Corporate Social Responsibility
Responsibly successful
Environmental protection, health education, the fight against discrimination, the promotion of programmes in developing countries and support for education and scientific research: MEDIA CONSULTA willingly assumes its social responsibility. At MC, social ethics are not just empty words; they form the genuine basis for the corporate conduct of our entire network. This is why we always decline business offers that conflict with these ideals. For example, we do not work on advertisements or PR campaigns for the tobacco industry or for environmentally harmful products and organisations: taking social responsibility seriously sometimes means passing up the opportunity for lucrative business. We make every effort to secure public affairs accounts with clients who share our socio-political aims, and we support the Code of Conduct adopted by the German Advertising Standards Council.
United Nations Global Compact
We are a member of the United Nations CSR initiative Global Compact (GC), and have been since April, 2008. We make annual donations to support the UN Foundation for GC, which is responsible for funding the initiative. We have also officially pledged to uphold the 10 GC principles to promote sustainable economic management. These include respecting human rights, creating socially compatible working conditions, promoting environmental protection and fighting corruption. With this pledge, MC CEO Harald Zulauf is further extending the CSR agenda of the global agency network.
UN millennium development goals: MC supports schools in Africa
UN member states agreed to an ambitious objective in 2000: to halve world poverty by 2015. We have been contributing to this cause since 2007, in which the MC Network provides annual support to the Schools for Africa campaign. “Children are the future of every country and education is the key, in Africa, too,” says MC CEO Harald Zulauf. “In the Nelson Mandela Foundation and in UNICEF we have found ideal partners to help us make a long-term, sustainable contribution to the development of Africa and to expand our social commitment.”
Active environmental and climate protection
It would be impossible for an international PR and advertising agency to discontinue the use of paper and energy entirely. At MC we do, however, use these resources with prudence and environmental awareness. We only use paper with verifiable ecological seals of approval and recyclable properties. Environmental compatibility is also a factor for our IT department: at MC we use energy-efficient computers that are assembled using reusable and recyclable materials. To compensate for our CO2 output, we support regeneration and reforestation projects worldwide. Our aim is to become the first climate-neutral agency in Europe.
Freedom of expression and the press: Reporters Without Borders
As a market leader in the area of political communication, we are an advocate for freedom of the press and freedom of opinion, both in Germany and worldwide. One example of our commitment is our support for the international human rights organisation Reporters Without Borders. In addition to this, we developed the campaign “Window to Europe” in Belarus, with the intention of creating free access to balanced and unbiased news.
Cultural diversity: MC supports Charter for Cultural Diversity
Diversity is part of everyday life at MC: people from different disciplines, working environments and cultures all work closely together. Further proof that this is not just a pretence, is our support for the German Corporate Charter for Cultural Diversity. We have been part of this initiative since May 2007. Under the patronage of Chancellor Angela Merkel, it represents a fundamental pledge to respect and appreciate everyone within a company. Diversity works and enriches our working lives, which is something we experience every day both in our offices and with our international clients.
Work-life balance: MC supports families
In addition to a positive intercultural working environment, we at MC also believe in a healthy balance between work and family life. More than 60 percent of our employees, and almost 70 percent of our management team, are female. At MC, we help both mothers and fathers alike to achieve the right work-life balance. An example of this is that MC grants subsidies of € 1200 for nursery and childcare and also offers schemes for flexible working hours.
Knowledge without boundaries: MC Academy
Social responsibility also applies to our personnel policy. We particularly value providing our employees with further training. In order to offer continual professional development opportunities, we at MEDIA CONSULTA offer the whole network a comprehensive programme of training and advanced education at the MC Academy.
Career ladder: MC provides fair training
Training and promoting the next generation are of the utmost importance for us at MC. Qualified and motivated school-leavers can join MC as apprentice management assistants in advertising, event organisation or audio visual media. Graduates have the chance to take their first steps in their chosen profession by completing an internship or traineeship with fair conditions. We offer them genuine prospects for the future and want to see an end to the practice of underpaying qualified newcomers to our professions. In recognition of this policy, we were awarded the Fair Company seal of approval from the magazine 'karriere' and were honoured as an “exemplary training company” by the governing Mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit.
