Polishing your corporate image

Many people have never heard of ITW, a 100-year-old, leading business-to-business industrial manufacturer with over 800 brands under its belt. Even less well known is that ITW is making a concerted effort to dramatically reduce its carbon footprint and make its resource-intensive operations more sustainable—despite the challenges of vastly different global requirements and a decentralized business structure.

As long-time partners in creating ITW's annual financial reports, Smith developed a multi-level strategy to guide ITW in organizing and communicating its efforts in a companion corporate social responsibility report. Smith integrated social marketing best practices and GRI guidelines to ensure that ITW was telling its story in an honest and compelling manner. With writing, design, and strategic support from Smith, ITW is leveraging its corporate social responsibility initiatives and combatting the misperception that manufacturing is incompatible with sustainability.