This week’s blog post is about sustainable promotion strategy. In this blog, I’m taking a look at how brands can use content to communicate and promote their commitment to sustainability. The article is Sustainable Business titled: Why Climate Change Iconography Needs a Refresh – and How Your Brand Can Achieve It.

Importance of Promotion

It is important that brands promote themselves as sustainable because they will connect with consumers and will increase their brand loyalty. It will elicit and emotional response from consumers and inspire social change.

By not making sustainability a core component of your visual storytelling and identity, you’re leaving customers, purchasing power, and potential environmental impact on the table.

The article states the importance of brands promoting sustainability and taking action to become more sustainable through the quote above. There are three key considerations to think about when communicating your brand’s commitment to sustainability:

• Give your customers credit – all of them
• Focus on action and impact
• Don’t steer away from newness

Conclusion

It is important to promote sustainably because if you do not, more and more companies will, and you will be left behind. Continuing sustainable promotion will help your company in the long run while helping the triple bottom line of your company.

Another week, and another sustainable marketing blog. This week, we talked a lot about sustainable products. Have you ever made a conscious effort to purchase products with specific sustainability certifications? This blog will take a deeper look into a few labels and products that are classified as being sustainable.

Bacardi Rum

According to an article written in Sustainable Brands, titled That’s the Spirit! Bacardi’s Biodegradable Bottle Latest Boon to Beverage Packaging, it talks about the new sustainable packaging Bacardi Rum and the rest of the products made by Bacardi will be packaged in starting in 2023. The bottle will biodegrade in a short 18 months, and will replace a whopping 3,000 tons of plastic that Bacardi currently produces. The article states “this isn’t about competitive advantage it’s about doing the right thing for the planet.

“This isn’t about competitive advantage it’s about doing the right thing for the planet.”

• This is a true sign that companies are seeing the consumer demand and effect that their products have on the planet. Bacardi is taking initiative to cut back on their plastic production to create products that will biodegrade in many different environments such as compost, soil, freshwater, and sea water.

Labels

Ever wondered what the labels “FairTrade,” or “Cradle to Cradle” mean? Let’s take a deeper look into what each label means and an example of a product that holds this label.

FairTrade

The FairTrade label is the most globally recognized ethical label. Purchasing a product with the FairTrade label support workers and farmers while they continue to improve not only their lives, but the lives of their communities. The products with this label meet the internationally agreed social, environmental and economic standards.

Products that bear the FairTrade label range from cotton to sugar, cocoa, gold, herbs/spices, quinoa, sports balls and so much more. One specific product that this blog will examine is the sports balls.

The sports balls that are made with the FairTrade label are created ensuring that the people in the various countries making each ball are making the legal minimum or reginal average wage at the time they first start. They also will gradually increase the wage and working conditions. Childcare centers are also built next to the factories so that women can bring their children to a location while they work.

Cradle to Cradle

A Cradle to Cradle certified product is globally recognized measure of safer, more sustainable products made for the circular economy. The products have been critiqued with a standard that sets the tone for other companies to create products that are good for people and the planet. There are five sustainability categories that products are critiqued on to qualify for this certification. They are:

• material health
• material reuse
• renewable energy and carbon management
• social fairness
• water stewardship

These categories determine whether the product meets the criteria to qualify for the Cradle to Cradle certification.

Method’s Pure Naked Moisturizing Body Wash qualifies. Method’s product was rated on the five components listed above. This product scored:

• material health – Platinum
• material reuse – Gold
• renewable energy and carbon management – Gold
• social fairness – Gold
• water stewardship – Gold

The product overall rated Gold, granting it Cradle to Cradle Certified.

Conclusion

Will you now go and look more closely at the products you buy? While purchasing products like this may come with a higher price tag, they are the products that are creating a brighter and better future. Stay tuned for my next sustainable marketing blog coming soon!

Am I actually improving my sustainability? Earlier this quarter, I was given the task to measure my sustainability and see what type of sustainability footprint I actually have. My three goals for the quarter were to:

• Purchasing more sustainable, less processed food
• Making a conscious effort to reduce my emissions throughout the week
• Reduce the amount of trash I produce every day

Reflecting on my Goals

I realized that I have actually not been as sustainable as I would like. As I reflected on my goals, I realized that I almost forgot that I was supposed to be working toward a more sustainable way of life.

