Brands and sustainability – a match made in heaven?

Start with the end goal in mind and work backwards. That’s what we at Forum for the Future often do, and that’s what we did at our recent sustainable brands roundtable. We asked an eclectic mix of marketing and sustainability professionals to start by describing their vision for their own brands in 2020. Words such as “leading sustainability enablers” and “restorative” showed us where the appetite is amongst brands that want to push the boundaries.

We also started at the beginning – but unintentionally. The roundtable represented the ABCDE of brands – quite literally: A (AkzoNobel - of Dulux paint fame - and Alliance Boots), B (B&Q and Burberry), C (Cafedirect), D (Dyson) and E (eBay and Ella’s Kitchen). I don’t think we should read too much into that alphabetical coincidence, though. Yes, there are some newer starters on this playing field to be sure, but there are also some brands that have been taking sustainability to their consumers in their sleep for a while now. Suffice to say that the participants all had a common interest – exploring how brands can help mainstream sustainability.

Forum has been exploring the role of brands as agents of transformative change for some time, most recently through the launch of Consumer Futures. Most brands are only just beginning to explore what sustainability means for them, and what their brand can do for sustainability. At the roundtable, we had a productive and lively discussion about what brands need to do, both individually and collectively.

The three key things I took away from our discussion were the need for brands to:

1. Be brave: There are huge (commercial) opportunities out there for brands on this agenda if they’re prepared to be brave and do things differently
2. Be authentic: It’s crucial to find what’s authentic to the brand (e.g. quality/ durability in the case of Patagonia’s clothing, which is why its recent link-up with eBay works so well) and to play to those strengths, rather than blindly trying to sell ‘green’ credentials to an audience who aren’t generally looking for that
3. Be open: Don’t do this in a vacuum (with the exception of Dyson of course!). Sharing challenges, stories and best practice openly with non-rival brands can be hugely inspiring and empowering. It’s only by coming together that we’ll stand any chance of overcoming some of the systemic barriers that exist.

There are of course plenty of challenges to be overcome before brands and sustainability can work together to deliver a sustainable future, from the ways in which marketers are incentivised through to the tensions in that small phrase, sustainable consumption.

But if you want your brand to become an agent of transformative change – no matter what letter of the alphabet your brand name starts with and no matter how big you think the barriers are – get in touch. Contact Fiona Bennie or Sally Uren, who are leading Forum’s work on brands.