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 67: – The FList 2023 - Creatives taking responsibility for people and planet.
“There’s really no way you can say you don’t know this is a dangerous activity at this point”
Making a return to the podcast, we caught up with Duncan Meisel, founder of Clean Creatives, so we could talk about the newly published F-List.
For anyone unfamiliar, Clean Creatives, is a movement of advertisers, PR professionals, and their clients cutting ties with fossil fuels.The F-List is a body of research and report which documents agencies who choose to continue working with fossil fuel organisations despite the scientific consensus that what they do is destroying the planet. It really doesn’t get much clearer than that.
We dive straight into this conversation finding out what has been happening with the Clean Creative campaign, its progress and of course, that infamous F-List.
Episode 66: – Building the business case for Sustainable Marketing (Part 2) - Caroline Taylor, Former CMO, IBM Global Markets
Part 2:
Carrying on from part one, this episode jumps straight into the tactical side, where Caroline shares her views on the opportunities around digital making the point that, “listening for a business is such a wealth of value which can be done in an automated way, and is the way forward to be commercially successful.”
Episode 65: – Building the business case for Sustainable Marketing (Part 1) - Caroline Taylor, Former CMO, IBM Global Markets
“There are four questions every business needs good answers to. Why would anyone want to buy from us? Why would anyone want to work for us? Why would anyone want to invest in us? Why would anyone allow us to operate in their community, society?”
It’s another two-parter and in this episode (Part 1), we dive into the role of CMOs and leaders when it comes to the sustainability agenda. We were joined by Caroline Taylor OBE, former CMO for IBMs international business and a huge advocate for ‘adding value in many other places in the world.’
Episode 64: – Being sustainable - A re-commerce revolution and personal journey rethinking consumption - with Simon Garnett
“Being sustainable is a story of assumed negatives, but it’s actually a story of discovered positives.”
We were joined in this episode by Simon Garnett who has been on a personal journey with consumption, one which he started when he realised his own habits were unhealthy, a journey he continues and has taken into his professional life as well.
Simon shares with us the moment he decided to reappraise his consumption with ‘new’ and how after a year it moved to him reappraising his consumption overall. Simon explains, whenever he tells anyone his story he gets asked two questions “after a year of not consuming, what was the first things you bought and, what did you miss?” These questions only made it clearer for Simon that, “the engagement with this story, the engagement with the concept of not buying new, is absolutely, integrally rooted in a concept of loss. But, from his perspective and experience it was the total opposite, and as the headline to this episode highlights, “It’s a story of assumed negatives, which is actually a story of discovered positives.”
Episode 63: – Gen Z - The Largest Generation in History… Conscious and concerned about the planet!
“Through marketing campaigns we can bring sustainability and growing smaller more sustainable brands to the front and drive capital away from big brands.”
Where better to get the viewpoints from Gen Z about climate concerns and consumption habits than directly from a Gen Z’er. On this podcast were joined by Estella Struck, Founder and CEO of the first Gen Z Sustainable Product Marketing Agency based in New York. Estella found herself on the right side of TikTok during the lockdowns of 2020 and it was from here that her passion for sustainability was ignited.
Episode 62: – The Green Guides - Tackling the social and environmental challenges we face - with Laura Brett, VP, BBB National Programs’ National Advertising Division, NY.
“Building a culture of trust around green claims is the most important thing marketers, business and brands should be doing, using advertising self- regulation as a tool, making sure everyone is upholding those standards.”
As regulations and guidelines in and around sustainability continue to evolve, tighten up and support a better future around managing both what we do AND say, we spoke to Laura Brett whose remit is to lead the US system of advertising self-regulation looking at advertising claims to make sure what is being said is the truth, (like the Advertising Standards Agency – ASA, in the UK).
Episode 61: – Offsetting? A contribution mindset vs. a compensation mindset - The important shift we all need to make. Gavin Sheppard and Rob Cheesewright, Pinwheel.
How do you get a return on your investment for your business, AND at the same time deliver a return on investment for the planet, ensuring everyone benefits?
In this episode we’re joined by Gavin Sheppard and Rob Cheesewright from Pinwheel, an organisation focused on projects that remove carbon from the atmosphere, restore habitats and protect biodiversity - to discuss that very question.
Given there’s a lot of terminology that can become quite confusing, we kick things off with some jargon busting diving into offsetting, carbon capture and, carbon removal. Offsetting has been the subject of controversial debate recently, as some argue it’s ineffective and many schemes are a ‘license to pollute’, and so it’s really important do the homework around what is out there, not taking things at face value, and remembering that the focus has to be on reduce, reduce, reduce.
Episode 60: – Collaboration, Community and Citizenship - How Wales is inspiring global Future Generation Goals
“If you ever think you are too small to influence change on a global scale, just look at what Wales are doing.”
We were intrigued and excited to have the opportunity to chat with Sophie Howe, the first and only (for a period of time) ‘Future Generations Commissioner’ in the world!
Episode 59: – Marketing - a people powered movement for change - Jackie Marshall, The Fairtrade Foundation
The challenge for the marketing team is, “needing to take what are serious and complex issues and convey them in a format that is easily understandable.”
Want to know how marketing can drive a “people powered movement for change?” THIS is the episode you don’t want to miss.
We jumped at the opportunity to talk to Jackie Marshall at Fairtrade an organisation with market leading levels of audience recall, awareness and engagement. One of the most trusted and recognised ethical labels out there today across a multitude of products we see as we do our weekly shop, from coffee to cocoa and wine to flowers.