Marketing is being called upon to play a central role on corporate sustainability initiatives. This includes brand purpose, compliance, communication, adoption areas, product development & go-to-market strategy. Yet, there remains a lack of clarity in how marketing can fulfill its sustainability role.
This initiative seeks to:
- clarify what sustainability is
- share examples of how marketing and sustainability can go together, and
- provide tools to achieve this goal.
Definition of Sustainability
We employ the most common definition of sustainability, which is from a United Nations report in 1987. This informally defines sustainability as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Note that this definition includes social and economic sustainability as well as environmental sustainability.
Examples of Sustainable Marketing
Examples of successfully integrating sustainability into marketing can come from large and small firms. They come from all around the world. What is more, examples can come from firms established with an underlying social purpose to those that developed a commitment to sustainability.
Initiative Objectives
Ways the taskforce will make an impact include:
- contributing to an ISO Standard for Brand Sustainability Reporting
- providing definitions for sustainability terms, creating a white paper covering sustainable marketing accountability and
- generating a Marketing Sustainability Resource Guide.