In the final episode of our ‘greening your marketing activity’ mini-series, we caught up with some of our original guests to the podcast, Ollie Deane and Guy Jones from The GoodNet, the ethical intelligence company, focusing on helping ethical brands and products grow. The Goodnet firmly believe that advertising can do good in the world and, we agree with and support their mission!

Ollie and Guy shared their journey since last coming on the podcast a couple of years ago, sharing what is happening in the media space. They introduced us to GoodIQ, their intelligence tool which measures sustainability metrics. They share their advice on what brands, agencies and Marketers need to be considering when it comes to making ethical media choices which not only support their organisations sustainable agendas, but help their audiences lead better, more sustainable lives.

Join us on this episode as we talk to Ollie and Guy about:

• Ethical media, sustainability and advertising

• GoodIQ, their media planning and measurement tool

• Being more sustainable with your marketing spend and how to measure the results

• Upcoming regulations and how they are driving focus and conversations

• Whether ads are driving more awareness and sustainable behaviour in line with changing market needs?

For more information about The Goodnet and GoodIQ - visit https://wearethegoodnet.com/

And to connect with them on LinkedIn - Ollie Deane and Guy Jones

A great final episode in our greening your marketing channels mini-series. We did cover a few more areas in our latest book too - so you can always pick up a copy for more practical solutions.

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

“When it comes to including sustainability in events - we’re finding the focus on sustainability is increasingly part of the client brief.”

As we continue with our greening your marketing activity mini-series, we wanted to turn our attention to events. Events can be fun, they allow us to learn and connect, but they also come with a considerable footprint and impact, mainly from travel, food and that infamous swag. However, the events landscape is evolving and sustainability is an increasingly growing focal point. We met up with Matilda Riley, an expert in sustainable events. Matilda talks openly and frankly about all the different areas that events impact and how there are sustainable alternatives and choices for pretty much every element when it comes to planning and running an event. Matilda tells us that she now sees sustainability on the majority (approx. 90%) of all briefs coming in from clients, which is a big and positive step change.

Sharing so many ideas, solutions and ways you can make your event not only more sustainable but, more creative, engaging and successful, you won’t want to miss out.

Join us on this episode as we talk to Matilda about:

• What you need to consider when planning and running an event

• How sustainability is now included on the majority of briefs

• How events are part of your scope 3 emissions so need to be part of your standards

• How to be proactive and not reactive

• Getting creative and doing things differently in a way that brings new life to your events for your organisation and, your audience.

For more information about ECO3 and From Now - visit https://from-now.com/

And to connect with Matilde via LinkedIn - she’s here

Another great episode… and still more to follow in this greening your marketing channels mini-series - so stay tuned.

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

       

“If you can change how people spend their money, you can change the world.”

Social Impact, sustainable business, creative ideas and changing behaviours, these are just some of the areas that we explored with Chris Baker, strategist turned entrepreneur and CEO of Serious Tissues.

With behavioural science sitting behind so many successful business models Chris talks to us about his experience across a number of social impact businesses and initiatives that he is involved with, and how a simple switch can make such a positive impact.

You’ll hear us discuss the growing momentum behind sustainable toilet rolls and tissues both within B2B and B2C, bamboo vs. recycled paper and the challenges and opportunities that he is currently seeing. We discuss Chris’s upcoming book exploring social impact and how it’s becoming more fundamental than ever for organisations, the rise of impact investing and how doing good is becoming a competitive advantage. Chris talks about the journey writing his book took him on as he spoke to multiple change brands working towards securing a more sustainable future. Chris shares so many examples, this episode will leave your minds brimming with ideas and inspiration.

Join us as we talk to Chris about:

• Social marketing and behavioural science and why they’re at the forefront of driving commercial and social good.

• The challenges of changing behaviours and the approaches you can take.

• How little changes add up and can open the door to bigger lifestyle changes.

• When it comes to change, the need to look at what you are doing through the lens of opportunity – and framing them as such, as opposed to a threat.

• The intriguing concept of disrupting from within.

• The need to put the right metrics behind innovation to avoid setting it up to fail from the get go.

• The rise of impact investing and how it can scale the good.

For more information about Serious Tissues https://serioustissues.com/

And to tune in to hear Chris talking about the latest Which report about ‘loo roll’, provenance and greenwashing tune in here. (You can connect with him on LinkedIn there too!).

Enjoy…

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

Did you know that 20% of the world's fish and meat is consumed by our pets?

We didn’t… and so yet again, the learning curve continues. We love having conversations with amazing brands who are pioneering, disrupting the norms and thinking outside the box with a focus on delivering social and environmental impact.

Food security, the impact of food production and what we eat is an area of significant focus when it comes to wellbeing for all and transitioning to a sustainable future - something we cannot afford to ignore when considering food consumption for humans, but what about our beloved pets?

We invited Alessandro Di Trapani from Grub Club onto the Can Marketing Save the Planet podcast to dive into this very subject and find out more about their insect based pet food products, the benefits to pets (and the planet) and, the important role marketing plays in the narrative and behaviour change around insect based food.

We learnt so much in this episode so tune in to hear about:

• The only real way to drive sustainable change is to change where people spend their money. And, how we need to provide people with the options to drive change.

• Why having a vision and a belief in what you do can allow you to shake up an industry.

• Marginal and incremental steps to being more sustainable is so important and can drive real progress.

• How Grub Club has approached changing the narrative and telling their story which is key to overcoming some of the challenges both in terms of educating people, and changing mindsets which then leads to behaviour change.

• The importance of staying close to your customer - how to drive loyalty when building a community through wrapping a service around your products.

• Addressing the challenges of transparency, price points and education.

• Why creativity is so important in telling your story and how Grub Club try new ways and, channels. 

For more information about Grub Club visit https://mygrubclub.com/

And connect with Alessandro via LinkedIn here.

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

Proving unequivocally that waste can build capital, UpCircle is a truly inspiring organisation built on circular economy principles.

The circular economy presents a huge opportunity for both business and the environment so we were really excited when Anna Brightman from UpCircle, a skincare and beauty brand built from waste and, focused entirely on the circular economy principles joined us on the podcast.

UpCircle fully owns the concept of circularity and builds it into every strand of their business. They have learnt how to turn waste not only into a succesful business, but a global successful business, which is continuously testing the limits of what can be done.

As you’ll hear, their marketing knowledge and know-how is an exemplar on how to engage with community to grow whilst doing good for the environment - which is no easy task when you consider some of the staggering impacts the beauty industry has on the planet, from the 120 billion pieces of packaging they put out every year, through to the questionable product testing practices which are still happening even in 2024.

Join us on this episode as we talk to Anna about:

• How UpCircle entered one of the most competitive industries in the world and now sells in 50 countries, created a full packaging return scheme and grew a dedicated community who embrace not just the products, but get fully involved with the refill initiative.

• The challenges along the way and how they overcame them.

• How they built, incentivised and drive a successful refill service which their tribe as Anna calls them want to get involved with.

• What it takes to build an engaged community, building brand loyalty with high levels of retention and ongoing two-way conversation.

• The importance of working with your community on everything from product development through to growing share of voice and raising awareness of circularity and the need for behavior change.

• Why metrics are so important to ensure your business is moving in the right direction. Brining sustainable and commercial objectives together and how commercial metrics can deliver social impact.

• How every product at UpCircle is collaborative by nature – and through building partnerships with industries you might not ever put together has delivered so much impact commercially and socially.Enjoy…

For more information about UpCircle visit https://upcirclebeauty.com/

And connect with Anna via LinkedIn here.

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

When you view something as a competitive opportunity, you look at it totally differently - how can we go above and beyond? How can we get a real angle on this? How can we bring people with us along this process?

We’ve had a bit of a focus or mini-series on biodiversity and nature over the last few episodes of Can Marketing Save the Planet because it is so so critical that we start to understand, talk about and most importantly take action in reducing, removing and restoring the damage that we (business and society) are doing to the environment.

So, we were delighted when Gavin and Rob over at Pinwheel agreed to come back on the podcast to talk about the solutions and actions that are available today that businesses can make part of their sustainability agendas, and the compelling business case this type of investment can build across, acquisition, retention, collaboration, competitive opportunity, sales and profit. As Gavin says, these projects give, “access beyond value chain mitigation projects which repair and restore our climate and ecosystems.”

The damage that has been done is staggering, there has been a 69% reduction in living species since 1970 globally and, in the UK we currently only protect 3% of land 8% of seas, well behind the 30% global target needed by 2030 set out at COP15.

Biodiversity and climate are not mutually exclusive – as with everything it’s all interconnected.

Tune in and listen as we cover:

• The opportunity for brands to really get involved and for marketers to be able to tell the stories of the projects their organisations support as well as that all important progress.

• ·The fact business can take action now, we can start to reduce the damage, remove the legacy damage and, restore habitats immediately.

• Consumer demand, investor demand and changing regulations will force business to do this eventually, so why not be a pacesetter.

• Why investing in biodiversity is a competitive opportunity.

• How biodiversity is different to carbon in so many ways, yet they are so inextricably linked and addressing one helps the other and vice versa.

• ·Why B2B organisations are moving quickly on this.

• The data and insights that come from investing in biodiversity projects builds a compelling business case across the board.

Enjoy…

For more information about Pinwheel - see here.

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

“We are totally dependent on biodiversity to survive – this is not a ‘greeny’ concern, this is an everyone concern.”

Given nature and biodiversity is SO important to the future of humanity, we wanted to dive deeper into this important area. Following our recent episodes with the brilliant Alexandra Pimor, who works with organisations to give nature a voice and a seat at the boardroom table, we jumped at the chance to chat with Dr Sam Sinclair, a conservationist and expert on biodiversity.

Sam starts with explaining what biodiversity is, and just how totally dependent we are on biodiversity to survive.

There are more people and cattle than on earth today than there are wild animals – which is terrifying. We’ve reached a critical point where nature can no longer be a nice thing to look after. And we discuss how biodiversity loss poses a real threat to humankind.

“The biodiversity field has absolutely exploded in the last year and companies all over the place are now questioning and thinking about this in really serious terms, asking what is my businesses impact on biodiversity and what can I do to reverse it?”

As you’ll hear we talk about developing a biodiversity strategy, and importantly how organisations can take action and make different choices. A key point Sam raises is that, “biodiversity is different to carbon as there is no single metric of measure…it’s very context specific.” He goes on to explain, “what a good biodiversity strategy should do is take all the frustrating complexity and make it not frustrating…here’s how it all comes together and this is where we are and this is what good looks like.”

Sam talks about the shift he is seeing from organisations moving away from individual projects, towards holistic programs and it’s at this point we talk about how for marketing this presents an incredible opportunity. Why? Because, people actually care about biodiversity. “Everybody has a story, everybody has a personal connection to biodiversity. This gives marketers those opportunities to craft narratives and people want to do the right thing, which is share by organisational culture.” Who doesn’t want to tell engaging stories which resonate and capture people’s attention, inspiring them to want to be part of the solution?”|

We ask Sam about tree planting and the context and effectiveness around this well-known initiative. He explains that it is an important element, but it is a small piece of the solution. “Tree planting has great PR so people can get it, it is one unit of nature and they can see it. People don’t look at grasslands and soils in the same way, understandably. Tree planting captures the imagination.”

Sam shares so much wisdom and insight in this episode, it really is one for everyone so we’d encourage you to listen, and share no matter what sector, industry or role you are in.

Enjoy…

For more information about Sam and Biodiversify - see here.

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

Are you using your career to fight for the future? 

In this episode we talk with Claire Osborne who has a fascinating job as a sustainability career coach. Claire works with people who are increasingly looking at where and how they work, questioning the role they can play as climate change, climate action and sustainability continue to rise up the world’s agenda.  

Claire talks about the challenges both business and people are facing and the research from David Graeber’s work around ‘bullshit’ jobs. Claire tell us that research reveals that, “37% of all roles are done by people who themselves rate them as having no positive impact in society”. She goes on to explain, there are box tickers, duct tapers, flunkies and many more categories, all of which open up many questions about the roles we spend most of our time doing.

Claire shares the trends she is seeing such as people defining their own roles and setting their own purpose in work, as well as asking, how one applies the role to drive meaningful impact.

Claire works with people who are trying to change the status quo, and shares with us some of the challenges that come with doing that and what you can do to feel supported, capable and less isolated in the sustainability space.

We also talk about how to influence and build the business case for change and Claire shares some key principles around this and things people can be doing such as, “1. Seed-bombing, 2. Doing your research and listening for certain things within the audiences you are talking – what are their aspirations, ambivalences do they have, and what anxieties do they have? And 3. Listening in the moment, to find the 10% that the other person is right and explore that.”

We dive into effective communication skills and the need to listen more, to share and have conversations, as opposed to purley broadcasting and talking ‘at’ our audiences. Claire shares her view on marketing and the skills Marketers have that can be put to great use in the sustainability space, explaining… “there is a ballsy-ness and incisiveness, which we could all do with applying.”

Claire believes, “Marketers can use their knowledge, the insights and research they have access to, to create clear, rather than clever messaging to help with understanding, and to bring in a rigour that doesn’t overwhelm, but sells the next action, the next thing to do.”

