climate change

6 Lessons for Marketing Teams of Sustainable Brands

6 Lessons for Marketing Teams of Sustainable Brands

Stop Calling it Environmentalism

Environmentalism: The natural world is being destroyed and it is a moral imperative to preserve and reconstitute as much of it as possible as soon as possible. If only the environmental movement were framed so simply in the public’s eye (or traces of neural circuitry, rather). – George Lakoff

The human brain thinks in terms of frames, according to Cognitive Linguistics Expert George Lakoff. Our brains’ ability to make rapid assumptions based on a few words makes our brains open up or shut down. When we hear a frame we agree with, we listen; when we hear a frame we don’t agree with, our brain quite literally shuts out information. When we hear frames that we’ve never heard before and that don’t fit into another frame we already have, we LISTEN!

As we embark on many new ways of life, it’s time for us to start building new frames for discussing vital topics, that impact our health and everyday life. The advantage of discussing these deeply bi-partisan topics in new ways is that we all profit in terms of health and financial gains.  If we can all agree that we’d like to live a long life and build wealth while doing so, it’s high time to make new frames. Here are six lessons we can take from communications expert George Lakoff as we develop communication strategies for sustainable movements, brands, and policies.

Lesson #1 – What exactly are frames?

What exactly are frames | A.R. Marketing House.jpg

All thinking and talking involve framing. Frames are more than words; they are building blocks of understanding a particular topic, which we use as quick reference points for understanding. As a subconscious force, frames dictate how we think and talk. They act as concepts and metaphors working with our emotions to create narratives that our brains cannot avoid.

“Moreover, many frame-circuits have direct connections to the emotional regions of the brain. Emotions are an inescapable part of normal thought. Indeed, you cannot be rational without emotions. Without emotion, you would not know what to want, since like and not-like would be meaningless to you. When there is neither like nor not-like nor any judgment of the emotional reactions of others, you cannot make rational decisions.

Since political ideologies are, of course, characterized by systems of frames, ideological language will activate that ideological system. Since the synapses in neural circuits are made stronger the more they are activated, the repetition of ideological language will strengthen the circuits for that ideology in a hearer’s brain. And since language that is repeated very often becomes “normally used” language, ideological language repeated often enough can become “normal language” but still activate that ideology unconsciously in the brains of citizens—and journalists.” – George Lakoff

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Lesson #2 What activates frames?

What activates frames | A.R. Marketing House

While frames are not words, frames are activated by words. One word can act as a frame or a metaphor, and once activated, bring up an entire system that the frame is in. Over time, as frames are built within the brain’s network of understanding, words quickly fire up the relationship from one neuron to another.

Frames act on a hierarchy, according to Lakoff, whereby moral frames are at the top. Any frame below that can activate everything up to the top. Yes, one word or phrase can communicate entire ideologies, and the person hearing will only allow through what matches their current “frame” of reference.

The frames working in the human brain challenge sustainable communicators and marketers. It is the battle of discussing highly essential topics in a polarized political landscape. For sustainability communicators, this piece of knowledge is vital. What we do with this information is create new frames or new pathways of understanding. We omit old frames that, while yes, some people might align with, they leave out the massive amounts of people that also must be brought to the table.

In his book Don’t Think of an Elephant,” Lakoff explains the two models of morality working in a highly polarized U.S. One he calls the “strict father” and the other the “nurturant parent.” The strict father mindset is associated with conservative moral thinking and the nurturant parent with more liberal ethical thinking. There are a host of words and phrases that evoke each. Navigating these modes of morality with new sustainability communications means knowing who you want to talk to, and speaking to them in that language. It also indicates where new frames must exist; you must create them to surpass the current mindset.

Lesson #3 The dangers of environmental framing

The dangers of environmental framing | A.R. Marketing House

The framing of health, economy, food, security, and trade as “environmental” has removed a large swath of people from the conversations that must be had. Everyone is affected by environmental issues; however, the word itself shuts down brain synopsis in many people who see the word as merely a liberal topic. Nothing could be further from the truth when cancer has no party lines. Everyone needs to take part in conversations and policies that affect health outcomes. Some established conservative frames have removed people’s ability to learn new concepts and apply new discussions, new ideas, and innovations to collaboratively solve some of the issues around health, economy, food, security, and trade.

