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What is Environmental PR?

The practice of environmental PR focuses specifically on communicating the needs of the environment through a client’s product or service. At Higginson, we work with environmentally focused clients, whether you are a non-profit organisation or have a new product innovation set to change the planet. We drive brand awareness through communicating environmental issues, such as the problem with plastic pollution and unsustainable practices within the built environment.

Benefits

Today, many companies will have Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) commitments – now is the time to publicise this messaging. No longer a footer in a brand’s strategy, ESG commitments must now be at the heart of every business. Driven by consumer demand and scientific evidence of the damage caused by human production and over consumption of resources as well as the socially responsible role business can play. Through environmental PR, brands, charities and NGOs can amplify their voices and shout about the important work they are doing to reduce their impact or improve behaviour.

Brands must take the issue seriously or be left behind. Environmental considerations only become more crucial with consumers choosing to boycott brands that lack transparency and oversight of their environmental impacts. There is no choice but to action ESG commitments. Companies will fail to attract the best employees unless they prove their organisation has purpose at its heart.

This isn’t just for brands working in the environmental sector. Every business has a role to play. Environmental PR plays a role in selling an organisation’s story to communicate to its customers that it is a 21st century business and understands that being a modern business now comes with a responsibility to step up for the planet. Often able to move faster than governments in the battle against climate change corporations, small and medium sized businesses will lead the charge with policy changing only where business makes it possible. Environmental PR is a crucial piece of the puzzle to connect organisations to their audience and help to drive positive behaviour change with the planet in mind.

Our approach

Higginson strategy aligns communications to our clients’ business goals and challenges, working with organisations that are making the world a better place. Higginson is a highly effective boutique communications agency combining traditional and new media tactics to support clients in achieving their long and short-term goals.

We maintain a strategic approach, taking a forensic look at a client’s brand and place in the industry to create a strategy which is sure to enhance its standing and spread awareness of its message and increase influence inside and outside of its own industry.

We practice what we preach to separate ourselves from other environmental PR and communications agencies. We have integral internal campaigns to ensure that, as a company, we are also pushing the environmental agenda, driving behaviour change and raising awareness for the damage being done to our planet. Nature 2030, our in-house environmental campaign, is an international coalition of businesses, politicians and campaigners doing right by the environment in the 2020s, bridging the gap between the often-disparate fields of commerce and campaigning and building a formidable coalition for global change. It has led policy change making work on air pollution and worked at COP26 to force the link between oil and fashion onto the agenda.

Plastic Free Post is our weekly environmental newsletter sending the latest news in the world of plastic pollution and the battle to reduce plastic waste to inboxes, including exclusive interviews with sustainability experts.

What to expect

Higginson strategy is a team of experts in environmental PR and public affairs. We know who to target and what audiences want to hear. We stand out amongst other environmental PR firms as we use public affairs alongside PR to deliver real change. We work closely with clients to align with their purpose and establish core values in raising the awareness of their brands.

We pull on our extensive resources and contacts across the UK and Ireland and across the globe to achieve national and international media coverage for those working to make the world a better place.

With a team of ex-journalists, political speech writers and policy advisers, and integrated corporate communications experts, we have a deep understanding of the media landscape and know both how and where your brand can have an impact.

Associated services

We live in a digital society. It is essential to integrate. In addition to  traditional media, social media is another way we can communicate your brand messaging to a wider audience, beyond the basic service. With an in-house team of graphic designers and digital experts we offer services to bring your brand to life with eye catching and impactful messaging that stands out. We offer social media strategy, design, planning, scheduling and community management across LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook hitting all key audiences.

Who we work with

A Plastic Planet

Challenge

In early 2017 A Plastic Planet was just a concept. The campaign had a clear ask and purpose, but little media coverage and zero social media followers to speak of. At that time A Plastic Planet had a simple goal: a Plastic Free Aisle in supermarkets.

Solution

Using big-bang media tactics, Higginson has ensured that hundreds of millions of people have read about the campaign via extensive coverage in world-class titles like the New York Times, Washington Post,The Guardian, BBC and CNN.