There’s a lot of advice Claire shares, and she busts open some of the most prominent myths in the sustainability space, giving a wealth of practical things for listeners to take away from this episode.

Enjoy and any questions… simply get in touch.

From Claire’s website:

Working in sustainability is tough - the scale and urgency of the climate crisis can make it tough to keep moving forward with energy & focus. Frustration, exhaustion, uncertainty & overwhelm drain energy and make it harder to bring your best thinking to the challenge. One thing is for sure though; we need experienced Sustainability Leaders on the pitch. Your expertise is essential to steer the debate and drive action. Use the latest in neuroscience and behavioural psychology to set you up to be a force for change on climate.

If you feel like you want to speak to Claire, you can find more on her website here: https://www.claireosborne.co.uk/

Part 2 - “We have to find the courage to do something different…”

Following on from Episode 1, we delve further into the role of law in sustainability. 2023 saw a marked rise in legal cases being brought against businesses and governments, as well as the tightening of regulations and guidelines around not only what businesses can do, but what they can say.

The reality Alexandra explains is “the law takes time; for case law we need the means, will and resources to bring cases forward and for legislation we need governments to listen.” Earth Law Centre supports the law, “very rarely will the law be the real generator of change, for example, the EU Green Deal – the law won’t drive change at the core, the law is what will influence change, it will force it. The law is a tool, and it can be a carrot and it can be a stick.”

This raises a big question for business, ‘are you going to be a pacesetter or are you going to wait to be regulated?’ We definitely need more pacesetters.

Alexandra talks about “Four circles of service” looking at nature on the board, in professional practice, across project development and within cultural evolution, and a need to drive the real change towards an eco-centric approach and way of thinking. She explains that, “nature governance, is about responsibility, accountability and wisdom – we have all the knowledge that we can ever want, we have access to data, expertise and technology and we know what we have to do and stop doing – the question is, do we do that?”

We naturally progress into the role of leadership and the need for honesty to make the right decisions to do something good. And, also the role Marketers play, and the need to be more responsible when it comes to the stories they tell and how we need to break away from some of the conditioned thinking so that we get creative and use our imaginations again. Marketing’s role in Nature governance is still very much a concept, but we need to be open to it and start to think differently.

The need for a shift in consciousness is now. We discuss how ‘you’ can be the change and the need to have the right conversations to grow our understanding to get to the experience you want to create. Alexandra poses another big question, which we’ll leave you with, “what needs to change today in order to achieve the vision for tomorrow?” - We’d love to hear your thoughts!

For more information about Nature Governance and the great work Alexandra and her team champion see here:

And for more about Faith in Nature and putting nature on the board, see here:

Enjoy…

 

“What does business have to do with nature?

The next two episodes of Can Marketing Save the Planet go DEEP! We suggest you wrap up warm, pop in your headphones, and go for a wintry walk as we catch up with Alexandra Pimor, Director of Nature Governance at the Earth Law Centre. Despite preconceptions, we (humans) are part of nature, we are not above it and we need it – it is indeed our greatest ally. We talk to Alexandra about how reimagining and reengineering our systems from a nature conscious perspective and delve into her work, looking at how we offer nature a voice, a place and a stake in our systems – for nature to be both heard and represented.

Alexandra talks about a responsibility based framework - “where there is a right, there is a responsibility.” We discuss how humans and business can no longer ignore the damage we are doing and how we need to take action to address the situation collectively. As Alexandra says, “if we give nature rights, we are responsible for making sure those rights are not only upheld but understood.” Climate change may be the big headline, but climate change is a result of the loss of nature and biodiversity.

Alexandra told us about her amazing work putting nature on the board, when it comes to, “tackling the temperature of the planet and addressing the core”. She believes, “there are enough of us out there to do it, but we need more cooperation and collaboration with each other and it is not a linear approach we need to address or take, it’s a systemic one.” 

We discuss how humans treat every earth community on the planet as a commodity, how the current systems would not exist if humans had not thought them up, and why we need to look at human behaviour and motivation to understand why we behave as we do. There is a fundamental need to let the natural systems do their thing and, there is a huge opportunity to rebuild these systems and get back to basics, being responsible human beings.

Alexandra talks about the practicalities of how business can become more conscious, and makes the point that business is 100% reliant on nature. She talks about the work she did with the brand Faith in Nature, giving nature a voice, and the process they went through to make that happen. Alexandra shared the 3 critical questions which had to be answered:

1. Legally - Can this be done within the legal framework of the UK – and what kind / type of director can nature be?

2. The articles of association for the organisation (structural framework) – what needs to change? What do they (Faith in Nature), need to do? What are their obligations?

3. Culture - What does the governance and practice on the ground actually look like? 

Answering each of those questions and finding a way led Faith in Nature to be the first organisation to legally put nature on the board, giving nature a voice and a vote, ensuring better and more informed decisions are made.

This was a truly inspiring discussion and one which couldn’t stop at just one episode! Tune in and go for that walk and who knows… maybe you’ll be considering putting nature on your board too.

For more information about Nature Governance and the great work Alexandra and her team champion see here:

And for more about Faith in Nature and putting nature on the board, see here:

Enjoy… Part 2 to follow on 24th Dec ;)

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

“Marketing is the management science of empathy - we need deep empathy if we want to take humanity and our economy through this massive change that we are facing.”

Marketing will not save the world, but we will not save the world without marketing.

In this episode we talk with Nicolas Lambert, author of, “Can Marketing Save the World”, (we know… a title very close to our hearts) and no surprises that it’s a book all about marketing and sustainability, An experienced and passionate marketer, he was CEO of Fairtrade Belgium, marketing executive at Unilever, AB InBev, Heineken and BBDO - and more recently, author and lecturer. We loved delving into the practicalities of sustainable marketing with Nicolas.

“Sustainability and marketing, two things that don’t work together, but they should and now have to.” Nicolas places marketing as the engine of an organisation and explains the opportunity for Marketers is to “broaden the scope of interaction”. Expanding their view to include the broader stakeholder chain so they don’t leave themselves with a large blind spot in their strategies.

When it comes to people, planet and profit or as Nicolas calls it, “the ménage à trios” he believes this needs to be at the core of what Marketers do, but acknowledges the challenges and underlying tensions that exist in the relationship between organisations and their stakeholders as we look for solutions and balance.

We covered so much in this episode with Nicolas as he shared his insights, experience and knowledge on the role of regulation, the need for Marketers to support their organisations’ sustainable agendas and, that all important missing sense of urgency.

Of course, we couldn’t talk sustainable marketing without discussing greenwashing which Nicolas believes, “most of the time it’s not because of cynicism of companies, it’s not because they want to be seen as greener than they are and manipulative, I think people are just being clumsy. They have a lack of knowledge and are applying traditional marketing tactics to sustainability, and that doesn’t work, and then they are surprised – because they just don’t get it.” Once again the need for Marketers to be more aware and educate themselves couldn’t be clearer.

So, tune in and check out resources such as Nicolas’s framework, the “fourteen levers to make marketing more sustainable.” he mentions which can be found here. (And don’t be fooled by the title of the slide - the document is in English ;)).

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

  Marketing - The Management Science of Empathy, with Nicolas Lambert, Expert, Author, Can Marketing Save the Planet, Author, Nicolas Lambert - Can Marketing Save the World?    

“We need people to communicate in a way that gives all of us an ability to move forward in a positive direction.”

The built environment – it’s a massive subject, a massive industry and a massive contributor of emissions, (buildings and construction are responsible for approx. 40% of global energy related and carbon dioxide emission). There is a lot of work to be done and the challenge requires collaboration, knowledge and action at scale.

We had the pleasure of talking to Brigette Clements, strategic lead at The Architects Climate Action Network (ACAN) and managing director at Lowkey Architecture and Developments. With both a technical and creative background, Brigette works with, “impact driven investors on projects simply, that I believe in, and that hit the highest metrics of sustainability.”

We wanted to explore the role ACAN plays and the work they do in trying to drive “change”. Brigette explained they have three main aims, 1) decarbonise now, 2) ecological regeneration and 3) cultural transformation. The focus of ACAN is across a broad range of issues, from the circular economy through to existing buildings and retrofit and climate literacy and professional standards. Big on action and output, their work delivers resources, knowledge and awareness across their network and beyond (you don’t have to be in the built environment to be a part of ACAN and their work).

With policies, trends and needs changing in the built environment faster than ever before, the need to be educated, aware and up to date is critical. But, as Brigette points out, it’s one thing sharing how great you are on social media, but, “nobody is really coming out to talk about their failures or their lack of knowledge which is something we need. We need to build on the knowledge of others, learn from the mistakes of others.” Something Brigette is challenging as it slows progress. And a common theme from many of our podcast guests - calling for shared, lived experience.

A highly complex industry we discuss the issues, the politics, the activism, the challenges and the opportunities. Brigette shares her knowledge, experience and views on what is happening and what needs to happen. A firm believer that communication and the stories we tell are some of the strongest tools we have, Brigette adds, “we are designers and we are problem solvers, we are thinkers, we’ve got all the tools around us, we’ve got a lot of knowledge, we just need a bit of energy and collective action to make it happen.”

Whether you’re a professional in the built environment or a citizen who lives in it, tune in to hear for yourself why it’s critical that we understand what is happening and take responsibility in driving progress towards a more sustainable future.

More information about ACAN can be found here. Where you’ll find information about their work and meet-ups.

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

“There's something like 7.5 million data centers around the world now, and most of them are still powered by coal and gas. One of the easiest things you can do is move your hosting.”

Welcome back to the second part in our mini-series on ‘greening your marketing activities’ and this episode we explored smarter, greener websites with Sepas Seraj, Founder of Pixeled Eggs.

With the amount of activity that takes place online today purpose-driven digital is a must, and it’s not difficult, in fact, it’s super efficient, usable and can dramatically improve your organisations’ performance - (giving it a ‘digital edge’ as Sepas refers to it) - whilst simultaneously supporting your sustainability agendas now and into the future. 

There is a staggering amount of waste when it comes to websites and many of them are woefully inefficient, yet we can start to make changes immediately, improving performance and reducing negative impact. Sepas shares tools, resources and practical advice in abundance, we can’t recommend this episode enough.

Join us on this episode as we talk to Sepas about:

• The impact of digital

• Understanding the opportunities to optimise your website

• Green hosting, videos, images, page weights and variable fonts

• Ways you can make your website greener, more efficient and improve its performance

• The need for more conversations between design teams, developers, Marketers and sustainability teams

• Sustainability driving improved performance time and time again

• Best practice, tools and resources

For more information about Pixeled Eggs - visit https://www.pixeledeggs.com/

And to connect with Sepas via LinkedIn - he’s here https://www.linkedin.com/in/sepasseraj/

Another great episode… and still more to follow in this greening your marketing channels mini-series - so stay tuned.

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

“There’s really no way you can say you don’t know this is a dangerous activity at this point”

Making a return to the podcast, we caught up with Duncan Meisel, founder of Clean Creatives, so we could talk about the newly published F-List.

For anyone unfamiliar, Clean Creatives, is a movement of advertisers, PR professionals, and their clients cutting ties with fossil fuels.The F-List is a body of research and report which documents agencies who choose to continue working with fossil fuel organisations despite the scientific consensus that what they do is destroying the planet. It really doesn’t get much clearer than that.

We dive straight into this conversation finding out what has been happening with the Clean Creative campaign, its progress and of course, that infamous F-List.

Duncan reveals that over 800 agencies have now taken the pledge including their first large agency (over a 1000 employees). When looking at the agencies who have made the bold commitment no to work with fossil fuel organisations vs, those who are on the F-List, Duncan points out, “there’s really no way you can say you don’t know this is a dangerous activity at this point” – the F-list is just highlighting to people those agencies who are choosing to ignore all the warnings.

The F-List has evolved over the last 3 years, with more focus on the data, the sources and as Duncan explains, they were able to do both a global and multilingual search this time. They also had a much shorter reporting timeframe, “this year we tried to be really precise and look for agencies that were doing work right now in 2022 and 2023, the hottest years in human history.”

We discuss the fact that despite all the evidence, the F-List agencies continue to try and defend their work, and the role the 800+ agencies committed to the Clean Creatives pledge have in telling their stories about change and progress. The more we share our work on the good stuff, the solutions and the opportunities around that the more we can work together to move away from those things that do the most harm.

This conversation is one not to miss, whether you work for an agency or with agencies, it’s important to be aware of the F-List and the work that Clean Creatives are doing.

For more information about Clean Creatives - https://cleancreatives.org/

And if you catch this podcast in time to join Duncan and the Clean Creatives team in London for their Happy Hour on the 31st October - there’s an invitation and more details to that event here.

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Carrying on from Part 1, this episode jumps straight into the tactical side, where Caroline shares her views on the opportunities around digital, making the point that, “listening for a business is such a wealth of value which can be done in an automated way, and is the way forward to be commercially successful.”

