By Charney Magri, chief sustainability officer, partner and director, Do Epic Good
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that environmental concerns for both companies and consumers are on the rise and undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges of our lifetime. Like it or not, sustainable solutions are here to stay. What you may not realise is sustainability is not a department, it’s a language we all need to learn. Here’s why.
Some of us may remember when the digitisation era exploded and social media became a part of our everyday conversations. Any marketing agency that kept the social media department separate from the rest of the agency failed to realise this is a language we needed to embrace, learn and eventually speak.
Although many scientists, environmental agencies and experts have been banging on about environmental concerns for decades, only now are we individually and collectively beginning to feel the urgency to do something about it.
Professor J R McNeill said: “The 20th century is unique in history, not only because of its enormous technological progress and rise in the standard of living, but because no other century in human history can be compared with the 20th century for its growth in energy use, depletion of natural resources and an overall growth of problems related to global environmental sustainability.”
Professors Christopher Wright and Daniel Nyberg say: “It has often been asserted that industrial capitalism, globalisation and multinational companies have been central actors in this development.”
In the 1960s, when cheap production costs were outweighed by what people wanted, advertisers and marketers created consumerism. The continuous, unobtainable desires and aspirations consumers are sold have pushed the environment, human rights and supply chains to their limits. Natural resources are being depleted and the ‘take, make, waste’ model most companies employ has until recently been unchallenged.
Companies, realising the havoc their actions are wreaking on our climate, are actively embracing the challenge, often employing external agencies to write in-depth ESG strategies. But an ESG strategy doesn’t always resolve your company’s ESG credentials, not to mention your marketing strategy. If you’re a company pivoting to be ‘green’ it often means you’re handed a very expensive document that doesn’t translate across departments. If you’re lucky enough to have a sustainability team, it often translates to the team being quantifiable but still struggling to get their seat in the boardroom with little integration.
So how do we resolve this?
Sustainability is not a department, it’s a language we all need to learn. It’s that simple.
We need to embrace sustainability like we embraced the era of social media and even post-Covid WFH. Your ESG strategy and marketing plan needs to engage the C-suite and leaders from every department. Leaders need to understand and drive the change required. Goals need to be measurable, and everyone needs actionable responsibility they are accountable for. This is no longer about changing lightbulbs and turning off your laptops at the end of the day. This is about changing the world and using your position of power as a force for good.
When Patagonia made the decision to ensure it would be a 100+ year old company, it changed its entire marketing strategy and communication plan. It no longer said ‘yes’ to everything. It slowed down. It built the ‘take-back’ scheme. Most recently, founder and billionaire Yvon Chouinard donated Patagonia to a charitable trust to support the battle in climate change and growing environmental challenges. This outward-looking mindset is what we need to adopt as our own. A sustainable company doesn’t mean it won’t bring you growth. In fact, a sustainable company with purpose built into its core grows 30 per cent faster than its competitors. This is not the future. This is the now.
In 2018 when CEO Larry Fink of BlackRock wrote his annual letter titled ‘A sense of Purpose’, he stated: “To prosper over time, every company must not only deliver financial performance, but also show how it makes a positive contribution to society. Companies must benefit all of their stakeholders, including shareholders, employees, customers, and the communities in which they operate.”
Sustainability is not a department, it’s a language we all need to learn. Climate change is real. It affects each and every one of us and it is inescapable. It’s your role as a brand to have guts and soul to stand up and make a difference. It’s our role as your marketing agency to stand by your side, offering support and guidance on how to communicate your ESG strategy and marketing plan both internally and to an ever-growing,
savvy consumer. This is our responsibility, together.
