Communicating How Life Tastes Better

Nichols plc is an international soft drinks business. Home of the iconic Vimto brand, the company has been ‘making life taste better’ since 1908. From the northwest of England, the company’s products are now sold in more than 60 countries worldwide.

Having launched its new ‘Happier Future’ strategy the previous year, Nichols was keen to report on the progress it had made. The company engaged Junxion to develop its first sustainability progress report to demonstrate both its commitment to the Healthier Future strategic goals and objectives, and its sense of accountability to stakeholders.

The Challenge

The first sustainability progress report is an important milestone. Readers will be looking for evidence of progress made to deliver the sustainability strategy, as well as details on governance structures and a management approach. Done well, the report should encourage confidence that the business is managing its environmental and social impact comprehensively and in line with societal norms and expectations.

Nichols wanted to report in a way that remained true to its values which meant celebrating achievements as well as being honest with where it had performed below expectations, reporting comprehensively on its progress across all pillars of its strategy. Lastly, the report needed to reflect its brand personality and voice so that stakeholders could recognise the Nichols brand.

How We Helped

Junxion is expert at helping companies develop and communicate their impact, having consulted on and written more than 100 sustainability reports over the past 25 years. We carried out a materials and market review to understand Nichols’ ambitions, work to date, and plan how the sustainability report would sit within the company’s wider communications. We conducted interviews with content owners and key stakeholders and produced a wireframe setting out the key messages and showing how information would be structured.

Once this was finalized, we wrote through the content. We produced a robust section on each of the strategy’s three pillars, setting out key progress on initiatives and targets (including successes and setbacks), presenting data points, crafting case studies, and outlining the next steps for the year ahead. The reporting process surfaced opportunities to improve Nichols’ sustainability strategy, which we shared with their project team.

Measuring Success

The end result was a compelling report that brought action to life through engaging narratives, aligned with best practices in sustainability reporting, and embodied Nichols plc’s brand. The report evidences the company’s commitment to deliver on its ambitious ‘Happier Futures’ strategy, and provides key investors, employees and customers with confidence that Nichols has a robust process in place to implement the strategy. It was presented as both a discrete chapter in the annual report and a prominent section of the company website. A year on, Junxion and Nichols worked together to produce Nichols Plc’s second sustainability report, another credible story of its journey towards positive impact.