As the world’s largest automaker, GM’s philanthropic contributions play an integral part of its corporate framework. It has made huge strides in reducing the environmental impact of its manufacturing plants, but was frequently upstaged on Corporate Social Responsibility issues by its cross-town arch-rival, Ford Motor Company, and its charismatic environmentalist chairman, Bill Ford.

MS&L’s mission, with the support of GM’s top communications and environmental officers, was to build a Web site that stands for transparency and to simultaneously challenge the cautious internal stakeholders to share more information with the public. MS&L worked with GM Communications to build the GM Corporate Responsibility portal to feature these initiatives, and to use the unique capacity of the Web to illustrate them.

MS&L presented the following research findings to GM:

• 76 percent of U.S. consumers would switch brands based on a company’s image and 55 percent said they always take into account a company’s ethics and values when buying products or services.
• A Wall Street Journal survey found that ethics and values were the most important corporate attributes in assessing the value of a company.
• Among large corporate Web sites, no Fortune 20 company site emphasizes its community partnerships and community impact across the globe.

MS&L has conceived and developed a range of strong, interactive content on the site, with input from GM stakeholders. One of the site’s key tools allows a consumer to compare the fuel economy of any GM vehicle to any of its competitors, and to calculate your annual fuel costs based on driving habits and local prices. An interactive graphic showing how fuel cell vehicles work has been used in presentations to GM directors, has been translated into four European languages and is currently being translated into Mandarin. A Google map shows GM’s presence in the U.S., including its hybrid buses in city transportation fleets, in-kind donations to schools, truck donations to The Nature Conservancy, and GM facilities.  A database of profiles of GM manufacturing facilities in the U.S. gives key information about each plant, including its community activities and the amount of waste and emissions it reports each year to the EPA. The database is also used on GM’s media site, and a microsite built for journalists covering labor negotiations with the UAW.

The site has enjoyed amazing success. In 2006, more than 1.2 million unique visitors came to the site and viewed more than 3.9 million pages. In a major independent review of automotive web sites in 2002, GMability was named as an industry model for its enhancement of GM’s corporate image.