Sustainability: do people even care?

Last week I read a report that left me seething and heartbroken in equal measures. It was a report published by Deloitte and covered consumer attitudes to environmental and ethical sustainability. You can read the full report here

In positive-ish news (although slightly down) ethical and sustainability issues remain a key driver for almost a third of consumers, who claim to “have stopped purchasing certain brands due to related concerns”. Other steps that consumers cited in taking include avoiding single-use plastics, being more seasonally and choosing brands that have ethical or practical values.

And whilst I am delighted to see that consumers are starting to vote with their wallets we have a long way to go. 22% of people interviewed reported that they are not interested in doing anything. This baffles me, how can you can not be interested, we only have one planet?!!!

The brands that I work with are all purpose-driven, they all have a deep commitment to doing better and being better for people and the planet; but the one thing that I always say to them is that sustainability is your business strategy, not your marketing strategy.

And these stats proves why.

Only one-third of people reported to actively changing brands or shopping for brands that are claiming to be more sustainable. The rest of the consumers are shopping based purely on needs and personal preferences. The reality is sustainability is an afterthought or not even a thought at all.

Instead, my strategy comes down to infiltration.

How can we build the brand so that it becomes so desirable and attractive, how we can show that this brand is best placed to meet the needs that they by from you. How do we grow you into a household stable, that they inadvertently are shopping more consciously, by the very nature of them buying from you.

And in the process, we can educate and teach and explain why shopping sustainability is more expensive at the moment- the other two reasons cited as barriers.

I think brands such as Patagonia (hard-wearing adventure clothes) and Ben and Jerry's (delicious ice cream) are two brilliant examples of brands that have successfully used this strategy and are now using their platforms to drive huge change.

This stat got me down, but it made me even more determined to my personal mission and the mission of Sprowt, to grow the brands that matter into the household names of tomorrow because the world needs brands that care.