Putting Consumers First: The Key to Sustainable Brand Success

The countdown to our upcoming webinar, Why sustainability isn’t selling: Don’t lead with green, is well underway. We’re continuing our exploration of how brands can drive sustainable purchasing to the mainstream by indirectly influencing all consumers to make more climate-friendly decisions.

As we discussed in our previous article, Sustainability on the side: Is the era of green comms over? Encouraging sustainable behaviour does not necessarily mean leading with green messaging and credentials. Rather, brands should start by understanding their consumers –identifying their buying motivators and the barriers that hinder sustainable choices. By addressing these barriers and linking sustainability to the broader benefits that resonate with consumers, brands can create offerings that appeal to a wider audience. 

This often means leading with other, (non-green) benefits that address your consumer’s primary needs, while connecting sustainability to these broader advantages.

But does this strategy actually work?

For plant-based food brand One Planet Pizza, this has been effective at engaging their target audience and secured a nationwide listing.

In a recent LinkedIn post, the brand’s founder Joe Hill shared what has worked well, and not so well with their branding. By focusing too much on eco-friendly and vegan messaging, they failed to appeal to a wider audience of young shoppers and flexitarians. The previous branding didn’t target some key consumer barriers associated with plant-based food, including the misconception that they compromise on taste and quality.

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Motivated by a desire to enhance their brand, One Planet Pizza undertook a rebrand which adopted a Mainstream Green approach and placed their consumers at the core of their growth strategy. Their refreshed design– from the product imagery to logo to messaging, highlighted the fresh ingredients and bold flavours of their pizzas. Plant-based and environmental claims were still present but acted as bonus benefits on top of the attractive food-core benefits of the product.

By responding to the key motivators of food consumption, such as taste, quality and nutrition, the brand landed a more successful campaign than when they led with their eco- friendly and vegan messaging.

So, what does this mean for purpose-led brands?

Sometimes, making sustainability an “and” not an “or” will be a win for the environment and your brand. This may not be the path that every brand should follow, but in this case understanding consumer needs combined with innovation has built a sustainable offering that puts consumers at the brand’s core.

Is your brand exploring the right balance of buying motivators? If so, we hope you see you at our next Ignite session on October 2^nd to be part of the discussion.

Register here for free. 

If you’d like support communicating your green credentials or are looking for support on your sustainability journey, get in touch.

We’d love to help out. toby@catchafireagency.com | +44 (0) 7880 696 385