World Earth Day: Sustainability is no longer a buzzword
Since the 1980s, ‘sustainability’ has been a buzzword in business. Disruption, innovation, streamline: buzzwords have come and gone, but none have remained as relevant, as important and as omnipresent as sustainability. With the passing of years, its importance has only risen, not withered away with the ‘watersheds’ and ‘synergies’ of the corporate world.
In 2022, some 40 years since it first came onto the scene, sustainability is more pervasive in modern parlance than ever before, and for good reason. Post COP26, the climate crisis and issues of sustainability are front of mind for us all.
Concern for the environment is at a record high¹. Environmental concern has risen strongly year on year since 1999 across all sectors, placing it at the top of consumer priorities according to the UK Ethical Economy.
It is no longer an issue for the activists, or the problem of governments and environmental charities. Everyone is accountable: business, governments, and citizens.
April 22 marks World Earth Day, and this year the organisation is calling for the world to move quickly at this very moment: to act boldly, innovate broadly and implement equitably.
The divide between the office and home is increasingly blurred. Consumers and employees are looking to organisations to act, and act quickly. If sustainable business practices and environmental commitments are not already front of mind for your organisation, they will need to become so.
It’s not only the right thing to do, but the smart thing to do to future-proof your business, and the world with it. As the team behind World Earth Day say: “a green future is a prosperous future.”
Why businesses should care
Three years ago, the Bank of America Merrill Lynch revealed that companies with a better Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) score than their competitors produced higher three-year returns, had a greater share value and were less likely to go bankrupt.
They are also far more likely to attract investment in the first place. The US, the leading global economic market, recently saw 42% growth in sustainably invested assets between 2018 and 2020 ² . The correlation is clear: businesses with sustainability commitments are healthier and more profitable.
On the consumer front, a 2019 Nielsen survey found that 73% of consumers were willing to change their consumption habits to lessen their negative impact on the environment. Deloitte strengthened this last year, finding that one in three consumers had switched to a more sustainable brand off the back of environmental concerns about a business.
Consumer attention on a company’s ESG practices has never been higher. Aflac recently found that 77% of customers would purchase directly as a result of a company having implemented strong CSR policies focused on sustainability practices 3 . And IBM’s 2020 study of over 18,000 people in 28 countries showed that 70% of consumers are willing to pay up to 35% more for greener products 4 .
But it’s not just consumers that impact the bottom line. By 2025, 75% of the world’s professional workforce will be millennials. In a recent study conducted by Totaljobs, this group revealed they would largely take a pay cut to work for an organisation that is environmentally and socially sustainable: £8K per annum (US$11K) less, for an employer who demonstrated environmental care and sustainable business practices.
The same study revealed that 28% of people would move from their current employer to a more environmentally friendly one. Among millennials alone, that number rises to 50%.
‘The Great Resignation’ is upon us. The phrase was coined by the World Economic Forum off the back of a study which revealed that 47% of people will leave their jobs in 2022. With employers globally competing for talent, attracting and retaining top talent is all the easier for organisations that operate ethically in this space.
And if that weren’t reason enough, 30% of those surveyed revealed they put in substantially more effort for businesses that employ environmentally responsible strategies. A contented workforce results in higher retention and productivity, which saves money and translates into a more satisfied customer. We repeat: sustainability is the right thing to do and the smart thing to do.
The narrative has changed, and sustainability is now the single most important consideration for businesses overall. Statistics like these reflect growing concern the world over about climate change. With scientists predicting worsening consequences, this trend isn’t going anywhere.
Millennials are arguably the most environmentally conscious generation. Sustainable consumerism is the future, and brands and businesses that fail to pivot accordingly will be left behind.
At 90 Seconds, the climate crisis is at the forefront of our minds every day, not just on the 22nd of April. Last year we completely rebuilt our website, which cut our carbon emissions entirely.
In the next five years alone, it is estimated that the internet will consume 20% of the world’s resources. We decided to act quickly and get ahead of this to ensure our digital footprint is nominal.
But our sustainability commitment is so much more than just a website. It’s the premise of our entire work, and the carbon savings and sustainable business practices that we in turn pass on to our customers.
Our business model was built with sustainability at its heart. We operate at a local level through our ‘Shoot Anywhere’ commitment, enabling global brands to create content locally in over 900 cities across 160 countries, with access to a database of 5,000 talented creatives and creators. We’ve eliminated the need for global travel, ensuring both carbon and budget efficiency.
The importance of green marketing
By advertising not only why your product or service fills a need, but why it’s an environmentally friendlier alternative, your business can stand out from the crowd. Organisations that don’t risk losing talent, profits and customers as a result.
B2B or B2C, it doesn’t matter. Consumers are people, and today’s consumer is increasingly environmentally conscious and wants to buy from businesses who think like them.
But it’s not enough to simply donate to charity or roll out recyclable packaging. Consumers are incredibly savvy. In increasingly competitive marketplaces, businesses need to embrace sustainable marketing practices to highlight their commitments to an increasingly curious consumer and gain the competitive edge.
This is called green marketing. It is not to be confused with greenwashing, which is to be avoided at all costs (more on that later!). The mighty can fall, and if you’re not practicing what you preach, a business runs the risk of falling from a greater height.