Moving on to metrics and measures an area with many questions but not enough answers yet, we talked about how we have to go beyond the corporate metrics of revenue and profit. Whilst these are still important metrics, the need to broaden out what we measure and what ‘good performance’ looks like is critical. Caroline explains that influence was a big deal at IBM, influence and reputation metrics are valuable both from a B2B and B2C perspective. But….and this is important, Caroline points out in when it comes to why people buy from and engage with you, “the big challenge for marketers is, those reasons have to be authentic, they have to be real, there has to be credibility behind them.”

The ability to look broadly, do the right thing and meet all the points of value creation are what make marketing and indeed this conversation so interesting. Caroline shares some top actions she believes marketers need to be doing and of course we ask her that all important question, ‘Can marketing save the planet?’ This is not one to be missed, it will leave you with so much to think about and take forward, so tune in, listen and tell us what you think…

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

“There are four questions every business needs good answers to. Why would anyone want to buy from us? Why would anyone want to work for us? Why would anyone want to invest in us? Why would anyone allow us to operate in their community, society?”

It’s another two-parter and in this episode (Part 1), we dive into the role of CMOs and leaders when it comes to the sustainability agenda. We were joined by Caroline Taylor OBE, former CMO for IBMs international business and a huge advocate for ‘adding value in many other places in the world.’

Already aware of sustainability back in the early 2000’s Caroline got really focused in the mid 2000’s when IBM was doing work in ‘green IT’ and 2% of global carbon emissions were attributed to IT. Caroline explains, “I was very struck with the notion…but what about the other 98% and how we might use technology to mitigate that?” It was at that point she fell down the sustainability rabbit hole and started looking into how IBM could become a greater part of the solution whilst at the same time, find new ways to differentiate.

As well as looking for answers externally, Caroline talks at depth about the need to changes hearts and minds on sustainability internally, and raises the important point that to do this effectively requires conversations which focus on, “why this is a business opportunity as opposed to being a really important thing to do.” Caroline explains, “learning how to shift my focus from here’s a brilliant marketing idea, to here’s a brilliant business idea that’s going to make us money, our shareholders will love us, but it’s going to be tapping into something that is really important societally at the same time, is a win, win, win.” And, when it comes to stakeholder engagement we have to understand that, “enlightenment is important but the self-interest is real – we have to think about all of our stakeholder and what’s in it for them”

The need for leaders to recognise and see the opportunity in sustainability is so critical to balancing the triple bottom line and protecting the sustainability of their business. This episode explores the need for investment, the shift away from short-term thinking and strategising and the very real, tough choices and prioritisation that organisations need to make. Caroline also shares her insights into the role B2B marketing and business plays….for marketing she says it’s about “taking all the smart marketers that care and taking them outside of their day jobs to figure out how to use all those marketing skills to educate and engage and empower people to make better choices.” And, we couldn’t agree more, the case for education and awareness and the significant role and opportunity marketers and leaders have really shines through in this episode.

So, tune in and listen, and don’t forget there’s Part 2 in two weeks time where we continue the conversation, delving into the tactical side of marketing, the importance of listening and the challenge of what to measure when it comes to value creation around driving a more sustainable marketing agenda.

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

“Being sustainable is a story of assumed negatives, but it’s actually a story of discovered positives.”

We were joined in this episode by Simon Garnett who has been on a personal journey with consumption, one which he started when he realised his own habits were unhealthy, a journey he continues and has taken into his professional life as well.

Simon shares with us the moment he decided to reappraise his consumption with ‘new’ and how after a year it moved to him reappraising his consumption overall. Simon explains, whenever he tells anyone his story he gets asked two questions “after a year of not consuming, what was the first things you bought and, what did you miss?” These questions only made it clearer for Simon that, “the engagement with this story, the engagement with the concept of not buying new, is absolutely, integrally rooted in a concept of loss. But, from his perspective and experience it was the total opposite, and as the headline to this episode highlights, “It’s a story of assumed negatives, which is actually a story of discovered positives.”

We go on to explore the tensions that exist once you embark on a more sustainable way of living and the challenge of taking what you’ve learned to influence others at scale. Simon explains that he wants to create meaning around consumption and highlight that is isn’t about success and it definitely shouldn’t be viewed as inconvenient if you decide to cut down or buy second-hand. For Simon, marketing has been primarily about “driving consumption of new, and consumption of new is what equals success.”  Sustainability is often associated with having less, or being told you can’t have something and Simon acknowledges that the message we need to consume less is a strong one, but given how much we waste, how can that be a loss if we don’t even use what we do buy. 

Michelle shares a recent room refurbishment, something she found incredibly creative, down to the paint which she got through the sharing app, Olio. Through this journey Michelle discovered a number of services she didn’t know existed and that sense of not just taking the convenient route brought a deeper feeling of fulfilment. However, she points out the reason she hadn’t heard of these services, is because they are not being talked about enough. There are so many stories not yet being told.

Simon worries that the sense of “build it and they will come” risks relying on platforms and infrastructure to deliver and make re-commerce successful with a great user experience but it’s not, it’s about the stories we need to be telling. Simon explains, “what we’re competing with is not just inconvenience, but decades of messaging that new equals success and second hand is a bit dirty and undesirable.” Marketing has such an important role, and Simon believes we can rewrite the story.

There are many discovered benefits to sustainable living. What is your experience? Tune in and listen to this episode and make it a personal objective to share your personal stories and experiences, after all, we all need to be shouting louder when it comes to the benefits.

And to join the Re-commerce Revolution LinkedIn group Simon mentions - the link is here: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14191082/

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

“Through marketing campaigns we can bring sustainability and growing smaller more sustainable brands to the front and drive capital away from big brands.”

Where better to get the viewpoints from Gen Z about climate concerns and consumption habits than directly from a Gen Z’er. On this podcast were joined by Estella Struck, Founder and CEO of the first Gen Z Sustainable Product Marketing Agency based in New York. Estella found herself on the right side of TikTok during the lockdowns of 2020 and it was from here that her passion for sustainability was ignited. 

Coming out of the pandemic armed with her increased knowledge of the challenges around sustainability, Estella noticed the shifts in weather patterns. She also became more aware of what brands were saying in order to try and influence where Gen Z spend their money and drive consumption. Whilst Estella acknowledges there are some barriers when it comes to sustainable brands engaging with Gen Z such as location, accessibility and levels of disposable income, she believes there is a huge opportunity in reaching Gen Z through social media in a way that can raise awareness and change behaviours, encouraging them to put their money into sustainable brands supporting them in making sustainability more affordable.

Estella tells us, “what we see and what we consume influences what we do and how we act in our daily lives, our recent research revealed that Gen Z is more likely than any other generation to shop via social media”. Long form content may not always be an option on social, but creating a series is a powerful way to build awareness and knowledge whilst as she puts it “still provides that dopamine hit from the action of scrolling and seeing a new video.”

Estella believes her generation are sceptical of large corporates who launch sustainable lines or schemes, but more than that many Gen Z work in retail and see first-hand the levels of product, packaging and waste. She would like to see corporations doing more to reduce their impacts and address issues in their supply chains. Until they start doing that it will always come across as a cash grab and greenwashing.

Estella is all for supporting and growing smaller more sustainable organisations, she is a believer in social movements putting pressure on brands to change, but sustainability isn’t as front of mind as it needs to be, but as she states, “I know through marketing campaigns that we can bring it to the front and drive capital away from big brands.”

Estella shares her knowledge of social media both from a personal and professional perspective, and the work her agency does to ensure authenticity is an absolute priority. She is conscious that large audiences are left out and explains, “my goal to start an agency was to make the sustainability community more inclusive and encompassing so they felt like they had a place here because in the end sustainability isn’t just an environmental issue but an everyone issue”. Wise words indeed.

This is a podcast we encourage organisations big and small to tune into if they are serious about wanting to drive change. Estella and her generation have the most to lose if we do not change the course we are on, they are also a key driver of change across people, planet and profit. The fears are real and we all need to take responsibility and play our part. 

For more information about Estella and Viviene NY see: https://www.linkedin.com/company/viviene-new-york

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

“Building a culture of trust around green claims is the most important thing marketers, business and brands should be doing, using advertising self- regulation as a tool, making sure everyone is upholding those standards.”

As regulations and guidelines in and around sustainability continue to evolve, tighten up and support a better future around managing both what we do AND say, we spoke to Laura Brett whose remit is to lead the US system of advertising self-regulation looking at advertising claims to make sure what is being said is the truth, (like the Advertising Standards Agency – ASA, in the UK).

Laura makes it clear from the outset, that as a body, they look at one simple standard, and that is, “that advertising claims are truthful and not misleading, which also means you have to be transparent when advertising to consumers.” Greenwashing continues to make headlines globally with organisations being called out, investigated, or having their ads banned, whether due to misleading information, not telling the full story or only focusing on the ‘good’ whilst omitting the bad. All of which is incredibly damaging to people, planet and the organisations themselves.

Laura begins by explaining that actually, most complaints about claims in the US are brought to them not by consumers, but by competitors, one organisation challenging another. As she puts it, “the adversarial system is alive and well!” Laura goes on to explain that “the BBB National Programmes also open claims themselves both from consumers and from their own observations.”

During our discussion we discuss how the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are currently in the process of reviewing their ‘Green Guides’ and inviting comment. Whilst the FTC do this every 10 years, Laura explains that this time round it feels particularly important because advertising needs to be held to a certain standard if we are to make progress in tackling the social and environmental challenges we face.

The ‘Green Guides’ are incredibly valuable for Marketers in terms of providing guidance, they can also be used to highlight what is being talked about and where gaps in knowledge might be. Any marketer looking at the guides should as a baseline know what the terms in them mean, and if they don’t they need to go and find out.

Laura talks about organisations who make carbon neutral claims without an achievable plan, and how if claims are going to be made, a plan has to be in place to show the pathway they are taking to meet that claim, even if that plan changes. Laura believes the FTCs focus is on closing the gaps in the ‘Green Guides’. The real issue however in amongst all of this isn’t whether one gets into trouble with the regulator, but the continued erosion of trust and that is where the damage really impacts brands in terms of reputation and culture - making them unfavourable to consumers and people not wanting to work for them. 

Another valuable episode for both Marketers in the US and, Marketers marketing to the US, providing advice and support to you as key stakeholders in supporting your organisations’ sustainable agendas, as Laura states, “building a culture of trust around green claims is the most important thing marketers, business and brands should be doing, using advertising self- regulation as a tool, making sure everyone is upholding those standards.” So tune in and listen!

Marketers can stay up to date with what is happening across advertising in the US by visiting:

https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/cases-proceedings

https://bbbprograms.org/programs/advertising/all-programs#decisions

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

How do you get a return on your investment for your business, AND at the same time deliver a return on investment for the planet, ensuring everyone benefits?

In this episode we’re joined by Gavin Sheppard and Rob Cheesewright from Pinwheel, an organisation focused on projects that remove carbon from the atmosphere, restore habitats and protect biodiversity - to discuss that very question.

Given there’s a lot of terminology that can become quite confusing, we kick things off with some jargon busting diving into offsetting, carbon capture and, carbon removal. Offsetting has been the subject of controversial debate recently, as some argue it’s ineffective and many schemes are a ‘license to pollute’, and so it’s really important do the homework around what is out there, not taking things at face value, and remembering that the focus has to be on reduce, reduce, reduce.

When it comes to carbon capture and carbon removal, these are very different things, but, again there is confusion with the terms being mixed, up, used interchangeably and not really telling the story that allows informed decisions and progress to be made. Whilst they both make up a critical part of the Net Zero journey, they also play very different roles (you’ll need to listen in to find out more!)

Gavin tells us, “the science tells us that businesses need to do three things. The first is, reduce your own emissions and the impact on the planet, but it’s much broader than carbon, and that’s inside your value chain. Outside of your value chain you need to do two other things, remove legacy carbon and waste, investing in projects that do that in a high quality way, and the third thing we need to do is restore, and it’s these last two parts that Pinwheel helps with.” It is the high quality restoration projects that have a conclusive response to the sizeable issues we are facing.

Where marketing comes in (as we talk about so often on this podcast) is the communication piece around what are complex solutions, translating in a way that is engaging, motivating and helps people understand, and more importantly, want to understand and take action. The carbon removal projects Pinwheel fund around the world do just that. Not only are they are effective and restorative, they are a massive opportunity to tell some really inspiring stories which grab the attention of people, build trust and make them part of making a positive difference and, they make you smile. [Indeed, Can Marketing Save the Planet is investing in such projects for that very reason - and you can get involved in that too - more on that later!].

From a marketing perspective, it’s all about shifting mindsets, a vital step if we are to change behaviours. Rob raises the point around the mindset shift to ‘contribution’ being so important, he explains, that it, “decouples the harm being done on one side to the good on the other, the problem with compensation approaches, or offset or carbon neutral is it aims to say, don’t worry, the harm hasn’t happened, we’ve neutralised it, the contribution mindset says, we just need to contribute to the biggest impactful things we can, it is not seeking to edge away the other stuff.”

The bottom line is, we need to create a balanced ecosystem where life can thrive on this planet, and as Gavin simply says, “stop covering up the shit that we’ve done”.

So, where to start? Pinwheel recommends the WWF blueprint… (link below). And we, working alongside Pinwheel, encourage everyone to not only listen to this episode, (it’s full of advice business needs to know, and start doing), but to also go over to our Can Marketing Save the Planet investment fund - and get involved and start making a difference. Every £ helps.

