From Optimism to Impact

As a proud and newly certified B Corp, Assembly Europe celebrated it’s first B Corp Month this March with a series of bold discussions on the intersection of brands, media and sustainability.  

Sunny Side Up: A Sustainable Future for Brands was intentionally optimistic. With the current discourse resulting from the recent flip in geopolitics, what was there to discuss which wasn’t further catastrophising the grim situation? From our point of view, when politicians seem to be stepping back, businesses like Assembly need to step up.

We brought together an exciting line-up of sustainability and marketing experts to explore how individuals and brands can unleash their power for change without hitting pause on commercial goals. While we acknowledged the current uncertainty – impossible not to – we found encouragement and hope in diverse ways to embrace the challenges ahead. Despite the political climate, we can still thrive.  

The discussions raised valuable learnings to keep top of mind:

• Brands should leverage the language of ‘good business’ to drive innovation. Our industry naturally attracts collaborative changemakers and disruptors. So, for starters, we must enshrine into our businesses as many of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals as possible. Media agencies have outsized potential to impact the population. Using this influence to amplify sustainable action to vast audiences is pivotal in achieving the Goals.  

• Continuity is essential for brands to grow. Having certifications, such as B Corp, enables progression and accountability, helping businesses prioritise the planet on a consistent basis. New data from B Lab shows that Certified B Corps outperform regular businesses not only in revenue but in talent acquisition and social impact. These are compelling statistics for industry leaders. Similarly, businesses can sign up to the Science Based Target initiative to demonstrate integrity.  Like B Corp certification, SBTs offer a notable advantage – giving potential consumers and clients a ‘short-cut’, reassured in the knowledge that these brands are committed to meaningful, sustainable change. With ever-increasing competition, having reputational kudos by holding such certifications and public pledges undoubtedly offers an edge.  

• Educating the workforce accelerates action. Programmes such as the Carbon Literacy Project can be effective for all job levels and increase motivation. Training employees to better understand of all aspects of the business leads to enhanced employee cooperation, along with improved carbon reporting, particularly around supply chain choices (reported in Scope 3).    

• We don’t always get it right, first time. Being honest about objectives which were not achieved must be discussed as a business; after all, B Lab encourages us to embrace the spirit of continual improvement. Being imperfect is authentic. To earn confidence, we need to tolerate mistakes. We were reminded of the wise quote from COP15 that, ‘Change happens at the speed of trust’.  

• We must dig deep and find our resilience to make meaningful impact. Brands and agencies are no longer waiting for their cue from political powers on how hard they need to tackle sustainability. Quite the opposite. They know that to stay relevant and to have a progressive business, they need to double-down on their efforts. Research from McKinsey and NielsonIQ showed ‘that sustainable products now account for over $1 trillion in annual sales and are growing 2.7x faster than conventional products, with 85% of people indicating they want brands to be more open about their sustainability efforts’. Consumers, stakeholders, and investors alike are shaping the demand for responsible brands. The last six months would have been difficult to predict - there is no normal - so expect the unexpected.  

• Brands are built of people – and we must continue to step up through our brands. Brands have a responsibility to offer consumers better and more sustainable choices. Consumers should not bear the brunt of climate guilt when we look back at the World’s over consumption habits. Brands need to lead the way, be truthful, transparent, give confidence in sustainable products and be on the right side of history.  

Transforming to become a truly sustainable brand is not easy. We need determination and acceptance that we won’t get it right all the time.  Which is why industry events, such as this, are so valuable in encouraging the opportunity to stop, listen, reflect, re-group, recharge and go again.  

So, is there A Sustainable Future for Brands? We think so. Media naturally attracts innovators and changemakers alike, and we should draw upon that experience, skill, energy and creativity to collaboratively make our business a force for good, as quickly as we can.

A huge thank you to our amazing panellists at Sunny Side: A Sustainable Future for Brands:

‍

Written by Rachel Smy, Global Sustainability Manager at Assembly.