Supporting Community Sustainability Campaign

A hypothetical campaign created for a Corporate Social Responsibility course based on real data from Chanel and Food and Water Watch.

March 2023

By Natasha Avalos & Joann Chen

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Chanel and Food and Water Watch are partnering together to address and bring awareness to the environmental concerns held by the French population in a campaign called “Supporting Community Sustainability”. Chanel is a luxury fashion house based primarily out of Europe and sells clothing, fragrance, makeup and skincare, as well as fine jewelry. Food and Water Watch (FWW) is a non-profit organization that fights for access to clean water, safe food systems, and a livable climate for future generations. By working together, the two organizations will create a survey distributed to the French public to gather data about their thoughts on the environmental issues that most affect them and their local community. Upon completion of the survey, data will be analyzed by FWW and used to create environmental and sustainable solutions that can be implemented in the local community. After the issues have been recognized, Chanel will allocate resources to FWW to co-host a public event where the general population can learn about the environmental issues that affect them and teach them about what steps they can take to deal with the issues. The project is anticipated to take place over one year with updates and check-ins with the community after the end of the partnership to determine if it was successful. By working on a small scale, we can better address immediate concerns and build better relationships with the local community. The project requires the efforts of FWW staff, Chanel staff, and the local community in order to be successful. This partnership will be unique to both organizations as they typically only collaborate with other organizations within their national regions, thus coming together to bring new perspectives and ideas to better serve their stakeholders.

Operationalization

As previously mentioned, this partnership will be launched in France. Chanel conducts most of its operations in Europe and specifically produces their “Eco-Responsible Beauty Line” in France. FWW is an American-based NGO with a small, but growing, presence in Europe, specifically Belgium. As a means to help expand FWW’s presence in Europe, taking this partnership into the country where Chanel claims to be most eco-friendly is an ideal place to begin the campaign. Additionally, upon researching the environmental concerns of the French population, we believe that FWW can be of help to addressing these issues, which we will further get into later in this paper.

The campaign is expected to last for about a year in which Chanel and FWW will work together every step of the way as they communicate with the public. First, the two firms will come together to sort out the logistics of the partnerships as they create a survey asking participants about their environmental concerns within France as well as their thoughts on Chanel’s environmental impact and sustainability efforts. The survey will be distributed to the French population via social media and various advertisement placements throughout the region. Advertisements will be posters produced by Chanel with a QR code that can be scanned and direct the participant to an online version of the survey. These posters will be placed in highly public areas such as bus stops and metro stations as well as targeting Chanel’s direct stakeholders via posters in and around their boutiques, official social media posts, and an accessible QR code at registers in their boutiques. The survey will be live for six months where participants can complete it one time and upon completion will receive a redemption email where they can visit a Chanel boutique and receive a complimentary sample bag of products from the Eco-Friendly Chanel Beauty Line. Data from the survey will then be evaluated by FWW to determine which are the most prominent issues of concern by the French. Once decided, Chanel will provide funds and resources to co-host and organize a fun and education event addressing the issues expressed. The event will teach the public about how to combat the issues and Chanel will commit to also making internal changes that will also minimize their environmental impact. The event will take place in the community where there was the most survey participation and community members, all survey participants, and Chanel and FWW stakeholders will be invited to attend.

The outcome of the campaign hopes to benefit not only Chanel and FWW’s respective reputations, but also the French community, local environments, and Chanel’s shareholders. Chanel and FWW’s reputations will be further discussed later in this section. The French community is a major stakeholder in this project as they are the target population whose concerns we would like to address. They will benefit from this project if we are able to effectively address and help mitigate and relieve these issues. The environment is also a major stakeholder as we attempt to take care of it and restore it to a cleaner place for the French to live and thrive. Improving local environmental concerns initiates steps to be taken for problems the public sees, not just scientists or the government. It’s important that Chanel addresses both the French population as well the French environment due to the fact that the company conducts much of its business there and whatever they do in France directly impacts the surrounding people and environment. Chanel’s shareholders will benefit from this campaign as profits and sales will increase if people decide to buy the full-sized versions of the sampled Beauty Line, thus possibly bringing in a new consumer base that will also purchase other Chanel products.