Exceptional framing offers people new modes of learning that directly impact their quality of life and help tackle topics like contaminated drinking water or carcinogenic plastic consumption. The dangers of framing topics as “environmental” remove a person’s ability to participate in their own health and wellbeing. Environmental frames keep conservatives detached from problems that are quite literally killing them. The solution is to go around those barriers and create new frames they haven’t worked with that fit into a conservative mode of communications.

Lesson #4 Successful vs. failed frames

Successful vs. failed frames | A.R. Marketing House

Framing is all about creating worldview building blocks that go beyond language, but that triggers those ideas through careful word selection. In the U.S., conservatives have been incredibly successful with a long-term strategy of framing thanks in part to 30-years of wordsmithing from strategist Frank Lutz. Lutz is responsible for the reframing of the following concepts for the purpose of owning the topic.

How republicans rewrite politics | A.R. Marketing House

The purpose of reframing these topics was that conservatives knew that they should own the language of hot-button issues. When anyone with another viewpoint comes to speak on these issues and uses the vocabulary and thus framing of the other side, it brings to point the title of George Lakoff’s book “Don’t think of an elephant.” That’s because the first impressions you have on the topic now are associated with the other side. Instead, when discussing hot topic issues, never use the language of the other side. Stick to the values and higher-level features of the issues.

You would think protecting resources that we all use would be equally important to everyone. That assumption has largely been the downfall of environmental communication. Those who wish to communicate about the environment assume it is important to everyone and use the same tired frames that many ignore. While conservatives have had decades to build successful frames, topics that have been driven by a more progressive wing have only recently started to create some of these frames.

Lesson #5 Emerging environmental frames

Emerging environmental frames | A.R. Marketing House

In the last five years, there has been an acceleration of elevating environmental communications beyond old frames and into a place that supports Environmental Literacy for more people than just “environmentalists.”

Significant numbers of sustainability leaders are exploring new ways to discuss and design sustainable supply chains and the business proof for the existence of sustainability in all areas of life. Below are some promising frames that have emerged in recent years that we should look to promote, create content around, and use in our everyday interactions on environmental topics.

  • Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
  • The Regulated Commons
  • Sun-Based Food vs. Industrialized Oil-based Food
  • Overall Wellbeing Indicator

And moving from frames like these that shutdown communication:

  • Climate change
  • Environmental
  • Propaganda
  • Manipulation
  • Capitalism

Take a moment and feel the difference in each set of words above. What does your framing system do to evaluate each of those framed topics? In the newer framed versions, you might notice that your mind begins to ask more questions and be more open to new pathways of understanding. The older frames you have a predetermined understanding of, maybe even some judgments of your own. So how do you create these new, more effective frames? Let’s learn what Lakoff says about creating new frames.

Lesson # 6 Rules of engagement

Rules of engagement | A.R. Marketing House

Creating new frames is vital but must be done with extreme care. More than just using new words, creating frames can be detrimental when not considering all aspects and outcomes of the new frame. According to George Lakoff, here are some considerations to make before engaging in creating new frames. 

  1. Talk at the level of values and frame issues in terms of moral values. Distinguish values from policies. Always go on offense, never a defense. Never accept the right’s frames: don’t negate them, or repeat them, or structure your arguments to counter them. That just activates their frames in the brain and helps them.
  2. Provide a structured understanding of what you are saying. Don’t give laundry lists. Tell stories that exemplify your values and rouse emotions. Don’t just give numbers and material facts without framing them so their overall significance can be understood. Instead, find general themes of narratives that incorporate the points you need to make.
  3. Context matters: be aware of what’s going on. Address everyday concerns. Avoid Technical jargon; use words people can understand. The messenger matters. Visuals Matter. Body language matters.

Sustainable brand marketers and communicators are tasked with the high-level objective of going beyond preaching to the choir. Sustainability efforts are weak when we don’t have all hands on deck. For sustainable brands, communicating the need for your product, service, or policy, must go beyond corporate “green teams,” if you’re looking for making a considerable impact. Environmental Literacy for adults is no small task; however when understanding some basics about how frames and linguistics work, you can begin to build a communications roadmap to broad audiences.

When it comes to dismantling old environmental frames, it takes creativity for replacing them with new, more inclusive ones. These lessons from George Lakoff demonstrate why Environmental Marketing is vital and must be handled with precision and care.

