Marketers have crucial role to play in creating positive societal change on sustainability

On Monday 1 February, Business in the Community (BITC) and the Marketing Society launched a new publication targeted at marketing professionals to help them to build sustainability into, rather than onto, their brands.

The range of opportunities for marketers to shape this debate is incredible, and the innovation and passion being applied is impressive. They have a crucial role to play in creating positive societal change on sustainability.

Entitled ‘How Can Marketers Build Sustainable Success?’ the publication uses case studies from leading companies and the experiences of marketing directors to enable the profession to play a more central role in the debate around sustainability.

Key note speakers included Todd Stitzer, chair of BITC’s Marketplace Leadership Team and Chief Executive of Cadbury; Phil Rumbol, Marketing Director, Cadbury; Steve Sharp, Executive Marketing Director, M&S; and Gavin Neath, Senior Vice President Global Communications, Unilever.

It was unanimously agreed that corporate responsibility is increasingly being led by marketing and sales teams as much as the corporate centre and that marketers are in a position to take a much greater role in taking the sustainability debate out to consumers.

Each gave the assembled audience of over 100 marketing directors a snap-shot of how they are using their marketing campaigns to communicate with consumers about the importance of product sustainability – whether that means how and where it was made, or how consumers can use, re-use or recycle their products in simple, sustainable ways.

Good for society, good for business

Developed following a series of working breakfast with over 60 marketing professionals, the new publication shares the insights and key questions that marketers should act on to ensure that their approach to the marketing of brands, products and services takes into account the environmental, social and financial factors at play in this sphere.

As well as the societal benefits, the business case for embedding sustainability into the marketing of products was also laid bare. Unilever's Gavin Neath demonstrated how sustainable marketing can make a positive impact across six areas, including:

1. Fuelling innovation
2. Helping to win with customers
3. Helping to win in developing and emerging markets
4. Addressing consumers’ needs as “citizens”
5. Generating cost savings
6. Differentiating and building brands
Source: Adapted from Gavin Neath, Senior Vice President Global Communications, Unilever.

But sustainable marketing is steeped in the need to understand a brand or product’s footprint, and the behaviour of the consumers being targeted by a marketing campaign.

Know your customers

Gavin Neath talked about Unilever’s business tool that was developed to help them ascertain the ‘imprint’ that their products have, from production and supply chain methods through to retailing, consumption and disposal. Steve Sharp discussed the in-depth research into their customers that M&S has undertaken to ensure that they are targeting the right messages at the right consumers at the right time and in the right way. They have found that their consumers sit in four camps when it comes to sustainability: ‘Not My Problem’, ‘What’s The Point’, ‘If It’s Easy’, and ‘Crusaders’. By targeting the two categories in the middle, M&S finds that it is able to communicate its messages most accurately and with best effect.

Cadbury's Phil Rumbol also had words of wisdom for marketers about to embark on sustainable marketing programmes, either for themselves or their clients. These were to remember that in essence sustainable marketing is about:

1. The renaissance of brand trust and affinity
2. ‘Doing it first, telling people second’ (ensuring it is evidence-based)
3. Understanding (product) footprint and spotting the right issues
4. Ensuring ‘doing good is good for business’
5. Remembering that the desire to shout about it is much greater than most consumers’ capacity to listen
Source: Adapted from Phil Rumbol, Marketing Director, Cadbury

Todd Stitzer, Chair of the BITC Marketplace Leadership Team and Chief Executive of Cadbury plc, said: “The range of opportunities for marketers to shape this debate is incredible, and the innovation and passion being applied is impressive. They have a crucial role to play in creating positive societal change on sustainability. Sustainable marketing is about brands which are environmentally, socially and financially sustainable. Some call this ambitious. I say it’s essential. Quite simply it’s just good business.”

Stephen Howard, Chief Executive of Business in the Community, said: “We all know that marketing provides ways and means for companies to generate competitive advantage for their brands, to connect with consumers and customers, and to drive profit for the business. But through this ability to connect with people it also provides an open door to tackling social and environmental issues through the values that are attached to the products and services consumers buy.”

The case studies used in the publication include Audi, Cadbury, Co-operative Bank, Diageo,  M&S, Marshalls, Speedy, and Unilever.