‘Knock Knock Knock’
Break The Pattern
Brand-led sustainability
Taking a brand led approach means that every sustainable action, initiative and pledge is carried out through the brand. Brand and sustainability become intwined, and all sustainability activities are unique, consistent, memorable and instantly recognisable to that brand.
Sustainability is a global movement but a localised issue
What matters in the UK does not necessarily resonate elsewhere. In Germany animal friendly and locally sourced products feature high on consumers priority list compared to the UK where environmentally friendly and recyclable packaging dominate.
This shows that a highly emotional and cultural narrative is emerging, and brands have to be aware of local differences.
What has also emerged is that UK consumers have a very high desire to behave sustainably but, the follow through on behaving sustainably is very low, creating a vast intention- action gap that brands can play a part in closing.
Closing the gap
Closing this gap represents both an enormous opportunity and challenge for brands in terms of reputation and future profitability.
There are four valuable insights currently emerging in the UK worth considering when developing a brand led sustainable strategy:
- Consumer’s expectations are now exceeding regulation so if brands only apply a box ticking process when it comes to sustainability, they will be falling short of consumer’s needs.
- A new kind of activism has started. Shareholders are now setting higher expectations for companies. Climate change has become a defining factor in companies long term prospects, and this is determining environmental strategy that influence future levels of investment.
- Covid-19 has accelerated society’s expectations of brands. Consumers are demanding that businesses be more environmentally and socially responsible.
- Consumer’s expectations are not being met. According to a recent survey in Marketing Week 84% of UK consumers say that being environmentally friendly is important to them, yet 68% cannot name a single environmentally friendly brand!
The Take Away
Sustainability is shifting from compliance to real business value. It is an imperative and is not just ‘green’. Embrace brand led sustainability, it represents a wonderful opportunity to enable a brand to stand out and grow your business by doing good.
