Q: Do your current and future customers even care about your brand’s sustainability commitments?
A: 67% of people want to know about the socially responsible behaviour of brands they buy. That’s a yes.
Q: We’re in a recession!! Isn’t our sustainability story just icing, when we should be focusing on the cake?
A: Firms committed to sustainability perform better in the current financial marketplace. Those brands that spent money telling their sustainability story, increased the most in being perceived as socially responsible by North American consumers in The SHIFT Report’s 2010 North American study of 5,ooo.
Q: Every brand, every company seems to be talking ‘green’, but is green the colour of your sustainability story?
A: More people rank social sustainability issues – community connection, fair trade, localism – as more important than environmental sustainability. Maybe you’re story isn’t a green one. Set the right goals, and then determine the right plan of action. Start with thinking about where that sustainability sweet spot is – where brand truths align with sustainability truths. Authenticity is key!
Q: Have you been successful in telling the world about your sustainability commitments? Have you been telling the right story? Using the right channels?
A: The majority of North Americans state “I don’t know” when presented with a list of leading Fortune 500 brands and asked which ones they think are socially responsible, even those that have spent significantly on green marketing.
Q: What characteristics are your customers looking for to determine whether your brand is socially responsible, or not?
A: Product design and packaging are top characteristics people look to confirm whether a product or service is socially responsible. Affiliation with a not-for-profit or cause related brand also ranks as important too.
Q: What are some of the tools you’ve got that engage CSR, marketing communications, HR, brand strategy, digital development and product development teams, and get you all talking, collaborating and meeting goals TOGETHER?
A: Think SHIFT.
