The State of the Nations Ecosystems Report:

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The State of the Nations Ecosystems Report A
Brand Development and Positioning
Strategy March 2005
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Goals

• Identify key messages and positioning for the
  report
• Develop a communications strategy to insure
  widespread support and long-term sustainability

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Four Key Components

• Exploratory research
• Message development and positioning
• Message testing
• Communications strategy and development of core
  materials

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Exploratory Research

• 23 in-depth interviews with leaders in business,
  policy, environmental, NGO, and media sectors
• Questions explored environmental issues,
  indicators, report, and Heinz Center reputation

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• Heinz has provided an excellent summary of what
  is known now and more importantly, what needs to
  be known in the future.
• --Non-governmental organization

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• Heinz took a very astute approach when they
  realized that these issues are not just
  scientific and technical but they have political
  overtones. And so, all the stakeholders had to be
  in the process, and they did a great job in
  trying to identify people who could represent the
  full spectrum of stakeholders.
• --Foundation

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• The strength of the Heinz Center is its ability
  to bring together highly qualified people from a
  variety of different institutions and a variety
  of different disciplines or skills to work on
  large problems that involve a number of these
  different specialties.
• --Policy

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• This is a wonderful piece of
  work. --Business

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Barriers to Setting Policy

• Disproportionate influence of a few key interest
  groups
• Complexity of issues and lack of credible,
  useful, and broadly accepted information
• Lack of urgency and political will

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Environmental Indicators

• Recognized need for a set of credible, widely
  accepted indicators
• Must be objective, independent, measurable,
  transparent, and relevant
• Identified water and air quality as current
  indicators used

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• It doesnt mean that it will lead to good
  decisions, but without them, its impossible to
  make good decisions.
• --Environmental

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Environmental Indicators

• Acknowledgement of difficulty in achieving
  consensus
• Lack of consensus should not prevent action
• Necessary, but not sufficient for overcoming
  barriers

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• Agreed upon indicators in the environment is
  hard to come by because there is no grand
  theory that guides environmental policy.
• --Design Committee

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• The objective is to get those of us in the
  policy and management business on the environment
  and natural resources out of the mode of arguing
  mostly about what it is we should be doing
  .
• --Policy

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Current Sources

• Data is scattered
• Government agencies, universities, peer-reviewed
  journals, select foundations and non-profits
  viewed as credible resources
• Gaps exist, but sufficient data is available to
  guide decision-making in some areas

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• Volume is not a problem. We need better
  information that is credible and objective.
  
• --Business

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The Report

• Recognized need for The State of the Nations
  Ecosystems report
• Breadth and depth of information collected is
  unparalleled
• Data gaps identified are compelling
• Information presented is complex, dense
• Policy makers and opinion leaders are key target
  audiences

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• I think they did a heroic task with this report
  and I think they need to keep at it.
• --Foundation

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• People need to be invited into a storyline
  about ecosystems getting better, worse, or flat.
  The Heinz Center could provide that story, and
  have sufficient credibility to summarize the
  measures in a way that would allow there to be a
  regular story in the peoples mind that either
  things are getting better, getting worse .
• --Environmental

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Perception of the Heinz Center

• A source of unbiased, credible information on the
  environment
• Recognized and applauded for multi-sector
  approach
• Important role to play in environment and natural
  resources arenas

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• The strength of the Heinz Center is its ability
  to bring together highly qualified people from a
  variety of different institutions and a variety
  of different disciplines or skills to work on
  large problems that involve a number of these
  different specialties.
• --Policy

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Strategic Recommendations

• Emphasize your strengths
• Simplify
• Demonstrate relevance
• Target decision makers at the federal, state, and
  local levels
• Implement a targeted push to the business
  community

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Strategic Recommendations

• Position report as a starting point and build
  awareness/support over time
• Elevate the Heinz Centers role as convener
• Reinforce leadership of the Heinz Center

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Message Building Blocks

• The nations most comprehensive, non-partisan
  report on the environment
• Represents the combined efforts of nearly 150
  experts from business, environmental
  organizations, universities, and federal, state
  and local governments

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Message Building Blocks

• Presents scientifically based data on indicators
  agreed upon by experts from all perspectives
• Fills a critical needthe need for
  widely-accepted, science-based measures of the
  condition of natural resources

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Message Building Blocks

• Offers no prescriptive recommendations
• Will help guide environmental decision-making in
  the decades to come
• It is a work in progress critical measures of
  the status of the environment are presently not
  collected

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Message Building Blocks

• Highlights data gaps and seeks to build support
  for methods to acquire missing data
• As the gaps are filled, the report will be
  improved and periodically updated it will
  become a regularly updated tool to guide
  environmental decision-making

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• Review of core messages (in packet)

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Next Steps

• Message testing
• Development of core materials
• Brochure
• Turn-key presentation
• Strategic communications plan

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Questions and Discussion