Master in Sports Marketing & Sponsorship Patronage

Activity 4 – CSR campaign

Corporate Social Responsibi lity

CSM Sport & Entertainment LLP

Employ ee volunteering program

Edmond Wood

Intro

I currently work for a company called Essentially Group, which is a sports marketing & sponsorship agency that forms part of a larger group of agencies called CSM Sport & Entertainment. In turn, CSM is just one company within a much larger international group of companies - Chime Group.

The way that the overall company is set-up is quite common; multiple companies under many layers of ownership, with as many centralised functions as possible (finance, HR, operations etc) for cost saving purposes.

Chime Group consists of multiple companies in the communications, sports and entertainment sector. They are primarily agencies that work in marketing, sponsorship, advertising and PR. There are also a number of consultancies which offer specialist services in areas such as CSR, PR, Social Media, Research, Digital, Branding and many more. Of particular relevance to this assignment is one of the Chime Group companies called Corporate Citizenship, which is a specialist CSR consultancy. They work as a management consultancy for international corporations in order to develop and implement CSR and sustainability programs and best practices.

Due to the diversity of services offered and industries covered, Chime Group can be considered as one of the top international communications and marketing companies in the world with a huge global presence.

CSM Sport & Entertainment is a group of 11 companies, including the one I work for, Essentially Group. CSM Sport & Entertainment offers specialised services in the fields of sports marketing, sports sponsorship, hospitality sales, image rights management, athlete management, entertainment marketing, strategic consulting, bid management and many more. Within these areas, they have brands that focus solely on one sport, such as motorsport, and others that work across all sports

CSM has over 800 members of staff across 26 global locations. The HQ is here in London, with major offices in Indianapolis USA, Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, Paris & Madrid.

The company at the focus of this piece of work will be CSM Sport & Entertainment, and all references to CSM are set to include the 11 smaller brands/companies that make up CSM Sport & Entertainment. The company structure can be seen Figure 1 - Company structur, below.

It seemed like an interesting idea to look at the creation of a CSR campaign for CSM Sport & Entertainment. Having the expertise of the team at Corporate Citizenship (as mentioned, this is a sister company of mine) who specialise in corporate responsibility and sustainability programs, is a huge benefit. I received an e-mail response from Corporate Citizenship which was very positive Figure 2 - Correspondence with Corporate Citizenship.

At the time of writing, I have arranged a meeting for next week with one of their consultants to learn more about their strategies and how they might be able to look into sport as a tool for CSR.

They base a lot of their work on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). There is some potential for the development of this topic in my final project later in the course, but unfortunately the meeting will come too late to add any value to this assignment given the deadline is Sunday.

Figure 1 - Company structure

Figure 2 - Correspondence with Corporate Citizenship

Prior diagnosis

The primary focus of the company is in the sporting world and they cover everything from Formula 1 motorsport, to mass participation events such as the London Marathon and charity bike rides. Therefore the stakeholders they engage with are very diverse and the impact on society is very high – both positively and negatively.

It is very important to get a clear picture of the current state of affairs when it comes to CSR, employee opinion, in fact every stakeholder’s views. We can conduct a materiality analysis in order to understand the issues of greatest importance to the business. Engaging with all stakeholders involved is imperative to successful CSR programs. This can come in many forms, but interviews and questionnaires are a reliable tool.

Having spoken with a number of colleagues working in Human Resources and Marketing at CSM, it became clear that although some efforts have been made to reduce carbon emissions, cut-down on waste, and a few other environmentally focused policies; there has been very little done at group level in respect to CSR.

There is an internal portal within my company, called Bounce. It is used for reporting on company news, storing employee information like a database, client successes etc. There is a section on CSR, but as per Figure 3 - CSR section of internal portal (called Bounce)it is not very active and the only entry this year was the environmental policy statement, as I mentioned previously.

