 1996UN case study Maersk methanol vesselsAugust 2021Net zero by 2050$1.4 billion, 1 million tonnes a yearMaersk release, Reuters

Where did the reported numbers conflict?

Reported numbers conflicted in several places, which is why each figure above carries its source. GE's launch release gave 2004 revenue from environmental products as $10 billion, while its 2006 report gave the 2004 figure as $6.2 billion, per the GE report release. The releases do not explain the gap.

Interface's footprint reduction appears as 74 percent on the UN case study and 76 percent in an Architecture & Design profile. Sources also differ on when Climate Take Back began: Triple Pundit dates it to 2016, while a University of Birmingham profile says 2019.

In Virgo's read, a brand that publishes its baseline, its method and its date in one place prevents the second version of its own number.

How should a B2B brand write its sustainability commitment?

A B2B brand should write its commitment with six elements that the four campaigns above used. The table below lists each element and the case that shows it.

ElementWhat to stateExample

Target and dateOne measurable goal with a deadlineSiemens: net zero by 2030 InvestmentThe amount and the periodMaersk: $1.4 billion; Siemens: 100 million euros over three years Customer proofNamed buyers who will confirm demandMaersk release naming Amazon, Microsoft and others Reporting cadenceA fixed annual report against the baselineGE ecomagination reports from 2006 Honest costThe price premium and the main riskMaersk: 10 to 15 percent premium, fuel supply risk Offsets disclosureWhat is reduced and what is offsetSiemens op-ed on offset projects

What should a B2B brand do first?

A B2B brand should write down its baseline, its target and its method before it speaks to the press. Start with the one number a customer could reuse in its own sustainability report, and name the date it will report against.

Then match the format to the asset. A brand with a product line can follow GE's annual report. A brand with a facilities plan can follow Siemens, and a brand with a capital purchase can follow Maersk, as in Virgo's logistics PR campaigns roundup. Virgo's SC Codeworks supply chain case study shows the thought leadership work that supports a commitment like this one.

This post is part of Virgo's Physical Economy PR guide, which maps all seven posts in the series and the patterns across 19 cases.