Delivering Corporate Responsibility Through Images
One of the areas that I specialise in is corporate responsibility images. Earlier this month I wrote an article published in Construction UK Magazine titled ‘How to better communicate the impact of sustainable practices in construction’, you can read the full article here.
The purpose of the article was to highlight how more effective images are in communication Corporate Responsibility and/or Sustainability initiatives.
I’ve written about this in my own booklet, Sustainability Communications, which can be downloaded here – just scroll down the page and click on the image.
The main point is that CSR, ESG, sustainability are growing in importance every year. There are often national and international targets to be met and if your business is part of a supply chain then the whole chain is required to move as fast as the business or organisation at the top of the chain. It’s no good committing to being net zero carbon by 2050 if one of your biggest customers has committed to the same by 2035. As part pf their supply chain they has effectively imposed the earlier deadline on you, if you want to retain their business.
So how do corporate responsibility images help?
Corporate Responsibility Images Drive Faster Change
As employees most people want to know what you want from them and how you want them to do it. They also want the right skills and tools to deliver.
Images, particularly photographs, are a universal language that can be understood in seconds – this is known as the picture superiority effect, which acknowledges that we retain more visual information than textual information.
When I first started my career in video production our clients demonstrated how they wanted their people to operate by showing them – we would literally video someone doing the task in the way the client wanted. What’s more, we insisted that the person being filmed was a real employee and not an actor because it added to the authenticity and the video shifted from a ‘tell’ towards colleagues ‘sharing’ best practice. We always stressed the importance of the audience being able to relate and see themselves in the video.
Video these days has largely fallen out of fashion, instead we expect to educate and motivate through talks, handouts and micro-learning, usually bite-sized chunks online, that can also be dominated by text and voice.
What we’re also seeing is a swing towards using photography. There’s growing recognition that social media, intranets and other digital tools should be used more effectively to engage with employees and that in order to cut through the noise, photography is required.
There is a universal truth when it comes to scrolling, swiping and clicking – we take a pause when we recognise something.
If your business is trying to change behaviour or mindset around sustainability for example, then corporate responsibility images, that are captured to highlight the why, the what and the how can be a really effective way to connect with people at an emotional level and in ways that motivate them to want to change. What’s more all of this information can be conveyed in seconds.
For more reasons to use corporate responsibility images read my article on ‘Reasons to use photography in sustainability reporting and communication’ here.
You can also read more about my approach to using photography as a communication tool that supports change here.
About me
I’m a documentary photographer who focuses primarily on Industrial Photography, Social Impact and Humanitarian stories, and Sustainability Communications (CSR & ESG) Photography. I works with businesses and organisations to create compelling visual stories to support employee communication and stakeholder engagement. Find out more here.
