Sustainability gets thrown around alot. Two years ago I filled my bookshelf with every green marketing and sustainability manifesto I could find. And the greenwashing was everywhere. It was trendy to talk about but very hard to do.
If you want to see what leaders in the space are doing, the American Marketing Association is having a panel lunch on April 19th, including Interface, Southwire Company, Continuum Design and Ted’s Montana Grill. These are guys that take sustainability seriously.
Sustainability is up there with world hunger and world peace. While a lot of companies and people talked about it for a few years, some companies spent the last few decades determining where sustainability, environmental responsibility and corporate citizenship fit within the soul of their company. Once they got that figured out, they were able to plan strategies, act on them and communicate with meaning about real things.
That is, after all, what marketing should be. Choose the strategies that make a real difference, do them consistently and communicate about them with honesty and frequency. It’s hard enough for some companies to sustain a message. To sustain a commitment and then communicate consistently and meaningfully about it…that’s for the pros.