Figure 3 - CSR section of internal portal (called Bounce)

Idea

I intend to design an employee volunteering scheme for my current employer, CSM Sport & Entertainment, where employees volunteer in partnership with the Youth Sports Trust (I will provide detail on them later).

The volunteering scheme satisfies the company’s CSR obligations to society due to the time and expertise provided to young people and charities that need man-hours. Furthermore, it can satisfy internal CSR obligations because a structured volunteering program can help to engage with employees, improves their feelings towards the company, and help to motivate staff. The last benefit, which is less known about, is the actual benefit to the business that can come through tangible employee learning & development that comes from the volunteering scheme. The motivation for this type of CSR plan came from reading a report written by Corporate Citizenship (one of the consultancies that are part of the same group of companies) called ‘Volunteering – The Business Case’.

Giving something back to society is of clear benefit to society itself. The charities always need money, resources, benefits in kind etc.

There are also well known business benefits related to CSR and community investment. ..

Benefits of CSR and community investment

There are at least three common themes that tend to emerge when describing the business benefits

related to corporate responsibility and community investment:

Risk management – the way a company discharges its social and environmental

responsibilities in the local community can impact on its “licence to operate”.

Brand reputation – people’s direct experience of the behaviour of a business in its local

community, which can be a powerful factor influencing whether or not one feels favourably

towards a company.

Impact on staff – it is argued that positive views of the business are shaped by the

company’s commitment to community investment activities, including support for

employee volunteering.

Alongside these themes, there are numerous other benefits involved in active community

involvement such as new routes to market and greater innovation.

The reason that I have chosen to focus on employee volunteering as a form of CSR, is because of the possible benefits, tangible and measurable as well as perceived and indirect, to the business. The focus of the study was on 16 financial services corporations that undertook employee volunteering schemes. However, I feel that the skills gained can be considered very useful in the field of sports marketing, strategic consulting, client services and the other disciplines that CSM Sport & Entertainment cover.

Benefits of volunteering in Education sector:

Communication skills, including the ability to communicate clearly and concisely with a wide

range of people and listen actively.

Ability to help others, set individ0.ual performance goals, coach and counsel, provide

training and development and evaluate performance.

Adaptability and ability to be effective in different surroundings and with different tasks,

responsibilities and people.

Influencing and negotiating skills, including persuading others, resolving conflicts and

negotiating agreed solutions.

As I have identified above, the volunteering in the study was done in the education sector. Employees went into local schools and offered mentoring, reading & writing tuition, and also knowledge sharing when it comes to the business world and life after school. Of course I also want to involve the world of sports because it is my passion, it is the sector that my company is working, and because this is a master of SPORT marketing & sponsorship. In order to satisfy these demands, and also to try and achieve the benefits seen in the study ‘Volunteering – The Business Case’, I decided to partner with the Youth Sports Trust.

Foundation partner

The Youth Sports Trust (YST from here on) is a widely respected youth charity registered in the UK. Their belief is that every child and young person has the potential and right to develop and prosper in life. They focus on physical education and school sport in order to reach their objectives. For this reason, they were a perfect foundation to partner with for my CSR campaign with CSM Sport & Entertainment.

They work at primary school and secondary school level, and also children with special educational needs. Their three fundamental values are:

Wellbeing – equipping children with the confidence, competence and enjoyment of sport needed for a lifetime of activity, and good physical and mental health...

Leadership - support young people to develop a range of positive character qualities: creativity, aspiration, resilience and empathy...

Achievement - engages young people in learning and support the development of skills needed for success...

CSM Sport and Entertainment believes in the power of sport to develop brands, equipping them with the wellbeing, confidence and competence to grow and prosper in their market.

CSM believes in organic growth of their leaders, from graduates all the way through to management. A whole host of leadership qualities are needed to make it to the top and these can be gained from the support networks within the business.

