When brands take a stand

Turns out almost everyone wants brands to take responsibility for making a positive change in the world. And why wouldn’t we? After hearing the UN Secretary-General say Humanity has opened the gates to hell, basically a horror film voiceover, I reckon we need all hands on deck for stormy waters.

Naturally, companies have responded with everything from claiming they’re saving the planet to simply providing good products to people that help them live more sustainably ON this planet.

At MetaDesign, we’re spending more time working with brands to articulate and authenticate their sustainability positions. Sometimes it’s clear. Other times it’s harder to find, or simply doesn’t exist. The important thing is to seek out true expressions of where they are in their processes of change and progress, whether it’s a company haloed by clean eco credentials or an industry muddied by greenwashing.

We navigate those white, black and grey zones with the intention to define, authenticate and express in ways that move brands forward rather than tick boxes. Among the lessons we’ve learned along the way are:

Be honest.

Be humble.

Prove action.

Be honest.

Companies in the fossil fuel extraction and burning business have tended toward the Saving-the-Planet position, at their peril. At this point, a majority of the public are wondering which planet they mean.

Trustworthiness of the oil & gas sector was 22% in 2022, which is actually 4 points higher than it was in 2018. Call it the superhero bump. But public trust is still low and bound to get worse in the face of record industry profits and stubborn plans to extract more fossil fuels when the science is crystal clear: Stop doing it. On this planet. Now.

But the drills keep drilling, and alongside it the lullabies of “we want to help the world reach net zero,” “we strive to protect the environment,” and “we’re focused on meeting society’s evolving needs.”

It feels less than honest, given the predominance of new and renewed drilling contracts.

More believable are statements like Unilever’s – “The fight for a livable planet must be won this decade.” This rings truer to the urgency and nature of the required effort, and sets up the brand for a more effective and believable position in the marketplace of public opinion.

Be humble.

A lot of people watched Apple’s recent video, in which Tim Cook and team brief Mother Nature on the status of their sustainability actions. It was a slickly produced humble brag, in my opinion, because Apple ends up disarming and impressing this all-powerful and all-knowing deity with the bold scope of the company’s impact and ambitions.

More down to earth is how the eyewear brand Ace & Tate talk about their efforts: “You’ll never hear us say we’re a sustainable company. But we can promise to do our absolute best and push the boundaries in creating well-designed, quality eyewear responsibly.”

This kind of humility generates what may be a more enduring and expandable form of brand communication, as it dissolves the gaslighting and gets to something more real and compelling.

Prove action.

Though 59 of the FTSE 100 have committed to net zero emissions by 2050, many of these organizations are struggling to deliver. Furthermore, a 2050 pledge can sound to a lot of folks like forever, or never.

Then there are companies like the homecare brand Seventh Generation, which is setting a high standard for climate-impact reporting. In its 2021 report, they list their actions in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and layering in sustainability principles into their financial services, marketing & creative services, advocacy, philanthropy and governance.

The report states, “We seek to push the practice of corporate environmental reporting dramatically forward and advance a far more complete vision of authentic climate leadership free of finger pointing.”

This type of in-depth, action-led brand artefact is an effective tool with which to develop a brand position that expands and builds equity well beyond a yearly report.

For starters, think honesty, humility, action.

Our teams at MetaDesign have modified our Brand Leadership Platform®, with Purpose at the center, to include a “Contribution” field, which is where we articulate how brands can take a clear stand on environmental and social issues. Let us know if you want to explore how best to define, express and design where your company stands.

Stormy weather or not, we still have a good shot at making this Earth of ours everything we hope it can be.

Joshua Englander is a strategy partner at MetaDesign Berlin, and a member of Publicis Germany's Sustainability Squad.

You can contact him at joshua.englander@metadesign.com.