It's Time: Put Sustainability In The Brief
By: Martin Account Supervisor Katie White (self-proclaimed Lorax of Martin and founder of our Green Team, a group committed to making sustainable change inside and outside the agency)
April 22 marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day—an event created back in 1970 to encourage education and action directed toward resolving global environmental challenges. The big difference between now and then is urgency. Environmental catastrophes are on the rise at a biting rate, with many feeling the effects of climate change and our human impact.
Devastating wildfires are our new normal. We’re eating a credit card’s worth of microplastic (tiny particles making their way into the air we breathe, food we eat and water we drink from trash buildup) each week. And yes, long-term exposure to air pollution is now linked to higher death rates from COVID-19. It’s safe to say environmental degradation is no longer a looming thing in our future. It’s here, now—affecting everyday life and putting our planet in crisis.
So, shouldn’t every day be Earth Day? Or at least, shouldn’t brands and marketers prioritize sustainable solutions?
Pandemic Possibilities Pave The Way
This moment in time has proven that brands can be a transformational force in solving massive societal issues. In just one month, coronavirus has upended the economy, drastically shifted people’s priorities and taken over our lives (figuratively and literally).
Luckily, brave brands are swinging in—coming together with consumers to:
- Uplift and supportthe restaurant community through DoorDash’s #OpenForDelivery initiative. The brand’s also donating money and resources to help food insecure households and communities.
- Motivate a social movement of “Thanks For Delivering” gratitude for those on the UPS frontlines, while offering up more than $6 million in grant support for humanitarian relief partners and nonprofits.
- Stay playful the OREO way in partnership with Save The Children—because one “Cookie With a Cause” TikTok challenge could be the difference in people NOT losing their minds while staying home (we need laughter and levity, too! …And cookies, right?!). The best part is how the effort will serve nearly 30 million kids with food and learning support needs.
Now, these are all brands Martin gets to call partners. I’d be remiss if I didn’t say we’re certainly seeing herculean moves from the likes of AB InBev, Kraft, Ford and skincare brand Nuria—to name a few.
What unites all of these brand acts is a laser-like focus on COVID-19. That was and is the right priority to engineer real impact. Earth Day is a reminder to all of us of another focus that we’ll need to deal with long after the coronavirus is over: the environment.
That’s why I’m challenging brands and marketers and my teammates at The Martin Agency to continue this momentum of doing good in the world by making space for Mother Earth in future briefs. Why? What gets left out of briefs—our very blueprint for creativity—gets left out of the work.
Below, I’m outlining three starting points for injecting sustainability into the very core of an idea.
Way In #1: Think About Resource Use
Why get an ad campaign when you can get a business idea? How brands and marketers use their resources is a decision spanning the creative process. From product innovation and packaging to thoughtful consumer messaging, conserving precious resources should be factored in from the very beginning to ensure the well-being of future generations and to open up new profitable pathways!
What happens when your brief is about living out your brand values on the biggest shopping day of the year? Look no further than REI opting to close its doors on Black Friday in 2015—encouraging its customers to enjoy the great outdoors. What the company lost in sales in the single day was more than made up for in cultural impact. We’re talking 2.7 billion media impressions in 24 hours, and a 9.3% sales uptick over the next year through sales and touting CO-OP memberships. REI sold its values of the outdoors and gained a loyal following, all by encouraging customers notto buy stuff.
Adidas leaned into the circular economy by making shoes from ocean trash. This shift kicked off a wildly successful campaign that sold one-million shoes in its first year (and also sparked a race among shoe brands to find alternative ways to go greener). And when the beer industry put “reduce packaging” in the brief, brands unlocked sustainably-savvy solutions such as: forward-thinking glues and 6-pack rings made of biodegradable organic material that’s safe for wildlife.
Way In #2: Decrease Impact On The Big Sustainability Challenges
The big three: climate, water and biodiversity. Our most pervasive environmental threats are encapsulated in these little words. Charles Kettering, an American inventor, said “a problem well-stated is a problem half solved.” At a minimum, an awareness of the impact brands have on the climate, water quality and quantity, and biodiversity loss should show up in the brief.
