1. Summary and introduction

The KTH strategy for communication of sustainable development is created by Gunilla Iverfelt, Department of Communication and Business Liaisons and Erica-Dawn Egan, KTH Sustainable office.

Summary

KTH Royal Institute of Technology works towards a sustainable future everyday. As an institute of technology, KTH has a responsibility for the future and for driving the development of a more sustainable society. Technological solutions play a major role in achieving this. KTH needs to ensure that its courses and programmes equip students with knowledge to contribute to sustainable development and that there is a systematic approach to sustainable development in research. It must also ensure that society will benefit from knowledge through collaboration and that our everyday choices are consistent with a more sustainable future. This is an issue of quality and credibility for KTH’s work. Any activity relating to sustainable development should in turn be communicated consciously and clearly. The Strategy for communicating sustainable development enables the creation of a stronger association between sustainable development and the KTH brand. The aim is to establish guidelines as to how KTH can achieve the next level for communication of sustainable development, how it can be communicated more consistently and how to establish longevity in this communication. 

KTH employees contribute significantly to the image of KTH being conveyed, as such their engagement and involvement is key to strengthening the association to sustainable development. Employees at KTH are divided into three target groups, and an outline of how these groups should use the strategy is given in Chapter 6 :

• Those whose main role at KTH is not communication
• Those who work on communicating sustainable development at KTH
• Those whose work involves communication aimed at strengthening the KTH brand

The current status of our communication about sustainable development is outlined in Chapter 2 , and indicates that our communication needs to be strengthened to create closer associations between the KTH brand and sustainable development. Awareness of KTH’s work, our aspirations in the field and our ability to contribute to sustainable development needs to be broadened. Communications relating to sustainable development need to reach a wider audience than before. Thinking about target groups needs to be developed, and should be more focused inwards on the organisation. The type and areas of communication about sustainable development also need to be broadened.

Chapter 4  sets out how we should communicate about sustainable development. To create a closer link between the KTH brand and sustainable development, communication needs to focus on areas such as internal understanding and messengers, activities with a tangible output, material to support decisionmaking that has an impact on society, increased importance of academia, generating engagement and attention, varying the ways in which we communicate research, and on building long-term relationships.

Objectives for communication, which can form the basis of communications plans and related activities, are as follows:

• Communication should strive to position KTH as a leading player.
• Communication should strive to be coherent, consistent and integrated.
• Communication should strive to highlight the why, how and what of KTH’s work in sustainable development.
• Communication should strive to provide the recipient with value.

These objectives are developed in Chapter 5 , which also covers target groups, types of communication channels and frameworks for activity.

Chapter 5 also sets out the main message for KTH’s work on sustainable development – KTH works towards a sustainable future every day.

Aim

The aim of the Strategy for communicating sustainable development is to establish guidelines for how KTH can achieve the next level for communication of sustainable development, how it can be consistently and how to establish longevity in this communication.

The strategy holds that communication of sustainable development has the potential to help strengthen the KTH brand. It also proposes communication to support and strengthen those aspects of Vision 2027 and KTH’s associated development plan that relate to KTH’s aspiration to become a more prominent leader in sustainable development.

Background

KTH’s development plan for 2013–2017 states, “The KTH brand is to be associated with sustainable development. KTH has an environmental objective requiring it to increase the visibility of work that it undertakes related to the environment and sustainable development.” A clarification regarding this was issued at the start of 2015 (Further details of activities concerning the environment and sustainable development in the action plan for KTH’s development plan 2013–2016 (V-2012-0250)). This stated that University Administration, through the Department of Communications and International Relations (UF KIR, now UF KOM), was to develop the above-mentioned strategy for associating the KTH brand with sustainable development.

Work began on establishing the framework for the strategy towards the end of 2015. An analysis of the current situation was undertaken in spring and summer 2016; this involved collating existing information, gathering new information and reviewing all material. With the analysis as a starting point, a strategy for communicating sustainable development at KTH was drawn up in autumn 2016.

Scope and definitions

The strategy for communicating sustainable development indicates why sustainable development is important for KTH and responds to the questions: “How do we go about creating a link between the KTH brand and sustainable development?” and “What do we need to do to ensure the KTH brand is associated with sustainable development?” The strategy suggests how to proceed forward for the more operational choices that need to be made in communications planning and the practical implementation of communications activities. A general explanation of the content of, and relationship between, the different types of communications document is given below. The section starts with an explanation of how a brand is formulated – a brand can be said to consist of three parts, and is strongest when the parts are most in accordance with each other – and ends with a brief description of KTH’s existing communications strategy.

Brand

Identity: What the organisation actually is and has – the internal picture.
Profile: How the organisation wants to be perceived – the desired picture.
Image: Other people’s perceptions of the organisation – the external picture. Strong brands have their own unique character, which means they stand out even if what they offer is not in itself unique. A well-defined unique character distinguishes the brand and makes the brand more interesting, as it provides something that people can relate to. Influencing brand perception requires continuous, long-term work. Strategic choices of channels and means of communication to reflect desired features and the use of consistent tonality in all communications will enable us to create a distinct KTH unique character. A properly implemented strategy for communicating sustainable development is a means of promoting the perception that the KTH brand is closely linked to sustainable development.

Communications strategy

A communications strategy aims to describe how communications targets relevant to various stakeholders can be achieved over the long term. It sets out the desired direction for communications in the organisation.

Communications plan

A communications plan might be seen as the infrastructure for communication – a tool to ensure that the right target group gets the right information at the right time in the right way. The communications plan answers the questions of what is to be said, which channels are to be used, when it is to be said and to whom.

Communications activity

A communications activity is a specific action undertaken as part of the set communications plan. The activity is specified by answering questions such as what, where, when, why, how and who.

KTH’s existing communications strategy

KTH has had an overarching communications strategy since 2010, arising from Vision 2027 and the associated development plan. The strategy acts as a framework for items such as various communications plans drawn up within the organisation.

The communications strategy also supports the work for KTH as a brand, provides a focus for the type of perceptions, and experiences the brand should generate both internally and externally. In addition, the strategy acts as a guide for all those who work with communication within KTH or who originate communications from KTH.

The long-term aim of KTH’s communications strategy is to create a clearer, more consistent and more accurate picture in the minds of different stakeholders. The characteristics of the organisation’s work are dynamism, innovation and drive. Communications from KTH must reflect our desire to create a better future at all times: for individuals, companies and society as a whole. The principal message is brighter tomorrow.

Three main principles set out how KTH should generate increased interest in its work and create greater trust in the organisation:

• Use existing relationships to build new ones.
• Create stars to convey the message and the personality
  (Creating stars does not just mean highlighting a small number of people who are already well known, it also means ensuring that more people can be recognised. More stars help to generate interest, create identification and build trust).
• Strengthen the brand in our day-to-day work

The strategy for communicating sustainable development is not intended to replace KTH’s overarching communications strategy.