Don’t Buy My Stuff. How Responsible Is That?
It’s getting cold outside, and your winter wardrobe is in need of a makeover. After some casual browsing on the web, your inbox is full of Black Friday and Christmas deals for winter coats, and some tasty new designs that might look good on the slopes in January. But one headline catches your eye. ‘Don’t Buy this Jacket… Reduce… Repair… Re-use… Recycle…’. What is going on? You dig a bit deeper, and realise it is an ‘anti-ad’ for Patagonia’s Common Threads initiative. They pride themselves on the quality of their merchandise, so if you have a #Patagonia coat already, they will repair it for you before you need to buy a new one. And if it is beyond repair then they will recycle it. But if you don’t own one, it sounds like the kind of brand you might want to do business with. Kerching!
This mentality may be puzzling to traditional marketers and business-people, who deliberately make things, which wear out quickly to encourage you to buy something new. But there is plenty of evidence to suggest that Patagonia’s alternative business model is resonating with modern consumers (see earlier post on #Goodbyegrowthatallcosts). Particularly when shopping for items, which are not disposable. It also works in a more traditional way, producing impressive financial returns. In the 10 years since CEO #RoseMarcario, the company has grown four-fold. And this has allowed it to fund other innovations, eg in food supply, and creating an online platform for activists to share ideas (Patagonia Actionworks).
Patagonia is not alone in making brand purpose and responsible behaviour front and centre of their business model. A host of mainly online C21st brands have followed a similar path. #Warby Parker sells fashionable eyewear, but for every sale it donates free glasses to those who can’t afford them in developing countries. #Toms does the same for footwear. Fashion brand #Everlane has invested in setting up an ethical supply chain, and re-designed the very messy process for creating silk, to launch the first ‘#CleanSilk’ brand. Other leaders in this field include #Etsy, the online crafts marketplace, which encourages upcycling and recycling of craft products, and uses renewable energy to power its offices. And #Causebox, which wears its sustainability credentials on its sleeve, marketing beauty subscription products exclusively from ethical suppliers.
But these are mainly newer businesses, which have the advantage of targeting socially conscious consumers in their start-up phase, and can build supply chains where sustainability is the start point, not an add-on. What about established businesses who have taken on the thornier task of reinventing themselves to be better corporate citizens?
#Bank of America is a leader in the field and one of the few companies which have chosen to make ‘responsible growth’ the central plank of its business strategy. CEO #BrianMoynihan still places growth front and centre of his agenda, but makes it clear that is not an acceptable goal in isolation. ‘Of course, we have to grow. But we have to do it the right way: Our growth has to come from what we do for our customers; we succeed when they succeed. We have to take acceptable risk. And - core to responsible growth - we have to do it in a sustainable way.’ So far, the bank has managed to follow this mantra, whilst still delivering attractive shareholder returns.
#Unilever is another business which is gradually getting to grips with its wider impact on society and the environment. Under the banner of ‘making sustainable living commonplace’, it is identifying specific targets and action plans for cutting carbon emissions and water use, eliminating disease and infection, and reducing waste disposal for brands such as #Ben&Jerry’s, #Lifebuoy, #Dove and #Sure.
In another example, fierce fmcg competitors #Danone, Nestle, and Pepsi have set aside their rivalry and agreed to collaborate with #OriginMaterials to develop 100% bio-based PET bottles, with the aim of reducing non-recyclable single-use plastic.
There are plenty of other examples of companies striving to do the right thing, or at least to offset some of the negative effects of their main business activity. #Coty is looking to celebrate diversity amongst its customers and employees with its WeStandforYou brand platform. Swedish personal care business #Essity wants to break down taboos around women’s periods with its award-winning #BloodNormal and #VivalaVulva campaigns. #CocaCola has donated over $1bn since 1984 through its charitable foundation to three priority causes: women; water; and community wellbeing. And #Starbucks is championing community (partnership with Neighbourly); ethical sourcing (99% from ethical providers); and environment (big push to recycle coffee cups). But all of these companies would admit that they are just scratching the surface of what needs to be done to become a truly responsible growth business, where all of their activities are sustainable and ethical.
Further words of caution come from the large numbers of companies, like BP, Dow, Dupont, GM, Monsanto, and Toyota, who have been accused of ‘greenwashing’. Others seem to be on the right path, but have been undermined by the difficulty of keeping all parts of the business on track. #Standard Chartered has created the unequivocal brand platform ‘#HereforGood’, highlighting diverse good practice in customer care, saving elephants, and supporting worker safety for ship breakers. So far so good, but these claims became less impressive when they were fined $1bn for sanction busting and money laundering in Iran.
Similarly, #Lufthansa was widely praised for taking on the bargain basement airfares of carriers like #Easyjet and #RyanAir. "We need growth. But we do not need blind growth, we need high-quality, sustainable growth. Tickets for less than ten euros – as offered by some of our competitors – are economically, ecologically and politically irresponsible," said CEO #CarstenSpohr. Hard to argue until a major profits warning later in the year brought into question the airline’s ability to deliver on its promise.
So responsible growth is not easy to deliver, as it requires effort across all areas of the business. But motivated companies are getting organised, with over 3,000 now signed up to the not-for-profit #B Corporation initiative. ‘Certified B Corporations are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. B Corps are accelerating a global culture shift to redefine success in business and build a more inclusive and sustainable economy.’ Many of these are smaller businesses at earlier stages of development, but by no means all. The process for application is not straightforward, so expect to see more focus on accreditation in the years ahead to convince sceptical consumers that marketing claims are worth their salt. A key part of the B Corps application process is signing up to the #Declaration of Interdependence, which sets out an interesting alternative take on traditional western capitalism.
Furthermore governments and international communities are starting to engage with responsibility by questioning GDP as the sole metric charting national success. The #UN has led the way with its #Sustainable Development Goals, whilst the EU has waded in with the ‘#Beyond GDP’ programme, and #OECD with a Better Life index.
Source: OECD Better Life Index
Each of these defines different ways in which countries and governments can contribute to the health and wellbeing of their populations, across employment, housing, environment, education, social connections, security, etc. And at nation state level, New Zealand sets a fine example by prioritising gross national wellbeing over GDP. As Prime Minister #JacindaAhern observes: ‘The purpose of government spending is to ensure citizens’ health and life satisfaction, and that — not wealth or economic growth — is the metric by which a country’s progress should be measured. GDP alone does not guarantee improvement to our living standards, and nor does it take into account who benefits and who is left out.’
In conclusion, there is already much to admire in the domain of responsible growth, but also much to be concerned and even anxious about, because we are not changing fast enough. This is an issue that will not go away, and where all of us have a role to play. One of my daughters observed over the Christmas break that the 2020s is likely to be the era where acting in an unethical and environmentally irresponsible way will become as taboo as racism and sexism became in the 2010s. She may well be right! New decade – new responsible way of doing business.
