A week after Almar Water Solutions announces its initiative to do away with bottled water in its offices around the world, we interview Manuel García Calvo, Business Development & Marketing Manager at Almar Water Solutions, to learn how the company, global expert in water infrastructure development, carries out its corporate communication strategy in regard to water.
Question: Firstly, we would like to know briefly your career path.
Answer: I have a bachelor’s degree in international business administration and an International Commerce Trade Msc. Long track record in Business Development and Management of multidisciplinary water projects.
Q: What is your role within Almar Water Solutions?
A: Combined role of Business Development Manager for international projects of water and waste water treatment plants including desalination (BOOT, EPC, O&M) and since the establishment of the company, Marketing Director in charge of Marketing, Brand Identity and Communication of the company.
Q: Why do you think it is important to communicate about water?
A: I have always believed that the best way to communicate about water, is to be involved deeply within the business, so taking advantage of almost 10 years’ experience developing water projects across the world, I try to make sure that all communications made by the Company are clear and concise enough to engage with our audience.
People should be aware of the complexity of the processes to obtain drinking water for their homes. Likewise, there is a lack of information about the real status of existing infrastructures. We have the duty to contribute to the community and inform and take care of all existing water infrastructures to avoid squandering water.
Our main challenge is to provide accurate information to our audience using the proper wording, even ‘translating’ our messages depending on the different media we use
Q: How has the social media phenomenon influenced the way of communicating about water?
A: There are currently almost 3 billion social media users worldwide according to Business Insider, that means that over a third of the world’s population is using social media to communicate in some way. It is the fastest way to transmit information and share content receiving instant feedback with little effort. We need to send our audience proper messages in real time.
Q: What are the main challenges your company faces when informing about the water sector?
A: In the water sector, we often mistakenly use very specific technical language. Our main challenge is to provide accurate information to our audience using the proper wording, even ‘translating’ our messages depending on the different media we use.
The key is to have the best communication professionals and put yourself in the reader's shoes, using language that all stakeholders understand. In this sense, we have our colleague Cristina Mauleón, specialist in marketing and communication, who supports us in all our communication actions.
At the moment our two most important success stories are our two contracts awarded to develop two desalination plants in Kenya and Saudi Arabia
Q: Has Almar Water Solutions ever faced a communications crisis? If so, what tools were used to mitigate these developments?
A: No, because we got off to a good start and communicated in a clear and transparent way the steps that the company has been taking since the beginning. The idea is to always communicate to our stakeholders how we work and how we face the challenges of the sector.
Q: What type of water news do you think the public is most interested in?
A: I think companies must communicate more about real problems we face every day while managing and operating water assets, so that people can understand the real situation of the sector.
Q: Lastly, could you highlight one of your company’s communications success stories or a water-related communications success story you found interesting?
A: Since Almar Water solutions is a relatively new company, at the moment our two most important success stories are our two contracts awarded to develop two desalination plants in Kenya and Saudi Arabia. Another important initiative was the launch last March, for World Water Day, of an initiative to eliminate bottled water in all our offices. This type of news is what we like to communicate now and, in the future, because it is our main objective, to contribute to the fight against water scarcity and climate change with our work and effort.
