Carillion has won the Sustainability as a Marketing Strategy prize at the Construction Marketing Awards 2013 for its community-orientated programme. The construction support services company developed its STN website to share information from across the industry and include outside experts and influencers as well as Carillion employees.

9 December 2013 – Leading support services company Carillion, has won the category of Sustainability as a Marketing Strategy at the Construction Marketing Awards 2013.

Lisa Benbow, Head of Corporate Communications, at Carillion said: “This award recognises the innovative approach which Carillion has taken towards connecting and engaging with our stakeholders, which is a fundamental part of us achieving our vision of being a leading sustainable business.

“Rather than simply telling people what we were doing as a business we set out to create a community of Carillion people, outside experts and influencers who could share ideas and best practice. This was a bold approach to involve, rather than just target Carillion’s main stakeholders and media and I am delighted that it has been recognised by the industry.”

At the heart of the strategy is www.stnlive.info ‘a Carillion plc initiative’ that provides a portal for high quality sustainability content generated by - and of interest to - the industry. The website publishes articles, comment, opinion, interviews, talks, presentations and case studies from contributors from across the industry.

This award recognises the need to understand sustainability in order to achieve the company’s goals and the judges comments certainly reflected this: “Carillion’s sustainability communications strategy was a bit different.

It was aimed at stakeholders and media rather than simply customers, seeking to provide a useful and interesting resource for them, positioning Carillion as expert in the area.

“The content; from contributors from across the sector, including a wide range of industry leaders, as well as Carillion’s home team, helped provide an innovative and novel way of attaching the company to the issue - so the strategy was really interesting. The execution was excellent and displayed a real capability to engage. Brilliant!”

The strategy and management of content provides guidance and support to Carillion people to encourage them to engage, so their expertise is leveraged to build the reputation and brand.

Additionally, the site is enriched by monthly commissioning of regular contributions, as well as a set schedule of comment and opinion pieces and interviews from Government figures, industry and environmental bodies.

STN also offers a truly international approach, with content targeting audiences in the Middle East and Canada and the scope to gather region-specific material.

Underpinning this activity is a comprehensive media relations programme, which has been strengthened by relationships developed as part of STN content planning. The content generated for STN feeds the media relations and vice versa, for a seamless approach.

For more information, please visit www.carillionplc.com/sustainability or www.stnlive.info