Marketing a Bigger Picture

Marketing has the power to transform brands, inspire consumers and move the world. But has marketing forgotten its own potential?

A new white paper from The CarbonNeutral Company says that too many companies forget to think about branding when they think about sustainability. Instead of inspiring consumers to favour responsible companies, marketing has become fixated on the short-term and oblivious to consumer interest in the bigger picture.

And there’s no doubt there’s interest. Recent research indicates that a corporate citizenship strategy accounts for 13% of consumers’ overall impression of a brand, and two-thirds rate environmental and ethical issues as important when deciding which brands to buy.

The potential for sustainable messaging hasn’t been lost on all. Ethical brands such as Innocent and Green & Black's have become household names through making it easy for consumers to put their money where their ethics lie.

We know there’s a market for inspiring sustainability messages. Now we need the marketing teams to get inspired.