We’re focused on three projects:

• Seagrass restoration - ocean based - big impact 

• Wolf protection - critical and seldom talked about

• Forest restoration in the Andes - we need to support forest restoration desperately.

Get involved here: https://www.pinwheel.earth/can-marketing-save-the-planet

For more projects head over to the Pinwheel website. Remember, this isn’t a cost, it’s an investment in the future of everything.

WWF Blueprint - https://www.wwf.org.uk/blueprint-pr19

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

“If you ever think you are too small to influence change on a global scale, just look at what Wales are doing.”

We were intrigued and excited to have the opportunity to chat with Sophie Howe, the first and only (for a period of time) ‘Future Generations Commissioner’ in the world!

Sophie was appointed Future Generations Commissioner for Wales in 2016. Wales has committed to 7 long-term wellbeing goals for future generations. This is all about a long term vision, preventing future problems, working collaboratively and involving citizens, (and importantly, it’s a legal obligation - rather than a pledge).

As Sophie advises… “It’s the law, you have to do it,” - and this is the difference, tangible accountability! As Sophie shares how the commitments have come into play and the practicalities of embedding them, she explains how Wales has committed to stop spending money in building roads which when taking a long-term view, is a public health intervention. 14-15% of emissions in the country come from transport, and by reducing emissions from road transport there are multiple future benefits triggered, from emissions reduction through to health and wellbeing and opportunities being opened up for investment in a better public transport system - all of which collectively benefit society now and in the future.

Sophie raises many important points and examples around the interconnectedness of the challenge we all face when it comes to building a more sustainable future and how we need to make those connections when building strategies, planning investment, timescales and resource; “By not taking a joined up approach, we’re completely missing opportunities - so, we need to be thinking about what we do, and how its going to affect both now and into the future, asking how does it make the biggest contribution to wellbeing.”

The Future Generation Goals have brought people together, its changed the conversation both for the public sector and the private sector, Sophie tells us how industries operating in Wales are coming to them to ask how they can be part of delivering against the wellbeing goals. This has had a positive impact on how business is planned and operates, from point of tender through to selection and delivery, providing more security and stability.

When it comes to communities it’s a bit more of a mixed bag, with views being divided (as you’d expect) depending on the impact to where people live. However, it is bringing politicians, businesses and communities together, awareness is growing, and the opportunity to educate is also increasing as people look to understand why decisions and actions are happening.

The heart of this conversation and the actions taking place in Wales clearly evidence that we are all responsible for our future, and as Sophie points out, “as much as we criticise our politicians, actually we as citizens are as much to blame because we often demand that they do short term things.”

Brave leadership, shared communication and participation is an absolute must.

We recommend everyone listens to this episode, it is a wonderful example of rising to the challenge of making meaningful yet challenging commitments and leading the way. By the end of it, we had our bags packed ready to move to Wales (well I did, Gemma is considering Costa Rica ;)).

 

For more information about The Future Generations ‘Acting today for a Better Tomorrow’ - see here: https://www.futuregenerations.wales/

And to stay connected to the great work Sophie is championing - her LinkedIn profile is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophie-howe-57a62186/

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

   

The challenge for the marketing team is, “needing to take what are serious and complex issues and convey them in a format that is easily understandable.”

Want to know how marketing can drive a “people powered movement for change?” THIS is the episode you don’t want to miss.

We jumped at the opportunity to talk to Jackie Marshall at Fairtrade an organisation with market leading levels of audience recall, awareness and engagement. One of the most trusted and recognised ethical labels out there today across a multitude of products we see as we do our weekly shop, from coffee to cocoa and wine to flowers. Coming up to their 30th anniversary, Fairtrade have always placed workers and farmers at the heart of their work using their platform to facilitate and amplify their voices fighting for their rights, land, health and future. Their transition to a new global branding called ‘The Future is Fair’ is, as Jackie tells us, “all about embedding the purpose of our work into the brand and moving to a more optimistic lens for the future and enabling a unified approach, which is really important given the increasing global connectedness of the challenges we are facing.”

Supply chains are a critical part of the value chain and they are facing increasing challenges and direct impacts from climate change, Jackie talks about how farmers have a wealth of knowledge in tackling climate change but increased heatwaves and drought, combined with strong rainfall and flooding is placing huge pressures on them, and when you add to that the fact that many don’t earn a living wage, (a cocoa farmer can earn as little as 74p per day), the work Fairtrade do is so needed in ensuring farmers are paid fairly and receive the Fairtrade Minimum Price which is consistent and enables them to not only live their daily lives, but to plan ahead and come up with solutions to keep their crops alive and thriving. You’ll have to tune in to hear some of the incredible ways they do this.

At Can Marketing Save the Plane we’re consistent about the significant role marketing plays in driving a more sustainable future and the importance of the words and language we use. Jackie explained how the marketing teams at Fairtrade’s biggest challenge is, “needing to take what are serious and complex issues and convey them in a format that is easily understandable.” You’ll hear how they wrap their messages into marketing activation which is relevant and motivating to their audience, and critically in a way which makes people care about something that they don’t see and that happens thousands of miles away. Now that is powerful marketing! Showing the impact of what buying Fairtrade products does, large campaigns, using research and insights from their audiences and shared activations are just some ways the marketing team meet their objectives, and their results speak for themselves.

Tune in to hear the details – SO MUCH value and learning that all Marketers can take from this.

We love Fairtrade and all the wonderful and important work they do, they and their marketing teams are a true exemplar in driving a “people powered movement for change”. This is sustainable marketing at its absolute best!

For more information about The Fairtrade Foundation…

Linked in - The Fairtrade Foundation 

Twitter- @FairtradeUK

URL - www.fairtrade.org.uk

And to connect with Jackie

Linked in - Jackie Marshall 

Twitter - @J_Marshall__

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

       

“Climate change isn’t a game that anybody wins – we either all win or we all lose and I’d much rather we all win”.

Where to start with an overview of this insightful, practical and hugely inspiring conversation. Simon Dawes, environmental professional for over 20 years and working in the field of sustainability for the last 13 years, is generous in sharing with us the practicalities of how a public sector organisation is transitioning to Net Zero - and inspiring, supporting and sharing knowledge and best practice with others along the way.

We discuss the commitment to net zero, and importantly, how the organisation has had to figure out exactly how to meet 2030 targets. Which in his own words has meant a ‘fundamental change to the way we think, act and make decisions in the business.’

The lion share of most organisations’ emissions lie in the supply-chain (Scope 3) - and so too with the Environment Agency, around 84% of their emissions. And Simon tells us how it is important that suppliers are also on the same net zero journey - and how for public sector for large contracts (any contract for over £5M), suppliers have to provide a carbon reduction plan and without that in place they won’t make it onto the tender list. This leads to discussion about how there is room for the Environment Agency to help and drive change in the supply chain.. “Delivering on our own footprint would be good – but if we can influence a whole lot of other companies to do the same, that’s even better.”

Diving deeper into the practicalities of the transition, we talk about how the Environment Agency has designed and rolled out Carbon Literacy. “We want everybody in the orgnaisation to understand that their job is actually a climate job they are helping us achieve net zero.” Simon shares how they planned, designed, communicated and rolled out Carbon Literacy training - starting with senior execs and how within a relatively short period of time, their voluntary programme has engaged 9300 of their 12,000 employees - and shares how this is changing the culture of everyone understanding the role they play - and the results they’re achieving. {They’ve also made the programme available to their suppliers - supporting their education, awareness and transitions too - and Simon chairs a climate action charity, where the Carbon Literacy programme is also being delivered, giving people the knowledge and language to work things through in their own minds and apply to their own worlds).

“Carbon Literacy is helping people to understand I can do something about this. I might not be working in the sustainability team – but I can do something.”  

We then dive into the Environment Agency’s approach to carbon budgets. Every director int he business owns a chunk of the emissions, and therefore owns the actions. He tells us ‘‘We’re very used to making decisions about finite amounts of cahs, so exactly the same principle applies with a finite amount of carbon. Can I afford this? Have I got enough cash? Can I afford this? Have I got enough carbon?”

The design of carbon budget has raised a whole new set of questions, can you overspend, do you borrow from next year or other divisions etc - and he shares how they have created frameworks and dashboards to help people understand that the decisions they make have carbon consequences as well as cash consequences.

We talk about where the ‘right’ marketing can really help with shifting mindsets to a different way of operating. The cultural change piece particularly around the business model. Encouraging different behaviours both internally and externally - moving away from take, make, dispose to circular models. Helping people to understand that there is huge value and kudos in circular and regenerative principles. And how marketing has an amazing role to play in making that socially cool rather than having a new shiny thing.  

Regardless of size or sector, there is so much packed into this conversation about decarbonisation, net zero road maps, employee engagement, supply chain engagement and the power of participative leadership, generosity and collaboration. And in our usual three questions Simon leaves us with the urgent and important reminder that… 

“There is no business on a dead planet.’

“Think slow, act fast.”

 

For more information about Simon Dawes - his LinkedIn profile is here .

And for more about The Carbon Literacy Trust - and the spotlight on the Environment Agency - see here .

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

Have you ever considered the carbon footprint of your email activity? 

Welcome to the first in our ‘greening your marketing activity’ mini-series!  Did you know that your digital activity has a carbon footprint? Are you aware that there are better choices you can make which mean your marketing activity is greener and more sustainable, without compromising on performance and quality? Well, that’s what we’ll be exploring in the next few episodes.

Every organisation will have to commit to decarbonisation targets, regardless of sector or size. When writing our latest book, research identified that behind R&D, marketing has the largest proportion of organisational budget. Therefore, Marketers need to consider their marketing carbon footprint if they are to align with and support their organisations’ sustainability agendas.

We wanted to kick this mini-series off with the second most used online channel in the world (after instant messaging) - email. Why, because we send a LOT of emails, over 300 BILLION emails a day and, as well as needing to develop better and more efficient and responsible practices when it comes to our email marketing activity, there is also the practicalities of the carbon footprint to consider. So, we spoke to James Gill, Founder of EcoSend a platform that delivers, ‘Better email campaigns. Fewer emissions.’

Join us on this episode as we talk to James about:

• The concept  of  digital  sustainability  and  how our online  activities  have  a  carbon  footprint.

• The importance of understanding your email activity and how you can improve it from both a performance and sustainability perspective.

• What goes on behind the email platforms you use.

• Improving your email behaviours and practices – professionally and personally.

• How to drive efficiencies.

• How EcoSend can make the platform switch as painless as possible.

This episode is packed full of insights and practical information which will get your brains whirling, so dive in and get your notebooks ready.

For more information about Ecosend - visit https://ecosend.io/

And to connect with James via LinkedIn - he’s here https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesjgill/

Another great episode… enjoy.

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

       

  Less than 10% of the FTSE100 mention sustainable pensions in their sustainable strategies.  

We have been supporting and following the work Make My Money Matter do for quite some time now, so we were thrilled to be joined by Holly McElhone to delve a little deeper into the trillions of pounds that are circulating everyday across investments and pensions and to learn more about what business and indeed individuals can do to drive positive change.

Switching to sustainable pension providers can have a massive impact on transitioning to a more sustainable future, but as Holly explains, ‘one of biggest barriers to more organisations getting on board is an awareness issue followed by apathy and the moving of investments being seen as a bit of a ‘hassle. However, greening your pension is TWENTY ONE times more impactful than going veggie, stopping flying and switching to a renewable energy provider’. It’s a no brainer!

Holly believes, “ESG isn’t an option, it’s not a nice to have, it should be across your whole portfolio and your default investment funds should be sustainable. As we look to transition, fossil fuels will become a stranded asset.”

During the conversation we explore how to communicate more effectively, Holly explains, ‘firstly, we need more choice, better communication and jargon needs to be removed to make way for more action’. Then there is a need to consider the different audiences we have, making the story relatable and using influential people to raise awareness. Holly talks about the campaigns Make My Money Matter have rolled out (see show notes for links), all designed to educate, raise awareness and encourage action through simplifying the message.

We also discuss how collaboration is critical to progress, with Make My Money Matter approaching and working with individuals, influential figures from their founder Richard Curtis, actor Emma Thompson through to climate leaders such as Christiana Figueres, and then Government focusing on policy and regulation.

This episode has something for everyone and if there is one message we ask our listeners to take, it’s go to Make My Money Matter’s website, find your pension fund (it takes a couple of clicks) and ask them in an email to make sure they are committed to Net Zero. Holly explains that currently the infrastructure can’t support a mass ‘switch’, the power begins with getting the providers onboard to ensure the infrastructure is in place as soon as possible. The investment figures you’ll hear are eye-watering!

Some action steps for listeners:

• Write to the CEOs of the Big Five UK high street banks and ask them to stop financing new oil, gas and coal projects – it’s just two clicks. https://makemymoneymatter.co.uk/openletter/

• Contact your pension provider and ask them to drive real climate action – it’s just two clicks. https://makemymoneymatter.co.uk/21x/

• Sign their petition calling on UK pension schemes to commit to tackling deforestationhttps://makemymoneymatter.co.uk/what-is-your-pension-paying-for/

 Make My Money Matter can’t give financial advice – however individuals who would like to make a more immediate change and switch can find some great guides over at Good with Money.

