12. 3 Phases, 9 Principles (1) Planning Your Approach Focus on fundamentals Get out ahead Partner for content and credibility (2) Developing Communication Make honesty a priority Find strength in humility Embrace the detail Show, don’t tell (3) Launch and Beyond Become a first responder Commit for the long term
14. Planning Your Approach Focus on fundamentals Start on the inside “Get hard facts. Get them verified. You can’t tell a credible sustainability story without real data behind it.” Be clear about your brand’s biggest impacts and be willing to redress them through big change
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16. Planning Your Approach Get out ahead Cutting-edge sustainability initiatives are the product of leadership. Do it with a game-changing new product, service or point of view.
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18. Planning Your Approach Partner for content and credibility Partner with a credible, sympathetic third party at the beginning of your sustainability journey. Learn from external expertise and objective critique.
22. The Fall Out From This New Landscape Has Created two scarce inter-related commodities. Attention Communication that cannot rise above the clutter will fail. Engagement Passive mass communication techniques must give way to placing more emphasis on downstream experiential/interactive activities
23. “A revolution doesn’t happen when a society adopts new tools. It happens when society adopts new behaviours. Clay Shirky
24. The increasing importance of behavioural economics in the communication process “ There is a big difference between asking someone to move their arm a little to the right in a supermarket and asking them to give up smoking” Rory Sutherland, Deputy Chairman, Ogilvy UK
25. The future of marketing communication is not doing and saying things to people.The future is about doing things with and for people.
26. Developing Communication Make honesty a priority People will accept progress over perfection as long as shortcomings are declared in full. Transparent and honest efforts are more important than perfection. Brands must be brave. Loyalty follows transparency.
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29. Developing Communication Find strength in humility Frame your brand’s achievements in a way that acknowledges your limitations and includes a commitment to try harder. Do it with sincerity of intent, a deep understanding of the relevant issues, and a permanent ban on chest beating.
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31. Developing Communication Embrace the detail Provide pertinent detail at every turn, in all communication but avoiding generalisations like “helps save the earth”. Truth telling reinforces authenticity in a world where half truths can poison a brand’s credibility. Find the balance between precise and trivial.
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33. Developing Communication Show, don’t tell Find a forum where your brand actions can speak for themselves. Make sustainability tangible, practical and relevant without saying it in so many words. Seeing is believing.
36. Launch and Beyond How you go out into the world, your attitude, your openness and ability to listen and respond – your brand’s behaviour – all impact perceptions of your authenticity. A brand’s sustainability credentials cannot be viewed as just a box ticking exercise, long term commitment is a must.
37. Launch and Beyond Become a first responder Act fast in the face of criticism and collaborate with decriers on solutions before deep reputational damage is done. View critics, influencers and consumers as allies who can help in the constant improvement of your brand’s story. Ban being defensive.
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39. Launch and Beyond Commit for the long term Take a “for better or worse” vow to sustainability. A “one and done” approach screams “opportunist tactic” Act responsibly and feed the pipeline with steady stream new news. Adopt a “Divine Discontent” creed.
