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Sustainability brands are brands that undertake sustainable practises in the workings of their business and champion them.
They then use brand communication tools to convey these benefits to their end consumer hence enabling then to make conscious decisions while being associated with or buying from that brand.There are several techniques to communicate this.
It is imperative that a sustainable brand has truly integrated its claims in its business plan and corororate practices. If not done correctly,
/ref> summed them up in ''The five Cs of Sustainability Branding'':A Sixth ‘C’ For Sustainability Branding: Consistency – Sustainability & CSR Conversations
/ref> Consumer Facing, Competitive, Core, Conversational and credible. Perrine Bouhana added to that concept “a sixth C”: Consistency. Martin Belz complemented and revised this concept to “8 C’s” of sustainability branding and describes them as:
/ref> ; Core : Sustainability should be tied up to the key problems and the core business through assessing the socio-ecological impacts of products along the entire life-cycle of the products and finding out the socio-ecological “hot-spots” of the product-life-cycle. ; Co-operative : The solutions to the main socio-ecological problems associated with products along the entire
/ref> memorability (distinctive short name, evoking emotions...), strategic fit (they should relate to the actual product; ability to expand to other brands) and legal (legal protection under trade mark law etc.) Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G. (2004) The Principles of Marketing, 10th edn, Upper Sadde River, NJ: Prentic Hall p. 293. for brand name selection in general Sustainability Brands however go one step further and incorporate something that conveys the notion of social and/or ecological awareness. A popular example is “Better Place”, a global provider of electric vehicle networks and services that works in a joint venture with Renault Nissan Alliance Motor Company to promote the use of electric cars.Better Place , The Global Provider of EV Networks and Services
The founder, Shai Agassi, was intrigued by a question posed at the World Economic Forum in 2005 "How do you make the world a better place by 2020?".
/ref> Thus the name Better Place. It is not related to the product (electric vehicle) but to much wider social and ecological issues (depletion of natural resources, emissions...), which the company addresses or rather offers the solution for. Sustainability brand names can be part of a new product launch, an extension to an existing (conventional) brand or be so new to the market that they create a product category themselves. Each of these approaches has specific strategic implications. ;Enter Established Market: Entering a saturated market such as the one for conventional household detergents with a sustainability brand might prove extremely difficult. However, there are companies that have successfully entered the market and positioned their brand as sustainability leaders. Seventh Generation, for instance, is the US market leader in four product categories (Household, Laundry, Personal and Baby Care) with products that –in the words of the company- “protect human health and the environment.” About Seventh Generation , Seventh Generation
/ref> ;Brand Extension / Aligning Existing Brand: Established brands can leverage their existing brand recognition to extend their name to new products, which are then marketed as socially and ecologically friendly. Tide, a popular detergent brand in the US, expanded its brand to meet the demands of the ecological conscious consumer by launching Tide Cold Water Detergent in 2005. The product requires only cold water and thus saves energy. In 2010, it was given the Green GH seal, which is only awarded after a “cradle to grave” examination of the product.Eco Friendly Laundry Detergents - Tide Coldwater Laundry Detergents - Good Housekeeping
/ref> ;Creating entirely new Product Categories: Sustainability brand names can also succeed if they achieve to create a product category for themselves where there is virtually no competition yet. When the car-sharing concept was fairly new, companies such as Mobility CarSharing in Switzerland did neither compete with car companies nor public transportation providers.
Sustainability brands are subject to constant change. A sustainability brand that is well established on the market, can be further developed into different directions. According to Belz and Peattie four main options for development are possible:
* Line extension occurs when a company adds new products of the same product category under the same sustainability brand name.
* Sustainability brand extension occurs when a company introduces products of a different product category but under the same sustainability brand name.
* Multi-sustainability brands occur when a company manages two or more different sustainability brands but in the same product category.
* New sustainability brands occur when a company creates an entire new brand name when they access a new product category. For example MUD Jeans.
To create a sustainability brand it is furthermore important to adopt the right channels for marketing according to Lauterborns five Cs. Advertising in this case can help to create awareness of the brand and thus form the new brand experience.Lauterborn,R (1990) 'New marketing litany: 4 Ps passé; C-words take over', Advertising Age"
Furthermore, it is obligatory for Sustainability brands to obtain one ore more ecolabels, leading to a higher influence on consumer behaviour and the perception of the brand.
