Circular commerce and retail: Greener the better
More and more consumers are prioritizing sustainability over price in their purchases, driving growth for retailers with green practices.
The tone of advertising is changing, at least in Germany, where I live. For a long time, brands clung to the motto “stinginess is cool” and promoted products through clichéd images and perfectly styled models. But today, sustainable marketing comes with a new visual language.
Ads show people across generations loving vegan products, electric cars convey the joy of driving, and curvy models confidently show off lingerie and swimwear collections.
Without a doubt, sustainability and diversity are important selling points today.
But even the most sophisticated marketing campaigns can’t succeed if a company lacks sincere consideration of environmental and social concerns in its corporate strategy.
What is sustainable marketing?
Sustainable marketing, also known as sustainability marketing, is the promotion of products and services that are designed to be environmentally or socially conscious. It encompasses practices and brand values that prioritize environmental and social responsibility, integrating sustainability into every aspect of the marketing strategy. This includes a broad spectrum of activities aimed at creating long-term value without depleting natural or human resources, benefiting the planet and society as a whole.
3 pillars of sustainable marketing:
- Environmental responsibility: this pillar focuses on reducing negative environmental impacts through the use of eco-friendly materials, energy-efficient processes, and waste reduction.
- Social responsibility: this pillar centers on ethical business practices, fair labor conditions, and supporting community initiatives.
- Economic viability: this pillar strives for a balance between profitability and sustainable practices, ensuring long-term economic growth without exploiting resources.
Like sustainability itself, sustainable marketing can mean different things. Sustainability has become a priority for more and more brands, which is reflected in their marketing campaigns.
Benefits of sustainable marketing:
- Attracting customers, especially millennials and the up-and-coming Gen Z consumer. Gen Z prefer sustainable brands and are willing to spend more on sustainable products, studies show.
- Attracting and retaining employees. Younger workers want to work for companies that share their concern for climate change and social justice.
- Improving brand reputation.
Examples of sustainable marketing
Brands large and small alike practice sustainability-focused marketing. Here are some examples:
Patagonia has a long history of promoting sustainability, including its Don’t Buy This Jacket Black Friday ad in 2011 and its more recent “Buy Less Demand More” campaign.
Other examples include:
- Levi Strauss & Company‘s “Buy Better, Wear Longer” campaign also encourages consumers to reuse and recycle as it raises awareness of the environmental impact of apparel production.
- LEGO has committed to making its bricks from more sustainable materials by 2030, and as part of its Build the Change program launched “Building Instructions for a Better World” last fall, which more than 6,000 children helped develop.
- UK company OVO Energy‘s “Power your life differently” campaign encouraged consumers to embrace renewable energy.
- Ad Net Zero, launched by trade groups in the UK in 2020, aims to decarbonize the advertising industry. It’s since spread globally including the US, and garnered support from brands like Unilever and internet giants Google and Meta.
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Greenwashing alert
However, values such as sustainability and social responsibility can only be effectively communicated outward if they are actively lived by the company.
Consumers quickly recognize greenwashing and empty promises. Here are some revealing statistics:
- According to a recent Deloitte study, not even half of the millennials surveyed (47%) believe that business has a positive impact on society, despite all the advertising images and corporate initiatives.
- More than two-thirds (69%) criticize companies for looking solely after their own interests.
- 6 out of 10 of people born after 2000 assume that profit maximization is the sole corporate goal.
Sustainability in fashion: Industry teeters on ethical catwalk
Sustainability and fashion appear to be on opposing catwalks destined for collision. Fashion is a $2.5 trillion industry, producing 10% of global carbon emissions, 20% of global wastewater, and vast biodiversity loss. Consumers are demanding change, forcing sustainability in fashion as a requirement, not a trend.
ESG and B2B relationships
Sustainability extends beyond consumer behavior. Environmental social governance is rapidly gaining importance in business relationships between companies.
Whether investments, supply chain design, or recruitment of young talent, marketing campaigns — no matter how polished — can’t withstand insincere consideration of environmental, social and governance aspects.
The Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor 2022 criticizes the fact that on the way to climate neutrality, many companies fail to follow up their promises with action.
Ukraine conflict further exacerbates the problem: It’s pushed climate protection off the agenda, and shown how dependent Germany and Europe are on energy supplies, especially from Russia.
In addition, soaring inflation, unstable supply chains, material bottlenecks and the threat of gas shortages in winter are causing headaches for many companies.
Accordingly, the issue of sustainability has fallen behind in many places and achieving the global sustainability goals hardly seems possible anymore. I hope as many people possible are as concerned about this development as I am. There’s no Planet B!
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Clarion call for climate protection, sustainability
It’s more important than ever to take climate protection seriously.
Young people in Europe feel far more threatened by it than by the war in Ukraine or the Corona pandemic. One out of two think that the EU countries should give higher priority to the fight against climate change than to efforts to achieve energy independence.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has recently called for an explicit intensification of all climate protection efforts: “Compliance with the 1.5-degree target can only be achieved with the greatest possible effort. This means that we must now act decisively and quickly,” the IPCC report said.
Given that 77% of the world’s business transactions run through our systems, we’re aware of SAP’s high responsibility for a sustainable economy.
We want to raise awareness of the fact that companies today no longer have to choose between sustainability and profitability. This attitude has been anchored in SAP’s DNA for 50 years now, and we’re working to communicate it more strongly.
In addition, we’re of course working to make our own marketing activities more sustainable. In doing so, we’re guided by three principles: #ZeroWaste, #ZeroEmission and #ZeroInequality.
Some starting points: the climate-neutral design of our events, avoidance of unnecessary promotional gifts, and diverse composition of our marketing teams.
And with brand campaigns such as ECOnomics, we’re bringing these issues even more into the public eye. Together, we can have an impact!
