CSR - Thames Water turns waste into a story

Client: Thames Water
PR team: In-house
Timescale: December 2009
Budget: £0

Thames Water asked its PR team to put together a plan to promote the company's corporate responsibility report.

Objectives

- To attract widespread media coverage

- To draw attention to the report.

Strategy and plan

The team released two stories to promote Green December. The first was about 'poo power' - the use of sewage sludge to generate electricity, which saved Thames Water £15m in Grid energy in 2008-09. The PR team also designed its own 'poo power' logo.

The second focused on how refuse from the company's work to replace London's water pipes was being shipped to Hoo Island off the coast of Kent to create a haven for wild birds, saving Thames Water £4m a year in landfill tax.

Measurement and evaluation

The stories generated coverage including articles in the Daily Express, The Sun, the London Evening Standard, the Daily Mirror, The Daily Telegraph, Sky News online, BBC News online, Yahoo, and on BBC Radio Five Live, LBC Radio, GMTV and ITV London. Thames Water reached 28,000 followers on Twitter.

Results

In total there were 1,187 views of Thames Water's corporate responsibility report in the first month after its release, compared with 306 views in the same period after the release of the previous year's report.