Due to differing perspectives and interpretations of what it means to be sustainable, it can be troublesome to regulate honest sustainable practice
Greenwashing
Greenwashing (a compound word modeled on " whitewash"), also called "green sheen", is a form of advertising or marketing spin in which green PR and green marketing are deceptively used to persuade the public that an organization's products, aim ...
is a serious violation and risk to the company's reputation.
Critics of the practice suggest the rise of greenwashing, paired with ineffective regulation, contributes to consumer scepticism of all green claims, and diminishes the power of the consumer to drive companies toward greener manufacturing processes and business operations. Many corporations use greenwashing to improve public perception of their brands. Complex corporate structures often obscure the big picture.
Overview
Sustainability branding is the process of creating and maintaining an identity of a specific product, service, or business that reflects special added value in terms of environmental and social benefits.Belz F., Peattie K.(2009): Sustainability Marketing: A Global Perspective. John Wiley & Sons A brand is only perceived as being sustainable if it can credibly convey sustainability benefits which are noticeable by and relevant to the consumer.H. Meffert, C. Rauch & H.L. Lepp. 2010. Sustainable Branding — mehr als ein neues Schlagwort?! Marketing Review St. Gallen 27 (5) Pages 28-35 A sustainability brand must have an integrated culture for success. The key to a sustainable brand is trust between the consumer and the brand, only when this is achieved can a sustainable brand truly generate a USP and reap the benefits of it. Opposed to the term green brands which mainly focuses on environmentally sound business practices, sustainability brands additionally acknowledge the social dimension of providing products and services. This entails, among others, health and safety issues resulting from direct or indirect product use (consumption level) as well as the conditions under which a particular product is produced (production level). The physical protection and well-being of people at work (i.e. employees as well as workers within the supply chains) are important indicators of sustainability brands and sustainability marketing in general which adheres to the triple bottom line of ecological (environmental), social (equity), and financial (economic) sustainability.Peattie, 2001 A brand is able to evoke positive or negative feelings, especially in the context of sensitive social and ecological issues. The more positive the perceptions and feelings are towards a brand, the higher will be the likelihood of identification and loyalty amongst consumers. It is therefore crucial in sustainability marketing to build up strong brands. In doing so, companies face far-reaching decisions in the areas of brand positioning (1), sustainability brand name selection (2), and sustainability brand development (3), in order to create and build sustainability brands that consumers associate with social and environmental added value.Environmental marketing
Green marketing is the marketing of products that are presumed to be environmentally safe. It incorporates a broad range of activities, including product modification, changes to the production process, sustainable packaging, as well as modifying ...
claims on products and packages need to be made (and read) with caution. Ambiguous greenwashing
Greenwashing (a compound word modeled on " whitewash"), also called "green sheen", is a form of advertising or marketing spin in which green PR and green marketing are deceptively used to persuade the public that an organization's products, aim ...
titles such as ''green product'', ''green packaging'' and ''environmentally friendly'' can be confusing without specific definition. Some regulators, such as the US Federal Trade Commission, are providing guidance
Sustainability brands vs. Sustainable Brands
Since the adjective “sustainable” might convey the notion of brands that have long-lasting success, implicating durable competitive advantage without any particular reference to a sustainability agenda, the term “sustainability brand” should be used to prevent ambiguity. Albeit subtle difference, the latter explicitly emphasizes the notion of brands which have built their brand image upon sustainable business practices that consumers value. Sustainability brands are commonly referred to in the field of sustainability marketing.J. Ottman.2010. The New Rules of Green Marketing: Strategies, Tools, and Inspiration for Sustainable Branding. Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc., San Francisco, CaliforniaSustainability brand positioning and the 8 C's
Sustainability Brand Positioning and positioning in general is part of the brand identity andvalue proposition
In marketing, a company’s value proposition is the full mix of benefits or economic value which it promises to deliver to the current and future customers (i.e., a market segment) who will buy their products and/or services. It is part of a co ...
that is to be actively communicated to the target audienceAaker D. and Joachimsthaler E., 2000, Brand Leadership, FreePress and can be described as an iterative process, consisting of deliberate and proactive actions aimed at the definition of distinct consumer perceptions.Kalafatis, S.P., Tsogas, M.H. and Blankson, C. (2000), “Positioning strategies in business
markets”, Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 15 No. 6, pp. 416-37 Sustainable brand positioning is the brand positioning of Sustainable products
Sustainable products are those products that provide environmental, social and economic benefits while protecting public health and environment over their whole life cycle, from the extraction of raw materials until the final disposal.