Resources

https://www.thoroldnews.com/local-news/beyond-local-the-power-of-talking-about-energy-change-2285491

https://theieca.org/resources/environmental-communication-what-it-and-why-it-matters

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17524030903529749

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshuacohen/2018/10/15/measuring-well-being-its-more-than-gdp/#1196149c4eaa

https://www.businessinsider.com/political-language-rhetoric-framing-messaging-lakoff-luntz-2017-8

https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/george-lakoff-green-marketing

https://armarketinghouse.com/what-is-environmental-literacy-and-is-it-missing-in-the-workplace/

Posted by ARMarketingHouse in Blog, Environmental
What is Environmental Literacy and is it Missing in the Workplace?

What is Environmental Literacy and is it Missing in the Workplace?

The word environment is defined as the natural world in which people, animals, and plants live. Environmentalism is the concern about our natural environment and how to improve and protect it. An environmentalist is a person interested in the natural environment and who wants to improve and protect it. The natural world is defined as all the components of the physical universe — atoms, plants, ecosystems, people, societies, galaxies, etc., as well as the natural forces at work.

Once we begin to understand that everything is connected, it’s inevitable for us to start thinking about the environment as not something “out there” but as something that impacts the world around us and, more personally, our workspace, our homes, our health. Moreover, interconnectedness helps us critically think about the world we interact with every day, such as how the products we love are made, where they come from, and where they end up once we’re done with them. Do employees from Fortune 1000 companies understand how the pollution from coal-powered boats bringing in our clothing, food, building materials, furniture, etc. affect the air we breathe, our water, our health, the economy, and entire ecosystems? How would corporate sustainability decision-makers benefit from environmentally educated staff? So that we may pave more impactful sustainable pathways, investing in employee environmental literacy will be a vital next step.

For successful corporate decarbonization, employees will need to understand society’s heavy reliance on finite resources such as fossil fuels for transportation, energy, and manufacturing. Also important is making it clear the transition to a decarbonized economy can easily be made with a diverse array of innovative sustainable materials. When we educate employees on sustainability initiatives, we deliver a bigger more well-rounded vision of our company to them, whereby we go far beyond immediate monetary profits, and into long-term profits that include health of people, pesticide-free organic foods, reduced pollution, properly managed waste, well-managed resources, increased biodiversity, and cleaner oceans that supply the oxygen we use to breathe.

At this point in human history, everyone needs to have a working knowledge of the natural world, to make valuable short-term and long-term decisions for building sustainable foundations and protecting natural resources and ecosystems. This requires basic environmental literacy, so we know how to value resources and organically create a circular system, as we see in nature.

Companies with environmental solutions and sustainability initiatives have a window of opportunity to educate about environmental stewardship, impacts of our environment on health, and how all of these factors tie into taking action in the workplace. Educating employees about environmental solutions is a way to fill the knowledge gap and help build a more engaged workforce. Many Fortune500 companies invest in employee environmental literacy, to give muscle to the entire company, rather than solely relying on the efficacy of the company’s green team. When you charge your workforce on sustainability, initiative success is cranked to the max, which is essential for long-term business development.

Education is the new marketing

Education is the new marketing | A.R. Marketing House

Until environmental science and climate change are mandated curriculums throughout global educational systems, many environmentally conscious companies who solve environmental problems will have to deliver knowledge gap information via marketing efforts.

At A.R. Marketing House, we have a running motto; education is the new marketing. That’s why we make sure that our marketing team has the environmental background knowledge, they need to see communication opportunities, accurately interpret science, and in general, outperform in their roles of promoting sustainable solutions.

As the stakes for cleaning up the planet grow, we see innovative companies in LED lighting solutions, plastic-free choices, reusable packaging, air quality monitors, etc. worthy of top-shelf ranking, but unable to make the mark entirely. One significant factor of this communication shortfall is companies not knowing how to communicate sustainability in a helpful, full scope way to their community of customers and employees.

A silver lining of such a horrible infectious disease like SARS-CoV-2 has become a time to reflect, learn, improve, and incorporate new environmental initiatives, plans, policies, educational platforms, and ventures.

What is Environmental Literacy?

What is Environmental Literacy | A.R. Marketing House

We define Environmental Literacy as the ability to understand and recognize the conditions of our surroundings, where we operate and where we live, and the impacts our individual, community, and corporate actions have on the entire system that sustains life and commerce.

Why we need employee buy-in for sustainability initiatives and business growth

Why we need employee buy-in for sustainability initiatives and business growth | A.R. Marketing House

In a Nielson study, 81% of global respondents feel strongly that companies should help improve the environment.

81% of global respondents feel strongly that companies should help improve the environment.