At the Martin Agency, we believe in impacting culture to impact sales. We also believe in acts over ads. So when it comes to purpose-driven topics or things happening in culture, consumers see through empty words—every time. Skeptics are at an all-time high. That’s fair. I mean, what are values if brands can’t live up to them?
Actions take many forms. Brands can play the long game, like the many companies pledging to fight climate change by going carbon neutral over the next few years—or they can opt for more short-term wins, like Stella Artois did in 2018 with a Super Bowl spot raising awareness around the global lack of clean water. For every pint of beer sold, Stella donated funds to provide clean water for those in need.
Addressing these massive sustainability challenges doesn’t fall solely on the client. Marketers need to walk the talk, as well. Producers look to the brief just as much as creatives and clients do. If we advertisers put “fight climate change, even in production” in the brief, an agency can prioritize vendors employing carbon neutral practices or can seek out zero waste production partners like EcoSet. And if we’re using animals in messaging, isn’t it logical—and just plain right—to include a section in the brief about the need to protect these creatures? Adhering to PETA guidelines is table stakes; the brief can propel ideas further from all sorts of players in the creative process. Imagine a media partner pushing for a percentage of paid media spend to support The Lion’s Share Fund to help finance global wildlife conservation projects.
If it’s in the brief, it shows up in the work—but how it shows up in the work depends on more than just the creative team. Addressing, and (hopefully!) softening our inevitable impact on the climate, water and biodiversity can transcend departments and culture when briefs lay a foundation to inspire an entire team to act with purpose.
Way In #3: Let’s Get Ethical
As time goes on, we’re only going to see more brands and products rooted in sustainability. If we do things right in the brief we can widen our very approaches to marketing while blowing up how brands target consumers for the better.
Some think sustainable practices are only for the privileged.’ That’s a common POV brands need to chip away at and reconsider. Sustainability is as much about protecting our people as it is about preserving our planet. Nurturing diverse thinking, uplifting lower income communities and closing the equality gap are all part of ensuring a world for future generations.
Yes, green products often cost a little more and are frequently marketed to affluent consumers with the means to purchase them (or the luxury to think about how they might reduce their footprint). I’m not saying it’s wrong to target consumers most likely to buy a product, or to generate ideas catering to a specific group. Yet, environmental challenges affect vulnerable communities the hardest, so when we advance sustainability as a solution in the brief, we shouldn’t be just thinking about the well-heeled.
Through briefs, we should add the hard questions to prompt meaningful brand truths:
- Are the benefits of these products/services accessible to all, or just to particular market segments?
- Are our initiatives advancing or impeding environmental justice?
- How can our activities benefit the community as a whole?
Everyone needs help. For example, Tom’s Shoes and Warby Parker have woven ethics into their business models by donating shoes and glasses, respectively, for every product bought. Land O’Lakes supported female farmers in a shared-values campaign connecting with consumers with an ear-worm remake of a classic tune. Target continues to make sustainability products mainstream by working with brands to create exclusive, affordable options for everyday items.
Keeping diverse socioeconomic realities in mind is a key element of sustainability. To survive and thrive in a post-COVID, climate-challenged world, we need massive societal buy-in—and that doesn’t happen by leaving out large portions of the population.
Get Strategic About Sustainability: Put It In The Brief
If we’ve learned anything from the coronavirus pandemic, it’s that action taken sooner rather than later, can make a difference. The brief is where business imperatives are communicated to partners—and it’s the roadmap for how brands communicate with consumers. Let’s not wait until another disaster strikes to take action. Put sustainability in the brief now to inspire new ideas, new ways of thinking and working, and new ways of surviving, together.
We impact the DNA of ideas when we start with the brief. And when we do that sustainability becomes bigger than the brief itself—it becomes a creative and cultural necessity.
We want to hear and see from you, too. If you’re itching to know something or have a question or comment we can start a dialogue on—shoot an email to: katie.walley-wiegert@martinagency.com.
