Ninety percent of marketers agree that sustainability agendas must be more ambitious, and 94% concede that they need to act more bravely and experiment to drive transformative change.
There is no question that the case for sustainability has been made – and unequivocally so. The United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals provided the framework to define the problems and businesses around the world – including Unilever, Danone and Patagonia among many others – have been showing the commercial benefits of acting on the challenges.
Kantar’s research indicates that brands making a difference are creating value: sustainability contributed $193 billion to the value of the Kantar BrandZ Top 100 Global Brands. Brands that are acting on the sustainability imperative are experiencing 31% year-on-year growth, according to the BrandZ Sustainability Index.
At 45%, sustainability remains the most significant driver of corporate reputation, meaning that organisations not taking their business impacts seriously face increasing brand and reputational risk.
The Sustainable Marketing 2030 report is a global research-based thought leadership project led by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) in partnership with Kantar’s Sustainable Transformation Practice.
The study has revealed that while progress is happening, with most sustainability officers now reporting to the CEO or board, and sustainability KPI’s increasing, this progress is not fast enough.
In fact, 90% of marketers agree that sustainability agendas must be more ambitious, and 94% concede that they need to act more bravely and experiment to drive transformative change.
Marketing must step up
From a consumer perspective, the challenge is that, while 97% of people say they are prepared to take action to live a more sustainable lifestyle, in reality only 13% of people are actively changing their behaviour.
There is a growing acknowledgement that it’s time for marketing to step up. Research reveals that 93% of marketers say brands have a responsibility to help people live more sustainably, and that marketing can make a difference in the sustainability journey.
Environmental scientist and author Donella Meadows argues there are several social paradigms and assertions people make that perpetuate the problems we’re seeing. Consider, for example, the concept that there is always an ‘away’ where we can throw things.
In reality, very little of what we have produced since the mid-20th century has been recycled (only 9%) or incinerated (only 12%), with the balance in landfills, oceans and the environment.
By producing more than what we are managing to clean up, we are damaging the world in a myriad ways.
How we achieve growth must change
Another misperception is that all growth is good and possible, amid a widely held assumption that we can grow in perpetuity in a world of finite resources. Unpacking current production and consumption models soon puts paid to this idea. Growth can still be good – but how we achieve growth needs to change.
Then there’s the idea better technology will solve our problems. This implies there is no cost to developing and refining technology; that there is equal access to technology, and we all benefit equitably from it. While technology is certainly an enabler to solving the problems, it’s up to humanity to see it done.
Finally, consider the assumption that the future is something that just happens to us, and that we should try to predict it, rather than create it. As the pace of change and the rate of disruption accelerates, the future is becoming increasingly difficult – and expensive – to predict.
Meanwhile, we often overlook the fact that inspiring others with our actions today, can help create the future that we want. The good news is that marketing has the power to shape and change these mindsets.
New role for marketing
Sustainable Marketing 2030 outlines a new role for marketing with the aim of identifying the main challenges in progressing sustainability ambitions, and the opportunities for marketing organisations.
It offers a deep dive study into the levers associated with circular marketing and growth.
We anticipate that the results of the study will vary considerably in different parts of the world. People in the Middle East and Africa (MEA), for example, are faced with a very different set of priorities to those living in more developed regions.
Furthermore, those living in MEA are disproportionately affected by the combined impact of global and local economic, social and environmental crises.
People’s concerns are directly related to where they are on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: in Africa, people are most concerned with physiological and safety needs, while those living in the global north view sustainability as a lifestyle choice connected to their values, morals and creativity.
Beyond purchase
Marketing’s role is currently centred around purchase and use, within a linear value chain. This role needs to shift to a scope beyond purchase and use, to include circular principles.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation defines a circular economy as a “system where materials never become waste and nature is regenerated.”
In a circular economy, products and materials are kept in circulation through processes like maintenance, reuse, refurbishment, remanufacture, recycling and composting.
The circular economy tackles climate change and other global challenges, like biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution, by decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources.”
Five key levers
The WFA and Kantar developed a circular marketing and growth framework that identifies five key levers to achieve effective circular marketing.
- Sustainability first approach
The first lever shifts sustainability from a standalone strategy to an integral part of a business’s ambition and practice. A sustainability first strategy cannot be developed in isolation from brand strategy or market activation.
Having the correct resources, capabilities and insights are therefore the key enablers to overcoming this challenge. The starting point is recognising that sustainability is the strategy, not a business function.
- Radical innovation
The second lever is about moving sustainable innovation from an incremental, tactical opportunity to a strategic transformation opportunity that future-proofs the business. This is done in order to enable more sustainable choices and make sustainable living easier and more accessible to all.
Africa is predicted to be the fastest growing region globally. It’s therefore no wonder that multinationals are investing into the myriad new opportunities the region represents. The pace of innovation in Africa is rapid and disruptive.
Businesses or brands entering the continent need to keep acting as challengers and be wary of becoming complacent.
- Transformative relationships
The third lever aims to change exchange-based partnerships with limited impact, to transformative relationships, internally and externally. Marketers are well positioned to play a pivotal role in unleashing opportunities across the value chain by collaborating in shaping relationship agendas with other functions, including connecting activities across the value chain.
A powerful example was set last year by Old Mutual Investment Group, one of Sasol’s largest shareholders, who voted against a number Sasol’s proposed resolutions at its AGM, to catalyse better performance against their climate targets.
Examples of shareholder activism are becoming more prevalent globally, catalysing transformative change.
- Creativity into action
The fourth lever aims to shift sustainability from a separate communication strategy to sustainability communications grounded in action. Communication must up the ante in normalising sustainable lifestyles.
Moreover, communication needs to be rooted in value chain reality and avoid greenwashing or greenlighting.
Marketing has an opportunity to shift the narrative from fear and guilt to transparency and inspiration about what can and is being done, telling the real story through culturally relevant frames and inspiring narratives that shape the mindsets that will ultimately change behaviour.
This requires new levels of boldness and integrity, which needs to start with the organisation and its agency partners themselves.
- Value redefined
Lastly, a new definition of value is emerging, one that encompasses all natural, social and human capitals required to deliver commercial value. Value redefined is about changing the way sustainability is viewed; from a solely financial standpoint to a more integrated view of success that accounts for environmental and societal impacts and externalities alongside financial metrics.
How we measure value has to evolve with sustainability embedded into the heart of decision-making processes. Beyond mandatory and discretionary disclosures for investors, marketing can bring circulatory into core brand and portfolio strategy.
Redefining value
Woolworths’ Good Business Journey is one example of redefining value. Roy Baggattini, Group CEO of Woolworths says, “There is no question in my mind that our value as a business and our values as a company are inextricably linked.”
Ranking as the top sustainable brand in South Africa for both 2022 and 2023 in the Kantar BrandZ Most Valuable South African Brands study, the brand experienced a 2% gain in value against an average 9% decline among the South African top 30, showing that sustainable brands are more resilient in volatile economic climates.
The circular marketing and growth framework is based on the principle that it’s no longer viable to drive business growth at the expense of the planet and society. Instead, brands need to be committed to a new paradigm of value creation that balances the needs of business, the environment and society.
This means that marketing can step up into a brave new era. One where its role can extend beyond being custodians of brands and the customers they serve, to becoming custodians of the wellbeing of society and the planet we all share.
William Stubbings is director, consulting practice at Kantar. He is the senior leader in the South African team responsible for managing multiple client engagements across practice areas, developing the local sustainability practice and coaching and managing the local team.