Scope of ...
and services. Sustainable products and services should offer an improved social and ecological performance during the whole product lifecycle and at the same time they have to satisfy consumer needs and wants. Many of the first generation sustainability brands failed in the market because companies overemphasized the positive socio-ecological product attributes, while they neglected to focus on other product attributes such as performance, functionality or design, too. As a result, many products could not compete against conventional products.
To build up and position strong sustainability brands, there are some guidelines to follow. Marc Stoiber The 5 C's of Sustainability Branding From "Maddock Douglas Innovation Engine: The Innovation Engine Community/ref> summed them up in ''The five Cs of Sustainability Branding'':A Sixth ‘C’ For Sustainability Branding: Consistency – Sustainability & CSR Conversations
/ref> Consumer Facing, Competitive, Core, Conversational and credible. Perrine Bouhana added to that concept “a sixth C”: Consistency. Martin Belz complemented and revised this concept to “8 C’s” of sustainability branding and describes them as:
/ref> ; Core : Sustainability should be tied up to the key problems and the core business through assessing the socio-ecological impacts of products along the entire life-cycle of the products and finding out the socio-ecological “hot-spots” of the product-life-cycle. ; Co-operative : The solutions to the main socio-ecological problems associated with products along the entire
life cycle
Life cycle, life-cycle, or lifecycle may refer to:
Science and academia
*Biological life cycle, the sequence of life stages that an organism undergoes from birth to reproduction ending with the production of the offspring
* Life-cycle hypothesis ...
require - both in the process of innovating and marketing sustainable products and services - co-operations with suppliers, retailers, consumers, scientists, and other non-market actors (e.g. NGO’s).
; Credible
: Fundamentals of credibility are first the solving of key socio-ecological problems associated with companies’ products and second tying sustainability to the core business. Co-operations with trustworthy partners and the use of independent, third-party labels (e.g. labels like Bio or MSC) such as a high level of transparency (e.g. through an online tracking system, which enables consumers to see the world of behind the product) can additionally increase the credibility of sustainability brands.
; Consumer Benefits
: Socio-ecological characteristics or attributes of products usually just play an auxiliary role (no core benefits). To broaden the appeal of sustainability brands, the companies should emphasize the inherent consumer benefits of socio-ecological attributes, including efficiency and cost effectiveness, health and safety, symbolism and status. Further they should align socio-ecological attributes with benefits such as functionality, design, and durability to create “motive alliances”.
; Conversational
: Sustainability branding is more effective as a two-way conversation, rather than a one-way announcement. Inviting consumers to enter into dialogues about the sustainability process strengthens the brand-consumer relationship.
; Consistency
: If sustainability is key to brand positioning, this requires a kind of integrated approach to sustainability communication: it is important to communicate in a consistent way, including e.g. advertising, personal selling or online communication. In addition to that, the sustainability product brand has to be consistent with the overall environmental and social performance of the company.
; Commitment
: Sustainability branding not only requires the commitment of the PR department and the sustainability officers but also requires the commitment of top management and marketing decision makers.
; Continuity
: Sustainability must reflect the core values of the brand and contribute to delivering the brand promise over the long term. This means that a brand cannot change its sustainability focus too often, or engage in too many non-related areas.
Sustainability brand name selection
In the course of choosing the right name, Sustainability brands must first –just like brand names in the conventional sense- follow well-established rules. In general, a good brand name should consider three areas:Three Criteria of a Good Brand Name - Brand Development/ref> memorability (distinctive short name, evoking emotions...), strategic fit (they should relate to the actual product; ability to expand to other brands) and legal (legal protection under trade mark law etc.) Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G. (2004) The Principles of Marketing, 10th edn, Upper Sadde River, NJ: Prentic Hall p. 293. for brand name selection in general Sustainability Brands however go one step further and incorporate something that conveys the notion of social and/or ecological awareness. A popular example is “Better Place”, a global provider of electric vehicle networks and services that works in a joint venture with Renault Nissan Alliance Motor Company to promote the use of electric cars.Better Place , The Global Provider of EV Networks and Services
The founder, Shai Agassi, was intrigued by a question posed at the World Economic Forum in 2005 "How do you make the world a better place by 2020?".
