The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) has launched the ‘Sustainable Marketing 2030’, an initiative set up in collaboration with Kantar’s Sustainable Transformation Practice, that looks to explore how the marketing function can be part of the solution to a sustainable future.
The scheme reportedly identifies a ‘greater ambition to transform’ with 90% of marketers agreeing that sustainability agendas need to be more ambitious and 94% admitting that marketers need to act more bravely to drive transformative change.
The WFA feels the industry needs to “catch up with other business areas, with the largest share (39%) still only taking the first steps on their sustainability journeys.”
According to the federation, an increasing amount of brands now have sustainability as a KPI in their marketing dashboards – specifically up from 26% in 2021 to 43% in 2023. An additional 41% of brands have also stated that they have a ‘sustainability story’ and that they are proud to share it, compared to 25% in 2021.
The top challenges faced by advertisers with regards to working towards sustainability, are a lack of internal resources (35%), a knowledge and skills gap (35%), organisational mindsets (32%), a lack of a P&L policy (35%), and a lack of transparency in measurement (30%).
Sustainable Marketing 2030 hopes to reimagine marketing’s role within the business and its ability to drive growth in a way that promotes a sustainable future.
The sustainability report found an absence of standardised measurement to monitor progress is a recurring challenge for advertisers.
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“Marketers are finally starting to grasp the scale of the sustainability challenge, particularly the climate crisis,” WFA CEO Stephan Loerke said. “We have reached the point where the status quo is no longer an option. Radical transformation is essential. We passionately believe that marketers are uniquely placed to drive the change we need on account of their unique creativity, innovation and communication skillset. The Sustainable Marketing 2030 initiative focuses on how marketers can drive growth while embracing the sustainability agenda.”
Kantar Sustainable Transformation Practice senior partner Ozlem Senturk added: “Sustainable Marketing 2030 focuses on the value-action gap within marketing organisations. It’s remarkable that even though 94% of marketers are willing to be brave to drive transformative change, organisations still behave in the same way. Our benchmark aims to provide marketing organisations with a compass to assess where they are and help them take the first steps towards the right direction.”
