How brands can save the world

How do we solve the problems of the world? Global warming, intellectual obsolescence, economic inequality, Artificial Intelligence, plasticising oceans and now global pandemics — the coming apocalypse may already be here and we’re living through the first act. It’s the biggest question of our lifetime and how we choose to answer will undoubtedly be this generation’s legacy to pass down onto the next.

It’s not just a big question, it’s an overwhelming one. By ourselves we can often feel so small, so powerless. It’s easy to hear another news report dimly forecasting our terrible future, feel nothing but a gentle wave of numb acceptance wash over us and retreat back into a steady programme of Netflix boxsets and ennui. But what good is ‘entertaining the world’, if there is no world left to entertain?

Now is not the time to turn away.

We might not be able to solve all our problems overnight, but we can build systems and services that make continual progress and act as a force for good. Mass behavioural change historically took generations but the flow of information today means the brands consumers buy into have the power to completely change our lives at breakneck speed. In the last decade alone game-changing brands and businesses have been built from the continual expectations and demands we make from our smart phones notably revolutionising travel, accommodation and logistics.

If brands can utilise the purposes at their heart to create whole economies, revolutionise mass transit and rethink food delivery they can revolutionise our environmental, social and political issues too. By thinking about how that purpose can benefit the world over a larger time scale, and baking it into their culture at ground level, solving mankind’s biggest problems can become brands’ greatest inspiration.

At the forefront of this movement are ground-up sustainability brands like Dame, the first climate positive period brand and the first to create a reusable tampon applicator designed to dispense of single use plastics. Its initiative to remove twice as much carbon from the atmosphere as it has generated since its inception has already seen it certified the UK’s first Carbon Neutral Plus Product.

If the start-ups are making waves, multinationals have the capacity to create tsunamis through collaboration and innovation. Sustainability and environmental practices are no longer just consumer loyalty drivers but fully fledged business imperatives for a new era of corporate accountability.

Brands like Unilever and H&M have pledged to become either carbon neutral or positive by 2030, removing all fossil fuels from their production processes whilst Ikea is not only planning to sell solar panels as part of their homewares but have announced their intention to generate excess renewable energy for their stores.

By focussing more on long term purpose even brands in the non physical space can become a force for good. What kind of a difference could Amazon make if it shifted its entire infrastructure and supply chain to running on renewable energy or making every last component of its packaging recyclable?

Given the scale of the problems we’re collectively facing and mankind’s inherent ability to make a mess much more quickly than it takes to clear it up, it’s imperative that the purposes at the heart of brands big and small adopt a more long term view. By building engaging brands that act as a force for good, whether producing less waste, using less resources or just helping us become a bit more mindful, we can support businesses that can last for the next fifty years, rather than the next five. In doing so, Brands can go a long way to solving our problems by promoting a more mindful and transparent version of consumerism that not only makes the world worth saving, but might just actually save it too.

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