2015: A better world for Joana
This is a major media campaign at the service of the UN and governments supported by a cross-sector group of companies, which will reach more than 100 countries, more than 830 million customers and nearly 700,000 employees.
The Duke and Duchess of Palma attended the announcement of project 2015: A better world for Joana, the initiative of the Corporate Reputation Forum aimed at supporting and spreading the word on this United Nations movement, in its efforts to improve people’s living standards (by eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education and promoting gender equality, among others), and stressing the value of the contribution made by companies through their corporate social responsibility initiatives.
At the event, César Alierta, Chairman of the Corporate Reputation Forum in 2006, handed over the Chair for 2007 to Antonio Brufau, Chairman of Repsol YPF.
Her Royal Highness Princess Cristina and His Excellency Iñaki Urdangarín, the Duke and Duchess of Palma, today, chaired, at the Telefónica Corporate Headquarters in Madrid, 2015: A better world for Joana, a project aimed at promoting and disseminating the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDG) established by the United Nations to improve living standards for people across the globe.
The origins of this initiative date back to September 2000, when 190 UN member states decided to work towards a better world, with their sights set on the year 2015, through the attainment of eight goals: to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, to achieve universal primary education, to promote gender equality and empower women, to reduce child mortality, to improve maternal health, to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, to ensure environmental sustainability and to develop a global partnership for development.
The 11 companies making up the Corporate Reputation Forum (fRC) are also signatories of the UN Global Compact, an initiative launched in 1999 by UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, for companies to voluntarily adopt ten universal principles for the promotion of corporate citizenship and responsible globalisation in the countries in which they operate. The 11 Forum member companies drew up an action plan with twin goals: on the one hand, to contribute to greater understanding and awareness of the MDG amongst their stakeholder groups and, on the other, to stress the value and boost the contribution made by these companies, via their corporate social responsibility policies, towards achieving the MDG.
The Millennium Development Goals
The act took place with the presence of Her Royal Highness Princess Cristina and His Excellency Iñaki Urdangarín, the Duke and Duchess of Palma, with speeches by César Alierta, Chairman of Telefónica and of the fRC for 2006, and representatives of the United Nations. It also enjoyed the presence of the Representative of the Spanish Government in Madrid, Soledad Mestre, and representatives of Forum Member Companies: Salvador Alemany, Managing Director of Abertis; Andreu Claret, Head of the Chairmans Office and External Relations of the Agbar Group, representing Jordi Mercader, Chairman of the Agbar Group; Francisco González, Chairman of BBVA; Santiago Bergareche, Vice-Chairman of Ferrovial; María del Carmen González, Deputy Head of Corporate Reputation of Gas Natural; Ignacio Sánchez-Galán, Chairman of Iberdrola; Fernando Conte, Chairman of Iberia; Dr. Fernando Mugarza, Head of Communications and Institutional Relations at the Novartis Group in Spain; José Salgueiro, Chairman of Renfe; and Antonio Brufau, Chairman of Repsol YPF. A speech was also given by Luis Abril, Secretary-General of the fRC and General Manager of the Technical Secretariat at the Chairmans Office of Telefónica S.A.
In his speech, César Alierta stressed the importance of this project for the consolidation of the fRC and for the companies making it up. He also set out the reasons underlying the project “2015: A Better World for Joana”, highlighting the strength of fRC’s member companies in terms of communications capacity and commitment to corporate social responsibility and as allies of multilateral institutions and countries in contributing to the creation of wealth and well-being in the countries in which they operate. During the event, César Alierta handed over the Chair of the Forum for 2007 to Antonio Brufau, Chairman of Repsol YPF.
In their address to the meeting, the representatives of the United Nations emphasised the great opportunity that companies have to contribute to the development and progress of societies. The meeting also noted that the UN Global Compact has played an important role in furthering corporate social responsibility and is now the largest multilateral network for positive action in fields such as the environment, human rights and equality of opportunity, which are closely linked to the MDG.
2015: A Better World for Joana
2015: A Better World for Joana is a wide-ranging communications campaign aimed at the fRC member companies’ stakeholders. The campaign focuses on Joana, a nine-year-old girl who represents the millions of children who will come of age in 2015, the date set for reviewing compliance with the Millennium Goals. This will form the backbone of the campaign launched today by the Corporate Reputation Forum to raise awareness in society of the need for cooperation to achieve these eight great goals, and to leverage and enhance the contribution made by these companies in fields such as environmental sustainability, the eradication of poverty, the fight against HIV, and education.
Over the next few years, Joana will help us understand the various goals, the progress made in achieving them, and the initiatives of fRC companies most closely linked to them; finally, 2015 will see an assessment of the successes achieved via the campaign launched today.
In short, this is the largest communication campaign ever launched by a cross-sector group of companies, placed today at the service of the UN, governments, the public, employees and companies, with a repercussion in each and every one of the over 100 countries in which the fRC member companies operate.
The campaign also benefits from the assistance of leading professionals. Creative control was in the hands of Young & Rubicam, part of whose work was on a pro bono basis. The introductory video to the programme “2015: A better world for Joana” was by Achero Mañas, who has directed films with a great social content, such as El Bola and Noviembre, in addition to documentaries and advertisements. The music is by Marlango, the group made up of Leonor Watling, Alejandro Pelayo and Oscar Ybarra, who also assigned copyright to the soundtrack to UNICEF.
About the Corporate Reputation Forum
The Corporate Reputation Forum is a not-for-profit organisation founded in September 2002 by Agbar, BBVA, Telefónica and Repsol-YPF as a meeting place for the analysis and dissemination of corporate reputation trends, tools and management models. In 2004, the Forum was joined by major Spanish companies such as Abertis, Ferrovial, Gas Natural, Iberdrola, Iberia and RENFE.
In 2006, it was joined by world health leader Novartis. The fRCs interest in reputation arises from its conviction about reputation’s impact in creating value for its member companies and their stakeholder groups. The chair and secretariat of the fRC revolve to a different member company each year.
