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Fast Company
7 days ago
- Business
- Fast Company
PR isn't dead—it's the most strategic business function of 2025
I saw a LinkedIn post last week from a CMO claiming PR was 'dead' and only about getting on 'Good Morning America.' I had to laugh. While this person was busy writing PR's obituary, the discipline was quietly transforming into the most valuable strategic function in modern business. WHERE THE MONEY'S BEING MADE Look, I get it. If you haven't paid attention since 2015, you might think PR is still just pitching press releases. But that's like saying marketing is just making brochures. Here's what strategic PR is actually delivering: When a tech company can't hire enough developers because Google and Amazon are snatching them all up, PR steps in to build an employer brand that positions them as the more interesting, innovative place to work. Suddenly, their application numbers jump 200%. That's not a 'soft' result—it's directly addressing the biggest business challenge they face. Or, take that 50-year-old fintech company perceived as outdated. Its mainframe technology is actually cutting-edge, but who would know? Through strategic thought leadership placement and a narrative overhaul, PR shifts market perception from 'legacy dinosaur' to 'established innovator.' Soon, analysts mention them alongside flashy startups. And Lord help the companies that go through mergers without PR guidance. I've watched it time and again—extensive M&A due diligence on the technology and finances, then complete chaos when nobody can explain what the combined entity actually does. Good PR creates coherent narratives that align internal teams while reassuring external stakeholders. THE WOMEN REDEFINING THE FIELD Watch what Allyson Park is doing at Walmart. She's seen PR's business impact throughout her career, noting that 'time and time again, I have seen the relevancy and results PR can create.' She's revamped how Walmart communicates across paid, owned, earned, and shared media, with measurable impact on consumer perception. Beatriz 'Bea' Perez at Coca-Cola exemplifies how communications has evolved. As EVP and Global Chief Communications, Sustainability & Strategic Partnerships Officer, she spearheaded Coca-Cola's 'World Without Waste' program to collect and recycle the equivalent of every bottle or can they sell globally by 2030, transforming the company's reputation with environmentally conscious consumers. The trend of PR professionals reaching the C-suite keeps accelerating. Last year, GE's Linda Boff and other marketing leaders moved into CEO roles. As Gartner analyst Ewan McIntyre puts it, this reflects 'a growing impetus on the marketing function to deliver growth.' MY PERSONAL JOURNEY I started as a tech journalist before joining a PR boutique when media relations meant actually building relationships with reporters. PR is no longer measured by clip counts—the industry has boomed to $129 billion because strategic communication delivers measurable business impact. The distinction between internal and external communication is meaningless. Ever notice how quickly internal emails leak? Smart companies treat every communication as potentially public. PR pros now shape everything from all-hands meeting scripts to internal newsletters, ensuring what employees hear matches what customers and investors hear. Builds Authority Through Targeted Channels The media landscape has fractured into thousands of microchannels. Smart PR ignores the 'reach everyone' approach and instead targets the 3-4 podcasts, trade publications, or analyst reports that influence key stakeholders. One hit on an industry-specific podcast often delivers more value than a general business publication feature because you're reaching the right audience. Connects Communication To Business Results My firm tracks who sees our clients' content and what they do next. When we place a thought leadership piece, we can tell you exactly how many people visited the website, what pages they viewed, and whether they converted to leads or customers. PR and the sales funnel are inseparable strategic partners. Prevents Reputation Disasters A single Slack message can become tomorrow's headline. The 2025 Cision and PRWeek Comms Report found 96% of organizations experienced a crisis in the past two years. Companies with good PR teams recovered faster and faced less damage than those caught unprepared. THE DANGEROUS GAP IN UNDERSTANDING I see this gap at the top levels of too many companies. When CMOs dismiss PR as just media relations, they're about a decade behind reality—creating massive vulnerability for their organizations. Modern PR encompasses everything from employee advocacy to social influencer strategy to crisis simulation. If your PR team is just pitching reporters, you have the wrong PR team. INTEGRATION MAKES MAGIC HAPPEN The Cision/PRWeek Report found that 84% of communications leaders report being consulted by C-suite executives more this year than ever. Yet only 18% of PR teams are properly integrated with marketing. That gap creates messaging chaos. When PR and marketing operate in silos, you