• Top 9 ethical funds - https://good-with-money.com/2023/05/12/top-9-ethical-pension-funds/#:~:text=Top%20performers%20with%20strong%20sustainable,the%20Pictet%20Multi%2DAsset%20Portfolio.

• You can also look to switch to a bank that doesn’t finance the fossil fuel industry – of which there are a select few already out there!

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

“Consistency of message is what builds trust and we’re going to need that come 2028 when we realise how badly we failed.”

Sam Taylor, grew up on the factory floor (literally). From her lived experience and passion, she has gone on to become founder of The Good Factory an organisation involved in everything from consulting, sourcing and development and lifecycle assessments in the sportswear industry. Sam talks about how whilst studying, she was told after delivering her final project that, she “didn’t understand the clothing industry”, - in reality, she was way ahead of everyone else and could see what was coming much earlier.

In this episode we dig into lifecycle assessments and why they are such an important part of the business process, and something marketers increasingly need to have a greater awareness and interest.

We talk about sustainability frameworks, why they need much more work, a more consistent approach and a massive dose of rigour around them, as well as the importance of bringing in localised information. Sam talks about controversy around the Higg Index, [rebranded May 16th to Worldly], a suite of tools developed by the Sustainable Apparel Coaltion (SAC) to help companies in the leather, footwear and apparel value chain measure sustainability, - and why some brands are ditching it…, she explains, “the reason they are removing consumer facing information is because it was found to be misleading, they couldn’t support the information with enough data, so had to go back to the drawing board and bring in more experts”. This is an all too common issue when it comes to sustainability data, but as you’ll hear, Sam is hopeful that the right data can support better practice.

We go on to discuss regulation and its role in making the landscape fair and comparable. Sam believes, “governments play a lot bigger part than the industry would like, and it will get bigger, and, “where it will become more enforced is through import laws, as opposed to being marketing based, around claims.” Talking more about regulation, we move on to talk about the lifecycle of products, an area where things have changed considerably, but why? And as Sam explains, “we (the brands) are determining the lifecycle.”

This episode covers a number of topics in the apparel industry - which of course are comparable and relevant to so many other industries; lifecycle assessments, carbon budgets and the creativeness surrounding them, data - what is and isn’t available and the realities of transparency.

Sam advises all marketers when presented with briefs, ideas, instruction and campaigns - to ask and to keep asking, “where does this fit into our sustainability strategy?”

A real eye opening conversation on so many levels and one we will certainly be delving into again with Sam in the future.

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and if you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

A sustainable creative agency on a journey to make positive change, we caught up with Rob Minto, managing director of The Onlii. Rob talks about his own journey into sustainability, how he was inspired by the B Corp movement and why he set up the Onlii.

Aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Rob discusses how these really helped to embed the environment and the bigger picture into the business strategy, he explains, “as part of the collective we went through a process of selecting some of the UN SDGS that we as a business would proactively target and that we could proactively influence”. He goes on to talk about how they work with those SDGs, and how every decision is done through an SDG lens, even going so far as to aligning them and embedding them into everyone’s personal objectives. Something that has been hugely inspiring and motivational.

Making The Onlii a ‘force for good’, Rob talks about how they are continuously learning all the time, and that sustainability is more than just a one off campaign, “we all need to be more aware and look at the whole picture”. In relation to clients, Rob acknowledges that there is a lot to do and that some clients may not be ready for a sustainability focus yet, but they are trying to edge them onto that journey. 

We talk about how there are still many challenges around business and marketing transformation in the sustainability space and why it’s more important than ever to continue asking big uncomfortable questions and coming up with solutions that ultimately drive things forward. As is the essence of our work, marketing and advertising has a huge role to play in positioning things differently, really considering its impact and very simply, doing what you say you’re going to do.

We all have a responsibility to do better and educate ourselves and Rob believes this needs to be led from the top. The appetite to change has got to improve otherwise as Rob explains, “those agencies and brands who don’t come on the journey will get left behind and won’t be here in 10 years”.

If you want a great example of how to truly embed sustainability into your business, motivate those around you and get people thinking differently, then tune in and have a listen. There are some brilliant ideas in this one! 

Since recording we noticed that all the team on The Onlii took our ‘100 Points Challenge’ - and they gave us some excellent feedback on how it’s inspired them to keep learning. A simple take away you can do for yourself - or indeed create as a team challenge. More on our 100 Points challenge here - and more on Rob and The Onlii here.

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and if you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

  “How can organisations treat people as citizens, not just as consumers? How can organisations invite people into their agency and creativity to shape the world and not just sell them stuff?”  

When Jon Alexander, author of the brilliant book ‘Citizens’ joined us on Can Marketing Save the Planet, we got straight into those questions! The subject story, the consumer story (where we are right now), and the citizen story, (the place we need to get to). Jon explained how we are currently trying to solve such disconnect from within the consumer story - “you just can’t solve an inequality crisis from a story of competition and status, or a story that says humans are separate from nature.” And, “What are we doing to ourselves when we constantly call ourselves consumers?”

The citizen story is all about taking ownership and getting involved, with everyone participating sharing their ideas, creativity and energy. And why is that so important, well because as Jon puts it, “all of us are smarter than any of us.”

We talk about the role marketing has played in the consumer story and what it will take to mobilise people in a different direction. Jon is a massive advocate for giving people space, ‘cognitive oxygen’ - and believes we can’t even begin to look at the role marketing plays until we stop and allow people to pause and think. He raises that perhaps we need to look at where marketing shouldn’t be in people’s lives, asking, “should there be a limit on advertising to children, and limits on outdoor advertising and product placement?” Jon thinks these kind of conversations are powerful and interesting, both for people and organisations, and we were in absolute agreement, these are the kind of conversations which bring about transformational thinking and change.

We delved into what the role of marketing might be in the citizen story. Jon believes the people in marketing can play a series of important roles, but people ‘need to be treated as participants in the process’, an area Marketers need to focus in on more. We raised questions such as ‘what happens when you give people a role and how do you collaborate and co-create to give people solutions that matter?’ We talked community, hearts and minds and the process of ‘respect, connect, reflect and only then direct’.

Jon shares story after story, packed with ideas, insights and stuff that not only motivates, but will make you smile. The idea of a future based on the Citizen story is one which fills us with hope and joy, and one where we can dare to imagine a fairer, better and more sustainable future.

There is so much to take in, so we’ll leave you to tune in and reflect.

For more on Jon and his work visit…https://www.jonalexander.net/

And the How to Citizen project he shared with us via Baratunde - see ‘How to Citizen’ here https://www.howtocitizen.com/

  “It doesn’t always come in through the marketing door, but marketing is where the greatest change can be driven.”  

In this episode of, Can Marketing Save the Planet we spoke to Andy Last, Executive Partner, Purpose and Sustainability from MullenLowe, an end-to-end communications and creative services agency. Part of the MullenLow Group, who believe, ‘purpose is nothing without progress’, and we couldn’t agree more. We are in the definitive decade and progress at scale and pace is needed now more than ever. 

We naturally discussed purpose, as sustainability continues to rise up the agenda and how purpose is misused and diluted, but also how it is often forgotten as organisations get swept away and distracted with so much going on and the need to focus on profit taking over. Andy explained, “if it stays in CSR and Corporate communication then it isn’t getting into the heart of the business, and that’s where the power comes from.”

The landscape is changing, innovation is changing, sentiment is changing and marketers need to be taking back the intelligence for strategic intent as this is where so much of the opportunity lies. Andy gave great examples such as Lifebuoy Soap (they invented the word BO) and how once their beliefs and actions were truly embedded into the heart of the brand and core purpose, gave way to brilliant innovations such as a liquid hand soap which turned green once children had washed their hands for more than 30 seconds. This connection back to their purpose which is to ‘make handwashing and sanitising a simple part of everyday routines.’ is what makes it real and measurable.

But, it’s not an easy path to navigate, Andy went on to talk about how “marketers have to understand the markets in which their products are operating is changing, and then to understand how to talk about them, but how to talk about them is becoming increasingly complex, because of accusations of greenwashing and legislation. And marketers have this difficult job of treading a path between these accusations of greenwashing, and not saying anything.”

We talked about who is doing well, and what drove those organisations to be the first movers. How brands have taken on social issues and knitted them into their business models with very clear benefits to both business and society.

Looking inwards, Andy also talked about the structural piece, and how important it is in order to make anything happen. There is a need for incentives, but ones which go beyond rewards, and are ‘part of the job’. We have to be educated and responsible, it’s in all of our roles to change the course we are on.

The theme of Marketers as changemakers continues… another great episode, with so many inspiring examples, grab a coffee and tune in!

And for more about MullowLowe - see here: https://www.mullenlowegroup.com/

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and if you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

“ The world doesn’t need what we do at the moment, we can’t continue the way we are. We need to adapt and look at long term need and deliver valuable solutions.”

Aligned with the latest IPCC report, the message is clear on so many levels that we can’t keep doing what we do and making minor tweaks - transformational and urgent action is what’s required, and that’s going to require a collaborative approach.

Timely indeed for Part 2 of our conversation with Paul Skinner, Author, Founder of MarketingKind and Agency of the Future, prior to Paul writing ‘The Purpose Upgrade - Change your business to save the world, Change the world to save your business’ - published another brilliant work, ‘Collaborative Advantage - How Collaboration Beats Competition as a Strategy for Success’. In this second part of the conversation, we explore Paul’s immense knowledge in this area, diving into competitive -v- collaborative advantage.

There’s so much packed into these two 30 minute episodes, if you missed Part 1 - then we urge you to tune in… and if you loved Part 1, then dive straight into Part 2 and continue to be inspired .

Follow Paul Skinner via LinkedIn

Join the MarketingKind Community (we highly recommend this for all Marketers)

Find out more about Paul’s books and work at Agency of the Future

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and if you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

“ We need to route purpose in solving important solutions, developing meaningful solutions and reaching inclusive worthwhile outcomes that mobilise everyone we need in pursuit of that purpose.”

Our interview with Paul Skinner, Author, Founder of MarketingKind and Agency of the Future, is just soooo good, we’re doing it twice! In Part 1, Paul introduces the work he’s doing - and we dive into his latest book, ‘The Purpose Upgrade - Change your business to save the world, Change the world to save your business’.

Paul shares so much wisdom, we talk about how the nature of the problems humanity faces have become increasingly serious and urgent. To tackle them we can’t remain shackled in fixed thinking - “actions that gave rise to prior success, are the very things leading to tomorrow’s failures”.

What’s called for is a Purpose Upgrade. And we explore, reasons why purpose has fallen short, what’s required to upgrade purpose, reflecting and thinking about the bigger problems we need to solve and what that’s really going to take.

There’s so much packed into these two 30 minute episodes, Paul shares his vast wisdom, in his usual eloquent manner. Gemma and I found ourselves just nodding away, because he just makes so much sense, and is able to articulate it with a narrative and so many examples and much lived experience that inspires one to get excited about getting on board with a purpose upgrade.

Paul reminds us that, “we want marketing to take responsibility for developing much bigger stories of meaning and purpose that take stakeholders to a much better place” - and that as marketers we need to remain mindful that regardless of how great the stories we tell may be, “what’s more important are the stories our stakeholders tell each other. As marketers there’s opportunity for us to curate the stories that bring positive change to all our stakeholders - so no only do we need to get better at story telling, but also, story listening, story finding, story tuning, story editing - and of course ensuring we truly live up to our stories”.

Trust us… start with your Purpose Upgrade today, tune in, be inspired (and then catch Part 2 in a couple of weeks).

Follow Paul Skinner via LinkedIn

Join the MarketingKind Community (we highly recommend this for all Marketers)

Find out more about Paul’s books and work at Agency of the Future

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and if you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

“Marketers need to get into the nitty gritty and learn about lifecyle assessments and how they are used, their limitations and their advantages, it might seem boring - but it’s really, really important.”

In this episode, we’re joined by Oliver-Bealby-Wright, Lead, Consumers in the Energy System who formerly led Consumers International’s GreenCommerce project in 2022 on improving consumer sustainability information. Consumers International is a membership body with over 200 members across 100 countries, dedicated to defending the rights of consumers.

Oliver shares their whole systems approach, working across critical areas - considering labelling, data, the information lifecyle alongside the product lifecycle, ecommerce and the digital environment, where digital nudging can support, but also considering the risk, greenwashing and misleading claims and the role of retailers and consumers.

We cover A LOT, and Oliver shares a very comprehensive overview of the scale of the challenges, but also the scale of the opportunity.

“Marketing has a big role to play in making information ‘sing’. “

All the time we bring the context back to marketing and communication, and Oliver is clear that marketing has a big part to play - but that there aren’t really any short cuts when it comes to transparency, substantiation and understanding regulation and where principles and policies are justified and where they are not. “it’s about education and upskilling - there are no short cuts.” And we couldn’t agree more.

Oliver shares that sustainable consumption is a basic right of consumers and of course, whilst consumers have an important role to play towards a fair and accountable transition to net zero, so too do retailers and so we discuss their role as gatekeepers, the challenge of compliance by design and the risks and opportunity of ecommerce, micro-targeting and personalised messaging.

