Sustainability Vs Commerciality
How the planet, your business, and your career can all flourish at once
If you could only have one, which would you choose?
A healthy, habitable planet for your family and communities everywhere.
A thriving business, renowned for rising above the challenges of pandemic years and ongoing VUCA.
A fulfilling and inspiring career, fuelled by the most significant work of your life.
Ambitious readers will struggle to pick just one. But the savviest of business leaders will have noticed the glaring trick in the question.
Under the rising pressure of today’s commercial and meteorological climates, business leaders can’t work smartly towards any one of those three successes without addressing each in tandem. A healthy planet, a thriving business, and a shining career are all interdependent layers of your need to thrive.
The good news is there’s a single focused solution to achieving all three layers: sustainable marketing transformation. The most successful path to profit lies in transforming from the old business-as-usual to put planet and people first.
Flourish is here to implement this solution. We’re a new change agency for brands with the power to define our future. Because the only business that matters is sustainable.
For the planet
Humanity is clutching a time bomb that’s about to hit zero. When it detonates, it’s taking vast numbers of homes, communities, and businesses with it.
We have just six and a half years to reduce carbon emissions by 45%(1), limiting the earth’s warming to that crucial 1.5 degrees Celsius. It’ll go by in a blink. There's no time for inertia or the standard slow slog of corporate change.
And yet, carbon emissions rose by 0.9% in 2022. The latest IPCC(2) report released in March 2023 shows the petrifying consequences already rearing as a result of our general neglect to act fast enough, such as the horrific fires in California last summer and the 40c+ in the UK. The good news is ‘we have never been better equipped to solve the climate challenge – but we must move into warp speed climate action now.(3)
What will it take to jolt everyone from the status quo of a business-as-usual driven solely by quarterly targets? Nobody’s shareholder returns will look good while businesses and governments alike pay the disastrous price of inaction.
It might take the realisation that sustainability is the answer, for the sake of the planet and commercial success.
For prosperity
Leading a business through a poly-crisis is tough. 45% of CEOs predict their businesses won’t be economically viable a decade from now on their current path(4), and we’re seeing swathes of redundancies across sectors. Leaders of every era have believed themselves to be troubled by the toughest challenges yet, but this era really is extreme.
Some of the only businesses not feeling these extremes, however, are those built on sustainable values and practices. Sustainable business is the answer to the unpredictability of the poly-crisis and the solution to preventing the loss of talent and revenues. It’s also the source of competitive advantage.
Sustainable businesses are growing at a rate of 10% per year – twice as fast as the overall economy(5). Even better than growth, businesses that communicate the importance they place on environmental, social, and governance measures (ESG) have enjoyed profit growth of 9.1% relative to 3.7% for those that don’t(6).
Mark Carney, former Governor of the Bank of England, has notoriously claimed that sustainability is the greatest commercial opportunity of our time. It’s a straightforward argument based on the indisputable idea that, when there’s an existential threat looming, ‘if you are making investments, coming up with new technologies, changing the way you do business, all in service of reducing and eliminating that threat, you are creating value(7).
Sustainable businesses are reaping rewards by doing the right thing and being vocal about their authentic actions.
Patagonia's valuation has increased by 150% since 2015, while The North Face's valuation has only increased by 30%.
IKEA has gained a 150% valuation growth compared to 50% for John Lewis.
Ben & Jerry's valuation has grown by 171%, relative to 67% for Haagen Daz over the past 10 years.
Unilever’s valuation has grown 130% over the past 10 years, relative to Procter & Gamble (80%), Nestle (70%), Colgate Palmolive (60%), and Johnson & Johnson (50%).
All these numbers place emphasis on a percentage increase in valuation, not revenue growth or market share. Why? Because increased growth and consumption is not the goal of business in a sustainable world. The goal is to create loved, efficient, high-profit brands that do more good than harm for the planet and society. This, according to Paul Polman, is the definition of net positive business – businesses that ‘create more value, attract more consumers, customers and partners, heal the planet, and increase the well-being of everyone they impact(8).
For people
In 20+ years of working in marketing agencies, I’ve learned the two most useful things in the past 18 months. The first is that specialism is critical because focused experts thrive and make a difference. The second is to love what you do, because, if you get the focus right, then work doesn’t feel like work.
Do I love marketing in general? No. Do I love marketing with the power to inspire organisations to do more good than harm, and inspire consumers to take the leap to buy products that have a gentler impact on our planet? Absolutely.
When our work has meaning, we can shift from striving to thriving(9). And the future of the innovation workforce is already starting to hinge on sustainable values:
Net positive businesses with engaged organisations benefit from 21% higher profitability and 17% greater productivity(10).
80% of employees believe their employers have a responsibility to address environmental issues(11).
One in three Gen Z workers have rejected job offers based on a company’s ESG record, and 66% have left for purpose-related reasons(12).
Sustainability-focused organisations benefit from 55% higher morale and 38% greater loyalty(13).
It’s clear that workers with high morale can achieve greater things. And, per hired replacement, attrition can cost employers 33% of an individual employee’s annual salary(14). If you need another cold, hard business case for the acceleration of sustainable action and communications, this is it.
To go faster than the competition, businesses need the top talent, the most efficient pace of work, and the best outcomes. And we all want to be doing meaningful work for ourselves, our teams, and the healthy futures of our loved ones. In summary, then, authentic sustainability action and marketing are proven to make humans flourish, too.
Sustainable business isn’t just the right thing to do. It’s commercially smart. Good business leaders are sustainable thinkers, accustomed to thinking long-term. And no leader makes a decision that will collapse their brand’s future reputation.
Sustainable businesses thrive because they’re what citizens want, and they’re set to win in the future. Flourish is different because we make sustainability transformation the driver of future commercial success for big brands.
The planet should be a better place because your organisation exists. Get in touch today to start securing a thriving future for the people, the business, and the planet you need to protect.
International Energy Agency, March 2023IPCC report, March 2023Climate change survival achievable but requires urgent action, Natural History Museum, 2023Business leadership in the polycrisis era, Emerging Europe, March 2023Sustainable Businesses Grow Twice as Fast as the Overall Economy. The Guardian, 2022.Link between ESG & profitability, Capital Monitor, 2022Net zero value and rewards, United Nations, 2021Andrew S. Winston and Paul Polman, Net Positive, 2021Kat Byles, Happy Creative Work, 2023Gallup, The right culture: not just about employee satisfaction, 2017Blueprint for a green workforce transformation , Deloitte, 2022Mind the purpose gap, Deloitte, 2022Society for Human Resource ManagementThe cost of turnover can kill your business and make it less fun, Forbes, 2019
