Priority 4 : Sharing the social and cultural diversity of activities
Sharing social and cultural diversity means disseminating to as many people as possible – thanks to the commitment of our teams, the wealth of our content and the Group’s various charitable partnerships – support for education, inclusion, culture and liberty, which form the basis of our society.
During this unprecedented year of the pandemic and the multiple collateral effects, the civic aspect of our social duties became particularly important within each of our activities. Our support for those hardest hit by the crisis took on a specific form in each of our business lines in the various regions in which the Group operates.
At Hachette Livre, this was expressed through multiple donations of books to schools, charities and care workers. Hachette Book Group donated more than 90,000 books to around 100 charities in the United States and Canada. Meanwhile, Hachette UK set up a dedicated website for care workers allowing them to download 20,000 books for free during the first lockdown in the United Kingdom.
The teams at Lagardère Travel Retail donated food in a number of regions to help the vulnerable and care workers. At a number of sites all over France, these efforts allowed for donations to be made to the Secours Populaire, Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris, food banks and fire departments, among others.
In addition to these initiatives relating specifically to the health crisis and despite the restrictions resulting from the pandemic, a number of existing partnerships within the Group continued, such as Hachette Book Group’s Read Ahead mentoring programme for young students in New York, and Lagardère Travel Retail France’s Raise Sherpas campaign to support young start-ups during their development.
Lastly, numerous initiatives were rolled out in various areas in 2020, in terms of accessibility to education and knowledge, defending freedom of expression, promoting cultural diversity and encouraging people to read. These initiatives enabled Paris Match to win the “magazine of the year” and “best survey” awards in the 2020 Relay Magazines Awards.
Paris Match won the “best survey” award for its report entitled Afghanistan: the revenge of the Taliban, in the 2020 Relay Magazines Awards.
Chiffre clé
20 000 Hachette UK E-BOOKS were downloaded for free by care workers during the first lockdown in the United Kingdom.