Sustainability in all its forms should be the responsibility of everyone within a company – from the board to the CEO and senior leaders; but often, marketing departments are left behind with the task of creating strategies in this area. And marketing sustainability can be tricky as you need to avoid coming across as either tokenistic or lacking scientific basis, ultimately undermining the brand's credibility. Usually, the motivations behind campaigns like this are varied. While some brands are purposely greenwashing, others feel pressure to present something related to sustainability, leading to rushed communications campaigns that fail to address sustainability adequately – on the environmental or social aspects. In these cases, companies have fallen into an easy trap – dealing with sustainability as merely a communications challenge instead of a broader business challenge. A strategic approach to becoming a more sustainable business involves improving supply chains, products, and services offered to consumers, as well as internal processes and policies, with marketing serving as the last piece of the jigsaw. In a recent survey published by Deloitte, more than 50% of CMOs said their top priorities were improving sustainability for internal marketing measures. In a rush to talk publicly about sustainability, corporations get lost and forget that achieving sustainability requires time, expert insights, and humility to acknowledge that brands are imperfect and will make mistakes along the way. Navigating this landscape is endlessly complicated but understanding that the road to sustainability is a journey, not a race, is the first step.? #Marketing #BrandReputation #Sustainability #Environment #Communications #RealImpact #Purpose #BCorp #ESG #CMO?
