Trimedia will launch its first Trend Club webinar, exploring the trends in Corporate Social Responsibility, on April 29, 11:00 GMT +1* / 12:00 BST* / 13:00 CET*

Our panel of European CSR experts includes:
Phil Sivell, Team Leader, Climate Change, Centre for Sustainability (C4S) at TRL, the UK's Transport Research Laboratory; René Schmidpeter, General Manager, Austrian Centre for Corporate Citizenship; James Wright, Director of CSR, Trimedia UK
With contributions from:
John Russell, Managing Editor, Ethical Corporation and Gabi Faber-Wiener, Director of CSR, Trimedia Austria

This is your opportunity to actively participate in a discussion of a topic that is one of the hottest in today’s business environment. Register now at www.trimediagroup.com/trendclub and submit your questions to the experts for discussion during the webinar. Participants can also pose questions to the panel in real time during the event. The Trimedia Trend Club is open to Trimedia clients, staff, media and other opinion formers. Each quarterly webinar will address an important and relevant trend in communication.

*GMT +1= Greenwich Mean Time +1;
*BST= British Summer Time;
*CET= Central European Time

In recognition that CSR is a trend here to stay, Trimedia offers its clients a team of talented specialists, headed by multiple award-winning UK Director of CSR, James Wright. James is supported by his international team members who, like him, have a wealth of experience in CSR to offer clients. Onboard are Gabi Faber-Wiener (Austria), Olivier Lechien (Belgium), Marie-France Bergamo (France), Katrin Ehlers (Germany), Manuela Roccato (Italy), Lucille Hegger (The Netherlands), Rosa Matos Bento (Portugal), Luis Felipe Martin (Spain), Anders Hagensgǻrd (Sweden), and Werner Mäder (Switzerland). Find out more about our CSR experts here: www.trimediagroup.com/csr.

Trimedia has won an International Public Relations Association (IPRA) Golden World Award in the CSR category for the BT Better World campaign. The same campaign also won the Corporate-Community Partnership award at the PR News’ Global CSR Awards in support of ChildLine, the free helpline for children and young people in the UK. The helpline is staffed by counsellors, and children are encouraged to use the service to air their problems.

Now in their 17th year, the Golden World Awards (GWA) annually recognise the best in Public Relations work from around the world. They are organised by the IPRA, the leading global network for public relations professionals. The IPRA judges chose 28 category winners from 117 finalists out of 404 entries from 52 countries. The award will be presented in London on the 10th June 2008.

PR News’ CSR Awards is a global awards scheme that recognises the corporations and their partners that have executed highly successful and impactful CSR campaigns in the past 12 months. The award was presented to Trimedia UK CSR Director, James Wright, at the awards luncheon at the National Press Club in Washington DC.

Top Talent
In 2007 Trimedia received a total of 31 awards and was short-listed for another 26.

Trimedia is currently conducting a survey of views concerning CSR. Your views will form part of the CSR Webinar discussions. The results of the survey will be published on the Trimedia website. Have your voice heard and contribute to this important topic. Access the survey at www.trimediagroup.com/csrsurvey.

Trimedia’s footprint is the biggest in pan-European Public Relations. We have 30 offices across 11 countries. Our wholly owned sister company, Mmd, adds another 18 countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and Eurasia. Our 700 experts are trained to challenge change. They have the tools to act and the talent to achieve the right results for you. Everywhere in Europe. Trimedia offers its clients the latest news and views on global, regional and local TRENDS in communications as well as offering professional expertise on how they can benefit from them.

Trimedia also provides a range of communication TOOLS to respond to these new trends with expertise in Reputation Management, Crisis and & Issues Management, CSR, Internal Communication, Media Relations, Digital PR, Sponsorship, Media Training and Public Affairs.

TALENT comes to the fore in the expertise available through the company’s Centres of Excellence which specialise in seven main areas: technology, consumer brands, transportation and logistics, healthcare and life sciences, governments and the public sector, industry and financial services. Trimedia, present in 11 European countries, is further represented in Eastern Europe and Eurasia via its partner company, Mmd, and is part of Huntsworth PLC, which operates from 72 principle offices in 32 countries worldwide. http://www.trimediagroup.com/officelocations

Emma Williams, CSR Communications Manager at BT - one of the world's leading providers of communications solutions and services - explains why marketeers and communicators need to embrace sustainability.

During the last fifty years, the marketing and PR professions have been portrayed as the bad guys for glamourising and promoting excessive consumption as well as for their own, not insignificant, contributions to waste and disposability. But times are changing. Sustainable marketing is now being recognised as the new paradigm for organisations that want to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

In the UK the value of ethical spending has grown nine per cent in the past 12 months, to €40.3 billion (£32.3billion¹) with sales of Fair Trade products growing by 81% from 2006 to 2007².  Around 35% of UK consumers claim to consider sustainability issues when purchasing and the rest of Europe is not far behind (Italy and France at 30%; Germany and Spain at 23%³).  Trends made all the more significant against a backdrop of tougher economic conditions and a general squeeze on households' disposable incomes. Consumers, it seems, want to do the right thing.

