GE Ecomagination

Imagination at Work

Ami Martinez Cosima Wadhwa

Liz O’Brien Susanne Seward
Introduction
Founded in 2005
Current CEO Jeffery Immelt
$150 billion organization
Identifying Key Stakeholders
Internal Stakeholders:
Employees
Shareholders
External Stakeholders:
Public
Customers
Media 1
Commitments
Increase in revenue for
Ecomagination
products
Double investment for
research and
development
Create a reduction of
GHG emissions
Reduce water use and
improve water reuse
Keep public informed 1
Goals OVERALL GOAL: earn
revenue of $20 billion by
2010
Eclipsed in 2009; new
goal - $25B by 2010
Focus on future
Establish customer
partnerships
Ecomagination branding
Promote Vision
Longevity 1
Strategy
SmartGrid
Technology 1

Digital
2

Web Films 3

Outreach
Initiatives 4

USCAP 5
Tactics
Tagline: “Imagination at Work”
National and global events
Customer “dreaming” sessions
Ecomagination Advisory Council
CEO active involvement
“Humanizing” a large business-to-business
firm1
Tools
Web site: www.ge.com/ecomagination
Social Media Tools
Flash and streaming videos
Interactive online games and calculators
Search engine marketing on Google and
Yahoo
Internal Communication 1
Message Effectiveness
Qualitatively
Quantitatively
Within Stakeholder Segments
Qualitative Success
2005
CEBA Grand Prize “Creative Excellence” 1

Also “Communication Channel Plan”

Also “Best Tagline” over intense competition
2006
PRWeek “Corporate Branding of the Year” 2

PRWeek Honorable Mention “Campaign of the Year”

2007 - 2008
Stevie Award “Best Online Advertising Campaign” 3

Effie Award “Eco Conscious Campaign” 4

2009
B2B Ace Award “Online Advertising Campaign” 5

China Effie Awards “Best in Show” and “Best Idea” 6

Qualitative Success
Opinion leader approval
NYTimes 1

Washington Post 2

CNET Green Tech 3

Marc Gunther4

Joel Makower5

Al Gore likes it! 6

 Quantitative Success
Website visits + 357%
Page views + 137%
Time spent (7 million minutes) + 452%
Unaided awareness of GE as + 14%
“environmentally conscious”
Ecomagination message association 1
+ 10.5%
Mobile device click-through rates 2
40 x average
Blog mentions 3
14,626
YouTube videos / views 4
295 / 400,000 +
Quantitative Success

uberVU Media Monitoring 1

November 2009
Stakeholder Success
Public
Advisory Board
Global conferences & meetings
Employees
“Treasure Hunts”
Disproved “there was a trade-off between caring about the environment and
profit”
1

“It makes me feel good about the positive impact my work can have in the
world”2

Media
Opinion leaders
Customers
Two criteria: cheaper and greener
Shareholders
Fastest returns in GE’s history
3
Relationship with the Public
Improving perception 1

Helping Customers 2

Publicly report progress

External Measurements 3
GE’s Transparency
As part of GE’s overall corporate effort to improve
transparency, we issue an annual ecomagination
report to track environmental goals as well as a
separate citizenship report to highlight social
responsibility initiatives. Throughout the year, we
also provide updates on ecomagination through
shareholder and analyst meetings. 1
News Coverage
Business Week NY Times
Business Week/China Fortune
Time Economist
Cnet news Google alerts
Greenbiz.com Press releases
Energy standard NBC 1

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 Online Media
Plug Into the Smart Grid:
Augmented Reality
Conclusion
Online component => $20B Goal
Online and mobile device
Streaming videos
Interactive games