When employees are educated and engaged through company-wide sustainability initiatives, it has been shown to increase environmental programs’ success. It is a win for energizing your workforce by connecting them with matters they care about. Improved employee performance is another benefit gained from engagement on environmental issues, and will generate long-term economic value for staff and c-suite leadership. Ultimately garnering employee support through environmental literacy proves to be a value to the immediate community and society as a whole. Companies who partake in environmental literacy see an increase in employee loyalty, efficiency, productivity, and engagement on company sustainability initiatives. These factors all help to improve company HR scores.

How employee buy-in impacts the success or failure of sustainability initiatives

How employee buy-in impacts the success or failure of sustainability initiatives | A.R. Marketing House

“When employees understand environmental issues and their impact on health and quality of life, they act in allegiance with initiatives that serve the planet, business, and their personal life. People make smarter buying decisions, and know the difference between genuine sustainability and greenwashing” – Denise Anderson-Rivas, Educational Director & Co-Founder of A.R. Marketing House

Employee Brand Loyalty

When we support employee buy-in on sustainability initiatives, we see an increase in brand loyalty. Part of the reason for this is a concept called psychological ownership. Psychological ownership of a job or organization by an employee is a feeling of having a stake in the entity as a result of commitment and contribution. Psychological ownership leads to greater job satisfaction, engagement, productivity, and profits.

If given a choice, most people would choose to eliminate disease, cancer, and premature death. When empowered with the right tools and knowledge, they can participate in environmental change by taking action on air pollution, smog, and poison plastic that deteriorates health. When a company provides communication and engagement around environmental solutions, they fill voids of the absence of knowledge and miseducation around sustainability and important climate action. Environmental literacy is the litmus test for environmental commitment. With newfound knowledge, the people who work for you become closer to the company mission; their newfound learning and efforts serve as an extension of the good that can be produced.

For example, do you remember your favorite K-12 teacher? Did that teacher make you feel special and remind you of your unique place in the world? Did they help you rise to your best self and help you recognize your purpose? You may likely have adopted some values that your favorite teacher thought were important. Perhaps that was gardening, eating healthy, picking up litter, becoming politically active, or simply being a more conscientious, caring person.

When a company takes on sustainability initiatives and invests in educating, you embody a similar role to our impressionable teacher. People who work at your company become better, more well rounded employees as a result. That means a happier, more fulfilled workforce with improved productivity that delivers toward broader business objectives.

Environmental literacy vs. Environmental illiteracy

Environmental literacy vs. Environmental illiteracy | A.R. Marketing House

What does environmental literacy and engagement mean for a company with sustainability initiatives? Unfortunately, environmental science is not a staple in our education system (we hope to see this change). Without the understanding that everything is connected, it is hard for anyone to relate to the overwhelming word, environment. The environment becomes just a word out there and framed only for “tree huggers” and “environmentalists.” While nothing could be further from the truth, environmental literacy can mean the difference between life and death for an individual and the success or failure of a company.

Starting with a company’s initiatives, education around the who, what, where, why, and how employees are connected to actions that impact air quality, water, health, and food systems. Communicating on environmental education means connecting people to the systems they rely on for sustenance and how those systems relate to sustainable initiatives. Initiatives become a springboard for improving employee health, wellness, longevity, and wealth. Delivering reliable, relatable environmental training makes for a more informed employee base who will make better choices for the company at each step throughout their workday and beyond into their personal lives, which becomes a societal WIN-WIN-WIN.

Environmental illiteracy is a current disease of humanity; it holds us back from making educated decisions and taking action on essential measures like climate change. We need to commit to eradicating environmental illiteracy because our lives and our businesses depend on it.

What does environmental illiteracy mean for a company with sustainability goals?

What does environmental illiteracy mean for a company with sustainability goals | A.R. Marketing House

Currently, there is a lack of substantial, relatable education about climate change and the major environmental issues society faces today. Many media outlets copy and paste watered down information based on imperfect interpretations of scientific studies. Environmental news has become a regurgitation and a dangerous game of telephone. When misinformation is widespread, it creates doubt within people, and the result is a lack of care for the future. In turn, this indifference leads to poor decision making at work and personal decisions that could be detrimental to life and the environment.

Distrust and frustration that emerge from a lack of foundational knowledge on environmental issues make people easily fall victim to greenwashing, believing unsubstantiated claims that set back the scale on important workplace initiatives. Without a strong commitment to employee development on sustainability, employees will not have a foundation of knowledge and will lack interest in the company’s sustainability initiatives. We want employees to adopt new ideas, and your company initiatives could offer a successful framework for understanding. A lack of literacy means a lack of actionable adoption for company sustainability goals.

