The S Word: A Brand's Guide to Sustainability

the ‘S’ Word: A Brand’s Guide to Sustainability

Placing human understanding at the core of your sustainability agenda

With accusations of ‘greenwashing’ currently one of the surest ways for a brand to get cancelled, navigating the ‘s’ word can feel like a minefield. Every brand finds itself at a different point in the sustainability journey, making it difficult to be certain of the best next steps.

But as the issue (and the planet) continues to heat up, brands need to find a way to make positive progress on their sustainability agendas.

The good news is that people in the UK are ready to make sustainable changes and are looking to brands for guidance and support. According to the Human Understanding Lab’s research, over two thirds of Brits are already acting on living more sustainably, planning to do so, or thinking about it, while 63% say that the green credentials of a brand are important.

“There is an opportunity here to do better, to support your customers in their green lifestyles and to put proof around your own promises.”

Driven by a deeper human understanding and neuroscience techniques, our report helps you get to the bottom of how consumers implicitly feel about sustainability.

In fact, we go one step further to offer brands an easily digestible guide for implementing a positive approach to the issue. Here’s a sneak peak of some of the ways that you can shape and bolster your initiatives:

Commit to a positive approach
Understand your customer segments
Cover all angles
Partner with the right role models
Be open about the costs
Check for ‘greenwashing’ at every turn

Curious to find out more about our six steps to sustainability? Read our full report to delve into how each stage can help brands make that much-needed progress on their journey.

Despite feelings of anxiety or unease, it’s time for brands to explode the sensitivity around the sustainability conversation. Our practical guide could be the missing piece your organisation needs to make the leap from words to actions.

Still not convinced? Here’s a snapshot of some of the key findings from the Human Understanding Lab’s report:

68% of Brits are engaging with sustainability in some way
Less than half of survey respondents feel that sustainability issues are not theirs to solve, 18% of which think this with any conviction
88% of consumers want brands to offer more sustainable options
The ‘green gap’ is still a problem – 76% of respondents say that living sustainably benefits them and their family, however only 47% show conviction