To measure the success of the survey, we will conduct a one year follow up survey as well as a survey following the event. These surveys will be released to evaluate public opinion of the partnership as well as how the local community’s environmental concerns have changed since the event. Surveys will be sent directly to the email addresses entered by original participants. Additionally, we expect the media and word of mouth to evaluate the campaign in which Chanel and FWW can determine the public’s perception of it.

Rationale

The specific issue that this partnership will be working on is an environmental issue. The project will focus on surveying the French local community as a way to address local environmental concerns as mentioned earlier. We predict that their primary concerns will relate to air, water, or noise pollution based on France’s 2021 Environmental Performance Review. Chanel has been making efforts to become environmentally sustainable, which can be seen through the goal that they have set for themselves to completely use renewable energy across their global operations by 2025 as stated in their Chanel Mission 1.5°. By partnering with FWW, to address environmental issues within the French local community, Chanel is able to show that they are taking steps to becoming more environmentally friendly, while also showing that they care about the local community by giving back. For FWW, this partnership allows them to call out a big global corporation, while also allowing for direct collaboration to make effective and impactful change.

FWW’s mission is to organize regular people to fight for policies and solutions relating to food systems, water, and climate change. Within their mission, FWW also states that they fight to hold governments and corporations accountable for their actions relating to these issues. Therefore, by working with Chanel, FWW would be able to hold them accountable, while also instigating environmental change, which aligns with their mission. As a multinational luxury brand, Chanel’s mission is to “be the ultimate house of luxury, defining style, and creating desire now and forever.” For Chanel to fully achieve their mission they have to operate in a way that is sustainable enough so that the company and the planet can last “now and forever.” Therefore, by partnering with FWW, Chanel will gain environmental expertise and be able to reach their sustainability goals, allowing them to address the “forever” part of their mission. As a successful company, Chanel has access to many resources and money, which can be beneficial to FWW and the community. Additionally, since Chanel’s primary operations occur in France, they can provide information regarding French demographics, which is something that FWW lacks, since their main operations are in the United States. The information on the French community will be especially helpful since this specific project is geared towards appealing to the French local community and what their environmental needs are.

Normally, Chanel has partnerships with NGOs that are focused on internal improvements, however, for this specific project the central focus revolves around community and addressing meaningful issues with the local community. For FWW, this partnership goes beyond what the organization is used to, since they don’t typically partner with large corporations, let alone international corporations. This partnership will be revolutionary for FWW because it allows them to go beyond the United States, and expand their efforts on an international scale.

Through this partnership, Chanel and Food and Water Watch will address and relieve the French community of their main environmental concerns. If the partnership is successful, Chanel and Food and Water Watch can expand the project into other communities around the globe. This project will be proof that a multinational corporation and a non-governmental organization can work together to mitigate larger social responsibilities that affect stakeholders around the globe.

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References

Chanel. (2021). Chanel Mission 1.5° : Discover our climate report. CHANEL. Retrieved March 19, 2023, from https://www.chanel.com/us/climate-report/

Chanel. (2018). Chanel Report to Society. CHANEL. Retrieved March 19, 2023, from https://services.chanel.com/i18n/en_US/pdf/Chanel_CSR_0305_Proof_180620_for_web.pdf

Food & Water Watch. (2023, January 3). Who we are . Food & Water Watch. Retrieved March 19, 2023, from https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/who-we-are/

The French Population’s Environmental Concerns. (2021). Retrieved March 19, 2023, from https://www.statistiques.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/sites/default/files/2022-08/10_the_french_population%E2%80%99s_environ_mental_concerns.pdf