Employees properly educated in sustainability adopt sustainable measures across their personal and professional life

Employees properly educated in sustainability adopt sustainable measures across their personal and professional life | A.R. Marketing House

Three years ago, our Environmental Content Director decided to run a company contest to see if our team could go the entire month without buying any single-use plastic. We started on Earth Day, and most of us quickly realized how difficult this challenge was. Most of us refilled our glass and stainless steel reusable bottles. Ernesto, one of our fantastic graphic design artists, found himself on the road parched and looking for water at a convenience store. He looked for an aluminum can and was pleased to find a reusable aluminum bottled water at 7-eleven, which he kept for at least a year before recycling it.

The plastic-free challenge was a big realization that while many plastic-free choices exist when you do a simple google search, in a pinch, those options are far fewer on the shelves. The challenge also proved another point, the importance of having enough knowledge to choose the best materials for something as simple as a bottle of water. That requires some background in material recycling and the importance of seeking reusable options first.

Teaching employees skills in sustainability helps them know what to look for when seeking alternatives to environmentally damaging products. However, employees that don’t have this background won’t know enough to make a better choice or will flail and rely on marketing tactics by less than sustainable companies that greenwash.

The NO single-use plastic bottle beverage initiative still stands at A.R., and we continue to educate new members of the team on the importance of sourcing more sustainable beverage containers like reusable glass and aluminum.

Building personal frameworks are the success cursor for teaching Environmental Literacy

Environmental learning initiatives cannot help but be personal if you’re looking for genuine adoption. For example, if we want staff to stop wasting plastic, we have to teach about the toxicity plastic packaging has on our family’s health and food systems. Topics become a part of conversations, seeping into the psyche. We become aware of how one issue of plastic packaging affects our quality of life on a grander scale (affecting air, water, food, farming, and short- and long-term health). Environmental literacy as a staple part of your company’s culture makes for an even more significant impact on bottom-line measures.

Be the change that sparks a revolution

One of the most effective and empowering measures of environmental literacy is that when we train staff, they take their lessons home. It’s especially impactful when you see the fruits of environmental literacy seep into your company’s culture. When businesses take their sustainability initiatives seriously, they take education on those initiatives seriously, and we see that play out in employees, their families, and their civic engagement. A commitment to providing employees with Environmental Literacy is the spark needed for impacting real world shifts on sustainability and is the direction for businesses that plan to be around for decades to come.

Next steps to implementing Environmental Literacy Certification for employees

Linking employee values to sustainability breed long-term success. Bridging the gap in knowledge for those with little exposure or knowledge of the environmental issues we face today can make all the difference to explosive success for company-wide sustainability initiatives.

If you’re looking to start the journey and increase the Environmental Literacy of your staff, we invite you to connect with the A.R. team.

Resources

https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/environment?q=environment

https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/environmentalism?q=environmentalism

https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/environmentalist?q=environmentalist

https://undsci.berkeley.edu/glossary/glossary_popup.php?word=natural+world

https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/mql_sars-cov-2_-_cleared_for_public_release_2020_05_05.pdf

https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/article/2018/global-consumers-seek-companies-that-care-about-environmental-issues/

https://hbr.org/2016/10/the-comprehensive-business-case-for-sustainability

https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/behavioral-competencies/ethical-practice/pages/employeesandsustainability.aspx

https://eom.org/content-hub-blog/psychological-ownership

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1059601104273066

https://pacinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/bottled_water_factsheet.pdf

CB Bhattacharya, Sankar Sen, and Daniel Korschun, Leveraging Corporate Responsibility: The Stakeholder Route to Maximizing Business and Social Value, Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

https://ssir.org/articles/entry/engaging_employees_to_create_a_sustainable_business#

https://hbr.org/2018/02/how-to-make-sustainability-every-employees-responsibility

https://www.thomsonreuters.com/content/dam/openweb/documents/pdf/corporate/Reports/global-500-greenhouse-gases-performance-2010-2015.pdf

https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/behavioral-competencies/ethical-practice/pages/employeesandsustainability.aspx

https://www.neefusa.org/sites/default/files/assets/elr/NEEF-EnvironmentalLiteracyReport-2015.pdf

Posted by ARMarketingHouse in Blog