Brands need a new definition of sustainability
Whatever your stance on the UK's recent in/out referendum, I think we can agree that we are facing uncertain times and that businesses, as well as consumers, are nervous about what is next for us as we face an unprecedented political and economic future.
We’re just over halfway through the decade that we at The Future Laboratory have dubbed the Turbulent Teens, and already the traditional apparatus of state, commerce and culture are buckling. Our pursuit of profit maximisation, seasonal bonuses and a myopic five-year plan has led to an endemic short-termism in our society. Now is the time for CEOs to reassess long term strategies that can secure their companies' future success and make them robust enough to withstand political and social upheaval.
As the markets fluctuate and consumers become jittery, business leaders will tell you that they are well-placed to weather temporary difficulties as they have a robust sustainability programme. In fact, it is now rare for companies not to claim sustainability. In the same way that ‘digital’ is becoming obsolete as a differentiator in the consumer industries, so it is with ‘sustainability’. Businesses are expected to be sustainable as a matter of course.
At its most basic, sustainability is about our environmental and societal impact and how our corporate behaviour today affects future generations’ citizens and businesses. Most corporations have adopted sustainability and social responsibility protocols, but most have a very narrow view of what this looks like and what it actually means to consumers. It can often appear as a cherry on the cake once more pressing business issues have been taken care of. At best, a ‘nice to have’ that can be dispensed with when times get tough; at worst, a cynical marketing ploy.
What we need is a new definition of sustainability. It needs to reflect shifting consumer behavior, their increased social awareness and their broad discomfort with overt consumerism. Consumers are changing, they aren’t interested in a box ticking exercise whereby brands and businesses have met a narrow field of sustainability targets. Social media in particular, whatever its faults, has driven a much more transparent culture for businesses. Any censure for perceived bad behaviour is immediate and no longer the preserve of regulatory bodies and experts. The very people you are selling to are the most vocal and have myriad platforms on which to expose wrongdoing or immorality.
This has led to a real consumer drive for a new kind of sustainability to be at the core of what a brand offers. Ethical and environmentally sound working practices are expected as standard, but a much wider interpretation of sustainability is now demanded.
For instance, there is now a move towards Eternal Products, where a product’s longevity is a key selling point. Until now, consumers expected a built-in obsolescence to everything they bought, from white goods to wallpaper. In Sweden, the international think tank the Club of Rome has discovered that sales double when a product’s permanence is flagged to consumers. The abject consumerism of recent years is being replaced by a new sustainability mindset. Witness the BuyMeOnce retail platform launched earlier this year – a showcase for products ranging from casserole dishes to dusters, all of which will last a lifetime.
Some brands and businesses have been quick to catch on to the broader definition of sustainability and are acting on consumer concerns, many to the point of being transparently altruistic and collaborative, without any immediate gain for their bottom lines. Toyota for example has made 6,000 hydrogen fuel patents available for free to its peers and competitors to drive research and development.
Even the fashion industry, not necessarily thought to be at the forefront of ethical, sustainable practices has woken up to its impact and responsibilities. Levi’s has gone open source with production methods that will save 50bn litres of water a year across the sector. H&M has launched an almost million pound recycling prize for scientists and entrepreneurs who offer innovative solutions to the industry’s waste and pollution issues.
The sustainability model is changing, consumers are increasingly concerned about their whole lives and those of their potential children and grandchildren – certainly a marked shift for younger consumers previously thought to be a careless, thoughtless ‘live for today’ generation.
Consumers are now looking at the future in terms of 20, 30, 50 years hence, and if businesses want to capture their attention and money, they too need to be in it for the long haul. It’s time to tear up the five year plan and demonstrate a legacy vision with staying power.
Jonathan Openshaw is editorial director at The Future Laboratory