Can Marketing Save the Planet? – It certainly plays an important role.
We’re all about conversations that inspire change…
We didn’t know what to expect when we decided to start a podcast back in 2020, all we knew was an important conversation needed to happen after writing our first book. Since then, we’ve sat down with some of the brightest minds in sustainability, marketing, science and business, we’ve dived into raw, honest conversations about how brands can, and must step up to protect our planet and society. Can Marketing Save the Planet? It’s a big question and an even bigger conversation - this is a podcast where hope, innovation, and tough truths collide.
The planet is in crisis, and businesses have a huge role to play. How do we turn profit-driven marketing into a force for good? How do we inspire real action, not just lip service? Who’s responsible and how do we educate, raise awareness and change behaviour at scale? Our podcast sets out to explore all of this.
Tune in to over 100+ and growing all the time episodes… You’ll find the podcast on Spotify , Global Player , Apple, and on all the usual platforms. (Pretty much wherever you get yours!). Tune in.
Download our About the Podcast Overview Doc - or get in touch, if you’ve got an idea for an episode…
Our guests are changemakers, CEOs, activists, scientists, regulators and of course marketers who are rewriting the rules and doing amazing work all with a common goal. You’ll discover conversations about:
How Marketers can tell a true story about climate change
Principles of climate communication
Building capital from waste
Stories of impact
How to navigate green claims and greenwashing
The practical challenges facing business
Why Carbon Literacy is so important
Sustainability leadership - Leading by example
How small businesses need to progress to Net Zero
The purpose of business
And SO MUCH MORE…
We believe Marketers have unique skills in the world, from branding which builds loyalty to storytelling that moves people to act. What if we used our powers for good - imagine what we could achieve?
Sceptics, optimists, marketers who want to do better, and the consumers demanding change, if you’ve ever felt torn between making a profit and making a difference, you’re in the right place. Spoiler alert – you can do both.
Episode 23: It’s not about Purpose - it’s about who you can help me become! Thomas Kolster, Author, Founder.
“The ultimate proof point is answering the question… who can you help people become?”
In this episode we speak to author of The Hero Trap and Founder and Creative Director of Goodvertising, Thomas Kolster. Thomas has been championing sustainability in the advertising and marketing industry for over a decade - he tells us that when he wrote his first book, Goodvertising, back in 2012, no one in ‘the industry’ was really interested in what he had to say - his main audience was those already embracing sustainability. However, jump a decade forward - and now he spends his time consulting and sharing his wisdom with leading brands and agencies around the world.
Episode 22: What’s marketing got to do with human trafficking? - with Ruth Dearnley, OBE, CEO, Stop the Traffik
“You can’t stop what you can’t see.”
In this episode we hear from Ruth Dearnley, founder and CEO of Stop the Traffik - an organisation working to prevent human trafficking globally through an innovative, intelligence-led approach.
“By shining a light on this hidden crime, and by empowering communities and businesses, we can change the environment and increase the risk to the trafficker and the safety of the vulnerable.”
Episode 21: Brand Led Sustainability with Luc Speisser, Global Chief Innovation Officer at Landor & Fitch
“A brand is a promise and a great brand is a promise kept.”
In this episode Luc Speisser, Global Chief Innovation Officer, generously shares his years of experience working within Landor & Fitch, leading brand led sustainability.
Luc breaks down what brand led sustainability means for businesses - bringing to light the key point, that it’s not enough for brands to simply focus on sustainability - they have to make sustainability profitable to sustain the business - and this means finding a genuine point of differentiation that strategically fits their brand.
Episode 20: The role finance plays in moving us towards a sustainable future with James Alexander, CEO, UKSIF
“The role of marketing is critical. Marketing what is real rather than the image you want to create!”
In this episode James really sets the record straight on just what sustainable finance is and the role finance and financial investment plays in moving us towards a sustainable future.
With over 270 members within UKSIF (UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association) and constantly growing, James leads a membership committed to growing sustainable and responsible finance in the UK.
Episode 19: Holding the question…What can we do? The power of bringing people together to #ChangeTheBrief with Rob McFaul, Co-Founder of Purpose Disruptors
“How can we make living with less not feel like loss…?
Great question… and one of many raised by Rob McFaul, co-founder of Purpose Disruptors.
In this episode Rob shares how Purpose Disruptors was born and how it has rapidly grown into a collective of over 2000 people focused on holding space to ask important questions - bringing people together to learn and grow confidence and expertise so that they can effect meaningful change.
Episode 18: Exploring the ‘Values Economy’, ‘Purpose’ and what it means for organisations - with Author and Director of ServiceBrand Global, Alan Williams
“Values are for living… not laminating.”
It was a total pleasure to have a conversation with Alan exploring his recent book, ‘The Values Economy’ - a practical tool designed to help organisations fine tune their business to be truly values driven.
For over 20 years, Alan has worked with organisations developing a values driven approach. In our podcast he shares, how he got started working in values, why he developed the book - and importantly, what the values economy is.
Episode 17: Sustainability and the Sports Events Industry with Giles Stanford, Director of Global Events at CSM Live
In this podcast we ask Giles to share his experience around how the events industry has shifted over the past 20- years. Giles shares his experience of planning the Olympic games, which had a strong sustainability agenda - and how at that time, planners, designers, from both the events industry and the construction industry, had to work together to put sustainability at the centre of decision making and innovation - causing both industries to raise their game.
Episode 16: Systems Thinking and Interconnectedness with Dr Alex Mifsud, Consultant, Senior Lecturer, Education for Sustainable Development
“Get out of your comfort zone - educate yourself to raise your head above the parapet and understand the wider issues and the interconnectedness - because once you see things … you can’t unsee them”. Dr Alex Mifsud
In this episode Alex raises a number of important questions - one being whether we’ve lost our moral compass! We also discuss the significance of short-term thinking - and our need for immediate gratification, and how that is hampering progress when it comes to understanding the urgency around our actions in driving more sustainable behaviour, leading to short-term fire-fighting rather than long-term solutions.
Episode 15: Achieving Sustainable Business with Philip Kotler, Author, Professor - Father of Modern Marketing
When Philip Kotler signed up to our Sustainable Marketer Manifesto - we were absolutely thrilled to have his esteemed support
In his 90 years on the planet, Philip has written over 80 books - and there’s not a trained marketer that hasn’t touched at least one of his tomes. Therefore, it’s no surprise that in this episode he reflects on where marketing started - finding, winning, keeping and growing customers and the two key assumptions that were made - and how now, current day, and given the situation we find ourselves in as a collective, how those two key assumptions are now highly questionable.