More can be done by brands to empower consumers in researching products or checking up on a company’s ethical practices.
Is branded content sustainable?
Business recognises that safeguarding our planet is not a matter of altruism but simple self-interest, says Sanjay Guha, President of Coca-Cola GB & Ireland. Without sustainable communities there can be no sustainable business.
Talking in a recent edition of Marketing Week magazine, Guha, like many other organisations, lays out Coca-Cola’s efforts in developing sustainable business practices.
Successful brands, he suggests, are not just about quality or price but also about aspirations and values - consumers expect brands to show leadership.
Showing it they are, after setting a global goal of returning or replacing every drop of water Coca-Cola uses in its drinks and production, developing low-energy and HFC-free refrigeration, along with a reduction and recycling of packaging.
It’s refreshing to hear that organisations as big as Coca-Cola are raising their game. But more can be done by brands to empower consumers in researching products or checking up on a company’s ethical practices.
Branded content and interactive web based tools provide the ideal platform for this opportunity.
Transparency seems to be the blog buzzword with the arrival of new online marketing regulations in May which outlaw misleading advertorial blog and chat room posts.
So why not go further and actively encourage questions about your ingredients or the carbon footprint of your sourced materials? Engage with consumers by giving them branded information and tools that they’ll value and share.
By improving transparency and being ethical, brands have a role to play in social movements. Consumers listen to them just as much as they do government. Just look at the impact of M&S’ Plan A campaign.
Lifestyle-led websites and tools can offer genuinely useful and practical solutions can provide a powerful boost to a brand if done well, and can help convince consumers that your commitment really does go beyond any token ‘green washing’ of products.
Online activism will only gather momentum as time goes on, so brands must seek out and engage with consumers now – well before they begin to assume the worst.
*Based on a letter which originally appeared in Marketing Week, 15 May 2008.
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