World Wildlife Fund Canada has hired Environics Communications Inc. as its first public relations agency of record. The firm’s Toronto office will support the not-for-profit with strategic reputation management.
The decision to hire a PR agency was prompted by increased consumer interest in the environment and with it a certain amount of skepticism related to greenwashing—a stigma WWF is working hard to avoid, said Pamela Davis-Ross, vice-president, marketing and donor relations, WWF.
“We will protect our brand at any cost and we need the resources to do that, and Environics is one of those resources,” she said.
After a three-month review process Environics assumed its role earlier this month and is working on a new consumer partnership, soon to be announced. A short list was not disclosed.
Environics recently committed to trimming its carbon emissions in an effort to become “the greenest” PR shop in the country, with a reduce/reuse/recycle approach that includes turning off lights and computers when they aren’t in use, using energy-saving light bulbs in desk lamps and recycling printer and fax machine cartridges.
Environics’s greening efforts and its understanding of corporate and not-for-profit environmental partnerships made the firm a good fit for WWF, Ross added.
