Can Marketing Save the Planet?

It’s another mini-series and this one is all about leadership, something which is incredibly important as we come together and take on the biggest challenge humanity has ever faced (and nope, we’re not being overly dramatic).

Sustainable leadership is about making a positive impact, contributing to society and the environment and, driving long-term performance for business. Sustainable leadership is a big role and a role which is open to everyone, something you’ll discover as we go through this 4-part series.

To kick things off, we’re joined by Karen Hamilton, former Global VP for Sustainability at Unilever. Karen spent over 30 years at Unilever and worked alongside Paul Polman who believed, “sustainability can be part of the way that we fix the business”. Karen played a key part in driving the organisation to ‘make sustainable living commonplace’, deliver the the Unilever “Sustainable Living Plan” – a 10 year plan with 50 time-bound targets. Karen shares how this was the start of the journey to change the organisation.

Throughout this episode, Karen generously shares her wealth of knowledge and experience, talks about the different approaches she took, how sustainability was cascaded through such an enormous network of people and gives some great practical examples.

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

Karen’s role and journey at Unilever

How to mobilise and engage a global network of employees and suppliers

Why transparency is so important when it comes to communicating your sustainability agenda

The role of ambition when it comes to sustainability

Why we all need a leadership mindset

The role of marketing in driving sustainability

For more, follow and connect with Karen on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-hamilton-a1393a27/

A great first episode in our Sustainable Leadership mini-series. More to come. Stay tuned. And if you love the podcast, do share with colleagues, peers and friends.

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About us…

We help Marketers save the planet. 🌍

Join the Marketers and organisations who have signed our manifesto, engage with our newsletter and training and, work with us to communicate sustainability more effectively. Sign our Sustainable Marketer Manifesto, work with us, and join us on our mission. Get in touch to chat.

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.

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.

“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.

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.

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.

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.

The need to reconnect to water and rebrand the ‘Big Blue’…

World Ocean Day falls on June 8th and for those who haven’t heard of this event, it’s about “catalyzing collective action for a healthy ocean and a stable climate”.

The ocean’s role is one of the most important there is, and, water security is a real concern. But, to make such events successful in reaching global goals and targets around our oceans and water, we have to take notice, understand the challenges we face and importantly, be prepared to take action.

We met with Amanda Horn, a brand marketer who fell in love with water and found a deep connection, which as she shares in this episode, changed so many areas of her life personally and, professionally when she turned her passion into a circular business looking to solve problems in the beauty industry, with water at the heart.

Amanda is a strong advocate for protecting water, raising awareness of the challenges and opportunities and as she says, ‘rebranding big blue’.

Water conservation – Ocean conservation – plastic solutions -  waste - water consumption – they are all connected and we have to take responsibility for them, and more importantly understand the challenges and how our behaviors and choices either speed up progress, or slow it down.

When Amanda began her journey to build a responsible brand, she didn’t realise how epic it would be at every single stage. She shares her learnings from the resources needed, commercial understanding, packaging needs, materials sourcing, collaboration and co-creation and what happens at the end of life of her product to make it truly circular.

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

The power of connecting with water and the parallels between humans and the ocean.

The importance of ocean literacy in meeting the global goal of protecting 30% of the world’s ocean by 2030.

The need to protect water at all costs through increasing our knowledge and conversations around what it is the most important resource we have.

The “10 Challenges of the Decade”.

How Marketers can make connections through story and emotion as Amanda puts it – “Rebranding the big blue”.

Evolving her passion into a circular business – and how understanding every stage of the product lifecycle is critical to not only the product but the story.

And here’s a rallying call to action for you, our listener to get involved:

World Ocean Day  https://worldoceanday.org/about/ in the lead up to World Ocean Day, explore and see what you can do. Amanda also shares her tips!

 World Ocean Week  https://oceanweekcan.ca/ if you’re in Canada, then you have Ocean Week, which is a public celebration of the ocean from coast to coast.

Wherever you are, even if you are nowhere near a body of water, it is connected to your life, so commit to understanding a bit more, raising your awareness and taking steps to be part of the solution.

For more information about Amanda Horn and Ocean Literacy, click this link.

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.

We’re only consciously aware of 0.0004% of everything around us at once…read that again!

Fake news, real news, social media, pickup artists. With all the messages we see and decisions we make every day, have you ever thought about how we are constantly being nudged towards one thing or another? In this episode we explore behavioural science with Patrick Fagan and whilst all communications are design to influence and manipulate in some way, how can we (marketers / communicators) use skill, creativity and influence for good?

When it comes to marketing, our role is to understand needs and desires, tune in to what people want and then talk to them about how our products and services benefit them, meeting those needs and desires and helping them to feel a particular way to purchase or engage. But, as we’ve talked about many times on our podcast series, we need to rethink the role of marketing, we need to evolve our stories, drive awareness, educate, shape new behaviours and get people to care enough to want to make different choices, or change behaviours. There is SO much for Marketers to take away from this conversation with Patrick - from frameworks, steps and examples to connecting the dots. It’s a must listen. Tune in as we talk to Patrick about:

The nuances of language and how they are ordered

Nudge theory and Cialdini's 6 Principles of Influence

Types of nudges - the most used and the most powerful

What we can do as communicators to change behaviours through choice architecture

Fear messaging

Creating campaigns which cut through the noise

Finding out about brain’s ‘memory bouncer’

For more information about Patrick Fagan, the books he’s written, and the work he does - you can follow him on LinkedIn or visit https://www.patrickfagan.co.uk/

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.

Honing in on the ‘S’ of E S G – a critical component of the sustainability journey

ESG – environmental, social, governance, a subject that has been an increasing topic of debate and discussion, but what about the S?

In this episode we speak to Beth Knight, a leading figure in social impact and sustainability, with over 15 years’ experience in purpose-led business transformation – Beth shares incredible insights as we take a deeper diver into the ‘S’ for social - an area that, whilst often the least talked about, is critical for key stakeholders (employees, customers, communities) who are looking to gauge whether they want to engage.

With information being more accessible, people are more vocal, and therefore, it is no longer enough for organisations to simply broadcast messages that stakeholders take at face value, without question.

Beth speaks about the rise of data and sentiment monitoring to understand if your brand is doing well beyond the campaigns and how looking at the full health of your organisation is now a critical part the sustainability journey.

We discuss the challenges faced by large corporations who have teams dedicated to ESG and sustainability and Beth shares some insightful ‘hacks’ for SMEs who perhaps don’t have the resources, but need to start or accelerate their journeys.

Beth’s commitment to making a positive impact is unwavering – and with her wealth of experience, we could have picked Beth’s brains for hours – so many insights and examples.

Tune in to hear Beth talk about:

How we raise the profile of the S in ESG?

The acceleration of the social impact conversation and the opportunities that align with that social side.

How we advance the conversations and narrative both internally and externally.

The importance of understanding the materiality assessment of an organisation and the social impact indicators within that.

How as a Marketer you should be helping your organisation plan how you're going to proactively engage with key stakeholders on the ‘Social’ topics.

The challenges being faced by SMEs and the ‘hacks’ to navigate them.

The role of Social Marketing (not to be confused with social media marketing) in educating, driving awareness and changing behaviours.

For more information about Beth Knight - you can visit her site.

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.