Why better brand cohesion can empower the climate movement
For most brands, adopting and making use of green products and solutions has long been baked into our collective psyche. By making use of Greentech, Big Data and enhanced organisational infrastructures to become more efficient, organisations are able to reduce the negative impact they have on the planet, whilst often achieving greater cost efficiencies.
However, it’s undeniable that the rate at which innovation is required if organisations, and indeed governments, are going to meet the steep climate goals they aspire to is remarkably steep. The acceleration in the demand for change itself demands that we accelerate the development of sustainable initiatives.
In their haste to adopt the latest nascent or newly established trends, marketers often miss out on a vital opportunity to drive further change: the chance to champion and market climate movements more effectively as they develop and spur on innovation.
Because, the reality is, an effective omni-channel marketing programme can ensure far wider adoption of green initiatives than a singular firm’s adoption alone. As such, we believe that marketers should not only adopt tools for change, but actively look to affect change by working to promote them.
Green is buoyant
Seeking out nascent climate initiatives, with which to provide with marketing support, may seem like a gamble to some. However, the evidence that such actions could lead to positive financial outcomes and organisational growth is substantial. This is because the green industry itself is rapidly growing.
With consecutive COP conferences reinforcing and even accelerating the demand for sustainability to prevail in business, it’s likely we’ll continue to see these figures grow.
This means that, if a marketing firm is able to successfully contribute to the growth of a well-placed sustainable initiative, they’re likely to receive work of at increased volume and scale from that client. Moreover, given the exponential growth of the field, green initiatives can be a source of new business opportunities.
As the demand for green products and services grows, marketing brands that can help businesses reach this market will be in high demand. This could lead to new partnerships, new clients, and new revenue streams.
More meaningful alignment with a positive cause will lead to greater engagement – within and without
We’ve spoken in previous pieces about the increasing significance of aligning your brand’s values with those of your audience. And, whilst adopting green initiatives and reducing environmental impact is a great start, by working to grow green initiatives, marketers can embody more authentically the values they’re trying to enshrine.
As well as this resulting in growing audience external engagement, it is likely that your internal audience – your leadership, talent, and stakeholders – will also feel more closely aligned to your brand. This could hugely benefit employee engagement and retention.
In fact, a study by the Society for Human Resource Management found that employees who feel their values align with their employers’ are 58% more likely to be engaged in their work, and a study by the Harvard Business Review found that employees who are aligned with their employers’ values are 3.5 times more likely to stay with the company for at least three years.
Such alignment could even enhance your chances of recruiting high-value talent, who could in turn improve your sustainability practices. These kind of outcomes are evidenced in a study by Deloitte, which found that 77% of job seekers are more likely to apply for a job if the company’s values align with their own.
A practical example – A forum for global change
Choosing a sustainability project that works for your brand is essential. Last year, we centred our sustainability efforts around the theme of ‘Thinking beyond’, a mantra which was intended to push thinking around sustainability, diversity and inclusion forward beyond the current, commonplace discourse.
As such, on behalf of the University of Birmingham, our teams created a public-facing campaign for the Forum for Global Challenges, an inaugural event that brings together thought leaders in sustainability and equality, along with other academics, policymakers, NGOs, students and corporate leaders.
We used emotive storytelling techniques, alongside innovative digital marketing strategies, in order to connect the conference with a global audience and provide a platform for some of the world’s most important young climate activists to get their message across.
We were able to help the conference achieve nearly five million global impressions, and empowered audience members around the world to connect and educate one another on climate action.
Our MCI UK and Kabloom teams were also able to work together seamlessly, creating a culture of collaboration and climate action within the mci group that inspired talents, and affected positive change in the world.
If you have a sustainability movement that could benefit from our omni-channel expertise, or if you’d like to find out how you could join us in thinking beyond, call +41 22 33 99 500 or Email: connect@mci-group.com.
Find out more about our sustainability efforts in our latest annual sustainability report.