Scholz & Friends Reputation will advise companies how to implement socially and environmentally aware practices, and four corporate social responsibility specialists have been recruited for the cause.
The agency will teach responsible corporate management by developing citizenship programmes, creating employer profiles, highlighting volunteering, promoting the right work-life balance and marketing sustainable products.
The CSR team consists of three business directors, Sabine Fischer, Christiane Stohr and Dr Norbert Taubken, and a freelance consultant, Anke Steinbach. They will report directly to Klaus Dittko, head of the Scholz & Friends PR Group, one of the largest PR operations in Germany.
Fischer's background lies in IT and she is an internet consultant for companies such as Audi, ARD and Deutsche Bank. She teaches CSR and online communication at German and Swiss universities and is a managing partner of Collective Intelligence, a global group of entrepreneurs dedicated to improving the efficiency of social ecosystems.
Stohr is also a CSR consultant and partner at Collective Intelligence. She has previously worked at Scholz & Friends as a senior consultant and has developed CSR-projects for clients such as Deutsche Bank, ALBA and Nuon.
Dr Taubken holds a PhD in chemistry and is a grammar school teacher. He owns CSR consult and has set up CSR programmes for Microsoft, AOL Germany and the TimeWarner Foundation.
Steinbach has worked at McKinsey on research and consulting projects for clients such as Deutsche Post, Allianz and Investitionsbank Berlin. Since 2004, she has been working as a CSR consultant for clients such as BP, Trumpf and C&A.
Dittko said: "End consumers are now demanding a sense of responsibility just as much as potential employees and investors. Companies need a convincing answer on this. We are now offering our customers a direct interplay between CSR expertise and orchestrated communication to help them grow"