When it comes to collaboration, there’s a need for many bodies and actors to be working cohesively to not only create coherent policies - but then to be translated into practice, no simple task given there is just so much room for interpretation. And that leads us to data, innovation and unusual partnerships.

“More transparency alone is not going to get us there – it’s not going to close the intention action gap, which is even more true in online shopping environments than in person. Some folks are doing interesting things, layering information in the online environment, simplifying choices along the consumer journey to avoid information overload - because when things become too complex or there’s just too much to navigate through, people switch off . And if they switch off, they’re never going to reach the important and useful information that matters.”

Trust us… there’s just so much wisdom and so many takeaways in this conversation.

Listen in for yourself, tell us what you think… share your viewpoints. We love to hear what’s landed for you - or what you agree with, disagree with.

Useful links:

If you want to get involved in the UN One Planet Network programme Oliver mentions - see here: https://www.unep.org/explore-topics/resource-efficiency/what-we-do/one-planet-network

For more about Consumers International - visit https://www.consumersinternational.org/

Connect with Oliver Bealby-Wright - https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliver-bealby-wright-56645b15a/

Finally, since recording CI published a few reports during the World Economic Forum - see below

• The State of Sustainability Information which assesses the critical trends and trade-offs in sustainability information provision and emerging policy solutions

• Action Agenda: Informing sustainable consumer choices in e-commerce which provides three strategic, collaborative actions for e-commerce platforms to improve the product sustainability information on their sites

• Policy Action Framework: Improving Product Sustainability Information in E-Commerce which provides a suite of cross-cutting actions for governments

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and if you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

“The best companies look at their ESG disclosures as a type of social contract to tell the world, why they are here, what they are trying to achieve as a business, why the world is arguably a better place because they are here. ESG disclosure is an opportunity for an organisation to show how it is creating value - financial value and non-financial value.”

It was an absolute privilege to have some time talking all things ESG with Professor Ioannis Ioannou from London Business School. Ioannis through his work and research is a leading academic, consultant and leading expert around ESG integration.

As the title outlines, Ioannis explained why integrating ESG is not a reporting challenge but a strategic challenge. We kick off talking about changing demands, expectations, preferences of key stakeholders - employees, customers, social movements, activists, investors - the requirement for more accountability and transparency - and how these are all major disruptions for businesses.

“There is a global cost correction embedded in ESG - and it’s time to pay the bill”.

What’s clear is that the ESG journey and related organisational change is far from linear and simple. What were once thought of as challenges that governments were going to take care of have fast become core business issues. As businesses are getting to grips with how they organise themselves, there needs to be room for experimentation and vulnerability.

Ioannis tells us that… ‘It’s hard to identify an audience that wouldn’t care what you’re doing about ESG these days’ and talks about ESG being a catalyst in three critical areas:

• Operational excellence - efficiencies

• Strategic excellence - future proofing the organisation

• Cultural excellence - aligning purpose, innovation, employee engagement

We talk about the importance of authentic communication and an interesting take on the ‘silver lining’ of greenwashing. And he’s clear that… “You cannot fake your way towards caring about the world.”

Gemma and I were keen to unpack ESG to get clarity about where we are with it right now, is it enough and where it’s heading. And of course, the role of communication - and how organisations bring their ESG to life to connect with key stakeholders in a meaningful way that connects and engages.

This is an informative and useful discussion and Ioannis shares his depth of knowledge and expertise and does an absolutely brilliant job of making an extremely complex and fast moving topic highly understandable and relatable.

“ESG is very fast moving, with proposals on the table to mandate it - ESG rating and rankings are trying to capture a moving target”.

Since recording the ISSB have advised that sustainability reporting alongside financial reporting is likely to be mandatory in 2024. (Link below). And we’ve shared a number of links to articles that have chimed with us and helped us navigate our thinking.

It’s just filled with ESG gold - go listen.

For more about Ioannis Ioannou - you will find his LBS profile, his personal website and he’s also very active on Twitter:

https://www.london.edu/faculty-and-research/faculty-profiles/i/ioannou-i

http://ioannou.us/

https://twitter.com/iioannoulbs

Additional article links:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/international-sustainability-standards-board-issb-upcoming-conal-love/

https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/corporate-documents/strategy-positive-change-our-esg-priorities

https://www.edie.net/from-nature-restoration-to-social-equity-provision-seven-big-esg-trends-to-look-out-for-in-2023/?

https://impactentrepreneur.com/esg-or-sustainability-you-choose

https://plana.earth/academy/why-esg-important-companies-investors

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/climate-business-would-esg-aligned-thinking-help-wave-jordanova/

Enjoy and learn… yet again… we certainly did. #neverstoplearning

 

“Incremental change isn’t going to work. It's time to move now from shallow small change to systemic change at speed.”

What a way to kick off conversations with marketing pros for 2023 with not one, but three courageous pacesetters leading the way and shaking things up and shining a light on the necessary change required in the advertising industry.

Lisa Merrick Lawless, Rob McFaul and Jonathan Wise, Co-Founders of Purpose Disruptors, an organisation and movement challenging the ad industry to move towards being in service of a thriving future for all.

Diving into latest updates from their advertised emissions research they showcase how in 2019 advertised emissions equated to 186M tonnes and how in 2022, their recent research has seen an 11% increase in advertised emissions in UK… “The more advertising there is, the more sales, the more advertised emissions.”

Findings show that all sectors however, are not equal when it comes to advertised emissions. For example, the automotive industry at only 6% ad spend, actually drives 30% of advertised emissions. Other carbon intensive categories include flying and red meat. The share the idea and radical invitation for the ad industry to come together to ask the government to ban advertising for these carbon intensive industries.

“Can we accept that change requires us to stop things. If the industry can come to terms with that, then we have a great opportunity to let new possibilities come through.”

From our conversation a year ago we revisit progress with regards to their Good Life citizen research and it’s exciting to hear more about their campaign around exploring what 2030 could look like, The Future 2030 campaigns and how they’re exploring business models that require transformational Horizon Three Thinking.

Trust us there is so much wisdom and so many practical insights in this conversation. Far too many to summarise here in the show notes - so our advice is - tune in, you’ll be so glad you did - we guarantee you’ll have questions, feel challenged (in a good way) and be totally inspired to take action.

For more about Purpose Disruptors, their research, meet ups and invitations to get involved visit www.purposedisruptors.org. And for more about The Good Life visit www.goodlife2030.earth

Enjoy and learn… we certainly did .

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and if you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

Every other breath you take comes from the ocean …

How much thought do you give to the products you use to clean your home? We recently took a metaphorical deep dive with Amanda Horn into her love of the ocean as part of World Ocean Day and Ocean Week (in Canada), and how important the ocean and water is to our lives. Following our chat with Amanda, we then we explored toxic free circularity with Paul Arellano Foulkes.

In this episode, we continue the theme of caring for our oceans, speaking with Adam Parker over at OceanSaver, a brand on an incredible mission to “save Ocean life from the plastic pollution and harmful chemicals in 28 billion plastic cleaning products created every year.”

OceanSaver make plastic-free, plant based cleaning products, and as customers, we can vouch for how good they are!

Adam talks about the big picture, how the ocean itself is drowning from overfishing, plastic pollution and harmful chemicals. We discuss the need for solutions and products which do less / no harm and the need and role for us (Marketers), especially those working in the FMCG space, to think about the responsibilities we have and the stories we tell.

Adam shares his experience, the approach they take at OceanSaver and the journey they are on to keep making ecofriendly cleaning products accessible, affordable and a no brainer choice for consumers. They also donate 1% of profit for ocean conversation!

We love how innovative, creative and vibrant OceanSaver is, so be sure to tune in and, get them on your shopping list, you won’t be disappointed. Kind to wallet and the ocean - and very effective.

Tune in to hear us talk with Adam about:

• How we need to reconnect people with the ocean and keep educating folks on how incredibly important it is to us

• How to make better product choices more accessible

• Working with the grain of human psychology and behaviour

• Letting people on auto pilot make more sustainable choices

• Showing that sustainable choices are affordable and that people are looking for them

• The critical role of retailers

• What Marketers can be doing to support the business case for change

For more information about Oceansaver - visit https://www.ocean-saver.com

View their latest, fun and informative ad - meet Gareth… and enjoy the sea shanty

And to connect with Adam via LinkedIn - it’s here…

Another great episode… enjoy.

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

     

“Sustainability is making marketing exciting again…”

Gemma and I are used to asking the questions on our Can Marketing Save the Planet podcast - but in this episode, we were interviewed for a live ‘MarketingKind Digital Fireside’ session hosted by Caroline Taylor, sustainable marketing trailblazer and former CMO at IBM - together with the wonderful founders of Marketing Kind and a great bunch of marketers.

For those of you that don’t know about MarketingKind… it’s a community of business leaders, marketers and change-makers who come together to make marketing mean more.

You’ll hear us talk about why we wrote our book, what we’ve learned over the past couple of years as our work and worlds have become more embodied in driving education and awareness and necessary change within the marketing profession. What’s surprised us, disheartened us, encouraged us, what we’re teaching, how, where, why - and what’s to come.

It was fun being on this side of the interview for a change - and there was lots to glean from everyone involved in this juicy conversation.

Tune in - enjoy. And for more… be sure to follow, subscribe to our Can Marketing Save the Planet podcast, check out our site and stay connected here.

To find out more and join the MarketingKind community - more info here:

A great way to kick off our 2023 podcast - and needless to say, we’ve got plenty more fantastic guests coming up…

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and if you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

  “If you double your marketing budget, you don’t necessarily get double the sales because of diminishing returns, but when it comes to carbon emissions, doubling your budget, may not just double but quadruple your CO2 emissions. As marketers we need to understand the impact of our plans and activities and consider a new set of priorities and KPIs.”  

And we couldn’t agree more…

As you’ll hear in this podcast interview with Jo Young, Managing Director at Unifida, Gemma and I were keen to find out more about how their data and carbon counter is helping marketers to green their marketing by understanding the carbon impact of their planned activities.

Whenever we talk about and teach Sustainable Marketing, Gemma and I always revisit the key fact that as marketers, our objectives are aligned with organisational objectives - and so when organisations are setting decarbonisation targets, it’s critical that marketers understand the responsible role they play in supporting those targets. Marketers are often managing some of the largest budgets within an organisation, and so in that endeavour, not only do we need to be considering traditional ROI, but also considering how we drive positive commercial impact to the business, whilst ensuring we’re working within the boundaries of those wider organisational targets to ensure we don’t blow the decarbonisation budget.

In order to do that efficiently, we have to understand where we are and understand the carbon impact of the activities we have done and are planning - this then enables us to make informed choices, consider priorities and drives creativity and innovation in where, when, what and how we market and communicate. And this is exactly where Unifida’s Carbon Counter steps in.

Jo shares with us the practicalities of their carbon counter, the research and scrutiny that’s gone into validating the resource, how it works, what it measures (above and below the line) - and shares insights with us about how marketers are starting to measure the carbon impact of marketing activities to better understand the levers they need to pull to do a better job in supporting wider organisational targets.

Jo talks about the third dimension… ‘marketers need to consider cost of sale, sales and now carbon emissions’.

If getting your head around how to green your marketing activity (and as you’ll hear from Jo, it’s an increasingly sought after endeavour), then tune in, take a listen to what’s possible via the tool, and explore some of the data findings Jo and her team share on their site.

For more information visit https://unifida.co.uk/ - and to connect with Jo - her LinkedIn profile is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joyoung2/

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and if you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

 

Do you ask yourself as a marketer, “with all the decisions I took today, did I accelerate the transition to net zero, or slow it down? If the conclusion at the end of the day is that you slowed it down - well you really don’t want to be there. Accelerating the transition is where marketers need to be.”

Wim advises that all marketers should ‘put the planet in the room’ - literally. Tune in to the third question we ask all guests in our round up - as to how this action changes everything.

It’s a fantastic discussion - with loads of takeaways… we talk science, language, communication and more with Wim Vermeulen, Director of Strategy and Sustainability at Bubka, and author of ‘Speak up Now! Marketing in Times of Climate Crisis’. A book Wim felt he had to write so he could share all his learnings through the work he’s been doing with the University of Ghent around when and how climate communication is successful and when it’s not.

From his research across a range of sectors reviewing the language and impact of sustainability focused storylines and campaigns - the findings show that there’s a huge credibility gap in every sector - only 9.7% of sustainable campaigns are actually credible. The fact that over 90% of people don’t believe sustainability storylines led the research team to dissect what actually does drive credibility. Wim shares 5 key drivers - and you really don’t want to miss what he has to say around these. As they are critical drivers for marketers to consider with every brief or project.

Wim highlights the need to not only look at ‘supply side’, but equally urgent, the ‘demand side’, and how a conversation he had with IPCC lead author Prof. Dr. Felix Creutzig explained the need for, ‘social norming of sustainable consumption, and the global reductions that can bring.’ Addressing the ‘demand side’ is something that cannot be ignored, but as Wim explained, “in 2021, in Europe, 48% of products launched were climate friendly, but then, if you look a pricing across industries and products, the average premium for a climate friendly product is 75-85%, so that’s now a choice.” Wim goes on to explain that, “Bain calculated the average cost to decarbonise a product was less than 5% of the total cost on average”. This goes against the objective of changing behaviours as once again price becomes the default reason for purchase, demand isn’t being created for climate friendly products in the way that it should be and, profit is being placed over planet and people.

