Sustainable Marketing

Dr Marathe
Sustainable marketing practices for sustainable
development
• The concept of Sustainability was developed from the Brundtland
Commission as launched by the United Nations in 1983.
• The triple business line model is one of the popular models of
Sustainability developed by John Elkington.
• It means the competitive advantage can be achieved by using three areas-
• Financial,
• Environmental,
• social aspects. Companies have been incorporating the SDGs in their
businesses
• UN has already set 17 SDGs for its 2030 agenda. Sweden is the most
sustainable country.
Sustainable marketing practices for sustainable
development
• Harvard Business Review states that companies with sustainable
business practices
• experience greater risk management, more innovation, and
• better financial performance, including
• larger profits, more
• cost savings, and
• improved efficiencies and
• logistics.
 Sustainable Marketing practices for sustainable
development
• The process of creation, communication, and distribution of value to
customers to save natural human capital is called sustainable marketing.
• Sustainable marketing practices enable companies to become socially
and environmentally responsible.
• It’s a great way to promote eco-friendly products of the companies. The
production, sale, use, and recycling are other ways to attain
Sustainability
• The prime objective of sustainable marketing is to reduce, reuse, and
recycle.
Sustainable Marketing practices for sustainable
development
• Sustainable marketing practices require the use of the right mix.
• The e-commerce businesses can optimize their waste management by
completely eliminating packaging waste and recyclable materials for
the packaging and opting for climate-neutral shipping options, e-
commerce businesses
Sustainable Marketing practices for sustainable
development
• The tire industry is working on innovations to address the resulting
waste problem while advancing a circular economy—from creating a
sustainable natural rubber to prevent deforestation to developing
technologies that have opened beneficial uses for wasted tires,
including for infrastructure and to make new tires
• The pharmaceutical companies are adopting ways so they can
produce their products more efficiently and in a sustainable way. They
work to reduce the amount of power, air, or water used on a line.
• Oil and Gas industry are also adopting sustainable marketing
practices. NTPC has an MOU for the renewable energy business
Sustainable Marketing
• Sustainable marketing is a purpose-driven practice that works to
orientate businesses, brands and society
towards a sustainable future, influencing appropriate awareness,
aspiration, adoption and action across
economic and sociocultural systems by taking necessary
accountability for its impacts and opportunities.
In doing so, it acts in service of long-term wellbeing for all.
•
Reusable Packaging

• Reusable packaging is probably the most popular sustainable

marketing tactic.
• By encouraging customers to return and reuse their glass jars or
bottles, instead of simply throwing them away, businesses are helping
to reduce waste, improve the sustainability of their product
packaging, and even increase customer loyalty.
• Reusable packaging gives both the business and shoppers
opportunities for cost savings through reduced processing costs for
manufacturers and lower overall costs for customers who don’t have
to pay for the same packaging again and again.
Defining the Scope of Sustainable Marketing

• For marketers looking for guidance on sustainable marketing, Google

search results fall into the trap above, failing to illustrate the scope of
change needed. For an industry in a state of transition, partial or
misinterpreted definitions of the transformation required can be
counter-productive. Clear and proportionate ambition is needed to
create a strategy fit for the existential crises we face.
• Transformation of the marketing sector will require a realignment of
its purpose and role in a sustainable future. It will involve rewiring the
way marketing is practiced, reclaiming the skills and competencies of
marketers and creatives in service of sustainability, and reinvesting
the industry’s creativity, innovation and technology in sustainable
outcomes.
Sustainable Marketing Impacts & Opportunities

• Marketers must understand that current practices contribute to

negative outcomes. The sustainable marketing practice we need will
take accountability for its areas of impact and opportunity. We can
think of these areas as follows:
• Financial
• Physical
• Psychological, sociological and cultural; and
• Ethical.
1. Financial impact and opportunity

• Marketing is a sibling of economics and an engine room of an economy that is currently organised in a way
that has outgrown the limits of our natural world. The continued growth of an economic system that is only
financially-focused will destroy its environment and the living things that depend on it. To transform the
economy, we must transform the market and the marketing driving it.
• With the urgent need for new economic thinking comes the urgent need for marketing professionals to
advocate and demonstrate new leadership on profit and growth via a purpose-first approach to marketing
and business activity. Purpose-first growth positions profit as a means rather than an end, in service of a
purpose that is targeted at directly delivering a positive contribution to society.
• Sustainable marketing takes responsibility for the influential role it can play in driving businesses and clients
to rewire the economy. This involves:
• Embracing and embedding new ways of thinking about profit and what we are growing
• Influencing and achieving organisational purpose
• Measuring what matters and setting the right targets for social and environmental progress
• Driving innovation in offerings that will serve society, and
• Mobilising stakeholders to support sustainable business practices.
2. Physical impact and opportunity

