Can Marketing Save the Planet?

Episode 82: Toxic Free Circularity and How Degrowth Equals Greater Profits, with Paul Foulkes-Arellano, Founder, Circuthon Consulting

Degrowth equals greater profits – and big disruptions are coming…

In this episode we got to talk to the brilliant Paul Folkes Arellano about circularity, and not just circularity, but toxic free circularity. Paul shares his knowledge, insights and experience in a space which plays a significant role in sustainability, business and societal behaviours.

Paul share with us how he got into the toxic free circularity space, and shares so many examples of organisations who are doing great things with circularity, and also how collaboration and partnerships are critical to building the business case and turning circularity into meaningful business solutions that can scale.

We talked about the need for Marketers to get involved, to get to grips with and understand their product lifecycle assessments by spending time with their R&D teams, and as Paul says it, “sticking your hands in the compost”. A critical part that brings with it a wealth of stories.

Paul also talks about degrowth and the fact that degrowth equals greater profits. Circularity drives efficiencies, greater loyalty, less waste and, there is also huge amounts of capital to be gained from waste. This episode left us feeling uplifted and full of motivation and confirmed, once again, why we are such big advocates for circularity.

Join us on this episode as we talk to Paul about:

• The circular economy and toxic free circularity.

• The opportunities and the business case for circularity.

• Why Marketers should be spending time in R&D labs to truly understand their products

• The great work being done in circularity and why full product life cycle assessments are imperative for marketers to be part of.

• The need for more good stories to be shared.

• The future of sustainability and circularity and long-term planning.

For more information about Paul’s work visit Circuthon Consulting.

And follow his insights and great conversations via LinkedIn too.

A great episode… enjoy.

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

Episode 81: Ocean Literacy - Collective Action for Healthy Oceans and a Stable Climate, with Amanda Horn, Founder, Loless Blue Water Co.

The need to reconnect to water and rebrand the ‘Big Blue’…

World Ocean Day falls on June 8th and for those who haven’t heard of this event, it’s about “catalyzing collective action for a healthy ocean and a stable climate”.

The ocean’s role is one of the most important there is, and, water security is a real concern. But, to make such events successful in reaching global goals and targets around our oceans and water, we have to take notice, understand the challenges we face and importantly, be prepared to take action.

We met with Amanda Horn, a brand marketer who fell in love with water and found a deep connection, which as she shares in this episode, changed so many areas of her life personally and, professionally when she turned her passion into a circular business looking to solve problems in the beauty industry, with water at the heart.

Amanda is a strong advocate for protecting water, raising awareness of the challenges and opportunities and as she says, ‘rebranding big blue’.

Water conservation – Ocean conservation – plastic solutions -  waste - water consumption – they are all connected and we have to take responsibility for them, and more importantly understand the challenges and how our behaviors and choices either speed up progress, or slow it down.

When Amanda began her journey to build a responsible brand, she didn’t realise how epic it would be at every single stage. She shares her learnings from the resources needed, commercial understanding, packaging needs, materials sourcing, collaboration and co-creation and what happens at the end of life of her product to make it truly circular.

Join us on this episode as we talk to Amanda about:

• The power of connecting with water and the parallels between humans and the ocean.

• The importance of ocean literacy in meeting the global goal of protecting 30% of the world’s ocean by 2030.

• The need to protect water at all costs through increasing our knowledge and conversations around what it is the most important resource we have.

• The “10 Challenges of the Decade”.

• How Marketers can make connections through story and emotion as Amanda puts it – “Rebranding the big blue”.

• Evolving her passion into a circular business – and how understanding every stage of the product lifecycle is critical to not only the product but the story.

And here’s a rallying call to action for you, our listener to get involved:

World Ocean Day  https://worldoceanday.org/about/ in the lead up to World Ocean Day, explore and see what you can do. Amanda also shares her tips!

 World Ocean Week  https://oceanweekcan.ca/ if you’re in Canada, then you have Ocean Week, which is a public celebration of the ocean from coast to coast.

Wherever you are, even if you are nowhere near a body of water, it is connected to your life, so commit to understanding a bit more, raising your awareness and taking steps to be part of the solution.

For more information about Amanda Horn and Ocean Literacy, click this link.

Enjoy…

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

Episode 80: The Role of Behavioural Science in Nudging towards Behaviour Change, with Behavioural Scientist, and Author, Patrick Fagan

We’re only consciously aware of 0.0004% of everything around us at once…read that again!

Fake news, real news, social media, pickup artists. With all the messages we see and decisions we make every day, have you ever thought about how we are constantly being nudged towards one thing or another? In this episode we explore behavioural science with Patrick Fagan and whilst all communications are design to influence and manipulate in some way, how can we (marketers / communicators) use skill, creativity and influence for good?

