Storytelling and Sustainability – Wear a Better Story

It’s the age of story telling and we have reached a new level of creation, sharing and impact. With the proliferation of social media and the ubiquity of mobile phones, a new generation of content creators with nearly unlimited and real time distribution has been empowered. The potential impacts are just beginning to be felt across the retail landscape and brands have to address how to manage this new consumer engagement. The information age we were promised has become democratized and story telling is pervasive. Whether through 140 characters or disappearing images, we are creating content with such rapidity, that it is sometimes challenging to see the full impact and opportunity.

Retail and brand marketing is evolving as quickly as possible to contend with and embrace this new dynamic.  New trends are becoming clearer and the manner in which they are embraced is changing as well.  When taken together with rise in awareness and importance around sustainability and resource stewardship, apparel and footwear companies are urged to take notice.  The global apparel and footwear market is valued at $3 trillion dollars and accounts for over 2 % of the world’s output.  Considering the size and breadth of this marketplace, the opportunity to enhance brand value and solve sustainability problems is real.  Recent surveys bear out that sustainability is now a mainstream, basic expectation of consumers and business purchasers:

·     69% of Americans say a company’s environmental reputation impacts their purchase decisions.

·     33% can think of a time when they’ve purchased – or not purchased – a product because of the manufacturer’s environmental reputation … and 77% of those people can actually name the brand/product.

·     59% say a company’s CSR activities positively impact their purchase decisions.

·     And on the B-to-B side, 82% of business decision-makers say sustainability is important in corporate decision-making, and 67% say environmental performance is important in product selection

Traditional brand messaging, as controlled and limited in scope by the company voice, is quickly being supplemented, or in some cases supplanted, by consumer engagement.  Herein lies the challenge and prospect of extending the story.   Brands are now being compelled to share the story telling with the consumers they seek to influence. The stage is set to build a dialogue or a shared narrative that not only encourages the consumer to participate in the story, but also to help solve the real sustainability problems that fashion bears.   

In the specific case of sustainability, companies have been experimenting with storytelling about sourcing, supply chain, company policies and the like. In the recent few years, some companies have chosen to educate consumers about sustainable behaviors through storytelling.  By nature, stories give us a connection to our past, an inspiring vision for our future, a tangible human experience to share, and a forum for discussing solutions to tough problems. They are personal, they connect to the big picture, and they paint a positive picture of the future. 

The playing field has shifted and companies have been inviting consumers to participate in the experience. According to the Fjord Trends 2017 report, an annual report published by Fjord, an international consultancy, and Accenture, one of the significant trends in brand and consumer engagement is labeled “Ephemeral Stories”. Regarded as one the top trends of this year, there is a shift from storytelling to "storydoing." Brand owners and marketing teams are moving away from trying to be the primary owner of their brand story, to allowing customers a greater stake. “The days of conventional brand storytelling is over, thanks to the democratization of content creation and the rise of image over text.”

Instead, organizations are allowing customers to step forward with their own stories about the brand. While there is still a frame for the story within the brand, it is now described from the point of view of the customers. Rather than talking at customers, companies now let customers do the talking to each other, extending the dialogue from brand mission or purpose to consumer engagement that enhances the story of the brand through personal, consumer involvement. Each instance, snap, post or tweet adds to the brand value and product desirability.   When applied to the instance of recycling and sustainability, we have reached a new level of engagement. Inviting consumers to participate in a simple and meaningful recycling experience builds a bond that not only underscores the brand’s commitment to sustainability, but actively engages the consumer in solving a real problem with larger consequences.  This joint effort cannot be underestimated.   Taken a step further, by inviting consumers to connect with others through the act of recycling, we have amplified the impact of story telling to problem solving across communities. In doing so, the simple act of recycling, combined with a good story told by the brand and the consumer allows both to wear a better story.