A New Era Of Sustainable Marketing

It is quite interesting to see how marketing has evolved over the years. Slowly but steadily, quite a few layers are being added to marketing by innovative brands all around. Some used humor to get their name out there, and some used nostalgia to build brand awareness.

One of the layers that struck a chord with many people around the world was the idea to spread awareness about a social or environmental issue through marketing. The desire to make the world a better place got many brands a place in their audience’s hearts.

The rise of social and environmental issues also breathed life into the rise of sustainable marketing. With generations becoming more socially responsible, people are looking for brands that reflect their values.

Why The Shift Though?

The shift comes from the millennial consumer base going for responsible purchases and looking at brands that offer them an option to be socially and environmentally conscious.

In fact, research conducted by Businesswire shows that globally, sustainability is rated as an important purchase criterion for 60 percent of consumers. Additionally, it came out that more than one-third of the buyers are willing to pay more for sustainable products and services.

The numbers are not the only reason for the shift, though. The benefits of sustainable marketing speak for themselves.

• Gain a competitive edge — With consumers more aware of environmental concerns, marketing a brand as a socially responsible entity helps improve the brand image to a great extent. A competitive advantage is just around the corner with an improved brand image. Sustainable marketing not only builds up the image of the brand but also helps it connect on a deeper level to its audience. The audience feels that they are working together with the brand to build a better future.
• Employ passionate workers — The young population wants to work with organizations that care about the environment and society’s positive impact. With a sustainable marketing strategy, it’s easier to attract talented and energetic employees that care about making a difference.
• Attract a new consumer base — Switching to a sustainable marketing strategy helps the brand reach a wider, younger audience that cares about its practices and wants to connect with the brand to make the environment better.

Beyond sustainable marketing, there are many other important benefits to a sustainable brand, including cost savings from increased resource efficiency, freedom for creativity and problem-solving, and less chance of breaking evolving industry standards and laws.

Looking at the path the world is headed in social and environmental responsibility, opting for sustainable marketing is the best way forward for any brand.

The Principles

Whether small businesses or big, there are a few principles every brand needs to consider before shifting to sustainable marketing.

• Consumer-focused marketing — This sustainable marketing principle states that brands need to view and plan their marketing initiatives from the consumers’ point of view. By seeing the world through the customer’s eyes, brands get the chance to create long-lasting relations with their audience.
• Customer-value marketing — The principle focuses on the investment of major resources of a brand into creating value for its customers through marketing initiatives. Brands can market the value created to make profits in return in the long run.
• Innovative marketing — The principle talks about a brand’s need to continuously look for new ways to improve itself and the experience an audience has with the brand.
• Mission marketing — To better serve its audience, the brand must describe its objective in broad societal terms as opposed to specific product words. In addition, the business ought to be successful and ethical.
• Societal marketing — This principle states that a brand needs to consider societal interests in marketing initiatives.

Once there is familiarity with the principles, it is easier to create a sustainable marketing strategy for any brand. We have even collected a few references that can help.

The Key Players

#BringBackOurBottles — The Body Shop

The Body Shop became a brand that showed the world how important sustainability is in the beauty industry. This sector produces billions of plastic bottles each ear through packages that end up going to landfills or the ocean. The brand is not exempt from using virgin plastic and contributing to the issue. It came up with the #BringBackOurBottles campaign to do its part and tackle the issue to the best of its abilities.

The campaign was started in Indonesia, encouraging people to do exactly as the campaign says, return the empty bottles.

The Body Shop collaborated with TerraCycle to put product recycling bins in retail spaces all around the world. This ongoing initiative encourages customers to return their used bottles in exchange for a redeemable discount coupon.

The highly successful campaign originated through a very smart user engagement tactic by the brand. Through social media, The Body Shop asked its audience how they can make a difference and looked for opinions on the best way to recycle their empties. Hundreds of customers engaged with the brand and came up with the best solution. Thus began #BringBackOurBottles.

Today’s audience looks for brands that take environmental issues seriously. The Body Shop works towards making a difference. Despite its widespread popularity, the brand continues to build trust with customers by emphasizing the human element of the customer relationship journey. Perhaps that is why it has retailed its worldwide appeal.

Urban Bee Oasis — A1 Telekom

A one-week campaign preceding World Bee Day, The Urban Bee Oasis aimed to raise awareness of how global warming affects the timing of blossoming in urban environments. As food sources are depleted in the late summer, starving bees are a result, which has a cascading impact. Much of the world’s food supply depends on bees. So, when they go hungry, so do we.

An urban garden was built in the heart of Slovenia to help feed city-dwelling bees. A1 Telekom used both traditional and digital advertising to build hype around the campaign.

The week saw the growth of 3500 honey bee plants. People were encouraged to adopt one of the 12 plants and grow their own bee forage oasis, right in their homes. Through all the help, bees could survive the fall.

The campaign was a huge success and reached over 350,000 citizens and netizens. The combination of out-of-home ads and digital marketing helped A1 generate a lot of traffic around the campaign. The idea behind it was appealing in itself and attracted a lot of millennials to support the brand.

Needless to say, A1 Telekom created quite a buzz with Urban Bee Oasis.

Save Our Species — Lacoste

Small steps go a long way. Lacoste took the issue of animal extinction to heart and came up with Save Our Species, a sign of support for species conversion action worldwide. The campaign was made in a three-year collaboration with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s Save Our Species initiative.

Lacoste launched limited-edition polo shirts, substituting its iconic crocodile embroidered logo with 10 endangered species and matching the number of shirts to the number of animals still alive.

The ten species the brand included were: The Vaquita, Burmese Roofed Turtle, Northern Sportive Lemur, Javan Rhino, Cao-Vit Gibbon, Kakapo, California Condor, Saola, Sumatran Tiger, and the Anegada Ground Iguana.

All the proceeds made through the sale of these shirts were donated directly to the preservation of each of the species the shirts depicted.

The campaign was ingenious and built up the image of Lacoste as an important participant fighting for the cause of wildlife preservation. It also ended up winning two golds in the Clio Fashion & Beauty awards — in Partnerships & Collaborations and Public Relations.

Lacoste is one of the top apparel brands in the world and its crocodile logo is famous all over the globe. When the brand started this campaign on social media, attention was drawn almost immediately.

All the shirts Lacoste launched were sold out within 24 hours. The social media initiative gained 1.2 million views and 600k shares. Through the campaign, even the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s donations grew four times.

The campaign was a win-win situation for everyone.