Sustainable Brand Perception vs. Performance: Reducing the Gap - Tom Zara

Sustainable Brands London Conference

Sustainable Brand Perception vs. Performance: Reducing the Gap

¡  Tom Zara, Global Practice Leader of Corporate Citizenship, Interbrand

BEST GLOBAL GREEN BRANDS 2012

27 November 2012

Agenda

1.  Introduction to the Interbrand Best Global Green Brands rankings

2.  Brand value perception methodology

3.  Sustainability performance methodology

4.  Value of sustainability reporting and disclosure strategy

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The world is moving to a new center of gravity

A glut of promotion and hype has created a cynical audience

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Yet, there is clearly a lot of noise around sustainability

We call this new paradigm ‘Corporate Citizenship’

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Government Employees Customers Suppliers Community Planet

How a Company treats….

…defines their perceived “Corporate Citizenship”

Critical examination of a key constituent


Government Employees Customers Suppliers Community Planet

How a Company treats….

…defines their perceived “Corporate Citizenship”

Methodology


Our Starting Point

79 Brands Evaluated

Performance Score

The performance score is calculated by Deloitte based on these 6 pillars:


Governance Policies and mechanisms put in place by the company to manage environmental impacts and successfully set and execute environmental programs.

Operations The company’s performance across operations as measured in energy efficiency, GHG emissions, water management, waste management, and toxic emissions management.

Transportation and Logistics The company’s performance in measuring, reporting, and mitigating the environmental performance of their transportation and logistics, business travel and commuting.

Stakeholder Engagement The degree to which the company recognizes and engages with the various relevant stakeholder groups associated with the company.

Supply Chain The company’s performance in measuring, reporting, and mitigating the environmental performance of their supply chain.

Products and Services The product portfolio of the company and an evaluation of the green attributes of its products, including product efficiency, sustainable production, and use of life cycle assessment.

Green perception assessment is based on a survey

•  We interviewed a total of 10,000 consumers via an online survey

•  Each brand was rated by at least 125 consumers per market (a total of 1,250 respondents per brand)

•  The markets included the top 10 countries in terms of economic impact (highest percentage of global GDP)


United States Japan China Germany France United

Kingdom Italy Brazil Spain Canada

Perception Score

The perception score is calculated by Interbrand based on the 6 external factors of our brand strength components:


Authenticity The perceived credibility of the brand’s environmental claims.

Differentiation How differentiated the brand’s green efforts are perceived to be relative to other competitors in the category.

Presence Consumer awareness of the brand’s green activities and its green reputation in the market.

Relevance An assessment of the relevance of brand’s environmental claims. This involves comparing the perceived importance of green activities for the category with the brand’s green perception.

Consistency The consistency of the brand’s various green communications across all touchpoints.

Understanding The level of understanding of the brand’s green activities as a whole.

The gap Two frequent scenarios


Internal External

Green Perception

Score

Green Perception

Score

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Company is engaging in meaningful green initiatives, but the marketplace doesn’t know about it

Company is engaging in greenwashing or is benefiting from a strong brand halo effect

Green Performance

Score

Green Performance

Score

Sustainable Brand Perception vs. Performance: Reducing the Gap - Tom Zara

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