In a world where the internet is a vital tool for anti-development protesters and ‘viral’ campaigns against mining and gas companies’ handling of native title and environmental claims, a company’s brand can often be its best source of protection.
Woodside Petroleum’s Browse LNG project at James Price Point, 60 kilometres north of Broome, has attracted heavy protest as far back as when the state government compulsorily acquired the land on which the project will be based.
Protesters have also staked out the entrance to James Price Point on the road north of Broome over the past few months, fighting for the environmental and historical value of the land over its potential as a gas-processing hub.
Persistent protesters can derail a project’s development and prompts the key questions – what protection does a company’s brand provide in these circumstances and how can a brand be developed to provide protection to the company?
Simply, clear and honest communication from the start seems to be the key.
Clarity Communications managing director Anthony Hasluck said a company such as Woodside developed its brand with clear, effective communication with stakeholders and communities.
“In effect, you are talking about different points of view. The protesters have one point of view and Woodside has another point of view. That is where it comes to communicating clearly and listening and talking,” Mr Hasluck said.
“When you do engage with people, it is not about shouting at them, it is both talking and listening.”
It is fair to assume this was part of Woodside’s strategy when it set up offices in Broome earlier this year.
In its Sustainable Development Report 2010, Woodside outlines two of its key elements in delivering on the Browse project, which are “engaging traditional owners in good faith by continuing discussions over land access”, and “building our relationships and presence in the Broome community”.
The report said: “Our aim is to understand the needs and aspirations of the Broome community and find ways that the Browse LNG development can contribute to meeting those needs.
“At the same time, we are also educating people in Broome and nearby communities about the development.”
The move to Broome signalled the start of Woodside’s engagement in community open days and development of consultation groups such as the Browse LNG Development Marine Users Working Group to discuss the impacts arising from the development.
Other moves were to promote corporate social responsibility and community investment in effectively developing community engagement and communication.
“There is no doubt that corporate social responsibility is both a business mechanism to help secure a licence to operate in communities, but it is also overly cynical to say that corporations don’t want to do these things,” Mr Hasluck said.
Former Woodside chief executive Don Voelte pointed to this in the sustainability report when referring to the company’s performance across the economic, social and environmental dimensions.
“Solid performance in these areas gives Woodside our licence to operate and enables us to pursue our LNG growth strategy with developments like the Pluto expansion, Browse and Sunrise,” Mr Voelte said.
The Brand Agency manager corporate communications Tony Monaghan said a costs and benefits analysis was often done in relation to a company’s campaigns and projects and ensuing communication.
According to Mr Monaghan, Coles will have adopted this strategy in its brush with milk producers after the giant supermarket chain slashed milk prices. “The benefits might outweigh the negatives of the James Price Point development or with one dollar litres of milk for consumers, there is a benefit to be had for the wider community,” he said.
“That makes a lot of things acceptable. They keep saying the benefit is there for the consumer, but they will make sure the farmers won’t be hurt.”
Mr Hasluck said brand protection also required companies to be as active as their potential critics when it came to dealing with, and utilising, the fragmented media landscape and the proliferation of social media.
“The protestors have a wide range of ways they can present information to the outside world, but then Woodside has exactly the same ways as well. Whether the company chooses to use them or not is a different thing,” he said.
Fortescue Metals Group may have relied on the same advice, judging by the latest campaign against its dealings with claims from the Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation (YAC) that it has wrongly crafted out native title agreements in order to proceed with development of its Solomon iron ore tenements in the Pilbara.
YAC posted a video on the internet of the proceedings of a community native title meeting in Roebourne in March, which attracted much speculation about Fortescue’s approach. The issue was recently featured on the ABC’s Four Corners program.
The company hit back with its own video to “set the record straight”.
YAC is now pushing to have the issue supported by online campaigning group Get Up, which organised the recent protest against Harvey Norman and its use of native Australian timber in furniture production in China.
Harvey Norman did not respond as Fortescue did, but chief executive Garry Harvey did attempt to set the record straight through more than the traditional media sources.
Mr Monaghan said outside of clear communication, action is the key to developing reputation and trust in a brand – which can then provide protection to a company.
“It is about your actions and words mimicking each other, and being aligned, so that you do what you say you are going to do,” he said.
Fortescue chairman Andrew Forrest is well known for his support of closing the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians, a passion spearheaded by the Australian Employment Covenant, Generation One and his belief that employment is integral.
As part of its programs for indigenous employment, Fortescue supports a Vocational Training and Employment Centre. The program aims to equip local indigenous people with the skills to gain employment in the mining sector and guarantees graduates employment with the company.
Creating opportunity for local communities was also a large part of Mr Forrest’s approach to the native title community meeting in March.
“We want to deeply integrate with you, the community, we want to have benefits flowing to you for generations to come,” he said.
“I think you judge a person not on their words but on their actions. What do they actually stand for, what is the calibre of the man. You look into the soul of a person, and you know if you look at me, what I have already done for Aboriginal people.”
