Eco-Friendly Pledges Without Accountability Hurt All Brands

Editor’s note: Today’s column is the fourth installment in Jonathan Hanson’s sustainability series. Below, his conversation with Tentree's co-founder and CEO shows how brands that treat sustainability as a business model are better able to create seamless customer touch points. Derrick Emsley's company, Tentree, has some ambitious literal growth plans. The brand is a tree-planting business that makes money through the sale of responsibly made apparel. "We want to plant trees, and are using the product as the vehicle to do so," said Emsley on a recent episode of Conquer the Noise podcast. For every article of clothing purchased, Tentree plants 10 trees, all of which is verified through a tech platform developed in-house called Veritree. I was admittedly skeptical of these claims—I’ve become a bit cynical of brands touting their positive environmental and social impact. But as digging in further quelled my cynicism because of the verification process. Cynicism is a common consumer reaction. In Havas' Meaningful Brands report, 71% of respondents did not believe brands would deliver on their promises, creating accusations of what the agency calls “CSR washing”—the failure of corporate social responsibility. Nearly three fourths (73%) also said brands need to act now for the good of humanity and the planet. These statistics show there's room for brands to foster trust and loyalty through accountability and verification. Tentree's goal is to verify the reforestation of the planet by creating an integrated planting management tool that can map, estimate, forecast and collect data, distribute information and locations, and verify tree-planting on a global scale through the blockchain. Through its registry, customers can see how many trees have been planted and where, while the platform creates digital islands that can show off contributions to the virtual community. “At the end of the day, we want to inspire people to believe in their ability to have an impact,” said Emsley. His belief is that the customer should have a relationship with their trees, so that impact is a focus in their storytelling and customer engagement. Not only does this foster accountability, it also creates a method by which other businesses can build trust with their customers. Brand leaders need to invest in storytelling that shows how their brand is doing what they say they are. They can stand out by establishing a clear, holistic approach to sustainability ("We support X through Y and Z"), empowering customers to easily see their impact—without the use of guilt or nebulous messaging—and backing up claims through verification and data that is easily accessed and interpreted. A customer experience that allows people to directly see where their impact is going, similar to a loyalty rewards program, can motivate them to return. For example, a brand could use an “impact wallet,” as Emsley described it, that accumulates points to be redeemed for discounts, products or reinvestment into their efforts, deepening the client-brand relationship. The more claims made about delivering change, and the more these promises are left unfulfilled, the deeper the cynicism—which hurts all brands in their messaging. Profitability and sustainability are not exclusive to each other—businesses exist to earn money for their stakeholders. Brand marketers who get it right approach their marketing less as advertising and messaging and more as a business model. Change and sustainability efforts happen behind the scenes—to be transformative, it has to start with the core of the business to meet consumers' expectations. Patagonia and Tentree are both examples of this. There isn’t a cookie-cutter approach to marketing sustainability and impact. Each business is unique and requires different strategies. Understanding what resonates emotionally with a brand's customers is key to tying their motivators into product, supply chain and experience innovations. From my experience digging into the space and speaking with over 40 founders, brands that take a holistic, business model approach to their ESG impact tend to be successful over legacy brands that retroactively work it into their business. Tentree has created a system that allows customers to see impact and interact with like-minded people, while giving them a reason to come back. The company's strength is in its ability to provide transparency. If more brands worked to hold themselves accountable, cynicism would be diminished and, in turn, greater support would be created for brands embracing a net positive impact.

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Sustainability Pledges Without Accountability Hurt All Brands

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