MUMBAI: The biggest brand message in today‘s tough marketplace is to focus on sustainability as consumers, crowded with choice, tend to be punitive.
Brands not nursed well have perished. The only way to stay in the race is to build an endurance capability and invest in the brand power.
"Sustainability is the capacity to endure. The question we should constantly ask ourselves is whether our brands can sustain in the long run," said Havas Media CEO India & South Asia Anita Nayyar.
Drawing example from the Xerox brand, Nayyar pointed out that its strong sustainable power is evident from the fact that people never ask for a photocopy but the xerox copy. "The Xerox brand has become powerful over the years and is one of the best examples of sustainable brands."
Speaking at the World Brand Congress here today, Nair said only one-third of brands are considered meaningful to consumers. While sustainability is a key issue for consumers worldwide, few brands live up to increasing expectations.
Nayyar discussed about Havas Media‘s second annual Brand Sustainable Futures Analysis survey that was conducted via online to 30,000 consumers in nine countries: Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Mexico, Spain, UK and the US.
The study of 150 brands across 10 different industries revealed that there is a strong corelation between a brand‘s ‘‘meaningfulness‘‘ and its perceived sustainable performance. The outcome also suggested that the more sustainable a brand is perceived to be, the more meaningful it becomes to consumers.
The vast majority of mainstream consumers wouldn‘t care if two thirds of today‘s global brands disappeared in the future, according to the report. "Only 29 per cent of respondents believe that brands are working hard to resolve sustainability issues while 68 per cent think companies only act responsibly in order to improve their image," Nayyar said.
Organisations need to listen to their customers and act responsibly to make their brands more sustainable. "Consumers punish brands that do not embrace sustainability," Nayyar warned.