• The term ‘marketing footprint’ refers to the physical real-world impact that marketing strategies, decisions
and operations have on our collective long-term wellbeing and the social and environmental systems that
underpin it. Physical real-world impacts include the likes of emissions, waste, pollution, land degradation,
loss of habitats and species, human health and equality.
• Sustainable marketing uses its position of key influence, at the intersection of business and society, to
drive positive change across production and consumption to protect and restore the health of social and
environmental systems. It takes appropriate accountability for the impact and opportunity of
its direct operational footprint (generated via campaigns, production, events, etc) and the indirect supply-
side (production) and demand-side (consumption) footprints that it influences. This involves:
• Gaining and maintaining an understanding of systems health and marketing’s contribution to it
• Building the achievement of sustainability into strategic thinking, planning and execution
• Engaging in the methodology and technology available to account for marketing’s direct footprint
• Supporting the innovation working to close gaps in industry-wide footprint accounting
• Ensuring appropriate responsibility is taken for marketing’s indirect footprint; and
• Accepting the leadership role that marketing has in creating positive change in production and consumption.
3. Psychological, sociological and cultural impact
and opportunity
• Marketing shapes our perception of what is valuable and aspirational and influences our individual and
collective values, worldviews, identities and lifestyles. Through this, marketing influences what is normal and
desirable for individuals and groups in the cultures and societies where it is active.
• This effect is known as ‘marketing’s brainprint’. It transcends the business system and enters society, through
brands, and via the likes of advertising, entertainment, publishing, production, product design and what is
and is not broadcast and reported.
• Every time marketing, media and creative professionals make a strategic or creative decision, they have
the opportunity to re-enforce sustainable or unsustainable behaviours, norms and the values that
underpin them. The marketing practice we need requires active acknowledgement of the psychological,
sociological and cultural impacts of marketing and creative activity, and ensures this influence and
opportunity is aligned with sustainable outcomes. This involves:
• Developing and delivering narratives that are aligned with sustainable ends
• Using the power of creativity in service of sustainability
• Influencing attitudes, beliefs, norms and behaviours that are aligned with a sustainable future
• Helping us individually and collectively align what we perceive to be valuable, aspirational and desirable with
sustainable outcomes for all living things; and
• Embedding sustainability in our culture and society.
4. Ethical impact and opportunity

• The marketing transformation we need will see the sector both managing its moral duty and the
potential of its work to create united movements of change that are directed towards the future
we want, rather than the collective confusion and inaction that holds this back. This involves:
• Aligning marketing objectives with the social moral landscape
• Leading proactively for the behavioural change needed and healing the issues marketing has
created in the past
• Ensuring marketing claims adhere to the latest legislation, regulation and standards and are
therefore truthful, meaningful, transparent, clear, substantiated and considerate of the full
product lifecycle
• Using the necessary, most relevant and credible standards, certifications and accreditations
available to endorse, substantiate and support marketing and brandwork
• Engaging with track and trace technology when and where appropriate
• Maintaining marketing’s creativity while adhering to moral codes and frameworks; and
• Collaborating to evolve these frameworks, learning from peers and experts.
•
• McDonald developed an environmental scorecard that rates its
supplier’s performance areas such as water use, energy use, and solid
waste management.
• Other examples include Toyota’s synergy Drive, Volvo’s safety, and
Body Shop’s natural beauty; customer perception increased the sales
for the companies
• Green events are a perfect example of sustainable marketing for any
business. By using environmentally friendly materials such as LED
lighting and items sourced from nearby locations, businesses can
show their commitment to sustainability while reducing the
carbon emissions of their event.
• As an added bonus, increasingly savvy consumers often pay extra
attention to green events, making them great opportunities for
businesses to connect with potential clients in a meaningful way.
Ethical sourcing

• Ethical sourcing is the process of ensuring that the materials used by

a business are sourced from suppliers that follow ethical and
sustainable business practices.
• This can include ensuring that suppliers provide fair wages and
working conditions for employees, not employ child labor practices,
use environmentally friendly production methods where possible,
and do not source materials from environmentally sensitive areas.
Green events

• Green events are a perfect example of sustainable marketing for any

business.
• By using environmentally friendly materials such as LED lighting and
items sourced from nearby locations, businesses can show their
commitment to sustainability while reducing the carbon emissions of
their event.
• https://www.cisl.cam.ac.uk/resources/blog/what-sustainable-
marketing