Task 10: Final Communication Plan Team Report Part 2

BCOM 314-001
February 28, 2019

Team 3
Abdullah Aldahnin
Farah Aldossary
Jessica Backer
Monica Beckley
Elise Peters
 Table of Contents
Executive Summary 3
Where We Are vs. Where We Could Be 4
Background: How We Got Here 4
Stakeholder Analysis: Consumers Feel Left in the Dark 4
Analyzing Our Problem: Recycling Without Relaying 5
Recommendation #1: VenCycling to Make Recycling Easy and Fun 5
Recommendation #2: Communicating via a Sustainability-Focused Website 6
Communication Objective 8
Combined Budget, Timeline, and Return on Investment 9

Conclusion: Where We’ll be Post-Implementation 11

 Executive Summary
Where We Are vs. Where We Could Be
This document reviews our situational background, analyzes consumers as stakeholders and our
sustainability efforts. It also makes two recommendations for actions; expanding VenCycling
machines and creating a website about our sustainability efforts. The recommendations include
budgets, timelines, and expected returns on investments. By addressing this issue, we will become
a more trustworthy and open brand with a stronger bottom line driven by a more stable customer
base.
How We Got Here: Analyzing Where We Went Wrong
Our recycling goals have been questioned via Twitter and negative articles. We have been stagnant
in our progress for the past three years. We also have not updated our recycling data since 2017.
Our communication skills are lacking in where we stand as a company and what we are doing to
solve the problems. With the following recommendations, we can begin to renew our reputation .
Recommendation #1: VenCycling to Make Recycling Easy and Fun
Our first recommendation is to introduce VenCycling in the United States. When traditional vending
machines wear out, we recommend replacing them with VenCycling machines. Consumers have
two options with VenCycling: purchase or recycle a product. When a product is purchased, the
machine says “You owe me a bottle back,” encouraging consumers to change their recycling habits.
Recommendation #2: Communicating via a Sustainability-Focused Website
Our second recommendation is to launch a website to share our recycling initiatives and
progress updates. We also recommend reaching out to professionals to have positive stories
published about us. Through the website, we will share up-to-date information and have a live
chat to answer questions quickly. These two measures will further address our communication
issues.
Communication Objective
We plan on communicating these changes in two ways: flyers and our Twitter account. The
flyers will be distributed alongside VenCycling machines to help with education and awareness
by highlighting the incentives created by VenCycle. Our Twitter will also inform people about
our website and VenCycling and will reach beyond VenCycle locations to further improve
communications.
Combined Budget, Timeline, and Return on Investment
Based on our research, VenCycling machines cost around $3k-$4k. Shipping and installation will
cost us $329 per machine. The total annual cost of the website is $175,040. By March 1, we
want to get our corporate level and the director of corporate communication approval for our
recommendations. Our return on investment is 3% per issue and based on our 2018 revenue,
that’s $602,580,000 per issue.
Conclusion: Where We’ll be Post-Implementation
To recap, the two recommendations presented are to expand the use of VenCycling machines
and to create a website focused on our sustainability initiatives. A timeline, budget, and
expected return on investment is included to support these recommendations. In implementing
these solutions, we will regain the trust of our consumers and establish a stronger, more
dedicated customer base. We will be better able to challenge competition and strengthen our
bottom line.
Where We Are vs. Where We Could Be
To address our communication issues regarding sustainability, we have put together this
document for your review. The document reviews the background of our current situation,
analyzes both consumers as a stakeholder and our sustainability efforts up to this point, and
makes two recommendations for future actions. These recommendations are to roll out
VenCycling on a larger scale and create a website dedicated to communicating about our
sustainability efforts. These recommendations also include expected budgets and timelines, as
well as expected return on investment.

By addressing these issues, we will become a more trustworthy and open brand with a stronger
bottom line. The stronger bottom line will be driven by the fact that our increased
communication will strengthen our relationship with current consumers, and entice new
consumers who care about sustainability when considering the brands they interact with. We
will also be more able to challenge competitors who are ahead of us in terms of communicating
sustainability initiatives by improving upon their actions and methods.

Background: How We Got Here

Our company has attempted to follow the trend of sustainability by putting forth relevant
goals. The first goal is to make our bottles out of 75% recycled materials by 2020. By 2030, the
goal is to recycle the equivalent of one bottle for every bottle that we sell. However, these
goals have raised more concerns than they have addressed.

We are being heavily questioned regarding our goals and the stance we are taking. An article
from the news outlet Essex Chronicle slams our efforts regarding plastic pollution and calls our
company out, declaring that “Coca Cola’s plastic is turning our oceans into a plastic soup and
ruining our beaches, canals, parks, and natural spaces” (Pollution of Our Oceans Must Stop).
Our consumers are unhappy as well and are letting their social media followers know, as the
examples below demonstrate.