Social Media - usage improvements

APPENDIX
Appendix
Slide: Identifying Key Stakeholders
1: Broom, G.M. (2009). Cutlip & Center’s Effective Public Relations. Government and Public
Affairs (pp. 417). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Slide: Commitments
1: Ecomagination. 2008 Annual Report. http://www.ge.ecomagination.com. Retrieved 2009-11-
30.
Slide: Goals
1: Ecomagination. 2008 Annual Report. http://www.ge.ecomagination.com. Retrieved 2009-11-
30.
Slide: Strategy
1: GE Plug Into the Smart Grid. “Ecomagination: Plus Into the Smart Grid”.
http://www.ge.ecomagination.com/smartgrid. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
2: GE Plus Into the Smart Grid. “Augmented Reality”.
http://www.ge.ecomagination.com/smartgrid. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
3: GE Ecomagination. “Ecomagination: News & Media”. http://ge.ecomagination.com/news-
media. Retreived 2009-11-30.
4: Makower, J. (2005, October 16). ECOnomics: The Environmental Business Plan Challenge.
Retrieved from http://makower.typepad.com.
5: Ecomagination. 2008 Annual Report. http://www.ge.ecomagination.com. Retrieved 2009-11-
30.
Appendix
Slide: Tactics
1: Ecomagination. 2008 Annual Report. http://www.ge.ecomagination.com. Retrieved 2009-11-
30.
Slide: Tools
1: Ecomagination. 2008 Annual Report. http://www.ge.ecomagination.com. Retrieved 2009-11-
30.
Slide: Qualitative Success (1)
1: http://www.americanbusinessmedia.com/abm/PastWinners, Retrieved 2009-11-30.
2: PRWeek (March 6, 2006). “Corporate Branding Campaign of the Year” Press Release.
Retrieved 2009-11-30.
3: Reuters (June 16, 2008). “Stinson Partners Wins a Stevie for 'Best Online Advertising
Campaign' in the 6th Annual American Business Awards(SM)”. Press Release. Retrieved 2009-
11-30.
4: Effie Worldwide (June 4, 2008). “40th Annual Effie Awards” Press Release. Retrieved 2009-
11-30.
5: http://www.bmanyc.org, Retrieved 2009-11-30.
6: PR Newswire (November 6, 2008). “Omnicom Group Agencies Scoop Awards at China
International Advertising Festival” Press Release. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
Appendix
Slide: Qualitative Success (2)
1: Galbraith, K. (2009, March 26). G.E.’s Green Chief: Bullish on Clean-Tech Future. New York
Times. Retrieved from http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com.
2: Ignatius, D. (2009, May 11). Corporate Green. The Washington Post, pp 17A.
3: LaMonica, M. (2009. September 24). GE: Solar Business is our Next Wind. Retreived from
http://news.cnet.com/greentech/.
4: Gunther, M. (2009, July 20). A greener -and more open- GE. Retrieved from
http://www.marcgunther.com.
5: Makower, J. (2005, May 9). Ecomagination: Inside GE’s Power Play. Retrieved from
http://makower.typepad.com.
6: Magee, D. (2009). Jeff Immelt and the New GE Way. (pp.129-130). McGraw-Hill.
Slide: Quantitative Success
1: Case Study: Online Video Advertising Campaign for GE (2008). Retrieved from
http://www.beebyclarkmeyler.com 2009-11-30.
2: Khan, M. (2005, July 15). “GE Glows Green for Ecomagination Campaign”. Retrieved from
http://www.dmnews.com.
3: Google Blog Search. http://blogsearch.google.com. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
4: http://www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
Appendix
Slide: Quantitative Success (2)
uberVu Media Monitoring. http://www.ubervu.com. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
Slide: Stakeholder Success
1: Parisi, R. (2009). Interview with Ross Parisi at GE Transportation by Susanne Seward.
2: Spressler, C. (2009). GE Water & Ecomagination: An Employee Story.
http://www.ge.com/citizenship. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
3: GE. (2009, May 27). “GE Extends Environmental Leadership by Achieving First
Ecomagination Commitment”. Press Release. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
4: Ecomagination. 2005 Annual Report. http://www.ge.ecomagination.com. Retrieved 2009-
11-30.
Slide: Relationship with the Public
1: Turner, B. (2009). Why PR Matters in a down economy. PRWeek. Retreived from
http://www.prweekus.com
2: BusinessWire (June 21, 2005). “BLITZ Creates New Destination Site for GE's
Ecomagination Initiative” Press Release. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
3: GE Ecomagination. “Ecomagination: Our Commitment”.
http://www.ge.ecomagination.com. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
Appendix
Slide: GE’s Transparency
1: Ecomagination. 2005 Annual Report. http://www.ge.ecomagination.com. Retrieved 2009-11-
30.

Slide: News Coverage

1: GE Ecomagination. “Ecomagination: News & Media”. http://ge.ecomagination.com/news-
media/in-the-news.html. Retreived 2009-11-30.

Slide: Online Media

1: http://ge.ecomagination.com/news-media/advertising-and-images.html#/online-advertising.
Retrieved 2009-11-30.