/ref> Thus the name Better Place. It is not related to the product (electric vehicle) but to much wider social and ecological issues (depletion of natural resources, emissions...), which the company addresses or rather offers the solution for. Sustainability brand names can be part of a new product launch, an extension to an existing (conventional) brand or be so new to the market that they create a product category themselves. Each of these approaches has specific strategic implications. ;Enter Established Market: Entering a saturated market such as the one for conventional household detergents with a sustainability brand might prove extremely difficult. However, there are companies that have successfully entered the market and positioned their brand as sustainability leaders. Seventh Generation, for instance, is the US market leader in four product categories (Household, Laundry, Personal and Baby Care) with products that –in the words of the company- “protect human health and the environment.” About Seventh Generation , Seventh Generation
/ref> ;Brand Extension / Aligning Existing Brand: Established brands can leverage their existing brand recognition to extend their name to new products, which are then marketed as socially and ecologically friendly. Tide, a popular detergent brand in the US, expanded its brand to meet the demands of the ecological conscious consumer by launching Tide Cold Water Detergent in 2005. The product requires only cold water and thus saves energy. In 2010, it was given the Green GH seal, which is only awarded after a “cradle to grave” examination of the product.Eco Friendly Laundry Detergents - Tide Coldwater Laundry Detergents - Good Housekeeping
/ref> ;Creating entirely new Product Categories: Sustainability brand names can also succeed if they achieve to create a product category for themselves where there is virtually no competition yet. When the car-sharing concept was fairly new, companies such as Mobility CarSharing in Switzerland did neither compete with car companies nor public transportation providers.
Sustainability brand development
Sustainability brands are subject to constant change. A sustainability brand that is well established on the market, can be further developed into different directions. According to Belz and Peattie four main options for development are possible:
* Line extension occurs when a company adds new products of the same product category under the same sustainability brand name.
* Sustainability brand extension occurs when a company introduces products of a different product category but under the same sustainability brand name.
* Multi-sustainability brands occur when a company manages two or more different sustainability brands but in the same product category.
* New sustainability brands occur when a company creates an entire new brand name when they access a new product category. For example MUD Jeans.
To create a sustainability brand it is furthermore important to adopt the right channels for marketing according to Lauterborns five Cs. Advertising in this case can help to create awareness of the brand and thus form the new brand experience.Lauterborn,R (1990) 'New marketing litany: 4 Ps passé; C-words take over', Advertising Age"
Furthermore, it is obligatory for Sustainability brands to obtain one ore more ecolabels, leading to a higher influence on consumer behaviour and the perception of the brand.
Sustainable brands vs. false advertising
With promises of sustainable and ethical practices in the fashion industry on a rise, businesses attempt to market according to these requests. An issue that is accompanied by this is that of companiesgreenwashing
Greenwashing (a compound word modeled on " whitewash"), also called "green sheen", is a form of advertising or marketing spin in which green PR and green marketing are deceptively used to persuade the public that an organization's products, aim ...
their values to bring in more consumers who believe they are supporting a good cause. Companies like H&M and Zara have been called out by the Norwegian Consumer Council
The Consumer Council of Norway (Norwegian: ''Forbrukerrådet'') is a Norwegian government agency and consumer protection organisation established in 1953. It works to increase consumer influence in society, to contribute to consumer-friendly develo ...
for failing to provide genuine information on why their brands are eco-friendly, thus leading to false marketing claimsDue to differing perspectives and interpretations of what it means to be sustainable, it can be troublesome to regulate honest sustainable practice
See also
* Ecological economics *Ecologically sustainable development Ecologically sustainable development is the environmental component of sustainable development. It can be achieved partially through the use of the precautionary principle; if there are threats of serious or irreversible environmental damage, lack ...
* Environmentally friendly
* Sustainable packaging
References
Further reading
* Belz F., Peattie K.(2009): Sustainability Marketing: A Global Perspective. John Wiley & Sons. * Aaker, D.A. and Joachimsthaler, E. (2000), Brand Leadership, The Free Press, New York, NY * H. Meffert, C. Rauch & H.L. Lepp. 2010. Sustainable Branding — mehr als ein neues Schlagwort?! Marketing Review St. Gallen 27 (5) Pages 28–35 * Patrick Hartmann, Vanessa Apaolaza Ibáñez, F. Javier Forcada Sainz, (2005) "Green branding effects on attitude: functional versus emotional positioning strategies", Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 23 Iss: 1, pp. 9 – 29 {{SustainabilityBrand
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create ...
Brand management