Promoting eco manufacturing: an Australian case

• This paper analyses the communication campaign of a small industry plant, the Fuji Xerox Eco Manufacturing Center in Sydney, Australia. Disproportionably to its size, it has become a national and world leader in the push for waste free, sustainable manufacturing. The rarity of the case—a resource‐poor for‐profit organization taking the role of an influential advocate—helps to highlight the centrality of public relations in the promotional mix. I examine ‘remanufacturing’ not as a one‐off technical innovation, but as prolonged internal and external communication campaign. I also stress on the public character of internal communication, where public relations is instrumental from the start. I draft and discuss an alternative model of integrated marketing communications for small businesses and nonprofits. Integration happens here on personnel rather than organizational (interdepartmental) level. The more such organizations turn towards external causes and multiple publics—as in this case of industrial advocacy and public affairs—the more likely public relations transforms from a component into the organizing principle of the communication strategy.

Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.