Sport is all about achievements, as is the same for the world of marketing & communications. Whether it’s winning a new client, activating a new partnership, or helping an event to be a success – it’s all part of the process of achievement at CSM.

There is great synergy between the objectives of CSM Sport & Entertainment and the Youth Sports Trust so they are compatible partners and the volunteering campaign with the YST is closely linked to the overall context of CSM as a business.

Furthermore, given the YST is widely recognised as a leading youth sports charity, it is practical to consider that management and decision makers at CSM would be comfortable engaging with the YST as a volunteering partner. The YST is accredited by a number of pivotal sports organisations and governmental departments, such as Sport England and the Department for Culture, Media & Sports.

Volunteering schedule/program

The Youth Sports Trust has many different projects and directives that could use support from CSM employee volunteers. For example:

Bikeability – a program designed by the Department for Transport which is designed to train young children in how to ride a bike safely on the roads and streets and to give them the confidence in travelling via this method.

#PlayUnified – a global movement aimed at building and maintain unity in society through sport participation for those with intellectual and physical disabilities.

Inclusive Futures – a leadership and volunteering initiative for young people, with a special emphasis on inclusion.

In the first year, in a ‘trial’ version of the program, I propose that each of the three programs above takes 10 CSM employees on as volunteers for the whole year. This would give some consistency and allow the volunteers to make a connection with the young people they are working with-in the community via the YST.

We could hold a presentation day, at the company offices. The Youth Sports Trust could come in to the building and talk about their work so far and all their success stories, the projects that they run, the reason that they do the work they do, and the reason why volunteering support is so important.

We have a fantastic space available at the office which is often used for presentations and talks:

Figure 4 - CSM Sport & Entertainment social arena:

Figure 4 - CSM Sport & Entertainment social arena

The internal news portal, Bounce, can be used as a method of promoting the campaign and registering interested employees in the volunteering scheme. Traditional e-mail campaigns will also be used to target prospective volunteers.

I propose to designate a volunteer coordinator from each brand (there are 11 within the company) who will be an enthusiastic and committed employee who wants to be a volunteer. He/she will be responsible for getting registrations from other employees in their department. Often people have good intentions and would be willing to commit to a good cause e.g. donations or in this case to be a volunteer, but they need that final push from someone to actually do it. If there was one volunteer coordinator who was getting their friends and colleagues to sign up, it would help increase the numbers.

I feel that to start with, we would take on 30 employees from CSM out of the group who are interested in applying. If we don’t have 30 people interested then we can take as many as we have.

Each employee would spend one day per month volunteering with the YST on their allocated program.

30 employees doing one day per month would equate to 360 days of volunteering by CSM over the course of the first year.

Another innovative campaign that could work very well would be the inclusion of CSM clients in the CSR program; specifically, the involvement of top brand ambassadors/representatives in YST projects.

For example, the Youth Sports Trust has an Athlete Mentor Program called Changing Lives. The premise is quite simple – they bring top-class athletes in to schools to inspire and motivate young people to reach their potential in sport and in life, as well as advising on how to overcome challenges that are faced. The reason this would work so well is because the brands within CSM Sport & Entertainment, such as Essentially Group or Fast Track, often use top sportsmen and women as brand ambassadors in their marketing campaigns.

For example

Johnny Wilkinson & Jaguar Land Rover

Conor Murray & DoveMen+ Care Joe Root & Vitality

The relationships that CSM Sport’s agencies have with their clients means that they can involve these top celebrity athletes in the CSR program. It is also an option that the brands (Vitality, Dove, and Land Rover) can use it as a publicity campaign for their own good-will/CSR actions.

Indicators/assessment mechanisms

Questionnaires are a common tool for measuring efficacy of a program and volunteers can

undertake them before and after their volunteering program (Figure 5 - Before and after volunteering questionnaire).

