by Jana Branch
WHAT’S HAPPENING
- Carbon footprint, water footprint and … brainprint? Yep, that’s a way to talk about the impact that content has on the global awareness of sustainability — from environmental issues to the triple bottom line. And communicating these ideas is a big deal for media companies.
- While brainprint is actually unquantifiable, the Global Reporting Initiative has released guidelines to help the media industry begin to consider their brainprint — the awareness (positive or negative) that they generate.
- Brainprint-aimed factors include disclosing information about editorial independence, financial assistance and ad revenues from governments and non-government sources, content creation and dissemination and freedom of expression.
- Brainprint, a term coined in 2005, is also being used by academics to describe their ability to influence action in others.
WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS
- With sustainability, uncertainty is part of the landscape. Brainprint may be currently unquantifiable, but everyone knows it exists. Smart media companies won’t let a lack of hard metrics stop them from asking the questions, addressing stakeholders and taking responsibility for what they can.
RESOURCES
