Green Campaigns that Have The Purpose Marketing Green Light | Marketing for the Future

Marketing for the Future

Green Campaigns that Have The Purpose Marketing Green Light

From the depths of greenwashing to genuine eco-conscious campaigns.

The advertising industry is a turbulent sea filled with vortexes of greenwashing and tidal waves of virtue signalling. Throughout this series, we’ve navigated these waters, looking at corporations who adopted the veneer of progressive values for profit. It’s only right to juxtapose these examples with some that get it right. 

BBC’s recent campaign for their latest earth science series is one that hit the nail on the head. A Perfect Planet culminates in an episode dedicated entirely to what host David Attenborough considers ‘the most important story of our times; the impact of humans on the environment. Powerful storytelling can be the impetus needed to change the world for the better, and there is greater urgency than ever to discover the science for ourselves so that we can make informed decisions on the way we live. The BBC expertly tapped into that urgency in their campaign to encourage viewers to tune in and take note, not just of the series, but of environmental decimation. Promotional billboards were plastered with captivating shots of nature, showcasing the miracle of Mother Earth in all its resplendence. But, in a unique turn of events, the BBC vandalised its own advertisements as an act of performance to illustrate the reckless destruction of our planet. Fragments of the images were torn away to reveal a perfectly aligned apocalyptic scene - tropical fish metamorphosing into plastic debris, the rust pelt of a monkey becoming a flaming forest. To top it all off, the deterioration was made final with the illusion of the billboards burning.

The BBC packed a plot-twist punch in this campaign, vamping up the theatrics and ensuring a viral sensation. The message came across that this is but a snapshot of the real crisis playing out at this very moment, and the need to act now is apparent. Careful not to fall into contradiction, the campaign team ensured they were as sustainable as possible. They used eco-friendly, non-toxic inks for printing and fully recyclable materials to build the display panels, banner, and frame. Even the smoke machine element was eco-friendly. The purpose is packed, performed, and poignant. It speaks for the planet, not over it. 

Purpose marketers know to walk a line with paralysing, climate-doom on the one side, and action on the other. A brand that has always navigated this tricky area with ease is Ecover. Since 1979, the Belgian company has championed ecologically friendly cleaning supplies, expanding its mission beyond just laundry and dish detergent. Founded by a bunch of self-proclaimed ‘hippie scientists’ who were alarmed at the damage to waterways and aquatic life caused by chemicals, the brand was placed on the UN’s Global 500 Roll of Honour and given an Environmental Stewardship Award for outstanding achievements in protecting and improving the environment. Ecover has walked the purpose marketing line for decades and is a sparkling example for other brands. They know that living clean needs to include the environment and that is exactly what their marketing has reflected. Like the BBC ad, they voice the needs of the planet in a clever and impactful way, avoiding scaring off consumers with fear-mongering narratives. So, let’s take a look at the purpose marketing history of a brand that has done it right time and time again.

Starting in 1991, Ecover had spent just over the past ten years growing on the continent, feeding the surge in demand that spiked for their alternative eco-conscious washing powder. To announce their launch on the UK market, they produced the ‘Washes Righter’ recycled poster campaign. The billboards were made from printed overruns of old posters, with each one created by 100 up-and-coming UK artists. They truly lived up to their brand identity to live cleaner by recycling the posters, and produced a campaign that wasn’t so preachy or boring it was going to be ignored. Here the seeds were planted for a long history of purpose marketing campaigns that hit the nail on the head. A decade later, Ecover added another brilliant billboard campaign under their belt, with their 2001 “Steal Our Formula” ad. The daring ad directly challenged their competition by deliberately giving away their biodegradable formula ‘for nature’s sake’. They put environmental protection above all else, bolstering their credentials as a company that truly cares.

Fast forward to the past decade, and Ecover has shown no signs of slowing down with pitch-perfect purpose marketing. Their 2018 ‘Let’s Live Clean’ campaign kicked off on Earth Day promoting their new 100% recycled and recyclable washing up liquid bottles. They complemented the campaign with the launch of a Rubbish Cafe, a pop-up experience serving a zero-waste menu in which visitors could only enter and eat if they paid with plastic rubbish. In February 2020, they launched their “Laundry against Landfill” film, in which the astonishing statistic that 1,000 items of clothing go to landfill every second in the UK alone is brought to life in a whimsical way. The campaign delivered on many levels, promoting Ecover’s new detergent with plant-based ingredients to help clothes last longer. It launched on the kickoff of London Fashion Week, a stark reminder to consider the environmental impact of fashion and textile waste. 

Both the Ecover case study and A Perfect Planet example delight in their ability to carry a poignant message without petrifying their audience. The climate crisis, plastic pollution, textile waste - all are heavily loaded topics that risk alienating the audience they target. Ultimately, brands that have a purpose to champion, need to do so in a way that still engages consumers, gently inviting them to become a part of the solution. These examples don’t ask that the viewers become eco-warriors through and through, but that they begin to consider the wider impacts of their lifestyles. The best brands will then position themselves as the avenues through which consumers can find the solution to the problems posed. These cases show how brands with purpose as a part of their DNA can use purpose marketing - but it’s not all lost if your brand origin is somewhat different. 

In the next article, we’ll explore how one company integrated purpose into a pre-existing business model and started producing the marketing to match.