When it comes to marketing, our role is to understand needs and desires, tune in to what people want and then talk to them about how our products and services benefit them, meeting those needs and desires and helping them to feel a particular way to purchase or engage. But, as we’ve talked about many times on our podcast series, we need to rethink the role of marketing, we need to evolve our stories, drive awareness, educate, shape new behaviours and get people to care enough to want to make different choices, or change behaviours. There is SO much for Marketers to take away from this conversation with Patrick - from frameworks, steps and examples to connecting the dots. It’s a must listen. Tune in as we talk to Patrick about:

• The nuances of language and how they are ordered

• Nudge theory and Cialdini's 6 Principles of Influence

• Types of nudges - the most used and the most powerful

• What we can do as communicators to change behaviours through choice architecture

• Fear messaging

• Creating campaigns which cut through the noise

• Finding out about brain’s ‘memory bouncer’

For more information about Patrick Fagan, the books he’s written, and the work he does - you can follow him on LinkedIn or visit https://www.patrickfagan.co.uk/

Enjoy…

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

Episode 79: Honing in on the ‘S’ of E S G – a critical component of the sustainability journey with Beth Knight, Social Impact and Sustainability Director

Honing in on the ‘S’ of E S G – a critical component of the sustainability journey

ESG – environmental, social, governance, a subject that has been an increasing topic of debate and discussion, but what about the S?

In this episode we speak to Beth Knight, a leading figure in social impact and sustainability, with over 15 years’ experience in purpose-led business transformation – Beth shares incredible insights as we take a deeper diver into the ‘S’ for social - an area that, whilst often the least talked about, is critical for key stakeholders (employees, customers, communities) who are looking to gauge whether they want to engage.

With information being more accessible, people are more vocal, and therefore, it is no longer enough for organisations to simply broadcast messages that stakeholders take at face value, without question.

Beth speaks about the rise of data and sentiment monitoring to understand if your brand is doing well beyond the campaigns and how looking at the full health of your organisation is now a critical part the sustainability journey.

We discuss the challenges faced by large corporations who have teams dedicated to ESG and sustainability and Beth shares some insightful ‘hacks’ for SMEs who perhaps don’t have the resources, but need to start or accelerate their journeys.

Beth’s commitment to making a positive impact is unwavering – and with her wealth of experience, we could have picked Beth’s brains for hours – so many insights and examples.

Tune in to hear Beth talk about:

• How we raise the profile of the S in ESG?

• The acceleration of the social impact conversation and the opportunities that align with that social side.

• How we advance the conversations and narrative both internally and externally.

• The importance of understanding the materiality assessment of an organisation and the social impact indicators within that.

• How as a Marketer you should be helping your organisation plan how you're going to proactively engage with key stakeholders on the ‘Social’ topics.

• The challenges being faced by SMEs and the ‘hacks’ to navigate them.

• The role of Social Marketing (not to be confused with social media marketing) in educating, driving awareness and changing behaviours.

For more information about Beth Knight - you can visit her site.

Enjoy…

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

Episode 78: Unpacking the Action - Intention Gap with Sandy Skees, Purpose and Impact Global Lead, Porter Novelli

“Be the voice of the consumer who wants to do more.”

ESG – environmental, social and growth, (yep you read that right), growth rather than governance. We absolutely loved that take from Sandy Skees, Purpose and Impact Global Lead at Porter Novelli. We’ve wanted to talk to Sandy for some time since we came across their research on the ‘Intention – Action Gap - the ‘Rise of the Conscious Consumer’, when writing ‘Can Marketing Save the Planet - 101 Ways to use Sustainable Marketing as a Force for Good’.

This particular piece of research looks at people’s willingness to adopt changes to their behaviours, and not just by purchasing ‘green’ products. Sandy shares example after example of the significant shifts that are happening with consumer appetite and behaviour - shifts which are some of the biggest indicators yet that things are starting to change, and quickly.

Tune in and listen as Sandy shares many fascinating insights from the data and research and, her vast knowledge and decades of experience in this space. You’ll learn:

• What the pressure points are in driving new mindsets.

• What Marketers need to do and why a focus on culture change is critical.

• Why one of the most important roles of business is to change societal behaviours and how communication is the most powerful way of doing this.

• Why communication has to be intentional.

• What is holding brands back.

• What some of the biggest challenges facing marketers are.

For more information about Sandy Skees - you can visit her site.

To view the research The Gap Between Say and Do - see here.

Enjoy…

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

Episode 77: Serious about social impact - How small changes open to the door to bigger impacts - Chris Baker, CEO Serious Tissues

“If you can change how people spend their money, you can change the world.”

Social Impact, sustainable business, creative ideas and changing behaviours, these are just some of the areas that we explored with Chris Baker, strategist turned entrepreneur and CEO of Serious Tissues.

