Event Analysis: What’s in a brand?

The Carbon NeutralCompany: hosted: “Carbon Zero: the New Brand Hero?” in Covent Garden, a forum for businesses managers and marketing teams to discuss what the obstacles to a business becoming carbon neutral are, and how to overcome them.  Representatives from CocaCola, PepsiCola, Unilever, as well as smaller companies were all in attendance, and panellists included individuals from Forum for Future, Tesco, Eswaren Teas, and Consumer Focus Group.

Panellists were on the whole optimistic about the green marketing’s future.  And, Although it will be a daunting task to establish the market, it has the potential to take off thereafter.  Subramaniam Eassuwaren of Eswaren Tea compared the green movement to carbon neutrality to the organic food industry, which 20 years ago had a precarious future.  While it may prove a more challenging task to drive home the immediate and long-term health and environmental benefits of carbon neutrality as compared to organic fruit—an organic apple versus one covered in pesticides is easier to conceptualise than the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.

However, this is a marketing challenge that companies will learn to overcome.  As Dr. Sally Uren of Forum for Future stated:

“We haven’t unleashed the power of marketing representatives yet.”

The statistics Ruth Giradet of Tesco presented were startling.  Tesco hopes to become 100% carbon neutral by 2050 without purchasing carbon credits to subsidise its neutrality.  However, once Tesco studied where its company’s emissions came from, it soon became apparent that while Tesco’s direct operations account for 2.6 million tonnes of CO2, its supply chain accounts for 26 illion and its consumers account for 228 million—a staggering tenfold increase in each step of the product’s lifecycle.  Now, the company is working to reduce it’s supply chain’s carbon output 30% by 2020, and help its customers cut theirs 50% by 2050—a daunting and ambitious task that will undoubtedly require innovative work and research.

However, with green marketing still in its infancy one problem today the over-abundance of labels—customers are not certain if they can trust the companies that provide them with “green” statistics, and according to Consumer Focus Group’s statistics 58% of consumers believe that a product is labelled ‘green’ only to increase the price, which certainly need not be the case.  Green means sustainable and renewable and in the long-term green products are cheaper.

In order to gain a consumer’s trust, the Consumer Focus Group called for “3 C’s.”  Clarity is the first—a company’s message must be in simple terms, which the consumer can understand—this is a challenge as carbon language is still in development, and consumer reactions are not always known. 

The next is Credibility, meaning that as a company, sending mixed signals like offering should be avoided.  An example is a “Buy One Get One Later” deal versus a “Buy One Get One Free” to prevent unnecessary overconsumption.  Consumer Focus Group also stressed third party verification.  The third “C” was comparability—customers make split-second decisions when it comes to selecting a brand—it is key for companies that wish to promote green products make it immediately apparent of the benefits of their product versus the dirtier and less developed products.

The 3 C’s build to something more tangible and reliable than a label—brand recognition.  Consumers look to a specific brand or such as ‘fair trade’ and know what kind of product to expect.  Eventually, green companies will likely hold the same clot of interest—therefore, building up a green consumer base and promoting a green reputation could go a long way to surviving and profiting from the green economy.

Adapting to the world’s changing economy will no doubt be a challenging task, but with each challenging task demands an innovative solution, and time will tell which companies are up to task.

Author: Michael Good | Climate Action
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