Eight c’s of sustainability branding by Allah Dad Khan

2. EIGHT C’s of
Sustainability
Branding
By Allah Dad Khan

3. 1.Core
• The starting point of credible sustainability
marketing is the socio-ecological impacts of
products .The thorough assessment of the key
socio-ecological problems of products along
the entire life cycle by means of the impact
matrix or Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is
necessary for companies to begin with.

4. 2.Co-operative:
• The solutions to the main socio-ecological
problems associated with products along the
entire life cycle require co-operations with
suppliers, retailers, consumers, scientists, and
other non-market actors – both in the process
of innovating and marketing sustainable
products and services.

5. 3.Credible
• : Solving key socio-ecological problems
associated with companies’ products and
tying sustainability to the core business are
fundamentals of credibility. Co-operations
with trustworthy partners and the use of
independent, third-party labels can increase
the credibility of sustainability brands further.

6. 4.Consumer Benefits:
• For most consumers, socio-ecological attributes
are not core benefits. Usually, socio-ecological
characteristics just play an auxiliary role. Many
sustainable products of the first generation
suffered from “sustainability marketing myopia”,
i.e. the myopic focus on socio-ecological
attributes over the broader expectations of
consumers (e.g. fair trade coffee with a bitter
taste, textiles with fading colors, and natural
detergents that did not wash properly).

7. 5.Conversational:
• Sustainability branding is more effective as a
two-way conversation, rather than a one-way
announcement. Inviting consumers to
participate in a conversation about the
sustainability process strengthens the brand-
consumer relationship.

8. 6.Consistency:
• If sustainability is key to brand positioning, it is
important to communicate it to and with
consumers in a consistent way, including
advertising, personal selling, point of sale
promotions, online communication and so on.
This requires a kind of integrated approach to
sustainability communication. In addition to that,
the sustainability product brand has to be
consistent with the overall environmental and
social performance of the company

9. 7.Commitment:
• Sustainability branding also requires the
commitment of top management and
marketing decision makers, not ‘just’ the PR
department responsible for CSR reports and
the sustainability officer in charge of health
and environmental management systems
(which is a important, but not directly linked
to products and brands!). Coop, the second
largest Swiss retailer is a good example for its
commitment to sustainability.

10. 8.Continuity:
• Sustainability is more than a one-off campaign. It
must be incorporated into the DNA of the brand.
It must reflect the core values of the brand and
contribute to delivering the brand promise over
the long-term. This means that a brand cannot
change its sustainability focus or ‘cause’ too
often, or engage in too many non-related areas.
Every brand effort has to be mutually supportive
in order to achieve the broader sustainability
brand promise.