Goal #1:

The first goal that I had was to purchase more sustainable and less processed foods. I believe that I have actually done a decent job at doing this but I have not been purchasing more organic food. I wanted to start purchasing more organic food, however, I did not do that. For the rest of the quarter, I want to start purchasing more organic food and continue to work toward not purchasing as much processed foods.

Goal #2:

Making a conscious effort to reduce my emissions throughout the week. This has improved mildly. It is still very tempting to go out and about, however, my roommates and I have made a more conscious effort to go out together to get all of our errands done. We have also worked on trying to not go as many places each day.

Goal #3:

My last goal has also slightly improved but not consciously as much as I had hoped. My goal was to reduce the amount of trash I produce every day and while I do believe that I have not been using as much garbage, I do not think it is as reduced as it could be. I can improve this by continuing to be more conscious of the amount of garbage (both garbage and recycle) that my household continues to produce.

New Goal

A new goal that I have for myself is to use less electricity by not leaving devices plugged in and lights on. I will do this by not allowing my devices to sit for hours on end plugged in charging when they are already fully charged. I will also ensure that my lights are turned off when I am not in a room and it is unoccupied by all of my roommates.

Conclusion

Overall, my sustainability footprint is getting much better, but it is not by any means where I would like it to be. Through the rest of the quarter, I will work to create a more sustainable footprint and work toward living a more sustainable lifestyle.

In this blog, I am taking a deeper look into the way that my GG has been measuring their sustainability activities. My Green Giant (GG) that I have chosen to follow this quarter is Toyota.

After doing some research on Google, I found that Toyota actually has a sustainability report that comes out each year. It measures the sustainability activities of the company for each fiscal year, and it is called the Sustainability Data Book.

Sustainability Data Book

According to the description within the Sustainability Data Book, it “explains the initiatives related to the Environment, Society, and Governance.” The book details all of the ways in which Toyota currently looks at sustainability in multiple different facets of the company. It also shows what they plan to do to become more sustainable in the future.

Toyota and the Environment

Environmental effects of Toyota are monitored closely by the company. The website has a menu option called “Environment” to see what they are currently doing to watch their impact on the environment. I was happy to see that Toyota has been trying to cut down on their water usage. They outline on the website their commitment to reducing electricity and water as well as the waste produced in their products. The website indicates that Toyota measures environmental performance across four key focus areas. The four key areas are

• Carbon
• Water
• Materials
• Biodiversity

These elements drive the environmental planning, strategies and actions of the company.

Toyota Sustainability

In the About page of the Toyota Europe website, there is a section focused on Environmental Sustainability. The website talks about how the main focus of the company is to “create cleaner, safer, less stressful and more connected lives.” Toyota is working to create and inclusive, diverse, and sustainable company of cars and people.

Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050

Toyota announced in 2015 that it was launching a campaign called the Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050. There are six goals that Toyota had to try to reach the goal of this campaign by 2050. They are:

1. New vehicle zero CO2 Emissions
2. Life cycle zero CO2 Emissions
3. Plant zero CO2 Emissions
4. Minimizing and optimizing water usage
5. Establishing a recycling-based society and systems
6. Establishing a future society in nature

Conclusion

Toyota has built a powerful and sustainable company through their creation of the Prius. The Prius is my dream car, and the lengths and measures that Toyota is going to create a more sustainable company have really impressed me. Learning about how they report and measure their sustainability makes me want to support their company even more.

This week in Sustainable Marketing, we are talking about Consumer Behavior. It may be odd to think about sustainable marketing and consumer behavior together, however, it plays a key role in ensuring that more and more people continue to become and/or maintain sustainable lifestyles. Much of the reason that people struggle when searching for things has to do with weighing their perceived benefits to their perceived costs and evaluating their alternatives. In this blog, I will explore the article by Glenn Hurowitz titled Here’s how pressuring corporations can save the Amazon from destruction.

No matter the progress, we simply won’t get a handle on deforestation or climate change more broadly until the meat industry changes – or people eat drastically less meat.

The quote above was the biggest takeaway for me, personally, when I read this article. While the Amazon Rainforest had seen much deforestation from massive, uncontainable fires, it has also had a significant amount of deforestation because of the increase in cattle farming. According to the article, meat is “far and away the single largest driver of deforestation, with cattle and animal feed combining to drive more deforestation than all other commodities combined.”

This poses the important question of “why are consumers unaware of the harm that their consumption and constant demand of cattle has on the environment?

