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Businesses are spending billions of dollars worldwide on their Sustainability Budgets despite economic uncertainties.

From a Jan 2023, news item on WSJ, we read,

Fears of a recession have spurred businesses to cut back on staff, marketing, and other areas, but many are planning to take a different approach when it comes to sustainability investment. More than 70% of companies say they are increasing sustainability spending over the next 12 months, while only around 2% are planning to reduce it, according to a recent survey of businesses worldwide.

Why are CMOs caught in a time warp when it comes to crafting the sustainability story of the businesses they serve?

I have a few pet theories:

Theory #1 - Marketing Heads are still grappling with the nuanced differences between CSR and Sustainability. It is no more about communicating some "Do Good" actions but integrating "Doing Well by Doing Good" consistently in all pieces of communication, at every opportunity.

Theory 2:

With the push for mandatory ESG reporting and compliance, many are hiring their first Chief Sustainability Officer. CSOs in turn are setting up their teams, picking their first technology collab platform, and depending on the organization's state of maturity, either focussing on just reporting Scope 1/2/3 data, or moving beyond to do Life Cycle Analyses and exploring double materiality.

It is a very complex terrain, and right now I guess that the CSO and CMOs are not even talking to each other, on the topic. Barring the exchange of "sustainability" data, which in itself is a burden for marketing teams, I doubt there are 'enough' boardroom conversations happening on the need to communicate 'sustainability' effectively to consumers and business partners.

Even CSOs are stepping up to the game. A very apt article on the evolving role of CSOs starts with the following introduction:

Theory 3:

Sustainability-First Brands, many of them Series A of B funded DTC brands are under severe investor pressure to scale growth. Even though the founders are deeply committed to transparency and traceability, they are unable to find able marketing partners to support their need to "Do well while doing Good"

When I decided to start Trusted , I had this gut feeling that crossing this chasm was going to be extremely difficult. Stumbling across conversations on LinkedIn, I found confusion galore, amongst early practitioners. I wondered, are marketing people trying to be activists within their organizations, OR are they ready to up the ante and bite into the science of #sustainability and the work happening within the walls of their enterprise? I sniffed more of the first.

I will reproduce what I read on LinkedIn and then my response.

To which I replied

"There is a big difference between ‘sustainable’ marketing as a practice, and marketing of ‘sustainability’ for a brand/business"

I started www.thetrusted.agency with the explicit goal of (a) helping Brands get their sustainability-related communications right, (b) giving Brands a strategic framework to engage with Sustainability on a long-term basis, and (c) giving Brands Circularity as a Service (technology) options to involve their customers in the journey. We are in the business of Sustainability and not in creative Activism

Do check out our refreshed look, and refer us to your peers in the business community. We are open for business.