Given this is an innovative project, something novel for the business, and not a traditional profit-oriented directive, there are significant risks of the campaign generating scepticism or reluctance on the part of the management. The best way to allay any of these concerns is to maintain regular communication and reporting that shows the program is developing, it is working, and it is generating the right kind of response in the community, in the workforce, and even better – in the media or competitor space.

Figure 5 - Before and after volunteering questionnaire

Promotion/publicity

News of the campaign would be regularly updated on the company portal, Bounce. The experiences of the employees on their first trip to the schools or to the sporting events would be relayed through interviews, photos and videos.

Given this is a marketing & communications agency in 2016, a huge amount of our work is based on digital marketing and social media. All of the traditional channels are in regular use and all employees are aware of the way to optimise their use.

The central marketing team will have regular Twitter, Facebook and YouTube updates of the volunteering activities, as well as collaboration with the Youth Sports Trust social media channels which are very active.

Figure 6 - Youth Sports Trust Twitter page

Funding/cost

It is widely believed that CSR comes with a cost to the business, with no return other than the satisfaction of giving something back and potentially some indirect commercial benefits (UNICEF & FCB comes to mind...) In the case of an employee volunteering program, the cost to the business is quite different from organising a community event or a donation to a charity for example.

The cost to the business can be considered as ‘employee hours’ – in that there are business hours where employees are not working on client services or usual business operations because they are out of the office volunteering, or spending time organising the volunteer program.

However, the benefit of working with an established organisation such as the Youth Sports Trust is that they are experienced in managing a volunteer program and can take the main organisational burden off CSM Sport & Entertainment.

The man-hours which are lost to the volunteer program can be considered as relatively low and absorbable for a business which is serious about their CSR obligations.

Furthermore, as mentioned previously, there are actually business benefits obtainable from a properly executed employee volunteering scheme. The learning & development that results from the program can actually enhance employee performance in the business and contribute to financial performance. It is common practice in most companies of a reasonable size that they will have an annual budget set aside for learning & development programs – external trainers, courses, team building sessions etc. In ‘Volunteering – The Business Case’ the authors actually go one step further and aim to quantify the cost to the business of an employee volunteering scheme versus the average spend on learning & development. The full results can be found in the report, but it is believed that to achieve similar levels of learning & development in key areas (communication, problem solving, team-work, persuasive techniques, empathy), it is considerably cheaper to use an employer supported volunteering scheme than it is to go through traditional learning & development techniques (classroom sessions, external training days etc).

So a successfully implemented employer supported volunteering campaign can pay for itself if the learning & development of the employees is taken care of. PLUS the CSR obligations in the community are covered as well.

Foreseen issues, future plans & conclusion

As mentioned, this first year would have to be a trial and is likely to come up against a number of teething problems, such as the following:

Initial reluctance from management on validity and materiality of CSR

Insufficient volunteer numbers from the workforce Difficulty and cost of obtaining relevant security checks given working with children

Pre-requisite for more specialised training and certification in order to assist the YST

My plans for the 2nd and 3rd years would be to increase the number of employees taking part in the volunteering scheme, and to work alongside the YST to decide which of the other projects that are being run could use the help of volunteers.

The topic of corporate social responsibility is becoming harder and harder to ignore. It is true that for large, multi-national companies, the pressure to give something back to society and to protect the environment is greater than those smaller companies that aren’t in the public eye as much. However the pressure to give something back to employees is still a form of CSR that is essential if a company wants to be successful. The age of social media means that no company is safe from one bad bit of press or media coverage becoming a major headache for them. Therefore the necessity to keep everyone happy is serious.

I have a meeting next week with Corporate Citizenship and they have already told me (Figure 2 - Correspondence with Corporate Citizenship) that they are very interested in looking further into the world of sport as a vehicle for CSR. I hope to investigate this topic further and I would not be surprised to see more and more companies in the future turning to sport as a means of satisfying their CSR objectives when it comes to internal programs. We have already seen the huge rise of sports sponsorship as CSR and this trend looks set to continue.