Unlike the last ‘green bubble’ in the 90’s, the impacts of peak oil prices and climate change mean that we simply won’t have the luxury of ‘faddism’ this time around.  Customers are becoming increasingly less forgiving.  51% claim to have boycotted a company because its product was damaging to the environment, and anger at perceived green-wash has led to a doubling of the number of advertisments banned by the UK’s Advertising Standards Association.

In most large organisations, the CSR and Marketing functions operate quite separately from each other and there is vulnerability in this approach. If the marketing tactics are at odds with the CSR strategy, then the company's reputation is at stake. You can have the best CSR report in history, but if a customer has to landfill your latest ‘novelty mailer’ or can’t find the ‘off’ button on your product, then the promises and  words of wisdom in the report will be utterly meaningless.

Closer collaboration between CSR and Marketing teams can help avoid such pitfalls. At BT, our Sustainable Marketing Programme is designed to bridge the gap. This approach helped launch our new energy efficient home phones. It’s a €2.5 million (£2million) investment for us but it will save our customers €48.6 million (£39million) in reduced energy bills – for me, that’s reason enough to make sure that sustainability stays firmly on all of our agendas.

Emma Williams leads BT’s Sustainable Marketing Programme and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) and the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment. (IEMA)

¹ The Co-Op Bank:Ethical Consumerism Report 2007
² Fair Trade Foundation, Feb. 2008
³ GMI Consumer Polls, 2005

Trimedia’s CSR experts are ready to help shape a client’s portfolio of activities in this increasingly important area of communications. Drawing on the company’s talent bank of pan-European resources and mindful of current trends in CSR and public awareness of the topic, they offer campaigns tailored to suit the needs of individual clients. In addition, Trimedia also offers its clients special CSR workshops.

To understand how better business practice can improve your company or organisation, Trimedia has developed a bespoke CSR workshop for clients looking at developing a new - or evolving a current - CSR programme.

At this workshop you will:
	Learn about the benefits of CSR.
	Look at the ethics of corporate governance.
	Analyse key CSR issues, comparing them with notable case studies.
	Understand how climate change has influenced the wider CSR agenda.
	Learn about the Trimedia CSR pillars.
	Demonstrate how these pillars can form the basis of your CSR programme.
	Look at how to begin developing your CSR strategy.
	Identify areas that are relevant and which you are able to own.

Benefits for your organisation:
In addition to providing an introduction to CSR and the impact of climate change, the workshop will identify CSR activities that already take place, gaps that currently exist and raise ideas for new activities, policies or initiatives that could be implemented. This process will assist in the identification of the major opportunities and threats to your company’s reputation.

Benefits for employees:
By becoming more familiar with CSR and implementing best practice, individuals can make a difference to your organisation and the sectors of society in which they operate.

About Trimedia:
At Trimedia, we have worked at the heart of CSR strategy for more than 10 years, operating in partnership with clients to promote their improved business practices. We believe a successful and sustainable CSR programme creates value in your business and can drive performance. It is a brand differentiator. We provide guidance on different CSR approaches, developing communication programmes that are right for you.

For more information or to book a workshop contact James.Wright@trimediauk.com or call + 44 207 025 75 00

Today’s leading companies, from multinationals to SMEs, recognise that Corporate Social Responsibility must be an integral part of their communication process. Trimedia has the tools and talent to provide its clients with cutting edge expertise in CSR, reinforced by its cross border pan-European network of offices and global reach. The company is already very active in this area in a number of European countries.

Trimedia’s specialist expertise, recognised by many awards, includes a broad pan-European PR programme for Land Rover, as well as multi-country campaigns for Xerox in France, UK and the Netherlands, and for McDonald’s in Switzerland and the UK.

Our expertise on a national level includes work by Trimedia Austria with an environmental project for MA 48, the Viennese authorities responsible for waste management; “Move & Help” for oil and gas company OMV (education in disadvantaged regions); breast cancer and HIV awareness initiatives for Austrian mineral water Vöslauer and projects for the Austrian Federal Forestry.

Trimedia Germany supported the mission of the FedEx Social Responsibility department in Germany to actively support the communities they serve.

Trimedia UK works with a range of companies from multinationals like Coca-Cola GB, Land Rover and McDonalds, to SMEs. For Land Rover, Trimedia runs specific UK-based projects in support of Land Rover’s G4 Challenge and its global conservation partnerships. The agency, winner of the PR News’ Global CSR Awards for the BT campaign in support of ChildLine, also supports international aid agency World Vision's child sponsorship and alternative gift catalogue campaigns, and worked with the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) helping to launch the Tsunami and Asia Quake Appeal.

Trimedia France has helped position Xerox as a pioneer in creating waste-free products using waste-free facilities, and in implementing environmentally friendly practices, reinforcing Xerox’s image as a socially aware company and demonstrating how Xerox’s innovations contribute to the preservation of the environment.

Would you like to know about the newest trends in communication and PR? Would you like to join our discussion on new developments and trends?

Addressing a range of topics, many of our Trend Reporters' blog entries were related to the internet and Web 2.0 illustrating the growing influence of this area on communications. These ranged from online shopping to social network loans to eKiosk and the debate about printed communication versus online publishing. Consumer interests, brands and CSR were also present.

Trimedia encourages comments on the blog entries so the blog can evolve into a real dialogue. For hot news on communication trends check out the Trimedia blog at www.trimediagroup.com/trendclub.