FMCG companies that are successful in linking their brand purpose to sustainability have a powerful advantage.
What does sustainability mean to you? For us, in Unilever, sustainability means “the environment under stress” but we take a very broad meaning when thinking of the environment.
We talk about “my world”, “our world” and “the world” when we think of sustainability, and we mean all the issues that matter to consumers which either affect them or their friends/family, their community, (however they define that) and at the macro level, the planet itself.
In essence, we try to think of sustainability as all those things that do some good for society, so these can be environmental issues like plastics, recycling, and climate change, as well as social issues like gender and racial equality, positive nutrition, raising living standards and physical and mental wellbeing for example.
How important is it to Unilever that sustainability can drive share growth for your brands? Sustainable growth is at the heart of our vision “to be the global leader in sustainable business.” Through this statement, we aim to continue demonstrating how our purpose-led, future-fit business model drives performance and results for our business.
Across the FMCG industry, organisations have committed to making sustainable changes to their business, but implementing these changes within marketing plans at brand level is more difficult. How do you embed sustainability issues into decision making across the whole organisation? Unilever is known as being a leader in sustainability and purpose. Our strategy, known as the Compass, aims to shape consumer behaviour change, embed sustainability into every part of the business and bring others along on the journey. This initiative is centred around three core beliefs — brands with purpose grow, companies with purpose last, and people with purpose thrive. We are focussed on a commitment to purpose across the whole of the business and all its activities.
Is it difficult to prove both the social and commercial value of sustainability to stakeholders? It was definitely a challenge in the past, but the growth of studies that show the value that sustainability can have on business success has helped us communicate the value of this strategy.
What level of awareness do you think consumers have of all your initiatives you’ve put in place at corporate or brand level? We measure this using our brand guidance studies. We have learnt that the consistent application of brand purpose initiatives over time leads to awareness at scale. Our brands are on purpose journeys, with some brands (Dove and Ben & Jerrys for example) being more well known for purpose than others in our portfolio.
What impact do you think Covid has had on sustainability concern? Evidence from agency partners like Kantar and their Who Cares, Who Does? research shows that the pandemic put sustainability temporarily on the back burner, as consumers cared more about physical health and hygiene issues. At the same time, it showed how the world is so interconnected, raised the profile of the planet during the lockdowns and demonstrated the value of local. As we emerge from the pandemic, there is increased concern about the environment and how to ensure the world is built back better.
What role do you see Unilever having in educating consumers? At Unilever, we invest in future thinking and scenario planning, with the ambition of not only keeping abreast of current trends in the sustainability space, but also playing a leading role in setting new ones across the FMCG industry.
What do you think is the biggest barrier(s) and how do Unilever seek to address this? I believe that the biggest barriers are education and transparency. Consumers instinctively want to do the right thing and to buy ethically, but they don’t want to pay a premium to do so, nor do they want to spend lots of time researching how to do this. Unilever has a multitude of programmes that are making it easier and simpler for consumers to take action.
How will the FMCG industry approach sustainability in the next 10-20 years and what will it take for manufacturers and retailers to win? The generation following Gen Z - known as Gen Alpha – are likely to be a “sustainability first” generation. This will be the first generation that have grown up with sustainability as a fundamental fabric of the society in which they live and what they learn about at school, college and university. Climate, packaging and social issues will be simply become part of how everyone thinks about and buys FMCG products, so companies that aren’t on board will not thrive in the future.
