March 16th, 2011

4 Critical Q&As for Sustainability Branding

Sheila Viswanathan from GoodGuide made a nice blog post with four basic, yet critical questions for brands who have started down the path of greater sustainability. What follows is my answers to her questions in a comment on her blog post, which is pending approval as I post this.

The 1st Q: Do you think it’s better for brands to shout their sustainability from mountain tops, or just let products show for themselves?

My thoughts: First, brands engaged in substantive sustainability efforts should communicate about those efforts, at the very least to help educate consumers about relevant issues.

Second, such communications should be integrated and made a part of the brand so that they are authentic — that way, if a brand is known for shouting from mountain tops, shouting sustainability from those mountain tops will fit; if more reserved, likewise.  Starbucks, Timberland and Method are prime examples of brands doing this particularly well.

Third, brands increasingly need to find issues relevant to their industry and products where they can take a leadership position — this will be necessary to help them continue to use sustainability as a differentiator. Starbucks did this, for example, with its crowd sourcing “Betacup” campaign to help it find the best solution to those millions of unsustainable paper cups its coffee is served in every day.

The 2nd Q: If brands don’t “shout from mountaintops,” how will we know what good they’ve started to build into their operations?

My thoughts: we won’t know, unless we’re among those small few who go digging. However, each brand must determine how sustainability can best be integrated (see first part of my response to question above). I do think it will be beneficial to talk about it where possible for the vast majority of brands, as long as it’s in a credible and, yes, transparent way.

The 3rd Q: What about smaller brands that don’t have money to shout from mountaintops?

See the Gort Cloud by Richard Seireeni, which shows how smaller brands have been doing this even before social media. I’ve personally helped dozens of such brands with digital and other marketing tactics utilizing “NGOs, trendspotters, advocacy groups, social networks, business alliances, certifying organizations, and other members of the green community,” so I know Rich’s advice is sound.

The 4th Q:  What role do corporate sustainability reports play in all of this? Have you ever read one of these reports (or a summary of one)?

With sustainability / CSR reports becoming ever more common, they have a critical role in marketing communications beyond being a check box tactic. Smart companies are using their CSR reports as the strategic planning tools they are, and to have available for stakeholders that request them; but, critically, they’re breaking down the typically vast amounts of data and stories in their reports in digestible bits targeted to each stakeholder group. For the 90-some percent of consumers, employees, and investors who will never read a CSR report, this is very important. In most of these cases, this is done digitally/interactively.

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