Brands underpin everyday life. So it’s no surprise that people are looking for brands to help provide a pathway to living greener lives and a fairer society.
Many marketing organizations already recognize the critical role they can play in this transition. Kantar and WFA’s “Sustainable Marketing 2030 report’’ highlights that 93% of marketers say brands have a responsibility to help people live more sustainably and that they have the right skills to make it happen.
It’s already possible to see the rewards for the brands developing sustainable marketing strategies. Data from the BrandZ Global TOP 100 brands reveals that sustainability perception alone contributes up to 10% to the value of those brands that are highly endorsed on sustainability metrics.
What BrandZ also shows is that only a few brands have managed to achieve this. One reason is that its hard to become a sustainable brand, not least because consumers are skeptical. 67% of people globally worry that brands are only involved for profit and 52% say brands greenwash.
Our research shows that sustainable marketing also means different things to different people in different countries. And it varies by sector. Kantar’s Sustainability Sector Index highlights how people have a strong view of the different issues that different sectors are associated with or even sometimes responsible for.
Brands need to be hyper-forensic about where they engage with these issues if they are to ensure their environmental and social actions contribute to brand equity and growth.
So, how to make sure you unlock sustainable marketing power?
Brands grow by being meaningfully Different to More People; 5x as many people will buy you in a given period compared with lack of meaningful difference. Therefore, your sustainable marketing activities should contribute to that by driving meaning, difference and even saliency for your brand.
Additionally, at Kantar, we know that those three key growth accelerators to achieve this– predisposing more people, being more present and finding new space – and all of these can be applied to sustainable marketing.
1. Predisposing more people
On predisposing more people, evidence from our LINK database shows that because people care so much about these issues, they pay more attention to communications with a sustainability message.
On average, ads communicating a sustainable or social responsibility message score six percentile points above average on Meaningfulness, and 12 percentile points above average on Difference.
Of course, talking about sustainability doesn’t guarantee engagement and fundamentals of a strong creative should be done right.
2. Be more present
For many green marketers, this can be the most challenging growth driver. Being more present relies on optimizing marketing investments in distribution, product range, pack, pricing, promotions and other activity to ensure you have the right availability and visibility to convert consumer predisposition and capture choices from other brands.
BrandZ analysis shows that even brands with strong sustainability perceptions, currently tend to lose to other brands along the path of purchase. So, although people might be inclined to buy more sustainable brands or options, issues such as availability, distribution, price, visibility at the point of purchase, the range and so on, allows them to be diverted to other choices.
This is a key reason why brands are struggling to scale sustainability. Advertisers need to make sustainable brands easier to buy, not just easy to choose. Put simply, many marketers have more work to do on this growth accelerator if they want to drive further adoption.
3. Find new spaces
Finding new space means finding incremental spaces – motivations, occasions, categories, services – for your brand to stretch into. It’s an obvious place for sustainable marketing given that sustainability is reshaping consumer demand in every sector, opening up opportunities that allow smart brands to create powerful platforms.
Ikea for example is helping to break habits by launching a range of light bulbs that are 35% more energy efficient and less expensive. Out of all light bulbs sold by IKEA in 2022, this range made up the biggest share.
Similarly, Nestle in 2023 launched a Rowntree’s non-High Fat Salt and Sugar range of sharing gummy sweets. The range is made with real fruit juice and 30% less sugar* plus it has no artificial flavorings, colorings, or sweeteners. This innovation brings something new to a very mature category.
Brands can also use sustainability strategies to stretch to adjacent or new categories as Danone has done, expanding the Alpro range of ever-expanding plant-based milks by launching Growing-up milk options.
Wherever marketers choose to focus, however, our Sustainability Sector Index shows it’s vital to meet people where they are and connect your activities to the environmental or social topics that they associate with your sector.
And given the level of cynicism, you will have to shape a roadmap that builds credibility from the specific areas that are strongly associated with your sector all the way to making a positive impact on the world.
Whatever platform you develop also needs to be true to your brand. Without credibility you leave your brand vulnerable so you will also have to demonstrate that you are serious about sustainability and that your message is anchored into real action.