It probably sounds like a Flenglish expression, but everyone will nevertheless understands it. In fact that was the question during the last meeting of the expert group Sustainable Branding at the Marketing Foundation (Stichting Marketing). We recently listened to several great cases of companies, who deal with sustainability in a fantastic way. The conclusion: few people know about it. Take Cocoa-Cola yesterday who first of all created a clear structure for their sustainable projects. Their seven values – quality, health, community, workplace, packaging, climate and water- and the proven steps they take for improvement, give them a ‘license to operate’. Right. Their believe is also that there is no sustainable business without sustainable communities, something that has been said by the ceo and has been adopted worldwide. Great. Therefore it is also necessary to have long term goals to aim at, otherwise all efforts will sooner or later end. True. The same, based on other aspects, we also heart from McDonalds and other consumer oriented businesses previously.
The thing is that almost nobody knows this, although theoretically all those arguments seem to be so important to differentiate and sell. Is it a strategic choice to tell some details, but not to create to much fuzz? These companies are frequently in the eye of the storm, because common perception today is still that their products are bad for society. Fact: this isn’t true (anymore). Fact: they deliver major efforts to improve so many things that influences their image in a positive way. Fact is also that the reason to buy a product of them is about ‘emotion’. Who cares if they reduced their water consumption with more then 25% (knowing that in Belgium more then 10 million items are sold per day), or that the meat comes from pigs that haven’t been castrated. On the other hand Coca-Cola uses it’s efforts to become ‘the’ preferred partner where brand building is important. For instance at huges festivals like Werchter. It’s because they have a recycling program that Pepsi doesn’t have a chance to get in, beside other sustainable related factors of course.
That’s the whole problem with sustainability. It sounds like every company should do sustainable efforts and, even stronger, it seems to be the only way to survive in the future, but does your client needs this? To improve your business you need a good communication and relation with ‘all’ your stakeholders, but still… the people who buy your products ask always the same question (unconscious): what’s in it for me? It remains a duality and therefore sustainability doesn’t get its value it deserves.
