How brands are evolving in the area of sustainability marketing and communications — and how their stakeholders are asserting their own needs and preferences.
Today the ethical consumer market hovers between 10 and 20 percent. These numbers haven’t moved much since the term was first popularized 25 years ago. Yet market researchers such as Edelman and Ipsos Reid tell us that more than 80 percent of Canadian consumers want companies to champion social causes, lead social change and stand for something. Companies that figure out how to tap into this latent demand for corporate social purpose stand to win big.
Cross-Posted from Behavior Change. Recent studies suggest consumers are increasingly motivated to buy sustainable products, especially the rising generation of socially motivated millennials — that’s the headline in the sustainable business community. But we also know that it’s difficult to motivate consumers to act upon their best intentions. They may state their preference to buy organic, ethically produced products in the abstract, but their actual choice may be different at the point of purchase.
With just less than 100 days until the UN’s Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris, where leaders from more than 190 countries will gather to discuss a potential new agreement on climate change, another group has emerged, hoping to ensure a firm and actionable strategy is achieved.
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the standard-setting and certification organization for sustainable forestry, will host its 5th annual premier global business event in Durban, South Africa from September 3rd to 5th. In Good Company 2015 (IGC 2015) will gather leading companies across sectors, brands and international NGOs to explore challenges and opportunities in forest certification.
Irish global diversified industrial company Ingersoll Rand has been added to the FTSE4Good Index Series, an equity index series designed to facilitate investment in companies that meet globally recognized corporate responsibility standards.The company, which claims to make “comfortable, sustainable and efficient environments,” was independently assessed according to the FTSE4Good criteria, and satisfied the requirements to become a constituent of the index.Created by the global index company FTSE Group, FTSE4Good companies must meet stringent environmental, social and governance criteria.
Challenges and Opportunities.When it comes to social branding there are two key challenges. First, a company must have a clear definition of its brand and an authentic desire to have a positive impact on the world. For many brands this could be a challenge, as motives and marketing have become so fractured and there also exists a fear of leading an authentic conversation across social media in case it invites too much scrutiny, accountability and, potentially, a PR crisis.
B2B companies often see themselves as the dry toast to B2Cs’ Belgian waffles dripping with whipped cream and berries. And when we talk about making sustainability sexy, they may think it doesn’t apply to them. But it does.
The television remains one of the most vital tools available to “green” marketers. From product placement to paid commercial spots, getting your product, service or mission featured on TV is an invaluable way to bring your company’s messaging directly into people’s living rooms. Unfortunately that precious ad space isn’t cheap, and for smaller, purpose-driven companies such as TerraCycle, the costs are simply too high. Even so, that hasn’t stopped us from trying to secure our own fair share of the TV spotlight.
Greenpeace has begun its latest campaign against Shell, with a month of protests over the oil giant’s plans to drill in the Arctic.
NRG Energy has launched Power Behind the Plug, an evocative 90-second film and campaign that seeks to illustrate how people react when they actually take a moment to think about where their power comes from. The goal of the film and campaign is to encourage every American to actively and consciously think about energy, how electricity is generated and their energy choices. The film, created with partner Droga5, is one of several ways that NRG aims to help educate businesses and consumers in making smarter choices along the path to a clean energy future.
Motivating the public to participate in a campaign can be challenging, especially when it involves changing behaviors or contemplating a social ill that’s more pleasant to forget. But lest society collapse from its ignorance, advocates press on with clarion calls for social and environmental action.Two recent advocacy campaigns continue to demonstrate the efficacy of integrating clever, eye-catching displays with light-hearted appeals for change.
LAG:A period of time: a noticeable delay between action and reaction – Failing to keep up with another or others in movement or developmentJAG: A short period of overindulgence in an activity: a shopping jag: a crying jag. A stab; an intense and concentrated movement or actionI increasingly find myself at a very particular and exciting intersection.I find myself there not by accident but by design: having helped build a methodology that reaps its greatest rewards at the point where applied science and commercial creativity collide.
A new video on humor website Funny or Die satirizes the unhealthy lunches served in American schools. Produced by the American Heart Association (AHA), the piece features comedian Nick Offerman as a “food expert” leading a farm tour full of greasy fare, including pizza vines and taquito trees.
Although 82 percent of Americans expect companies to report on the progress of their social and environmental efforts, only 17 percent say they have read a CSR report in the past 12 months, according to the recently released 2015 Cone Communications/Ebiquity Global CSR Study. And who can blame them? Reports tend to be so dull, it’s even a challenge to get them read internally. This illustrates a need for companies to be more creative with the ways they inform and engage consumers and other stakeholders of their progress against goals.
Everybody loves a list, right? Right.Well, here’s mine – a 46-point manifesto-like checklist for anybody looking to communicate corporate sustainability. It’s not rocket science. But as the following pointers suggest, there’s every opportunity to get it wrong and a plethora of reasons to get it right.1. Make it materialWhen it comes to creating content and communicating your story, the world is your oyster; sustainability is a broad church and there’s almost too much ground to cover. If it’s important to your business and customers, you should be talking about it. If it’s not important, you shouldn’t bother.2. Do it frequently
The Union of Concerned Scientists released a report this week documenting the deception tactics used by fossil fuel companies in spreading misinformation about climate change. The Climate Deception Dossiers contains 85 internal memos showing a variety of efforts to manufacture uncertainty about climate science.Fossil fuel companies have long been aware of the harmful impacts of their products and have intentionally deceived the public to deny this harm, the report argues. The authors present a small history lesson evidencing the extent of companies’ dishonesty.
WWF and Unilever have announced a one-year, international partnership to engage consumers in the fight against deforestation — one of the key drivers of climate change — with the goal of protecting a million trees.The partnership between the world’s leading conservation organization and the consumer goods giant aims to raise awareness of the importance of forests to life on earth as well as the threats our forests face.
This year, the hearts ran wild in Cannes. And I’m not hinting at the mysterious couple having an amicable rendezvous in the early hours of the morning on the red carpet in front of the Palais, but at the fact that the gathered Mad Men seem to have grown soft and developed a real love for making a difference. Who would have ever expected that from the same people who’ve given us ads like, “More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette!” or “For a better start in life, start cola earlier!”Advertising is the single largest psychological experiment
"It's all in our Sustainability Report."That's a phrase guaranteed to strike fear in the hearts of even the hardiest sustainability wonks.
One of the a-has from our soon-to-be-released 2015 Eco Pulse study is that, indeed, a company’s sustainability or social responsibility commitment is a reason to love the brand. In fact, when we asked Americans, “Can you name a brand you love?” and then asked, “Why?” CSR reasons were almost as prevalent as core functionality or performance features.By the way, the brands listed as loved brands weren’t niche-y “green” brands - they were mainstream.