Stakeholder Analysis: Consumers Feel Left in the Dark

Our consumers are vital to our business’ success, but leaving them confused and uninformed
does not make them feel that way. We are regularly ignoring consumer requests for
information. We have not updated our sustainability reports since 2017 and have been
stagnant at 59% for our recycled packaging for the past three, soon to be four, years. We need
to look at our current data, publish it regularly, and start taking steps to demonstrate that we
are working toward the goals we have published if we want to fix the way our consumers have
been feeling.

Coca-Cola Packaging Statistics; obtained from Coca-Cola’s Sustainability Report

Analyzing Our Problem: Recycling Without Relaying

Our current problem is that we are not communicating key information about our progress
towards published goals. We are not able to counter negative press because we do not have
any recently published information to reference. As a result, attempts to respond come across
poorly and more like saving face than making a tangible difference. If we want to address this
problem and begin reshaping our sustainability reputation, two options we can consider are to
expand our use of VenCycling machines, to or launch a sustainability-focused website.

Recommendation #1: VenCycling to Make

Recycling Easy and Fun
Our first recommendation is to introduce
VenCycling in the United States to motivate
and involve our domestic consumers.
Currently, our only VenCycling machine is in
China and therefore is not effectively
showcasing its technology on a meaningful
scale. Expanding this idea into the United
States will get consumers more involved in our
recycling plan through an incentive-based
system.

Consumers have two options with VenCycling

machines: purchase a product or recycle a
product. For individuals who are purchasing a
beverage, they will be reminded to recycle as
the VenCycling machine will say something to the effect of “You owe me a bottle back.”
Consumers who recycle with the machine will be awarded a credit that can be put toward a
purchase at a later date. This incentive-based system will encourage consumers to change their
recycling habits.

We plan on communicating through the distribution process of our vending machines. When
our current vending machines need to be replaced, we will replace them with VenCycling
machines.; this will occur on an ongoing basis until all Coca-Cola vending machines are
converted into VenCycling machines, which will take an estimated 10-20 years. This is because
the average vending machine needs to be replaced every 10-20 years, depending on care and
usage. While this does not address the time component of consumers’ concerns, it would
create a reliable path for progress which can, in turn, be communicated on a regular basis.

The machines will also come with flyers to keep alongside the machine, further communicating
what they do and why they matter. Further information about these flyers is available in the
Communication Objective section of this report.

To get corporate representatives on-board with VenCycling, we recommend holding regular

(e.g., monthly) meetings to go over our progress toward our recycling goals. We are positive
members of our corporate department will want this implementation to occur, as CEO Quincey
has stated, “By understanding attitudes towards litter, we can adapt our packaging to make it
far simpler to recycle.”

As discussed in prior presentations, we must focus on addressing our consumers while getting
approval and support from corporate, and VenCycling is a way to approach both of those
things. However, building on the actions of our competitors may also be useful, which leads us
to our second recommendation.

Recommendation #2: Communicating via a Sustainability-Focused Website

Analysis of Competitor’s Communication Approach
To understand how we can change and manage the perception of our company, it is useful to
look at what our competitor PepsiCo is doing to manage the perception of their brand. PepsiCo
is also one of the leading generators of plastic waste. However, news headlines are heavily
focused on our company for being the number one plastic producers, with PepsiCo drawing less
criticism.

In terms of sustainability, PepsiCo is ahead of us on several levels. In 2018, PepsiCo was ranked
89th on the green ranking, while we were 212th (Green Ranking, 2018). Though we are
implementing similar recycling initiatives, PepsiCo is better communicating their progress with
the public.
Screenshot obtained from https://www.newsweek.com/top-500-global-companies-green-rankings-2017-18

Comparing communication strategies, we found that the main difference between PepsiCo and
us is that PepsiCo has launched a recycling-focused website. With this key difference, we
decided to analyze the website and see what it is accomplishing. In doing so, we were able to
determine if a website had the potential to be another recommendation.

The main purpose of PepsiCo’s website is to share information about their programs, progress,
and partners. Also, they have a section in their website “take action” where people can sign on
and participate in Pepsi’s recycling events. PepsiCo effectively visualizes their progress in a way
that catches the website visitors’ attention.

The below screenshot of PepsiCo’s website shows the number of collected bottles, donations,
and partners. Statistics that we retrieved from Alexa Internet shows PepsiCoRecycling.com has
an average of around 287,430 unique visitors per month. Considering this number and
PepsiCo’s green ranking, we concluded that the website is an efficient channel of
communication and is contributing to PepsiCo’s advantage in this area.