get the social team posting about product launches before the press release goes out, or contradicting the company's messaging. I've seen campaigns fall flat because the paid, earned, and owned strategies weren't aligned. Warren Buffett gets it. His famous advice to Berkshire Hathaway employees says it all: 'Do nothing that you would not be happy to have an unfriendly but intelligent reporter write about on the front page of tomorrow's newspaper.' That's not just crisis prevention; it's strategic PR thinking at its finest. WHERE IS THIS HEADING? The most forward-thinking companies already treat PR as a strategic function creating measurable impact. Meanwhile, organizations still viewing communications as a cost center rather than an investment are creating dangerous blind spots in their business strategy. What happens when a competitor reshapes market perception while you're still counting press clips? What's the cost when your antiquated crisis response takes three days instead of three hours? How do you measure the talent you never attracted because your employer brand was weak? The reality in 2025 and beyond is that strategic communication directly affects business results. Companies that don't understand the new PR aren't just missing opportunities—they're creating competitive disadvantages.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Coca-Cola Machines Now Pay You for Empty Bottles
Imagine getting rewarded just for doing the right thing — that's what Coca-Cola is doing to fight plastic pollution and promote sustainable habits. The beverage giant is rolling out Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs) that pay you back in points for every empty bottle you return. Coca-Cola's Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs) are innovative recycling kiosks designed to encourage sustainable behavior by rewarding users for recycling empty beverage containers. Depending on the model, these machines accept plastic bottles and aluminum cans, scanning each item to verify its recyclability. Once accepted, the containers are compacted and stored for collection. Users earn reward points through a connected mobile app, which can be redeemed for discounts on Coca-Cola products or other incentives. This initiative promotes recycling and supports Coca-Cola's broader sustainability goals by integrating recycled materials back into the production cycle. It's a much-needed positive step for Coca-Cola, one of the world's largest plastic polluters. While RVMs themselves have a longer history (the first prototype by TOMRA was established in 1972), Coca-Cola'' specific initiative to incorporate them into their recycling and reward programs appears to have started in July 2018 during the Special Olympics USA Games in Seattle. These pilot machines were part of the company's 'World Without Waste' initiative, aiming to collect and recycle the equivalent of every bottle or can it sells globally by 2030. The RVMs allowed visitors to deposit PET bottles or aluminum cans, with each item triggering a five-cent donation to Special Olympics Washington and providing participants with additional resources via text message. Shortly after, in the same month, Coca-Cola Great Britain partnered with Merlin Entertainments to launch a summer trial of RVMs at several UK theme parks, including Alton Towers Resort and LEGOLAND Windsor. These early implementations marked Coca-Cola's initial steps in integrating RVMs into public spaces, which have since expanded to various regions, including India. In India, the first RVM was installed in 2016. At that time, the benefits of using RVMs were mostly framed as societal contributions through charity and donations, rather than personal rewards. Several years later, RVMs can now be found across various regions in the country, and as of this writing, these machines personally reward recyclers with points that can be redeemed for perks. The most recent installations of RVMs in India were in Puri, Odisha. Installed by Biocrux India Pvt. Ltd., these machines are capable of compacting plastic bottles by up to 70%, storing as many as 800 bottles before collection. Users are rewarded with points for every bottle deposited through the Biocrux mobile app, which can be redeemed for discounts on Coca-Cola products. The collected plastic is responsibly recycled into new materials such as clothing, bags, and secondary packaging. Equipped with digital display screens, the machines also serve as platforms for environmental education and foster community involvement. A centralized dashboard enables remote monitoring of machine performance to ensure operational efficiency. During the project inauguration, Abhimanyu Behera, Executive Officer of Puri Municipality, emphasized the importance of collaboration: 'Maintaining cleanliness in Puri is a shared responsibility that requires strong collaboration between public and private stakeholders. We appreciate the efforts of Coca-Cola India and its partners in supporting waste management and recycling through technology and public participation. Initiatives like this not only enhance civic engagement but also set a precedent for other cities