Can Marketing Save the Planet?

In our 100th episode of Can Marketing Save the Planet we kick off our ‘4 part mini-series on greenwashing and navigating green claims’ with Cecilia Parker-Aranha, Director of Consumer Protection at the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Cecilia joined us back in 2021, and so it was great to have her join us again to discuss the evolving landscape to provide an up to date understanding of whe...

Round and round and round it goes, where it stops nobody knows… and that’s a really good thing if it means it doesn’t end up in the unmanageable waste landscape we humans have created for ourselves. In our 99th episode we’re joined by Neda Hashemi and Andrés Olivia from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation where we explore why Marketers are key facilitators in the transition to a circular economy. Neda...

“It’s fair and square - every square essentially helps you hit three ESG metrics with a single product.” In this episode of the Can Marketing Save the Planet podcast, we are joined by Rob Cobbold, Founder and CEO, of the brilliant organisation, Native - a platform which allows people, groups, communities and organisations of all sizes to protect the planet – one square at a time! The platform enab...

“The more people bring AI in-house the better it will be for the environment”… “You’ve got to spend the money to take advantage of the opportunity – and you can say but AI is free, but it isn't - that's just bad AI”… “AI allows us to do the art of marketing without marketing” … A slightly longer episode this week, but boy is it an interesting one! In this episode of Can Marketing Save the Planet w...

“90% of Marketers agree that sustainability agendas need to be more ambitious.” We are back to 2025 with a bang and a full-on schedule of fantastic guests and riveting conversations. In our first episode of the year we’re joined by Ozlem Senturk, Senior Partner at Kantar’s Global Sustainable Transformation Practice. Ozlem shares so many interesting insights from Kantar and the World Federation of...

“We need to get back to classic marketing – what matters to our audience is a must. Even those people who don’t ‘buy into’ sustainability – up to 70% of them are actually engaged in sustainable behaviours – they just don’t label it as sustainable….” In this episode were joined by Denise Hicks, Global Climate Lead at strategy and insights consultancy, C-Space. We were particularly interested in a v...

Businesses need to be asking themselves – “What could this business be, redesigning it from the ground up?” Start with the opportunity as opposed to the challenges. We know communication and engagement is critical to driving change, a su bject we have explored many times on the podcast, but there’s always something new to learn. Hence why we really enjoyed meeting Laurence and Graeme from Litmus S...

“We don’t ’speak for young people, we let them be the voice and share their perspective.” We keep coming back to the S – ‘social and societal impact’ in many of our conversations with clients, leaders and marketers, we’re discussing the role of business, both in how they operate and what they are doing for society. In this episode of the podcast we have a chat with the brilliant Kian Bakhtiari, Fo...

“When it comes to food systems, Marketers can be the most valuable in providing extraordinary consumer insights so that assumptions are not made in what people want.” To maintain food security, food systems need to change. They need to be more sustainable, less impactful on the planet, healthier and way less wasteful. But, there is still a huge amount of education and awareness that needs to happe...

It’s the final episode in our mini-series on sustainable leadership and in this episode we’re joined by Professor Chris Marquis. Chris talks to us about his experience studying, writing about and working with organisations on sustainability. Author of, “Better Business: How the B Corp Movement Is Remaking Capitalism,” we explore Chris’ first experience of B-Corp, a movement setting new standards f...

As we continue to discuss and explore the role of leadership in our ‘Sustainable Leadership’ mini-series, what better than to gain the viewpoint from someone with sustainability at the core of everything they do. This led us to Kevin Dunckley, Chief Sustainability Officer at HH Global. Kevin’s passion for what he does is crystal clear and we loved our conversation with him talking about the practi...

Continuing with our Sustainable Leadership mini-series, in this second episode we’re joined by the brilliant Jon Miller, author and Partner at Brunswick Group, leading their Sustainable Business Practice. We wanted to catch up with Jon to talk about a subject which led him to co-author the book, The Activist Leader. Join us as we dive into the activist mindset and how anyone can becoman activist l...