With behavioural science sitting behind so many successful business models Chris talks to us about his experience across a number of social impact businesses and initiatives that he is involved with, and how a simple switch can make such a positive impact.

You’ll hear us discuss the growing momentum behind sustainable toilet rolls and tissues both within B2B and B2C, bamboo vs. recycled paper and the challenges and opportunities that he is currently seeing. We discuss Chris’s upcoming book exploring social impact and how it’s becoming more fundamental than ever for organisations, the rise of impact investing and how doing good is becoming a competitive advantage. Chris talks about the journey writing his book took him on as he spoke to multiple change brands working towards securing a more sustainable future. Chris shares so many examples, this episode will leave your minds brimming with ideas and inspiration.

Join us as we talk to Chris about:

• Social marketing and behavioural science and why they’re at the forefront of driving commercial and social good.

• The challenges of changing behaviours and the approaches you can take.

• How little changes add up and can open the door to bigger lifestyle changes.

• When it comes to change, the need to look at what you are doing through the lens of opportunity – and framing them as such, as opposed to a threat.

• The intriguing concept of disrupting from within.

• The need to put the right metrics behind innovation to avoid setting it up to fail from the get go.

• The rise of impact investing and how it can scale the good.

For more information about Serious Tissues https://serioustissues.com/

And to tune in to hear Chris talking about the latest Which report about ‘loo roll’, provenance and greenwashing tune in here. (You can connect with him on LinkedIn there too!).

Enjoy…

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

Episode 76: – Insects - The future of sustainable food for our pets? with Alessandro Di Trapani, CoFounder and CEO, Grub Club

Did you know that 20% of the world's fish and meat is consumed by our pets?

We didn’t… and so yet again, the learning curve continues. We love having conversations with amazing brands who are pioneering, disrupting the norms and thinking outside the box with a focus on delivering social and environmental impact.

Food security, the impact of food production and what we eat is an area of significant focus when it comes to wellbeing for all and transitioning to a sustainable future - something we cannot afford to ignore when considering food consumption for humans, but what about our beloved pets?

We invited Alessandro Di Trapani from Grub Club onto the Can Marketing Save the Planet podcast to dive into this very subject and find out more about their insect based pet food products, the benefits to pets (and the planet) and, the important role marketing plays in the narrative and behaviour change around insect based food.

We learnt so much in this episode so tune in to hear about:

• The only real way to drive sustainable change is to change where people spend their money. And, how we need to provide people with the options to drive change.

• Why having a vision and a belief in what you do can allow you to shake up an industry.

• Marginal and incremental steps to being more sustainable is so important and can drive real progress.

• How Grub Club has approached changing the narrative and telling their story which is key to overcoming some of the challenges both in terms of educating people, and changing mindsets which then leads to behaviour change.

• The importance of staying close to your customer - how to drive loyalty when building a community through wrapping a service around your products.

• Addressing the challenges of transparency, price points and education.

• Why creativity is so important in telling your story and how Grub Club try new ways and, channels. 

For more information about Grub Club visit https://mygrubclub.com/

And connect with Alessandro via LinkedIn here.

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

Episode 75: – UpCircule Beauty - Building Capital from Waste and Embedding Circularity into Brand - CoFounder, Anna Brightman

Proving unequivocally that waste can build capital, UpCircle is a truly inspiring organisation built on circular economy principles.

The circular economy presents a huge opportunity for both business and the environment so we were really excited when Anna Brightman from UpCircle, a skincare and beauty brand built from waste and, focused entirely on the circular economy principles joined us on the podcast.

UpCircle fully owns the concept of circularity and builds it into every strand of their business. They have learnt how to turn waste not only into a succesful business, but a global successful business, which is continuously testing the limits of what can be done.

As you’ll hear, their marketing knowledge and know-how is an exemplar on how to engage with community to grow whilst doing good for the environment - which is no easy task when you consider some of the staggering impacts the beauty industry has on the planet, from the 120 billion pieces of packaging they put out every year, through to the questionable product testing practices which are still happening even in 2024.

Join us on this episode as we talk to Anna about:

• How UpCircle entered one of the most competitive industries in the world and now sells in 50 countries, created a full packaging return scheme and grew a dedicated community who embrace not just the products, but get fully involved with the refill initiative.

• The challenges along the way and how they overcame them.

• How they built, incentivised and drive a successful refill service which their tribe as Anna calls them want to get involved with.

• What it takes to build an engaged community, building brand loyalty with high levels of retention and ongoing two-way conversation.

• The importance of working with your community on everything from product development through to growing share of voice and raising awareness of circularity and the need for behavior change.