Screenshot obtained from https://www.pepsicorecycling.com/Partnerships/News

Sustainability-Focused Website
Given our conclusion, we recommend launching a website to share our recycling initiatives and
progress updates. The website will be an effective channel of communication, which will
address our consumers’ concerns about our lack of updates. Moreover, what we recommend is
not just building a website, but also developing a team whose primary job is to present our
efforts positively.
One of the ways this team will shift the narrative about us is by being active on social media,
particularly Twitter. We chose to focus on Twitter as it is the site for which data was most
readily available, which allows us to better assess our progress over time. The team will use
both original Tweets and replies to share links to the website; this will keep the most up-to-date
information available as the website can be updated without having to keep up with writing
Tweets to discuss new developments. It will also make that information very readily available,
which aids in making consumers feel as though we are proud of our goals and progress.

We built a prototype of the website and the type of information that will be useful to include in
it. The main information that we should share is our latest programs. For instance, we
recommended that VenCycling machines and their incentive-based system be used to influence
consumer behavior. Also, we can invite people to be part of to volunteer with us, and for
people who have questions about recycling we can have a live chat with them through the
website. That sort of development is what we envision being communicated on the website.

Screenshot of website prototype; http://farah-aldossary.wix.com/cocacola

Communication Objective
Part 1: Flyers & Website
We will distribute flyers to showcase how we will motivate our consumers to recycle both
through VenCycling and our recycling website. Throughout this distribution, we will inform our
customers about our recycling initiative and what we hope to accomplish. This flyer will explain
how customers can engage within our new implementation process such as
recycling/purchasing with the machine.

We can also address our current issues by including two key things on our sustainability
website. First, we should share up-to-date information about our progress on a regular and
reliable basis. For instance, we should inform the public about our latest innovations like the
VenCycling machines and inform them about how we did with accomplishing goals in 2018.
Second, for people who have questions for us, we will have a live chat with them through the
website, supplemented by a basic FAQ page. By making the information as clear, accessible,
and recent as possible, we can begin to repair our relationships with consumers and by
extension strengthen our bottom line.

Part 2: Twitter
Our second channel of communication that we will use for informing our consumers is Twitter.
Targeting people through Twitter is the best way we have found to communicate directly with
those who are criticizing us and our sustainability goals. Through this platform, we plan to
announce our website launch to our over 3 million followers. We will share another Tweet that
announces our latest innovation, the VenCycling machines and we will include the link to our
website to generate traffic.

Furthermore, to make sure that we directly address critics’ opinion about our brand, we plan to
have our Twitter team respond to negative Tweets about our goals. Doing so will demonstrate a
more active interest in making a change, whereas making just a few Tweets may come across as
an attempt to further push off the issue. Here are two mock Tweets that we can use to reply to
our consumers and promote our website.

Combined Budget, Timeline, and Return on Investment

VenCycling Budget:
For each VenCycling machine, the estimated total cost comes out to $3,329-$4,329, which is
similar to what it would cost to continue using traditional vending machines. See below for the
breakdown of this total.
Website Budget:
Average Cost # Total Cost

Hire a Company to Build a Website $20,000 1 $20,000

Maintenance Website Specialist $14,040 1 $14,040

Domain and Hosting $600 1 $600

Website Specialist $28,080 5 $140,400

Annual Total $175,040

Combined Recommendation Timeline:

Expected Return on Investment:
Our financial return on investment is expected to be 3% per issue, and based on our 2018
revenues, that equates to $602,580,000. We also anticipate social returns demonstrated by
Twitter follows. Based on our data regarding the reach of negative Twitter, we expect that in 9
days, 1.2 million followers will not see negative comments about our sustainability initiatives. In
30 days, that is 3.9 million users.

Conclusion: Where We’ll be Post-Implementation

To recap, the two recommendations presented are to expand the use of VenCycling machines
and to create a website focused on our sustainability initiatives. Both recommendations
included timelines, budgets, and expected return on investments to help assess their pros and
cons. In implementing one or both solutions, we will regain the trust of our consumers and
address key disconnects between our internal and external narratives. We will be better able to
challenge competition and strengthen our bottom line.
 References

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Alexa Internet. (2019, February 23). pepsicorecycling.com Traffic Statistics. Retrieved
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https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/pepsicorecycling.com#?sites=pepsicorecycling.com
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Coca-Cola Company. (2018). Annual report 2018. Retrieved from https://www.coca-
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Sustainability and recycling: How the Coca-Cola system is fighting waste with sustainable
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