You Really Can’t Afford To Mess This Up
It’s never been more important to ensure your sustainability storytelling is watertight
In last week’s newsletter (you read it, right?), we marked the end of a pretty tough month for B Corp with a shotgun overview of what it means for a brand to wear the sustainability badge of honour on its lapel in 2023. Put simply, as one spaghetti-armed amphibious philosopher once broadcast to the planet’s school children: “It’s not easy being green.”
Never before have lofty brand pledges and enviro-promises been placed under more scrutiny by a generation of hyper aware, super suspicious, and incredibly vocal consumers like they are today. How vocal? If scrutiny was measured in decibels, you’d be reskinning your eardrums; TikTok’s #greenwashing hashtag currently has 113 million views, with users investigating and calling out companies like H&M, Zara, Lush Cosmetics, Sprite, and a whooole lot more for their wafty claims. This super simple takedown of Kim Kardashian’s (absolutely bonkers) “reusable” packaging in her SKKN BY KIM cosmetics range is a nice little taste of the damage that can be done from one suspicious teenager’s bedroom.
So, perfectly executed, authentic, and genuine sustainability storytelling is absolutely imperative in any form of brand strategy that’s about to go anywhere near broadcasting environmental actions.
And we know how to do it.
Our work with and services for adventure travel specialists Much Better Adventures is a prime example. This week we added a new instalment to our bank of ACM case studies that breaks down our approach; one that MBA co-founder Sam Bruce is pretty happy with, as you’ll read below.
So, when the in-laws get a little too much for you this Easter break, find a quiet minute or two to have a peek at how we get a B Corp brand’s credentials out there, the right way…
MBA said: Take the adventure travel specialist’s ever-increasing itineraries to new audiences; effectively communicate the actions they’re taking to help protect the world’s wild places.
So we: “Pursue progress, rather than perfection.” - words from our friends at Protect Our Winters that perfectly sum up our approach to sustainability storytelling. At a time when communities are more suspicious of lofty environmental claims than ever (and investigating beyond markers such as B Corp badges), taking a transparent and self-aware approach is key. Starting with a forensic knowledge of award-winning MBA’s conservation credentials and actions, we’re continually preempting questions based on what we’re hearing from our media contacts, but also from what we’re asking inside our own communities, too. We work closely with our clients to commit to responses that are fully transparent, genuine, and aware of the wider picture - responses that start with the ability to admit that no company, no matter its intentions, is squeaky clean. “We came to ACM not only for their expertise in adventure and outdoor cultures, but because we knew we could trust them to authentically communicate our sustainability credentials,” says MBA co-founder, Sam Bruce. “It’s very easy to do it the wrong way. But they do it right.”
We learned: The value of an honest communications stream of live feedback and cultural awareness for keeping the client tuned into evolving sustainability standards in the community.
We loved: Seeing MBA’s bookings and feedback predict the biggest adventure travel destination for the coming year. Norway? Yes way.
How was that newsletter for you? Let us know in a comment below