Have you come across one of those little memes doing the rounds that looks like a video titled ‘The Highlights of 2020’ but when you hit the arrow, it’s actually not a video, but a picture?
I would say the lessons emerging from a year like 2020 are what make the highlights, not necessarily what we gained. One of these is renewed emphasis on sustainability, and by this, I mean complete circular sustainability.
It is promising to see organisations, both private and government, realise sustainability isn’t just about environmental responsibility; it’s about social responsibility too. You need only look at some of the horrific effects of the Black Lives Matter push and COVID spectacle to determine what happens if businesses ignore both environmental and social responsibility. This year we will see organisations stepping up in a big way.
From the simplest change, such as paper straws over plastic, to the greatest sustainable options in the manufacturing process, consumers are demanding it and voting with their hard-earned dollar. Even though the initial request was made some years ago, organisations were ashamedly found to be acting on the stakeholders’ desires, rather than the consumers.
A public push for sustainability, together with transparency in the manufacturing and sales process, means we can see a genuine push for sustainability throughout many business plans today. For example, organisations have elected to a circular economy manufacturing process, whereby all by-product material will be used elsewhere.
Ikea is aiming to be an entirely circular business by 2030. IKEA Group chief sustainability officer, Lena Pripp-Kovac, has said: “I think the idea of circular really makes the point of saying that it is already in the design phase, when you start to think that you have to incorporate the whole life-cycle into what you do and how it’s owned and what's going to happen with it.”
In its 2019 business report available online, Ikea aspired to a number of sustainable promises like developing into a circular business, furthering reducing the climate footprint, sourcing its material responsibly and collaborating with social entrepreneurs.
With change comes challenge. Several challenges the organisation identified include the following:
Ikea actively encourages its customers via social media to challenge themselves every week and do something unique toward sustainability and biodiversity. In doing so, they may also personally discover a new way of living that may become easy.
This project also goes beyond those particularly interested in sustainability. For example, it recognises there may be a need for someone to use that plastic bag right now, but asks: What are you doing with the plastic bag afterwards?
By contrast, there could possibly not be an organisation more commercial in its appearance than McDonalds. However, with the opening of its 1000th store in Australia, the franchise is road-testing an exciting new sustainable concept that should operate as a precedent for others to follow.
The flagship store is in Melbourne’s Melton South and has been built in a partnership with Schneider Electric, the global leader in energy management and automation. The latter will manage all the restaurant’s energy systems including a microgrid, air-conditioning, refrigeration and lighting.
We can expect to see automated lighting that observes whether it’s a bright day and adjusts lighting, air conditioning and refrigeration accordingly. In addition, the restaurant will be powered by renewable energy, feature Happy Meal toy recycling, embrace carbon neutral McDelivery via Uber Eats and Door Dash, have an Australian-first PlayPlace made with recycled content and offer electrical vehicle charging stations.
These are just a couple of ideas showing how large organisations are taking what is available to them and designing new concepts to provide sustainable solutions that are acceptable to both stakeholders and customers. If such large organisations can get the job done, I would have thought smaller businesses can also deliver circular economies, too.
Read more about the circular economy in our special explainer report here.
CMO’s State of the CMO is an annual industry research initiative aimed at understanding how ...
In this latest episode of our conversations over a cuppa with CMO, we catch up with the delightful Pip Arthur, Microsoft Australia's chief marketing officer and communications director, to talk about thinking differently, delivering on B2B connection in the crisis, brand purpose and marketing transformation.
Hey there! Very interesting article, thank you for your input! I found particularly interesting the part where you mentioned that certain...
I too am regularly surprised at how little care a large swathe of consumers take over the sharing and use of their personal data. As a m...
The biggest concern is the lack of awareness among marketers and the most important thing is the transparency and consent.
Thanks for giving these awesome suggestions. It's very in-depth and informative!sell property online
In these tough times finding an earning opportunity that can be weaved into your lifestyle is hard. Doordash fits the bill nicely until y...
The lessons emerging from a year like 2020 are what make the highlights, not necessarily what we gained. One of these is renewed emphasis on sustainability, and by this, I mean complete circular sustainability.
The past 12 months have been a confronting time for marketers, with each week seemingly bringing a new challenge. Some of the more notable impacts have been customer-centric, driven by shifting priorities, new consumption habits and expectation transfer.
ABM has been the buzzword in digital marketing for a while now, but I feel many companies are yet to really harness its power. The most important elements of ABM are to: Identify the right accounts; listen to these tracked accounts; and hyper-personalise your content to these accounts to truly engage them. It’s this third step where most companies struggle.