It’s another mini-series and this one is all about leadership, something which is incredibly important as we come together and take on the biggest challenge humanity has ever faced (and nope, we’re not being overly dramatic). Sustainable leadership is about making a positive impact, contributing to society and the environment and, driving long-term performance for business. Sustainable leadership...

In the final episode of our ‘greening your marketing activity’ mini-series, we caught up with some of our original guests to the podcast, Ollie Deane and Guy Jones from The GoodNet, the ethical intelligence company, focusing on helping ethical brands and products grow. The Goodnet firmly believe that advertising can do good in the world and, we agree with and support their mission! Ollie and Guy s...

“When it comes to including sustainability in events - we’re finding the focus on sustainability is increasingly part of the client brief.” As we continue with our greening your marketing activity mini-series, we wanted to turn our attention to events. Events can be fun, they allow us to learn and connect, but they also come with a considerable footprint and impact, mainly from travel, food and th...

“There's something like 7.5 million data centers around the world now, and most of them are still powered by coal and gas. One of the easiest things you can do is move your hosting.” Welcome back to the second part in our mini-series on ‘greening your marketing activities’ and this episode we explored smarter, greener websites with Sepas Seraj, Founder of Pixeled Eggs. With the amount of activity...

Have you ever considered the carbon footprint of your email activity?  Welcome to the first in our ‘greening your marketing activity’ mini-series!  Did you know that your digital activity has a carbon footprint? Are you aware that there are better choices you can make which mean your marketing activity is greener and more sustainable, without compromising on performance and quality? Well, that’s w...

Every other breath you take comes from the ocean … How much thought do you give to the products you use to clean your home? We recently took a metaphorical deep dive with Amanda Horn into her love of the ocean as part of World Ocean Day and Ocean Week (in Canada), and how important the ocean and water is to our lives. Following our chat with Amanda, we then we explored toxic free circularity with...

Degrowth equals greater profits – and big disruptions are coming… In this episode we got to talk to the brilliant Paul Folkes Arellano about circularity, and not just circularity, but toxic free circularity. Paul shares his knowledge, insights and experience in a space which plays a significant role in sustainability, business and societal behaviours. Paul share with us how he got into the toxic f...

The need to reconnect to water and rebrand the ‘Big Blue’… World Ocean Day falls on June 8th and for those who haven’t heard of this event, it’s about “catalyzing collective action for a healthy ocean and a stable climate”. The ocean’s role is one of the most important there is, and, water security is a real concern. But, to make such events successful in reaching global goals and targets around o...

We’re only consciously aware of 0.0004% of everything around us at once…read that again! Fake news, real news, social media, pickup artists. With all the messages we see and decisions we make every day, have you ever thought about how we are constantly being nudged towards one thing or another? In this episode we explore behavioural science with Patrick Fagan and whilst all communications are desi...

Honing in on the ‘S’ of E S G – a critical component of the sustainability journey ESG – environmental, social, governance, a subject that has been an increasing topic of debate and discussion, but what about the S? In this episode we speak to Beth Knight, a leading figure in social impact and sustainability, with over 15 years’ experience in purpose-led business transformation – Beth shares incre...

“Be the voice of the consumer who wants to do more.” ESG – environmental, social and growth, (yep you read that right), growth rather than governance. We absolutely loved that take from Sandy Skees, Purpose and Impact Global Lead at Porter Novelli. We’ve wanted to talk to Sandy for some time since we came across their research on the ‘Intention – Action Gap - the ‘Rise of the Conscious Consumer’,...

“If you can change how people spend their money, you can change the world.” Social Impact, sustainable business, creative ideas and changing behaviours, these are just some of the areas that we explored with Chris Baker, strategist turned entrepreneur and CEO of Serious Tissues. With behavioural science sitting behind so many successful business models Chris talks to us about his experience across...

Did you know that 20% of the world's fish and meat is consumed by our pets? We didn’t… and so yet again, the learning curve continues. We love having conversations with amazing brands who are pioneering, disrupting the norms and thinking outside the box with a focus on delivering social and environmental impact. Food security, the impact of food production and what we eat is an area of significant...