Vodafone calls up duo to build global CSR strategy

Vodafone has called in Corporate Edge and organisational change specialist Harkness Kennett to devise and implement a corporate social responsibility programme for its global workforce by March 2004.

A research phase will kick-off next week, with creative work expected to begin in October. Likely outputs will include employee magazines and other print material, an on-line resource and initiatives that make use of text messaging and mobile communications.

‘The overarching aim is to engage with Vodafone’s 60 000 employees on what CSR means to them,’ says Harkness Kennett partner James Harkness. ‘Vodafone has done the usual thing with CSR in the past, producing reports annually and so on. But this is taking it to the next level, so that the average employee will know how it affects their daily working lives.’

Corporate Edge senior designers Lynn Dickinson and Cat Bailey are the main creatives on the project.

Dickinson says, ‘Deliverables should not just be top-down pieces of communication, but two-way methods of communicating and engaging with audiences. A creative toolkit will be created for Vodafone that will allow roll-out to reach as many people as possible.’