Hot wire has conducted a major audit looking at the greening of corporate communications and its potential
inuence on consumer purchasing habits across Europe.
They researched ve sectors (retail, banking & nance, manufacturing and automotive, utilities and
technology & telecoms) in ve countries (the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy) looking at how
frequently companies use green issues in their external communications vehicles. In this instance press
releases were selected as the representative communications tool. We coupled this with pan-European
consumer research that identied how green issues aect the purchasing decisions of consumers in the
same sectors and countries.
Contrary to popular opinion, companies across Europe do not greenwash their communications
wholesale. The Hotwire study has found that across all the sectors green appeared as a theme relatively
infrequently - in only 7.5%-17% of companies’ external communications. French companies use green
issues the most at 17% while German companies are least likely at 7.5%. These are interesting ndings
– with Germany very much an international leader in terms of energy eciency we put it more down to
regional ‘style’ than the reality of the companies’ initiatives. However, while it is good to see that companies
are not opting for a cheap greenwash across the board, it is also interesting to note that they are not in
synch with consumer interest for green products and services. While companies communicate about
green issues relatively infrequently the consumer interest in all things green is very high. When asked
to score their interest in ‘green’ between 1 and 10 (10 being the highest) European consumers scored on
average between 6.3 (Germany) and 8 (France). Consumers in Spain, the UK and Italy scored 7, 7.2 and 7.7
respectively. In other words, consumer interest is very high but in terms of corporate communications,
companies are not doing much to satisfy the interest.
The technology & telecoms sector is an interesting sector in terms of how it currently communicates around
green, and what inuences the buying decision when purchasing technology products and services.
The UK is the only country that communicates in any volume (22% of technology companies’ external
communications) about ‘green’. At 5 out of 10, the consumer research indicates that ‘green’ is not a very
compelling driver for British consumers in the technology space, however there is some interest and UK-
based companies are doing a few things to garner that interest. In the rest of Europe PR professionals in the
technology space have huge opportunities. While consumer interest is pretty high at between 5.5 and 6.1,
the companies’ corporate communications eorts have so far ignored the green agenda. In France only 7%
of external communications by technology companies include the green theme, in Germany 1%, Spain 2.9%
and in Italy 0%. There are some big openings for being the green champion in the technology & telecoms
industries in France, Germany, Spain and Italy
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