Sustain Ability

Where does sustainability ‘fit’ in the world of corporate marketing?

Irrespective of where you are on your sustainability journey, it pays to have marketing experts taking a central role in furthering your ESG agenda through smart internal and external communications.

Sustainability was first defined in the 1987 Brutland Report as ‘progress that meets the needs of present generations without detrimentally affecting the needs of future generations.’

Essentially this means taking a long-term view of activities and assuming that finite resources could and should be protected. As such, sustainability is a catch-all for being socially responsible and environmentally sound – although for many organisations the present focus in more on the latter. Sustainability and low-carbon are often synonymous – but truly great global citizenship that takes care of people impacts as well as those on planet and profit is still someway off for a lot of companies.

For progressive organisations, building strategy that is mindful of people, profit and planet (or the triple bottom line), is a no brainer. For these businesses the low-carbon light bulb has already gone on, with the realisation that doing good can go hand-in-hand with doing well. Take a look at where sustainability story-telling sits for these organisation and you’re likely to see it front and central, a thoroughly integrated component of everyday marketing messaging, operating as vital support to the company’s strategic goals.

But not all organisations are this forward thinking. The legal requirement to share ESG achievements with shareholders as part of the formal annual report cycle; plus emerging legislation that is set to transform pretty much every sector of business, means that lots of C-Suite teams are under pressure to figure out where they stand on sustainability for the first time and with some urgency. For every organisation where good business and green business is a good fit, there are plenty where the pairing is less comfortable. Even where organisations want to set good intentions and implement more sustainable practices, changing business processes, cost pressures and end-customer expectations can all prove confounding to progress.

There is no cookie-cutter approach to become a more sustainable business. And because sustainability strategy, sustainability practice, sustainability reporting and sustainability investment all sit in different parts of an organisation it can prove extremely different to get the market-facing sustainability story straight.

Often, the result is that sustainability sits as a bolt on. It may have an organisational champion or owner – but in many cases they won’t have senior seat at the strategy table. You might find them in finance, in compliance or in corporate communications. When this is the case, sustainability is likely to be a theme or motif within the marketing mix, meaning messages may land as something of an afterthought and not part of the main event.

So how can organisations who are navigating the pressures of becoming more sustainable harness the power of marketing to help shift the dial in a more effective way?

Here at the The Unknown Creative, we’ve been lucky enough to work with sustainability pioneers across the full course of our 13 years’ in business. Here’s what we’ve learned:

• Irrespective of where sustainability sits in relation to the marketing strategy and team, these people are story telling experts. They know how to construct meaningful narratives and they should know how to communicate internally to harness purpose and passion to mobilise behind sustainability goals. As such they should be central to the brief that answers the question: ‘What is our sustainability intention or agenda?’ They should be well placed to consult with decision-making stakeholders within the organisation to understand what plans are in place around sustainability and who these plans (or stories) need to be shared with to gain traction. Task the marketing team with joining the dots and get your sustainability narrative stood up.
  
  
• Bringing your sustainability story to life is a powerful motivator. Tell it well to your people and it cements purpose, lays the foundations for loyalty and can prove a powerful part of your employment proposition in today’s market where great talent can be hard to find and challenging to keep. But sustainability is also something customers will want to hear about. Today’s consumers are more carbon-conscious and socially concerned than ever before. Business customers also take a keen interest – seeking out like-minded suppliers and being obligated to make sound choices in pursuit of their own sustainability agendas. As such, internal and external communications around sustainability deserve a place in your company’s marketing mix. Agree where and how and push the green light to go…
  
  
• Treat your sustainability story with the same care, craft and consistency of approach that you would apply to your core brand and messaging. If they aren’t today, over time these will become one-in-the-same. But if they do stand somewhat apart right now, your sustainability should be as thoughtful, as individual and as differentiated as your brand, your values and your core proposition. A cursory or generic green bolt-on simply won’t cut it. Discerning customers won’t buy it and you’ll have wasted a lot of time and effort in producing something that isn’t really going to make a blind bit of difference, long term.

Inevitably your marketing team will have creative partners to help you bring your sustainability story to life. Make sure they are up the job, understand how to deliver ideas with genuine impact and not ‘me too’ solutions that won’t endure. Find the right partner, have the right conversations, tell the right story – this is a sure fire way to find the right fit – not only for your sustainability story-telling, but to unite sustainability champions within your business behind goals and purpose that make everyone feel proud and clear on your business’ contribution to the triple bottom line.

To see some of the work we’ve produced for clients in the sustainability space, click Sustain Ability