• Why metrics are so important to ensure your business is moving in the right direction. Brining sustainable and commercial objectives together and how commercial metrics can deliver social impact.

• How every product at UpCircle is collaborative by nature – and through building partnerships with industries you might not ever put together has delivered so much impact commercially and socially.Enjoy…

For more information about UpCircle visit https://upcirclebeauty.com/

And connect with Anna via LinkedIn here.

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

Episode 74: – Investing in Biodiversity is a Competitive Opportunity with Gavin Sheppard and Rob Cheesewright, Pinwheel

When you view something as a competitive opportunity, you look at it totally differently - how can we go above and beyond? How can we get a real angle on this? How can we bring people with us along this process?

We’ve had a bit of a focus or mini-series on biodiversity and nature over the last few episodes of Can Marketing Save the Planet because it is so so critical that we start to understand, talk about and most importantly take action in reducing, removing and restoring the damage that we (business and society) are doing to the environment.

So, we were delighted when Gavin and Rob over at Pinwheel agreed to come back on the podcast to talk about the solutions and actions that are available today that businesses can make part of their sustainability agendas, and the compelling business case this type of investment can build across, acquisition, retention, collaboration, competitive opportunity, sales and profit. As Gavin says, these projects give, “access beyond value chain mitigation projects which repair and restore our climate and ecosystems.”

The damage that has been done is staggering, there has been a 69% reduction in living species since 1970 globally and, in the UK we currently only protect 3% of land 8% of seas, well behind the 30% global target needed by 2030 set out at COP15.

Biodiversity and climate are not mutually exclusive – as with everything it’s all interconnected.

Tune in and listen as we cover:

• The opportunity for brands to really get involved and for marketers to be able to tell the stories of the projects their organisations support as well as that all important progress.

• ·The fact business can take action now, we can start to reduce the damage, remove the legacy damage and, restore habitats immediately.

• Consumer demand, investor demand and changing regulations will force business to do this eventually, so why not be a pacesetter.

• Why investing in biodiversity is a competitive opportunity.

• How biodiversity is different to carbon in so many ways, yet they are so inextricably linked and addressing one helps the other and vice versa.

• ·Why B2B organisations are moving quickly on this.

• The data and insights that come from investing in biodiversity projects builds a compelling business case across the board.

Enjoy…

For more information about Pinwheel - see here.

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

Episode 73: – Biodiversity - How Marketing Can Inspire People to be Part of the Solution, with Dr Samual Sinclair, Co-Founder of Biodiversify

“We are totally dependent on biodiversity to survive – this is not a ‘greeny’ concern, this is an everyone concern.”

Given nature and biodiversity is SO important to the future of humanity, we wanted to dive deeper into this important area. Following our recent episodes with the brilliant Alexandra Pimor, who works with organisations to give nature a voice and a seat at the boardroom table, we jumped at the chance to chat with Dr Sam Sinclair, a conservationist and expert on biodiversity.

Sam starts with explaining what biodiversity is, and just how totally dependent we are on biodiversity to survive.

There are more people and cattle than on earth today than there are wild animals – which is terrifying. We’ve reached a critical point where nature can no longer be a nice thing to look after. And we discuss how biodiversity loss poses a real threat to humankind.

“The biodiversity field has absolutely exploded in the last year and companies all over the place are now questioning and thinking about this in really serious terms, asking what is my businesses impact on biodiversity and what can I do to reverse it?”

As you’ll hear we talk about developing a biodiversity strategy, and importantly how organisations can take action and make different choices. A key point Sam raises is that, “biodiversity is different to carbon as there is no single metric of measure…it’s very context specific.” He goes on to explain, “what a good biodiversity strategy should do is take all the frustrating complexity and make it not frustrating…here’s how it all comes together and this is where we are and this is what good looks like.”

Sam talks about the shift he is seeing from organisations moving away from individual projects, towards holistic programs and it’s at this point we talk about how for marketing this presents an incredible opportunity. Why? Because, people actually care about biodiversity. “Everybody has a story, everybody has a personal connection to biodiversity. This gives marketers those opportunities to craft narratives and people want to do the right thing, which is share by organisational culture.” Who doesn’t want to tell engaging stories which resonate and capture people’s attention, inspiring them to want to be part of the solution?”|

We ask Sam about tree planting and the context and effectiveness around this well-known initiative. He explains that it is an important element, but it is a small piece of the solution. “Tree planting has great PR so people can get it, it is one unit of nature and they can see it. People don’t look at grasslands and soils in the same way, understandably. Tree planting captures the imagination.”

Sam shares so much wisdom and insight in this episode, it really is one for everyone so we’d encourage you to listen, and share no matter what sector, industry or role you are in.

Enjoy…

For more information about Sam and Biodiversify - see here.

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You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player and via The Marketing Society. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.