How Sustainability Can Amplify Marketing Resiliency for CPGs (part 2 of 2)

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2020/12/01 How Sustainability Can Amplify Marketing Resiliency for CPGs (part 2 of 2)

How Sustainability Can Amplify Marketing Resiliency for CPGs

Source from: How Sustainability Can Amplify Marketing Resiliency for CPGs | 2020-11-20 | Flexible Packaging (flexpackmag.com)

The S&P uses an ESG Evaluation Framework to assess companies’ “ESG profiles” and “preparedness” to deal with environmental, social and governmental risks and opportunities. Right now, the social factor (which includes safety management) is at the forefront of people’s minds. The health crisis has made it critical for businesses to prioritize and protect workers’ health and safety, and to show concern for the communities that they impact. But companies that have shown great commitment to ESG principles understand that it doesn’t end there, and they have made this known to the public. While the threat of climate change is not completely analogous to the threat posed by the coronavirus outbreak, the lessons in preparedness that we are learning and will continue to learn from the latter have the potential to enable a stronger infrastructure to combat the former.

Unilever — whose ESG Evaluation clocks in at an impressive score of 89, the highest of any company to date — has viewed this time of uncertainty not only as an opportunity to give back (it has already provided over $500 million in COVID-19 relief across the globe), but also to ensure its continued commitment to the principles of its Sustainable Living Plan and encourage others to follow in its footsteps.

As the number of leaders equating marketing resilience with ESG principles increases, so too will the number of companies that expand their immediate social concerns to long-term environmental ones. This not only produces positive externalities for society but can also serve long-term financial interests — the recent rise of ESG investing indicates that shareholders are finding more value than ever in socially responsible companies.

Consumers are experiencing a new level of connectivity, and they apply their health concerns not just to themselves but also to the world around them
The efficacy of home care products is currently winning over factors like sustainable ingredients and packaging when it comes to consumers’ priorities. Additionally, single-use plastics, which conventionally face scrutiny for contributing to waste, are now sometimes necessary to avoid contamination — so consumers are opting to use more of them. However, the immediate focus on health and hygiene does not necessarily indicate that consumers will set aside their concerns about the environment. On the contrary, they are applying their notions of health not only to themselves, but also to the world at large.

Corey Chafin, a principal at Kearney who contributed to a recent consumer study, makes this assertion: “This year we see consumers expressing a more direct link between their health and the health of the planet. This tells us consumers’ pro-environmental sentiments are more than idealistic assertions. When it comes to the environment, consumers mean business.” Fifty-five percent of respondents in the study confirmed that they were “more likely to purchase environmentally friendly products” off the back of COVID-19. This should not be surprising when we consider how transparency and responsibility have grown increasingly important in the midst of this global pandemic. People and governments are being asked to hold each other accountable for complying with social distancing precautions, maintaining good hygiene, and supporting those who put their own lives at risk to keep everyone else as safe as possible. The unprecedented scale of this collective responsibility will likely permeate the consumers’ choices. Brands should stay keyed into these consumer motivations, which will help to build resiliency across their marketing ecosystems.

Planning for these shifts is equally as important as recognizing them. Tools that have been at the disposal of companies for years, such as materiality analyses and sustainable policy frameworks, can help businesses understand their own strengths, weaknesses and opportunities when it comes to ESG factors — this will lay the groundwork for setting effective goals. It is also important for businesses to develop and preserve partners throughout their value chains that can help them reach these goals. Just as COVID-19 is catalyzing an era of transformation, these partnerships will be the catalysts for tangible change at an organizational level.

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