Outcome

Higginson has fuelled A Plastic Planet’s meteoric rise to become one of the world’s most respected campaign movements in the plastic-free space. Our campaigning with the organisation spans both media and public affairs, using political support to gain media traction and media coverage to harness political support. In February 2018, A Plastic Planet launched the world’s first Plastic Free Aisle in supermarkets in a bid to eliminate plastic waste.

Higginson had a clear goal. To make APP one of the most effective forces for plastic free change in British politics. Higginson achieved both the deliverables asked of them, focusing the minds of key politicians on plastic pollution at a time when Brexit is causing chaos, opening the door for us to ignite and inspire change from within Government.

Sian Sutherland

A Plastic Planet Founder

Who we work with

TIPA Compostable Packaging

Challenge

TIPA is a global leader in compostable packaging solutions for the food and fashion industries and is built to fit existing machinery and supply chains. A growing company with global ambitions, the company needed to raise its profile around the world to support growth in target markets. This included standing out from a growing number of competitors in this sector, profiling its female founder, and communicating why compostable packaging should be the first-choice solution in the plastic-alternative packaging space.

Solution

Higginson devised a global communications strategy focusing on TIPA’s key markets; the UK, North America, Australia, France, and Italy including newsroom support and success stories. Higginson’s approach included producing and generating coverage of press releases and writing comment pieces for national publications in each market.

Outcome

Higginson has supported TIPA in all its key markets as it grows and produces new and innovative compostable packaging solutions. TIPA is regularly featured in packaging trades around the world such as PKN Packaging News Australia, Converter Magazine Italy and Packaging World North America. Higginson also secured a piece in the global facing World Economic Forum titled Reduce, reuse, compost: Why recycling alone won’t solve the plastic crisis.

Who we work with

Xampla

Challenge

Xampla has created the world’s first plant protein material for commercial use. With the first products launching in 2021, the company needed to raise its profile from a university spin-out to a future global leader in the replacement of plastic materials and an innovative company on par with the likes of Tesla and Dyson. This included raising the profile of Chair Jeff Seabright, previously of Unilever, building momentum behind Xampla’s technology, and communicating the benefits of its packaging to set it apart from competitors.  

Solution

Higginson devised a communications strategy comprised of a thought leadership series, newsroom support and a social media campaign that covered all of Xampla’s target audiences. Higginson’s approach included producing and generating coverage of press releases, writing comment pieces for national and international publications and securing speaking opportunities at top sustainability and business events.

Outcome

Despite it being a start-up, Higginson has helped Xampla’s material become one of the world’s most anticipated technologies set to combat plastic pollution through extensive media coverage in titles spanning the globe including the Independent, Business Insider and Yahoo! Finance. Journalists now actively seek commentary from members of the Xampla team across sustainability, business, and science and tech news.

Who we work with

Imagine

Challenge

Paul Polman, former CEO of Unilever, set up IMAGINE to bring together CEOs to help businesses meet the UN Global Goals. To do this, significant action is required from businesses which IMAGINE believes can achieve more in a day than government can in a decade. IMAGINE wanted to get its views and thoughts on how businesses can accomplish this in front of a global audience.

Solution

IMAGINE approached Higginson for advice on drafting comment pieces and placing them in national titles, relying on our extensive contacts of comment editors at national news desks and our expertise on where to place pieces for maximum impact, including national, international and specialist titles.

Outcome

Higginson drafted and secured publication of several pieces over four months, including an appeal for businesses to root out disability exclusion, a rallying cry against ‘pandemic isolationism’, and a tribute to Indonesia’s work to halt deforestation – all in The Independent. 

In addition, we secured two pieces in Fortune, one on Paul Polman’s grandchildren’s wishes for the planet and another on the scourge of greenwashing.  Finally, he wrote for Business Leader, calling for a major shake-up of UK corporate governance.  Each of these pieces was promoted on both Polman’s social media channels and those of IMAGINE.

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