The takeaway is clear: marketing sustainability is essential for those that want to retain and grow market share with today’s environmentally and socially focused consumer. Sustainable marketing doesn’t just engage the general audience. It engages an audience that’s willing to pay more, and that is growing in numbers at an exponential rate.
So, what does this mean for video marketing? A lot. Businesses need to overtly market their environmental efforts and practices, in an engaging and eco-friendly way, if they’re going to gain traction with their audiences. Video is the perfect medium for this, for all audiences.
It’s not only consumers that want to know about a brand or business’s social impact efforts, but its potential employees also. From People Stories used in employer brand efforts or recruitment, to CSR reports, video is the most effective form of consumer engagement in a contemporary marketplace and a powerful tool for green marketing. What’s more, working with 90 Seconds is a more sustainable choice.
Successful green marketing practices
If you’re new to the entire concept of green marketing, don’t fret. Creating sustainable marketing strategies is no different from traditional marketing efforts. Just be sure you’re practicing what you preach, and that what you practice ladders back to the end message.
For example, at 90 Seconds we overhauled our website provider to WordPress last year, as their hosting services are more environmentally friendly than their competitors’. We conducted an audit with WebsiteCarbon to measure the results of our work.
Prior to the move, for every 10,000 visitors to the 90 Seconds website, our platform emitted the amount of carbon that 143 trees absorb in a year. That concerned us greatly, given we receive far more visitors than that every month. Post our overhaul and redesign, we’re thrilled to have reduced our carbon emission level to the equivalent of just nine trees. A considerable saving, but one we are trying to improve upon further through optimisation work.
A successful green marketing campaign should:
• Avoid greenwashing
• Focus on actions taken
• Be transparent
Avoid greenwashing
Consumers don’t just want greener products, they also want ethical processes – not embellishments or mistruths, or a company that says one thing, but does another entirely, commonly referred to as greenwashing. This can be extremely detrimental to a brand.
It’s paramount that businesses walk the walk, and by making use of 90 Seconds Shoot Anywhere you can do just that. With Shoot Anywhere we’ve placed sustainability at the very heart of the process, eliminating the need for global travel and slashing the carbon emissions that could have been racked up by sending crews to far-flung locations.
By cutting travel and sourcing local talent, we’ve made video marketing extremely efficient. We’ve also invested back into the local communities in which we operate, through the generation of employment opportunities and supporting local infrastructure. With our global network of almost 5,000 contributors, there’s no need for carbon-costly travel or draining environmental resources.
The beauty of our offering is that we’re not only giving back to the communities in which we operate. We’re also passing these environmental savings onto our customers, who adopt greener and more sustainable marketing practices as a result.
Focus on actions taken
Green marketing should focus on what can be proved, not on lofty, buzzword-filled pie-in-the-sky dreams. Take this example from PHI in partnership with 90 Seconds, which discusses their sustainability commitment.
What do they do well? They showcase tangible commitments, as well as plans for improvement, such as investing in the offshore wind market and other forms of renewable energy. It’s genuine, authentic and transparent in its goals and the actions already taken.
Consumers want to see brands taking the climate crisis seriously, which is always best proven through actions, as PHI have illustrated here. What’s more, it was produced through 90 Seconds, meaning it was all done locally and efficiently, from both a cost and carbon perspective.
Be transparent
If the nature of your business doesn’t immediately associate itself with sustainability, be transparent about that. Focus on the practices, systems and efforts being put in to reduce the impact on the ecosystems in which it operates.
This might be the sustainable technologies that power the brand, like WordPress in our case, or the employment of green shipping methods. Perhaps the product is made from non-toxic, disposable materials or can be reused multiple times.
That said, if the very nature of the business or industry in which you operate isn’t sustainable, fear not. You’re not excluded from the conversation. Companies that don’t sell eco-friendly products can still engage in green marketing through strategies like cause-related marketing, offsetting emissions monetarily or investing in charities that do this on your behalf.
Take the airline industry, which in 2019 produced 915 million tonnes of carbon dioxide worldwide. Despite being a key contributor to the climate crisis, many airlines 5 have recently announced commitments to reducing their footprint. That includes Delta Airlines who, after committing $1 billion in 2020 to becoming the world’s first carbon-neutral airline, was the number one airline on a list of America’s Most Sustainable Companies by financial publication Barron’s 6 .
In 2020 the Economist Intelligence Unit, commissioned by World Wildlife Fund, found a 71% rise in searches for sustainable goods over the past five years, with the pandemic having accelerated this demand.
The climate crisis is the single most pressing issue currently facing our global society, and consumer concern is only going to grow. Businesses and brands need to act now, and act quickly, to remain relevant. But it’s not enough to just act.
With consumers actively searching for a company’s environmental commitment and basing purchasing decisions on it, marketers must ensure their practices are marketed in a way that is environmentally sound. Video marketing is arguably the most effective tool to help you do so, and 90 Seconds the most sustainable partner.
1. Concern for the environment at record highs | YouGov 2. ‘Sustainable investing’ accounts for 33% of total U.S. assets under management (cnbc.com) 3. Corporate Citizenship (aflac.com) 4. 2020 consumers driving change | IBM 5. Sustainability: Which Airlines Are Leading The Way? (simpleflying.com) 6. The 100 Most Sustainable Companies in America: Barron’s Annual Ranking
90 Seconds
Content Team
