Words by former Unilever Brand Marketing Manager now Sustainability Enabler, Plans With Purpose's Ali Fisher
A diverse range of powers have stuck their heads above the parapet and rallied to help, from Greta & Sir David to XR & the UN. Undoubtedly, as an industry, we are doing more than ever before to drive towards more sustainable business.
We can do more.
We have entered a new era: The Anthropocene – a geological era defined by humankind’s impact on the environment, ending the 12,000 year climatically stable Holocene. The planetary health warnings that come with this seismic environmental shift are best highlighted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change alerting us that we have only until the end of this decade to keep global warming from rising above 1.5 degrees. We have already seen a one degree rise and are feeling the impacts across the world. Our new year and new decade was heralded in by the tragic loss of 10 million HA of Australian bushland and an estimated half a billion animals.
We can still do more. We have strategic nouse, creative lightbulbs, behaviour change know-how, engaged teams and, if we’re lucky, budget.
To date, much of our industry focus has been on deep diving into product value chains (rightly so), looking at how we can build a more circular economy, reduce waste, reduce water usage, reduce pollution and more. Advertising in an Anthropocene Era flags to us the need to now embed this same sustainability rigour into our MarComms, whether that’s by choosing to showcase more sustainable behaviours in our ads or choosing eventing agencies who commit to using recycled and recyclable production materials.
Imagine the positive impact if we focus the power and pounds of the marketing industry on building more sustainable businesses and brands, so that sustainability infuses every pore of our industry. The potential impact change if we laser focus our targets, not just on penetration and brand equity, but on sustainability too is spine tingling. As many of us mantra’d in Recycling Week 2019 ‘It’s in our own hands’.
‘Knowledge deficit’ and ‘a preference for existing ways of life’ are two of the key barriers to citizens adopting more sustainable living (Globescan 2019 Healthy & Sustainable Living Project). Who better to answer this brief than the Marketing Industry? What if we reviewed every marketing brief asking ourselves the question: what can this brief do to move the needle on the sustainability agenda? Mindshare are one agency already embracing this idea with their #ChangeTheBrief initiative, partnering with clients to create marketing and media plans designed to encourage small changes in behaviour that will help address the climate crisis when delivered at scale. With businesses and brands being challenged for green-washing, purpose-washing, woke-washing, green-rinsing and other forms of negative eco-washing traits, building a new era of Anthropocene Advertising, a new level of responsibility and leadership, to answer the escalating needs of our human-dominated era with all its challenges, seems a no-brainer. For those that can embrace this approach across the broad spectrum of their MarComms, the benefits of their authenticity and thoroughness will win through with their audiences.
Hellmann's: experiential campaign highlighted food waste
Employees, most markedly Millennials, tell us hands down they are hungry to work in businesses that are more sustainably driven. The opportunities to have positive impact within this industry abound. This is an era of business not as usual and it makes for an exhilarating brief for those willing to step up and answer it.
The Unstereotype Alliance was founded to bring the advertising industry together as a force for good to eradicate harmful gender-based stereotypes across all media and advertising content. Unstereotype provides inspiration and proof points for the capabilities and potential of this industry to embed responsibility, equality and positive change at the heart of marketing. Unstereotype shone a light on the continued prevalence of negative gender-based stereotypes. It is time now to shine the light on the prevalence of negative environment-based stereotypes and prejudices. It is our moment to call time on our industry’s unintended environmental consequences. It is time to replace the single-use hard-to-recycle coffee cups featured in Christmas coffee shop posters with the stay-in or reuse model. It is time to feature trains over planes in our promos and ads, replacing ‘Tagskryt’ (‘train-bragging’ for the non-native Swedes) over Frequent Flyers. It is time to offer staycation wins over exotic jet-setting. It is time to offer lower-carbon flexi, veggie and vegan over meat and two veg in our meetings, events and sets. It is time to embed sustainable regenerative thoughts and actions into every nook and cranny of this huge marketing machine. NAN might be an appropriate acronym to add to the marketers’ lexicon of the 2020s: Nudge, Aspire & Normalise sustainability where-ever you can.
The Unstereotype Alliance is underpinned by a Code of Principles. Anthropocene Advertising must likewise be guided by principle. Cultural principles must focus on accountability, education and collaborative challenge. As a starter for ten Anthropocene Advertising content should:
Humankind has shaped a new geological age where we dominate the landscape. It is our responsibility to respond with marketing plans that reflect this new age and use all the mastery of our trade to bring about positive environmental impact. We need responsible Anthropocene Advertising to regenerate our planet through the once-in-an-epoch challenges of the Anthropocene Era.
#AnthropoceneAdvertising
Greta Thunberg: Our House Is On Fire! | World Economic Forum 2019