Sometimes as marketers, our need to call something by a different name to make it stand out, or more impactful can actually do more harm than good, and when the need for everyone to move in the same direction is so critical, we cannot afford there to be confusion, as it slows progress.

“We need to stop inventing terms. Everything has been defined by scientists. Trust the science. There are 10 key terms - defined by climate scientists, that’s the Bible - use it!”

There is so much in this episode as Wim talks through some examples of organisations who are leading the way, leadership and once again the role of marketing and communications is highlighted as critical in moving us towards a more sustainable future. So, tune in and have a listen!!

For more about Wim’s work, books, research and documentaries visit https://www.wimvermeulen.com/

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and if you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

“Marketers have the largest job of the lives ahead of them. They have got to drive systemic behaviour change and move us collectively from this linear extractive wasteful, entirely unsustainable model of consumption, that our whole economy and economics is currently based on, and move people over to the sustainable circular economy.”

Summarising the conversation we had with Tessa is a bit of a challenge, simply because in such a short space of time, we covered sooooo much.

Food waste is one of the largest problems facing humanity today – the statistics are startling. Globally a third of all food we produce - that’s over a trillion US$ of food is being thrown away every year.  If food waste was a country it would be the 3rd largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Clearly the environmental impact is devastating - landmass, manufacturing, packaging, distribution, refridgeration, landfill emitting deadly levels of methan etc etc. But there’s equally a moral and social problem around food waste - particularly at a time where, in the UK, and around the globe we’re in the grips of a cost of living crisis, with families struggling to put food on the table.

Olio is focused on one very specific part of the enormous problem –and for the UK, it’s the largest problem. 50% of food waste in the UK is from food waste in the home, whilst only 2% at retail store level - so there’s much to do about educating people - but also providing people with a simple and effective solution to connect with local people and share and redistribute what would otherwise go to waste. And Olio steps into this role just perfectly.

Tessa shares the latest research from Olio - showcasing that not only do people feel good to know that something has gone on to have a new life or second life with someone else - they also found that sharing creates connection, improving mental health and strengthens local communities. “Taking care of each other and supporting one another is an important part of being human”.

Olio takes the best of tech and melds it with the best of humanity. (And we can personally vouch that it works, as users of the app for a while now - it’s simple and yes you do feel good about getting involved in redistributing ‘stuff’).

And Olio doesn’t just work on a personal level, there’s a B2B component too - working with over 60,000 trained volunteers across the country and local retail stores to redistribute what would become food waste into the local community. It’s a win - win - win.

There’s no doubt that you’ll love this entire conversation - and Tessa’s answers to our timeless 3 questions are GOLD. Our call to action to you is listen and try the app yourself visit https://olioex.com/ it truly is a game changer - (and it’s not just about food - as you’ll hear - you can share and redistribute anything you no longer need).

Huge thanks to Tessa for coming on the show and sharing her wisdom and her important work and impact. Something we can all be a part of. Go do it.

Rescue and redistribute here: https://olioex.com/

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and if you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

     

“How are we (marketers) going to tell a true story about climate and our impact on the climate, so that we can change the systems in our lives, so that we tread more resiliently on the earth, and are more proud of what we are doing, and as a byproduct, build better communities with more equity and fairness?"

A question we explore in-depth with the marketing legend, Seth Godin.

It was an absolute pleasure talking to Seth, who really needs no introduction - entrepreneur, writer and one of the world's most famous bloggers and thinkers and more recently, coordinator and champion of 'The Carbon Almanac', a project he describes, "as the most important of his career".

This conversation as you would expect is full of insight, open and honest opinion and one which left us smiling. We talk about his latest project, 'The Carbon Almanac', an incredible book created by 300 people in 41 countries as part of a volunteer based project. “It’s a source of reliable and easily understandable knowledge on climate change…that you can share to create meaningful impact.” We talk about how the project was pulled together and Seth explains, that when it come to climate change, "we need to talk about it before we can do something about, but we can't talk about it if we don't understand it'. And we couldn’t agree more - education and awareness offer the essential spark to ignite action.

You’ll hear us unpack the 'tyranny of convenience' and talk climate shaming as well as delving into culture and community. And, we couldn't have a conversation with Seth without discussing the big question - ‘What is marketing?’

Seth asks some big questions such as "how are we (marketers) going to tell a true story about climate and our impact on the climate, so that we can change the systems in our lives, so that we tread more resiliently on the earth, and are more proud of what we are doing, and as a byproduct, build better communities with more equity and fairness?" And, as marketers, "how do you award status and affiliation to people who are working with you to change the system?" - Mind blown!

There is so much knowledge and wisdom packed into this episode, you just need to go and listen....we know you'll enjoy it as much as we did.

Huge thanks to Seth for his time and insights. Yet again, we learned so much - enjoy listening, tell us what you think - and reflect on what action it’s inspired you to take.

More about The Carbon Almanac Project here - https://thecarbonalmanac.org/ and of course for Seth’s blog and words of wisdom https://www.sethgodin.com/

  “Advertising can be important as it can make new ideas win and kick out old ideas – but campaigns aren’t trying to kick anything out – they’re just saying, you can have us as well. Where are the train campaigns that are aggressively going after the airliners, where are the co-owned car services that are aggressively going after the SUVs?”  

Needless to say, we loved this conversation. We hear how the ‘do it yourself’ punk ethos led Gustav from founding a punk band to a successful award winning digital advertising agency with offices in Stockholm, Gothenberg and San Francisco.

Gustav tells us how he was fast becoming disillusioned with some of the campaigns he was working on - (broken hearted in some cases) - with assignments becoming less playful and far more commercial. “The internet was moving from being a distributed democratic playground into a cloud controlled user experience owned by a few players - giving them control over creativity and messaging - and that felt a bit scary and weird - and not the environment I really loved.”

This shift coincided with the release of Al Gore’s ‘An Inconvenient Truth’. And Gustav tells us that at that time, he saw CO2 reduction as an opportunity, not a threat. “Change felt like a good thing - I had no idea we wouldn’t embrace it - why wouldn’t we use this opportunity to create a better life.”

We hear about Gustav’s move from agency life to Greenpeace - the fossil fuel ad ban campaigns, the creative inspiration behind handing back his ‘Lion’ at the 2022 Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity and how that action struck an emotional chord with the industry, making headline news across ad land.

There’s a lot covered in our conversation beyond activism and we discuss the fundamental role of advertising and marketing - how people don’t understand how marketing works, how advertising changes behaviours, creating unnecessary desires and culture change to align with business models that are wrecking the planet, but with a focus on driving more profit.

Gustav shares examples of creative work and business remodelling concepts he championed - one example of how in 2007 he built the digital infrastructure for Scandinavian Airlines to become a ‘travel and meeting’ business - including CO2 reduction via train travel and online meetings. And how 2 years later the project was discontinued to refocus on short term profit.

“I got so many briefs that just made me want to puke - and I knew it was just going to get worse. I realised that unless we disrupt this from the outside, nothing is going to change. I had the privilege to do that - if you have the privilege to get out and disrupt from the outside, you should.”  

We discuss society, a simpler life, less focus on consumption, more focus on living, connecting, being. As Gustav shares…

“You need to change your lifestyle and it needs to be changed on a system level.”

Huge thanks to Gustav for his time and insights. Yet again, we learned so much - enjoy listening, tell us what you think.

Feeling challenged, motivated and ready to disrupt from the outside? Let us know.

More information about Greenpeace, the wonderful work they do and how you can support here.

You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and if you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

“The fossil fuel industry is an industry in decline - being outcompeted by better technologies. The narrative we’re fighting against is that solving climate change is a sacrifice. We cannot afford not to have the best marketers around the world world focused on exactly this.”

A truly informative episode where we talk with Zach Stein, Co Founder of The Carbon Collective about the realities of sustainable investment - from a personal perspective.

Zach shares so many insights, backed up with real-world examples. What’s clear is that aligned with changing behaviour, we need to change the ingrained narratives around climate change - namely being, it’s not a sacrifice, but indeed an incredible opportunity - providing exciting opportunity for innovation and doing things differently. “The world isn’t going to up give air conditioning - we need to find ways to still have the lifestyles we have, but in a way that is not threatening to our climate.”

We talk about how when we change the narrative, it can have a dramatic impact. He shares data about the US coal index and how over the period from 2011-2022 it fell 99%. This wasn’t because we stopped using coal – but because the narrative around coal changed. Coal no longer has a long term future – the narrative has switched to coal fundamentally being an industry in decline. Leading to divestment in the fossil fuel industry and investment into smarter technologies.

Of course with profits at an all time high, it’s unlikely any fossil fuel industry isn’t going to continue making hay whilst the sun shines - Zach states that these companies have queues of customers coming out of their offices and all around many blocks. So the key isn’t to try and get the fossil fuel industry to change, which is unlikely to happen - but instead - to get to the people in the queues and make them aware that there is a better way, more financially viable, better for their personal environment, cleaner air etc - and of course, better for the planet.

“As you’re weighing up which personal actions you should take – look at the big pieces of your life, the gears that run your life in the background – the big weighty decisions – green your investments, move your money, move your energy – the good news is, once it’s done, it’s done.”

Latest research from Make your Money Matter reveals that the carbon footprint of FTSE100 pensions is 7 times higher than the total reported emissions of those companies! Yes, that’s right – the emissions financed by company pensions is 7x higher than the emissions produced by those businesses. And with £20BN invested in company pensions annually, as Zach states, instead of being invested in fossil fuels that money could be invested in things like clean technology and renewable energy instead. And that starts with you.

Take action, read more via Make your Money Matter here

Meanwhile, I’m sure you’ll enjoy the podcast, motivating, action focused and filled with lots of practical advice and direction.

More information about The Carbon Collective and Zach Stein here.

You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and if you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

“As an industry we can go from seriously being part of the problem to leading the solution. We’re the final piece of the machine slotting into the climate movement, speeding up solutions. But we cannot be doing that whilst we’re also serving the destruction. We can’t do both. And that tension is growing every day.”

When we heard Solitaire’s Ted Talk, ‘Are ad agencies, PR firms and lobbyists destroying the climate?’ (which has almost 1.8million views), we were keen to pick her brains and share her wisdom.

Co-founder and Chief Solutionist at Futerra, (a title she switched from CEO to in line with her mission to be part of the solution), Solitaire has been championing sustainability in advertising and marketing since 2001. So we were thrilled when she accepted our invitation to have a chat about Industry X, climate change, brainprint, her story and impact so far, climate science, Race to Net Zero and her predictions and projections.

In this podcast there’s a lot we unpack - Solitaire is very clear that marketing, advertising and communications has indeed been a part of the problem - and now we have a significant opportunity to lead the transition. And we explore the practicalities of what that looks like.

As well as being a highly creative and successful business woman, Solitaire is also a self confessed climate geek. Her position in understanding the climate science alongside a deep awareness of the industry has led her to sit on many key advisory bodies.

Solitaire clearly explains the United Nations backed, Race to Zero initiative, how businesses can join the race to climate change, pledging carbon reduction commitments, in the same way countries have done via The Paris Agreement. This leads us to talk about the scopes of the carbon responsibility - and we touch on Scope 1, 2 and 3. Scope 3 being the one including the entire value chain - encompassing Brainprint. We go on to talk client disclosure reporting and transparency - and potential levels of discomfort some businesses have in revealing those. We also discuss the practicalities of carbon reduction - carbon impact calculations, offsetting, insetting, carbon removals and destruction. Like we said… there’s a lot we cover.

It’s a wonderful conversation - and Solitaire brings that wonderful balance of understanding both the industry and the science. One thing Solitaire is absolutely clear on…

“Marketing, communications and creativity is one of the industries that is going to make the transition to a low carbon economy faster and more efficient. All we have to do it change our minds!”

And you’ll love the closing quick fire 3 questions and answers.

Solitaire’s Ted Talk is here: Visit Futerra. Great article here too:

You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and if you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

“Everything is completely interconnected - we’re not separate from nature, we are nature.”

It’s fair to say that Gemma and I were on a bit of a downer on the day we interviewed Rob Harrison-Plastow - Co-Founder of Time Agency, writer, and author of work in progress and soon to be published, ‘How to Be Happy at the End of the World.’ As you’ll hear, by the end of our conversation with Rob, whilst we discussed some of the pretty harsh realities of climate change, the challenges of the social constructs we’ve been born into, the pain, anxiety, lack of control, sense of being hoodwinked and of course… the fear we face personally and collectively in increasingly difficult times - we came away from the conversation, empowered, uplifted, invigorated, and most definitely hopeful. And our hope is that you will too.

