Less Green is More Green and the “Say-Do-Gap”

Purpose in marketing is, at best, an evolving beast, and at worst, a far-too-quickly moving target.?

Social and environmental issues in many ways are evergreen, with more and more brands dipping their feet in the water bee it Lego, adidas, Unilever, Olam or the plethora of start-ups putting sustainability at the heart of their business. All the attention makes it sound like a smart thing to do, but is it worth the effort and is it rewarded by consumers?

According to a study published by Edelman, 63% of respondents said they would be more attracted by brands making the world a better place versus brands making them a better person (37%). The challenge for we marketers; to quote David Ogilvy is that:

“Consumers don’t think how they feel. They don’t say what they think and they don’t do what they say.”

This is the “Say-Do-Gap" where 65% of consumers claim to be “green” but only 26% follow through by purchasing brands that advocate their sustainability characteristics. Often because buying “green” tends to be more expensive than less environmentally friendly alternatives.?

Animal welfare is a perfect example. Consumers want better living conditions for hens, but the moment they need to pay $13 for a dozen free-range organic eggs, when with that same amount they can afford five times that number, the age-old “Which comes first?” question is quickly solved... the which pays for 60+ “regular” eggs.

According to Kantar, consumers don’t want to pay more for “green” because they believe it is an industry’s responsibility to be leading sustainability initiatives. So, if many consumers are unwilling to pay a higher price, should brands and companies bother?

In short, YES! I firmly believe it is our responsibility to take the lead for a better shared future.?

There are two sides to every coin though. Unilever estimates that 70% of the company’s greenhouse gas footprint depends on consumer product choices, their product usage, and their packaging disposal behavior. While consumer demand certainly leads to innovation by the enterprise, it is post-purchase behavior which can result in packaging waste sadly entering the environment.

We do not live only here and now. It is a shared responsibility: brands must be the ones showing the way, not only via emissions reduction, innovation, and recycling initiatives within their own operations, but also through education and consumer activations designed to encourage improvement in sustainable behavior.

Many brands are working hard to improve their sustainability credentials and make a difference on important topics. One of my favorite examples is adidas’ partnership with Parley for the Oceans. Parley collects ocean-bound plastic waste which is turned into recycled polyester that adidas then uses to manufacture sportswear. The partnership has been running for 5 years and adidas’ target is to use 100% recycled fabric in all its products by 2024. Unfortunately, sportswear made from rescued ocean plastic is not cheap. It is for now more of a status purchase until improved economies of scale can be achieved.??

The Coca-Cola Company has a goal to help collect a bottle or can for every one we sell globally by the year 2030. It forms part of our “World Without Waste” vision and we are redesigning our packaging, ramping up our efforts on collection and partnering with others to achieve it.

The collection of plastic packaging – so that the containers don’t enter our waterways and oceans - continues to be a critical step. Nowhere is this more critically felt than in Asia, where an estimated 80% of ocean plastic enters the waterways.

One country of focus in our region is the Philippines, an archipelago of over 7,500 islands with a high usage of plastic. One type in particular are sachets, which are unrecyclable and make up over half of the country’s 2.7 million tonnes of plastic waste generated there every year, and of which 20% is estimated to enter the ocean. Fortunately, the Philippines government is developing plans to improve the circularity of plastic in their economy, and we are supporting this effort in several ways.

Recently, our team in the Philippines made the decision to eliminate the use of sachets in our Eight O’Clock powdered drink brand by 2022. While the powdered juice category has been successful for the local business, removing sachets from our packaging line-up there is the right thing to do. Similarly, in collaboration with our competitors and other industry members, we support collection organizations, like Plastic Bank, to assist the informal collection sector (people who collect recyclable plastic for a living) with improved conditions, job opportunities, and remuneration options. We’re supporting similar collection and recovery initiatives not only in the Philippines but in other countries across the region.

Another element is flexible thinking and being open to change. Sprite, for example, has been in a green bottle for 60 years, but the iconic green color has become a challenge from a sustainable packaging perspective. The process for converting colored plastic into recycled material is more complicated than for clear plastic, which makes colored containers virtually worthless and means collectors usually leave them to enter landfill or leak into the environment.

It was hard to imagine changing the color of Sprite bottles. However, that’s what we’ve done in countries throughout ASEAN over the last couple of years, changing to clear packaging to help solve the problem of colored packaging not being desirable for recycling collection. No doubt any brand marketer reading this is probably feeling a little faint at the thought - our teams were no different – why give up such a distinct brand asset that stands out on the shelf??

Other initiatives include support for innovative social enterprises in the region, who understand the inherent local issues and devise unique strategies encouraging behavioral change and responsible waste management at the consumer level. In Thailand, for example, an environmental start-up called Trash Lucky motivates consumers to recycle by rewarding them with entries into prize draws funded by sales of products made from recycled materials.

Coca-Cola Thailand has partnered with Trash Lucky and is sponsoring the prizes to be awarded during their current campaign. This will permit plastic recyclables - any and all beverage brands are accepted - to be converted into PPE (personal protective equipment) for donation to health organizations working on the Covid-19 response in the country.

The aim for partnerships with Trash Lucky and others in the region is to engender awareness, action, and longer-term recycling habits in consumers. This week, we’ve just launched a partnership in Jakarta with Waste4Change as the local collection partner. Consumers are encouraged to collect, segregate and send their used PET plastic bottles or cans to the nearest waste banks that have been established by Waste4Change, a local expert organisation in this space. The collected plastic bottles will be recycled and turned into other useful items and consumers that participate get to earn reward points that can redeem for mobile credits, electricity credits and other useful things.

Less green is more green! When we come together as one, change what we do and lead the consumers there won’t be a need to overcome a Say-Do-Gap.?It is beholden on marketers like us to make decisions that encourage sustainable practices. Even at some risk to a brand’s value.