Sustainability meets big brands: video
18th March, 2010 by Dan Crossley | 3 comments
Sustainability is no longer the preserve of niche brands. Major manufacturers and retailers are now recognising the value that integrating sustainability into their key product lines can deliver, both in terms of strengthening ties with the consumer and for protecting their market share in an increasingly uncertain future.
At our recent Mainstreaming sustainability into brands event, Ben Eavis from Sainsbury’s explained the principles behind making their bananas exclusively Fairtrade and Alex Cole from Cadbury spoke passionately about the motivation and the journey that the chocolate manufacturer embarked on in their Purple Goes Green transformation.
We captured the essence of the event in a short video:
You can also watch or download it here: http://vimeo.com/10174247
Mainstreaming Sustainability: Forum for the Future event, March 2010 from Forum for the Future on Vimeo.
Video round-up:
- Dr Sally Uren, Deputy Chief Executive of Forum for the Future, introduced the session by talking about the opportunity for brands to accelerate the transition to a more sustainable world (0:00-03:08 mins)
- Ben Eavis, Corporate Responsibility and Ethical Trading Manager, Sainsbury's gave examples of how they are making the more sustainable decision on behalf of the consumer (e.g. by making all their bananas Fairtrade), and talked through some of what is going on 'behind the scenes' to get sustainability at the heart of the Sainsbury's brand (03:09-09:09 mins)
- Alex Cole, Global Corporate Affairs Director, Cadbury, set out how they segment consumers and what that means for Cadbury. She then described the story of how Cadbury Dairy Milk has embedded sustainability into the brand. (09:10-18:23 mins)
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Comments
It may be a bandwagon, but I suppose that even has its merits of simple awareness. As long as we set standards of measurement in place (like LEED certification, energyStar ratings, etc), then hopefully the "sustainability" buzzword can have a bit more meaning behind it. Its interesting to see this sort of marketing enter the academic world as well, as you see this focus in classes for an mpa degree and even mba's in some cases. I think the academic world also has a role in really giving the branding side of "sustainable marketing" some substance.
More and more businesses are hopping on the renewable bandwagon. Pepsi, for example, just announced that they have successfully developed an organic plastic that they will be putting in to production. After the initial costs of development, this will be a windfall for them. I hope this trend continues.
Unfortunately businesses HAVE to be convinced that green and sustainable practices will either 1) make them more money, or 2) save them money. This will likely come in the from of "goodwill." That is the perceived image of a business or brand by a consumer and how it translates into sales.
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