to follow.' Rajesh Ayapilla, Senior Director of Sustainability and CSR at Coca-Cola India and South West Asia, highlighted the collective nature of waste management: 'Waste management requires long-term collaboration between industry, citizens, and government. By introducing reverse vending machines in Puri, we're enabling people to take simple yet meaningful steps to make recycling part of everyday behaviour. This effort complements our ongoing public awareness campaign, Maidaan Saaf, which encourages collective responsibility and action around recycling and waste management.' These efforts align with Coca-Cola's global Partner to Collect ambition, which is a key element of its broader sustainability goals. The commitment focuses on strengthening packaging recovery by investing in effective collection systems and increasing the use of recycled materials in primary packaging. Sources: The Cool Down, Media Brief Read the original article on GEEKSPIN. Affiliate links on GEEKSPIN may earn us and our partners a commission.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Coca-Cola under fire after bombshell report exposes ties to controversial industry: 'The cost is irreversible damage to our children's health'
Research reveals that several brands, including Coca-Cola, are linked to plastic production processes that rely on fracking. Euronews reported that found over 25 well-known consumer brands linked to fracking operations in the Permian Basin of Texas, one of the world's biggest "carbon bombs" because of its massive contribution to planet-warming pollution. Fracking involves breaking apart shale rock below the earth's surface to extract natural gas and oil, which is achieved by using a high-pressure mix of water, sand, and chemicals blasted at the rock. A byproduct is ethane, which is used to fuel the plastic industry. The investigation uncovered that much of the ethane from Texas is shipped overseas for plastic production. observed that some of the brands linked to Permian Basin fracking include Coca-Cola, Unilever, Nestlé, and Procter & Gamble. P&G is the parent company of countless household brands, such as Gillette, Olay, and Always. The fracking process creates environmental damage and can significantly impact local communities. For example, it can lead to tremors or small earthquakes, and local water supplies can be contaminated with gas. There are even videos of residents near the Permian Basin lighting their tap water on fire, showcasing the extent of contamination. "From toxic extraction in the Permian Basin to poisonous production along the Houston Ship Channel, the cost is irreversible damage to our children's health — low birth weights and reproductive and developmental harm — spanning generations," Yvette Arellano, founder and executive director of Houston grassroots environmental justice organization Fenceline Watch, told Euronews. Fracking is a way to access an abundant energy resource, but extraction can be dangerous and destroy vital habitats. Meanwhile, relying on natural gas further slows the transition to non-polluting energy sources such as solar and wind. The use of ethane for plastic brings further issues. Plastic is one of the most polluting materials on the planet. It doesn't degrade naturally, but it breaks down into smaller and smaller particles, becoming microplastics that can enter the bodies of animals and humans and have been linked to a variety of health issues. The U.N. Environment Program noted that 19 to 23 million tonnes of plastic enter aquatic ecosystems every year, contaminating water supplies, destroying vital animal habitats, and posing a threat to marine life. Should companies be required to help recycle their own products? Definitely No way It depends on the product They should get tax breaks instead Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. A study published in the Science Advances journal, summarized by Axios, noted that Coca-Cola is responsible for more than half of plastic pollution across the globe. Coca-Cola is involved in eco-friendly initiatives — such as World Without Waste, which pledges to make all packaging recyclable — but critics argue it's not enough. The company has said it will increase its global recycled plastic use to 30-35% by 2035, but its link to fracking operations suggests it is still looking to create new plastics. Delphine Levi Alvares, global petrochemicals campaign manager at the Center for International Environmental Law, told Euronews that brands often forget "their primary business is not packaging, it's really bringing products to people." Using dirty-fuel-based plastics is a choice, not a necessity. Recycled plastics and bio-based plastics are safer alternatives. Even refillable or no-package designs could work. Until companies commit to reducing plastic use, fracking will remain profitable. It's important to recognize greenwashing — when corporations tout environmentally friendly practices but don't follow through — and support companies that are transparent about packaging material and working to prioritize sustainable choices for people and the planet. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