According to an article by the WWF, 80% of the current deforestation has to do with cattle ranching. As a result, the cattle ranching also has caused the release of 340 million tons of carbon to the atmosphere. This also equals 3.4% of current global emissions. The article also states that “cattle farming increases the risk of fires, and are a significant degrader of riparian and aquatic ecosystems.”

This is important in terms of consumer behavior because it is important that consumers of meat understand the choices that they are making. It is important that consumers understand the benefits to eating less meat. Quite literally named “the lungs of the earth,” deforestation of the Amazon is not doing good to the earth. If we understand consumer behavior and are able to give them alternatives to evaluate, consumers may come to the conclusion that their lifestyle needs to change in order to preserve the Amazon and our planet. Understanding consumer’s psychological factors will help to understand why consumers make the decisions that they do.

Once consumers understand that a decrease in consumption of meat is desirable not only for sustainability purposes, but  for the good of our world, offering and giving them other options to substitute will help. Consumer behavior gives us the opportunity to look into and understand consumers, their preferences, and why they make the decisions that they do.

Did you think that all of my Digital Marketing blogs would be the last you heard from me? Well, think again! This quarter, (my last quarter) I will be blogging all about sustainable marketing. This blog will provide a breakdown of my current sustainability footprint through using four different sustainability footprint calculators.

Am I Sustainable?

This is the question you’re probably asking yourself. Well, using the four different footprint calculators, I was able to use four footprint calculators to calculate my footprint in four different areas.

The four footprint calculators I used to calculate my footprint were

• Ecological Footprint Calculator
• Carbon Footprint
• Water Footprint
• Slavery Footprint

Ecological Footprint Calculator

The Ecological Footprint Calculator calculates how many planets it takes to support your lifestyle. I found that I am not very sustainable in this specific aspect of life. It takes 2.8 Earths to sustain my lifestyle. This shows that if each person was to live like I do, we would need 2.8 Earths to sustain the type of lifestyle that I currently live.

This chart shows my consumption by category. It shows that my carbon footprint is quite high and my ecological footprint is also quite high. The least sustainable category that was ranked for me was food.

Carbon Footprint

The Carbon Footprint Calculator calculates the amount of greenhouse gases that are generated by our actions. Through this calculator, I found that I also had a very large carbon footprint.

I am not better than the average person in my average Carbon Footprint. I emit with a combination of my roommates 23 tons of CO2 per year. The combination of the items shown in the photo above created a high emission of CO2/year.

Water Footprint

The Water Footprint Calculator calculates the the amount of water I use individually as well as the amount of water used in my home. I was also shocked to know how much water I use. According to the calculator, I actually have a low water footprint. I was happy to realize that there is some aspect of sustainability that I have seemed to excel in more than others.

Slavery Footprint

The Slavery Footprint calculator calculates how many “slaves” you have working for you. I am saddened to report that according to the way I live, I have 29 slaves working for me. I hope to work more toward creating a sustainable lifestyle where I have next to no slaves working for me.

Reducing my Footprint

Throughout the quarter, I will be working to reduce my footprint in various aspects of my life. Three goal I have to work toward a more sustainable future are:

1. Purchasing more sustainable, less processed food. I have chosen this goal because one of the things that I realized in one of the calculators was that I have been purchasing very non-sustainable foods. I plan to try to purchase less processed and more sustainable food in the grocery store every other week. Sustainable food is always priced higher, so as a college student, I believe that setting a goal of every other week focusing on purchasing a more sustainable grocery load would improve my food sustainability.
2. Making a conscious effort to reduce my emissions throughout the week. I will work to drive my car less throughout the week. I will work to carpool with my roommates whenever we need to go somewhere instead of each of us going alone, and will reconsider those night drives just to “get out of the house.” Instead, I will work to manage my time so that I can get outside.
3. My last goal is to reduce my ecological footprint by reducing the amount of trash I produce every day. This will help me work toward a more sustainable ecological footprint. I can do this by using no single use plastic items, and making sure that I am purchasing things that are packaged in slimmer, less waste-producing packaging.

Conclusion

The Footprint Calculators allowed me to understand how my lifestyle is currently impacting the earth. Throughout the quarter, I will be working on achieving a more sustainable lifestyle. Stay tuned for the next blog about my sustainability footprint in a few weeks to see how I have been working toward this goal.