Sustainability appeals must be category relevant and avoid scientific jargon

Maya Yegorova

Sustainability messaging can increase a brand’s reach and relevance, a study has found, but only if marketers tap into a variety of best practices.

Sustainability messaging can increase brand reach by attracting new consumers, a study has found – but only if marketers avoid common traps like using scientific jargon or ignoring tangible benefits for shoppers.

These findings emerged from research presented at the 2023 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, and conducted by New York University’s Stern Center For Sustainable Business (CSB) and global communications firm Edelman.

More specifically, they reported, brand reach and relevance can register spikes of between 24 and 33 percentage points if a marketer effectively taps into the most resonant sustainability claims versus using a strong category-related...

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