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.
Sustainable marketing—also known as sustainability marketing—is the practice of promoting products and services through strategies that prioritize environmental stewardship, social equity, and long-term economic viability.
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.
3 pillars of sustainable marketing:
Environmental responsibility
This pillar focuses on reducing negative impacts to the environment 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 support for community initiatives.
Economic viability
This pillar balances profitability with sustainable practices, ensuring long-term growth without depleting resources.
These three pillars align with the “triple bottom line” framework—balancing people, planet, and profit. 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:
Sustainable marketing delivers both purpose and profit by engaging conscious consumers, empowering employees, and strengthening brand trust.
- Engages conscious consumers – 73 % of Gen Z shoppers prefer sustainable brands and are willing to pay more for eco-friendly products.
- Boosts talent attraction & retention – 86 % of Gen Zers say a strong sense of purpose at work is crucial for job satisfaction, leading to higher employee engagement.
- Strengthens brand trust & reputation – Authentic sustainability initiatives build credibility, foster loyalty, and differentiate your brand in a crowded market.
Sustainable marketing strategies & best practices
To turn sustainable intent into measurable impact, organizations can adopt these proven strategies:
Align marketing with core values
Ensure every campaign message reflects genuine sustainability efforts—from product design to delivery—and avoid greenwashing by marketing only what your business truly practices.
Design eco-friendly products & packaging
Highlight sustainability features in your offerings—using recyclable materials, minimal packaging, or refillable options—and weave those benefits into your marketing narrative.
Opt for sustainable channels
Favor digital channels and virtual events over print and travel-intensive tactics; when physical materials are necessary, choose recycled media and green-certified vendors.
Engage with communities & causes
Partner with trusted non-profits or local initiatives, invite customers to participate in campaigns (e.g., tree-planting drives), and showcase those collaborations in your messaging.
Embrace transparency & storytelling
Publish your sustainability data and progress—both wins and challenges—so audiences see the full picture; honest storytelling builds credibility and trust.
Innovate for continuous improvement
Experiment with take-back programs, upcycled promotional items, or interactive content (e.g., impact calculators) that demonstrate your commitment and engage audiences in your sustainability journey.
Examples of sustainable marketing in action
Brands large and small are putting sustainability at the heart of their marketing. Here are six standout examples and the lessons they offer:
1. Patagonia – “Don’t Buy This Jacket” (2011) — In a landmark Black Friday ad, Patagonia urged customers to buy only what they need. This bold stance reinforced the brand’s commitment to responsible consumption and drove deeper loyalty among eco-conscious shoppers.
2. Levi Strauss & Co. – “Buy better, wear longer”. Levi’s campaign educates consumers on extending garment life, linking marketing to circular-fashion principles and encouraging repair, reuse, and recycling.
3. LEGO – “Building instructions for a better world”. Through its Build the Change program, LEGO invited over 6,000 children to co-create sustainable building instructions, showcasing how community engagement can drive both education and brand purpose.
4. OVO Energy – “Power your life differently”. This campaign blended emotive storytelling with clear calls to switch to renewables, making sustainable energy feel both personal and attainable.
5. Ad Net Zero – Industry initiative. Ad Net Zero unites agencies and brands worldwide to decarbonize advertising, proving that sustainable marketing can be a collective, sector-wide effort.
6. Adidas – “Run for the Oceans”. Adidas partnered with Parley to launch a global “Run for the Oceans” event—every kilometer logged by participants unlocked funding to remove plastic waste from the ocean.
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Avoiding greenwashing: Ensuring authentic sustainable marketing
After class-action lawsuits over misleading sustainability claims surged by roughly 80 % in 2022, even industry giants like P&G now face litigation—most recently over alleged “green” toilet-paper packaging claims.
According to a 2024 Deloitte study, corporate social impact is underwhelming for most younger buyers: 51% of Gen Z and 53% of millennials report that businesses aren’t having a positive effect on society.
Why authenticity matters: Sustainability and social responsibility only resonate when backed by genuine, company-wide action—otherwise trust quickly erodes.
Consumers quickly recognize greenwashing and empty promises. To avoid greenwashing, watch for common red flags and follow clear guidelines so your sustainability messaging matches real-world practices.
Signs of greenwashing to avoid
- Vague or unverified eco-claims without data or certification.
- One-off “green” initiatives disconnected from broader company practices.
- Overemphasizing environmental credentials while ignoring social or economic sustainability.
How to ensure authenticity
- Align every marketing claim with documented corporate actions and published goals.
- Use third-party certifications (e.g., B Corp, Fair Trade, CarbonNeutral™) to substantiate statements.
- Publish transparent progress reports—highlight both successes and challenges.
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!
How to embed sustainability in your business – and bottom line
To achieve real benefits, companies need to embed sustainability into their business practices and processes. Learn three ways to do it.
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!