We were introduced to Rob when tuning in to a podcast interview he did with Climate Scientist, Professor Tim Lenton ‘The End of Civilisation?’ (linked below). We explore some of Rob’s key takeaways from that interview, - including three different outcomes to the end of civilisation as we know it, and James Lovelock’s ‘Gaia Theory’ (now rebranded as ‘Earth Systems Science’) - effectively seeing the world as one interconnected, self-regulated system that we are all apart of.

Of course as marketers we talk about the role we play - the power of storytelling, and how we now need to tell new stories - stories that actually encourage us to reflect, think about what is truly going on and what truly serves us.

Without sugar coating the realities we face, Rob calmly, convincingly and eloquently shares advice and many practical antidotes to ‘eco-anxiety’ - reminding us all of the power of self, community and that we do have control, that we’re not mad, or on our own - but living through and are part of a significant paradigm shift. And whilst it can seem painful and difficult, it’s all part of expansion and shifting.

Our hope is that this podcast inspires and brightens your soul as much as it did ours. It’s one we’ll revisit time and time again. Enjoy…

You can find more information about Rob and the work he’s involved with here. And his Tim Lenton interview ‘The End of Civilisation?’ is here.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

“If people are aware… they can make a conscious choice.” 

When enjoying a delicious chocolate treat, like most, it’s unlikely you’ve pondered where the cocoa comes from, whether farmers have been paid fairly, or whether production is fuelled by child labour and modern slavery. The reality is that 1.6M children are working illegally on chocolate farms in Africa - and a minimum of 30,000 are kept as modern slaves. Sobering statistics that broadly haven’t changed that much over decades, and even centuries.

The good news is, Tony’s Chocolonely exists to change this.

In this podcast, Ben Greensmith, Lord Chocolonely III and UK and Ireland Country Manager for Tony’s Chocolonely, takes us back to 2003 and walks us through the inspiring backstory of how a curious and incensed journalist prosecuting himself in court led him to courageously take on the chocolate industry - building a brand and movement, that has become a leading exemplar of how chocolate can be produced ethically, sustainably and still profitably.

We discuss the crucial role business plays in solving some of the major issues we face as a society - and the role of marketing, particularly when it comes to consumer awareness. As Ben shares… “If people are aware…they can make a conscious choice’.

We also discuss levels of transparency across the industry - and how there are just too many empty promises and self-accreditations that are simply ‘greenwash’ - duping people into thinking they’re making better choices.

A key challenge is that there is currently no legislation around accountability and responsibility around traceability of where cocoa comes from. Ben shares how Tony’s have created a solution, their ‘5 Sourcing Principles’, a solution that they’re keen to help anyone copy.

Ben agrees fully with our sentiment that as marketers we need to be aware of the landscape we operate in and encourages marketers to be curious about the work they’re doing and supporting, encouraging marketers to do research, ask question - as he shares…

“In 40 years time, I want to be able to look back and be proud that I used my time and what I’m good at to make a difference.”

He also reminds us all not to forget just how powerful we are - every penny we spend and who we spend it with is a vote for how we want the future to be.

"Don’t think you’re too small to make a difference.”

This is truly eye-opening, inspirational and grounding discussion. Tune in… you’ll love it, probably as much as we love their chocolate. Yum ;)

More information about the wonderful work, products and movement here: https://tonyschocolonely.com/uk/en

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

Degrowth equals greater profits – and big disruptions are coming…

In this episode we got to talk to the brilliant Paul Folkes Arellano about circularity, and not just circularity, but toxic free circularity. Paul shares his knowledge, insights and experience in a space which plays a significant role in sustainability, business and societal behaviours.

Paul share with us how he got into the toxic free circularity space, and shares so many examples of organisations who are doing great things with circularity, and also how collaboration and partnerships are critical to building the business case and turning circularity into meaningful business solutions that can scale.

We talked about the need for Marketers to get involved, to get to grips with and understand their product lifecycle assessments by spending time with their R&D teams, and as Paul says it, “sticking your hands in the compost”. A critical part that brings with it a wealth of stories.

Paul also talks about degrowth and the fact that degrowth equals greater profits. Circularity drives efficiencies, greater loyalty, less waste and, there is also huge amounts of capital to be gained from waste. This episode left us feeling uplifted and full of motivation and confirmed, once again, why we are such big advocates for circularity.

Join us on this episode as we talk to Paul about:

• The circular economy and toxic free circularity.

• The opportunities and the business case for circularity.

• Why Marketers should be spending time in R&D labs to truly understand their products

• The great work being done in circularity and why full product life cycle assessments are imperative for marketers to be part of.

• The need for more good stories to be shared.

• The future of sustainability and circularity and long-term planning.

For more information about Paul’s work visit Circuthon Consulting.

And follow his insights and great conversations via LinkedIn too.

A great episode… enjoy.

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

“If you didn’t have a marketing budget but you still had the same KPIs what would you do?” 

Great question… and one we explore further with founders of the Sustainable Marketing Compass, Alexis Eyre and Paul Randle.

We learn how the question… ‘Daddy is your job good for the environment?’ - led Paul to join the 8 week Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership course, where he met fellow marketer, Alexis Eyre. Determined to be part of the solution, rather than the problem, they recognised that marketing has a lot to add when it comes to behaviour change and using its skills, creativity and influence as a force for good. They also recognised that many of the traditional marketing tools and frameworks focus purely on commercial performance, and no consideration for environmental and societal performance - and so set out to bridge that vital gap with the development of their Sustainable Marketing Compass, a strategic framework that supports marketers step-by-step to reframe, rethink and reorientate marketing - driving creativity and innovation back into the heart of marketing.

There’s so much good stuff covered in this episode - it’s bursting with insight, enthusiasm, passion and useful takeaways. We talk about the parallels of digital transformation, about brand and disconnection, what marketing was, has become and what sustainable marketing is and most certainly isn’t.

There are some great examples shared around how marketers and brands are already rethinking their approach - getting out of treading water in the sea of sameness of performance or activated marketing, and instead or alongside, building solutions and services that truly consider the needs and painpoints of audiences, whilst differentiating and innovating.

We also touch on the impact of ‘brainprint’ - and how brands and marketers, need to consider the end to end societal and environmental impact of their campaigns and messaging - and how new benchmarks and measures of success need to be ingrained for healthier outcomes all round. Leading us to a key point of how sustainable marketing isn’t about marketing a sustainable message, but rather embedding sustainability into every single marketing decision and impact.

As the smart duo shares…

“It’s going to take radical transformation to make sustainable marketing work… start thinking properly transformational and properly innovative.”

It’s challenging but exciting times for marketers for sure - tune into this wonderfully insightful conversation… lots to learn - and be sure to go check out their Sustainable Marketing Compass to get started with your strategic planning. (You’ll find this in our Learning Zone too).

More information about Alexis and Paul and their Sustainable Marketing Company here: https://www.sustainablemarketingcompass.com/

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

“If we chase perfection… we’ll lose.” 

Amongst the 455 (and some) eco labels and sparkling greenwash, how’s a person to figure out which products and brands they can truly have confidence in when wanting to make more sustainable and ethical choices in their shopping trolleys?  What can we trust? What can we understand?

When rushing round the supermarket aisles are we realistically going to scan QR codes and visit websites for the latest carbon calculations? Unlikely…

In this podcast we find out more about the innovative tech start-up ‘Wherefrom’ - where Adam Williams, Founder, tells us about their mission to ensure every product and company in the world has a ‘Wherefrom Score’. They’re the world’s first crowd-sourced sustainability review platform, comparing any company or product on a single scale.  

Likened to Trip Advisor, the platform enables people to score and review products and connect directly with brands – it also enables brands to claim their profile and provides opportunity for them to share sustainability credentials and respond and engage with reviewers directly and transparently. As a by-product, the platform provides useful data and insights for brands around consumer opinion which can help to inform the development of sustainability strategies.

Adam shares the back story of how Wherefrom came to be and how what started as a passion project has quickly transitioned into a scalable and useful resource that is adding value at the point of purchase for people. We talk about the practicalities of how the Wherefrom score works, the rigour and the responsibility.

What’s important for Wherefrom is ‘cross-over’ appeal – because to effect scale and wider impact, we need to extend far beyond the sustainability minded echo-chambers to help reach the majority of shoppers – to educate, get them rethinking and making better more informed choices.  

As we discussed with Helen Hepworth in a previous pod, the supermarkets, as gatekeepers,  also have a significant role to play in influencing better choices – and we discuss again, the need for the need for them to be more selective and responsible about what they stock.

We also cover the important role of finance and investment – and how investors need to move away from outmoded ways of assessing where to invest – and to invest more widely in the small, innovative, impact driven start-ups – to enable a sea-change in the number of social impact businesses moving from start-up to scale-up – and making a real difference to what business looks like and what it gives back to society.  

Visit Wherefrom.org – and you’ll be hit at every level with their ethos of, as Adam puts it… ‘doing sustainability with a big fat smile’. We found Wherefrom the day they ‘broke the internet’ with people sharing their hilarious (and brain worm inducing), ‘Stop the Wash’ music video – singing out the plethora of greenwash taglines, advising brands that given those lines were now part of their ‘song’, if used they would sue for copyright! ;) [if you missed it – it’s here]. And whilst there’s a lot of humour, fun, and mockery to be had to keep things light, interesting and of course, to aide mass appeal – the fun doesn’t detract from the serious mission they’re on, bringing the customer back into sustainability strategy and progress the behaviour change they’re pursuing and the heartfelt reminder to us all of the role we play and the choices we make.  

Tune in… and listen to Adam’s answer to our final ‘quick round’ question – and you’ll know what we’re talking about.

For more information about Wherefrom visit https://wherefrom.org/

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

Advertising and marketing has an important role to play in doing good in the world.’  Agree?

Well we certainly do – and in this episode, Guy Jones and Ollie - co-founders of The Goodnet, a sustainable media organisation, share their story, of how a pre-Christmas zoom drink sparked them moving away from their roles at one of the largest UK media organisations. Following their passion and values led the way to them championing sustainable media - making video ads / display ads / branded content partnerships available to advertisers across a network of sites that all operate in the sustainability space, to inspire and educate.

‘If more ad spend and marketing money is going towards publishers that produce loads of great content educating and inspiring people to live greener and healthier lives, it supports positive behaviour change.’

We discuss the complexity of sustainability – and how for marketers it’s a ‘mindset shift’ that’s required. Marketers need to make some pretty big decisions about moving away from doing what they have always done to finding alternative ways of driving more sustainable practice. Not just with the media channels they select and support, and calculating the percentage of carbon impact of campaigns, but also thinking hard about the product / service / lifestyle they’re actually advertising, in the context of wider aspects of sustainability, relating to health, wellbeing and fairer systems for all.   

“We need to see growth and performance but in a way that puts people and planet more to the fore than ever before.

Alongside talking about the practicalities of sustainable media, we discuss the realities of greenhushing and greenwashing, regulation in the industry, and as always, the role and responsibility of the marketer.  Discussing how we build demand, awareness and by proxy fund the media owners. And whilst Ollie and Guy state that it’s complex – they’re clear that it’s a complexity that needs to be embraced and change needs to happen – change around the types of products that are being marketed and the types of narratives around those products and services…

“The prize is hundreds of millions of people living their lives differently and more sustainably than how we live now”.

Tune in, you don’t want to miss this – it’s a conversation filled with practical advice, support, ideas, passion and importantly, hope.

For more information about The Goodnet visit https://wearethegoodnet.com/

Our podcasts are currently being recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

“The fastest accelerator in FMCG is the shopper… “

  We loved this conversation with Helen Hepworth, Director of Collective Stories – a - Category Management and Shopper Insight Consultancy

 Helen’s been an FMCG expert for many years, working with a number of retailers, with a passion for product and category management. In this conversation we discuss the role shoppers and retailers play in driving positive impact when it comes to sustainability – and of course, the role marketing plays.

 There’s so much packed into this 30 minute interview, we talk about shopping habits, consumption journeys and behaviour - how things are changing, discussing concepts such as circularity and refillable stations – and how it’s critical for retailers to think about how they involve the customer to support their own desires for more sustainable behaviour. That leads us to the concept of the retailers as gatekeepers, and why it’s important they ‘sell well’ to support people making good choices – and how loyalty cards and private label are powerful drivers in supporting sustainability, with some great examples from Tesco and Boots.

 There are some big questions raised – particularly about when it comes to product and category management – and how brands and marketing have driven so much choice. Do we need it all? And how will refillable stations, naturally narrowing choice, reducing confusion and involving customer – impact how products and categories are managed and developed or ‘de-developed’ as we move forward? That leads us into a conversation about collaboration and partnerships and discussing brands and retailers that are getting it right.

From Helen’s perspective…whilst it’s so important to celebrate all progress…

 “Nobody has got this – journeys have started, started and veered off, started because they are looking for competitive advantage, rather than being the right thing to do – we need to do better.”

 This pod is an information and insights packed episode, let’s face it, we’re all part of the FMCG world, just look around our homes at all the products, labels, brands etc – and to that end, Helen is consistent about the power of the shopper

 “FMCG could absolutely could do more. It starts with us – the shopper and then cascades UP.”

Tune in… you’re going to love it. We certainly did. For more information about Helen and Collective Stories visit https://www.collectivestories.co.uk.

Our podcasts are currently being recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.