Marketers’ hot air emissions surge on Zero Emissions Day.
The organisers of Zero Emissions Day want to “give our planet one day off a year”. It’s an opportunity for consumers to make a deliberate choice for a day to live without using anything that is powered by fossil fuels. As people around the world power off their home appliances and avoid taking the car, one group will continue to leak hot air into the atmosphere — the Media industry.
Brand purpose is rapidly moving up on the marketer’s agenda. Dentsu Aegis Network’s analysis of Cannes winners shows that measuring the impact of purpose campaigns has grown, from 25% in 2018 to 40% in 2019. But addressing societal issues like climate change through a campaign rarely amounts to anything more than PR noise.
Most purpose winners demonstrate their impact through traditional metrics such as reach and engagement. In short, these campaigns focus on making a big noise rather than on long-term environmental impact.
This problem is compounded because of how CMOs measure their success. Our research with 1,000 senior global marketers shows that CMOs believe their primary role is to build short-term ROI. But making an impact on environmental issues requires longer-term thinking and a long-term view to measure their true impact. That might be difficult, but evidence shows that these campaigns are critical to a brands’ success.
In a 2018 report from Kantar, new evidence suggested that brands with a purpose grow two times faster than those without. Unilever recently publicised that 75% of the company’s growth came from their purpose-lead brands. Increasingly, consumers want to deal with companies that are responsible and deliver change on the issues they care about.
But headline-grabbing campaigns will no longer be enough if we don’t start changing fundamental behaviour. The change needed is to make the “purpose option” a genuinely attractive choice for people. Whether it be a beer made from renewable energy or a burger made from plant-based ingredients, the challenge is to make consumers want to buy this, not as a fad, not as a second-best, but as the product of choice. That is when we will see a true shift in behaviour.
That’s the job. And the good news is that is what marketeers are good at; helping to change consumer behaviour.
But brands should not stop here. Immediately after Zero Emissions Day is over, the UN will hold its 2019 Climate Action Summit in New York, to find solutions to the climate crisis and global warming. Although the limelight this year has been on Greta Thunberg’s journey to get to the summit, the UN will shed light on initiatives where brands can play an active role.
One of the UN’s Action Areas is “Infrastructure, Cities and Local Action”. The thrust of this initiative is to help combat climate change by promoting ways to urbanize sustainably. This is one area that should be of interest and concern for brands.
Over half of the world’s population lives in cities and this share is set to increase to two-thirds by 2050. As the UN notes, this rapid increase in urbanization is not sustainable and is harming the planet. Whether it be in helping organisations in developing low-emission buildings, introducing initiatives for low-emission transport, or helping the most vulnerable urban residents in the world, brands are in a key position to help.
When it comes to encouraging sustainability within cities, there are ways brands can make a practical difference. Consider the case of Santander bikes in London. Between 2010–17, 66 million journeys have been made on the bikes. As we can see, this option proves that demonstrably changing consumer behaviour is possible. There was a demand for cheap, green transport. There was a gap between private and government investment where a brand could fit. Santander is taking sponsorship to the next level, by supplying and maintain these bikes that people can rent. Now, these bikes are the transport choice when getting about London quickly and easily.
If brands can embrace this thinking, and move beyond making grand gestures, then not only will CMOs achieve the growth they crave, their work will truly make a tangible difference in the world. As the data increasingly suggests, consumers are only becoming more concerned with how brands defend their interests on the issues they care about. As we turn off the lights, unplug the kettle, and leave the car in the garage this weekend, reflecting on how the media industry can be more purposeful will truly be a breath of fresh air.
Paul Wilson is Global CSO, Vizeum
