Can Marketing Save the Planet?

Proving unequivocally that waste can build capital, UpCircle is a truly inspiring organisation built on circular economy principles. The circular economy presents a huge opportunity for both business and the environment so we were really excited when Anna Brightman from UpCircle, a skincare and beauty brand built from waste and, focused entirely on the circular economy principles joined us on the...

When you view something as a competitive opportunity, you look at it totally differently - how can we go above and beyond? How can we get a real angle on this? How can we bring people with us along this process? We’ve had a bit of a focus or mini-series on biodiversity and nature over the last few episodes of Can Marketing Save the Planet because it is so so critical that we start to understand, t...

“We are totally dependent on biodiversity to survive – this is not a ‘greeny’ concern, this is an everyone concern.” Given nature and biodiversity is SO important to the future of humanity, we wanted to dive deeper into this important area. Following our recent episodes with the brilliant Alexandra Pimor, who works with organisations to give nature a voice and a seat at the boardroom table, we jum...

Are you using your career to fight for the future?  In this episode we talk with Claire Osborne who has a fascinating job as a sustainability career coach. Claire works with people who are increasingly looking at where and how they work, questioning the role they can play as climate change, climate action and sustainability continue to rise up the world’s agenda.   Claire talks about the challenge...

Part 2 - “We have to find the courage to do something different…” Following on from Episode 1, we delve further into the role of law in sustainability. 2023 saw a marked rise in legal cases being brought against businesses and governments, as well as the tightening of regulations and guidelines around not only what businesses can do, but what they can say. The reality Alexandra explains is “the la...

“What does business have to do with nature? The next two episodes of Can Marketing Save the Planet go DEEP! We suggest you wrap up warm, pop in your headphones, and go for a wintry walk as we catch up with Alexandra Pimor, Director of Nature Governance at the Earth Law Centre. Despite preconceptions, we (humans) are part of nature, we are not above it and we need it – it is indeed our greatest all...

“Marketing is the management science of empathy - we need deep empathy if we want to take humanity and our economy through this massive change that we are facing.” Marketing will not save the world, but we will not save the world without marketing. In this episode we talk with Nicolas Lambert, author of, “Can Marketing Save the World”, (we know… a title very close to our hearts) and no surprises t...

“We need people to communicate in a way that gives all of us an ability to move forward in a positive direction.” The built environment – it’s a massive subject, a massive industry and a massive contributor of emissions, (buildings and construction are responsible for approx. 40% of global energy related and carbon dioxide emission). There is a lot of work to be done and the challenge requires col...

“There’s really no way you can say you don’t know this is a dangerous activity at this point” Making a return to the podcast, we caught up with Duncan Meisel, founder of Clean Creatives, so we could talk about the newly published F-List. For anyone unfamiliar, Clean Creatives, is a movement of advertisers, PR professionals, and their clients cutting ties with fossil fuels. The F-List is a body of...

Carrying on from Part 1, this episode jumps straight into the tactical side, where Caroline shares her views on the opportunities around digital, making the point that, “listening for a business is such a wealth of value which can be done in an automated way, and is the way forward to be commercially successful.” Moving on to metrics and measures an area with many questions but not enough answers...

“There are four questions every business needs good answers to. Why would anyone want to buy from us? Why would anyone want to work for us? Why would anyone want to invest in us? Why would anyone allow us to operate in their community, society?” It’s another two-parter and in this episode (Part 1), we dive into the role of CMOs and leaders when it comes to the sustainability agenda. We were joined...

“Being sustainable is a story of assumed negatives, but it’s actually a story of discovered positives.” We were joined in this episode by Simon Garnett who has been on a personal journey with consumption, one which he started when he realised his own habits were unhealthy, a journey he continues and has taken into his professional life as well. Simon shares with us the moment he decided to reappra...

“Through marketing campaigns we can bring sustainability and growing smaller more sustainable brands to the front and drive capital away from big brands.” Where better to get the viewpoints from Gen Z about climate concerns and consumption habits than directly from a Gen Z’er. On this podcast were joined by Estella Struck, Founder and CEO of the first Gen Z Sustainable Product Marketing Agency bas...

“Building a culture of trust around green claims is the most important thing marketers, business and brands should be doing, using advertising self- regulation as a tool, making sure everyone is upholding those standards.” As regulations and guidelines in and around sustainability continue to evolve, tighten up and support a better future around managing both what we do AND say, we spoke to Laura...

How do you get a return on your investment for your business, AND at the same time deliver a return on investment for the planet, ensuring everyone benefits? In this episode we’re joined by Gavin Sheppard and Rob Cheesewright from Pinwheel, an organisation focused on projects that remove carbon from the atmosphere, restore habitats and protect biodiversity - to discuss that very question. Given th...

“If you ever think you are too small to influence change on a global scale, just look at what Wales are doing.” We were intrigued and excited to have the opportunity to chat with Sophie Howe, the first and only (for a period of time) ‘Future Generations Commissioner’ in the world! Sophie was appointed Future Generations Commissioner for Wales in 2016. Wales has committed to 7 long-term wellbeing g...

The challenge for the marketing team is, “needing to take what are serious and complex issues and convey them in a format that is easily understandable.” Want to know how marketing can drive a “people powered movement for change?” THIS is the episode you don’t want to miss. We jumped at the opportunity to talk to Jackie Marshall at Fairtrade an organisation with market leading levels of audience r...

“Climate change isn’t a game that anybody wins – we either all win or we all lose and I’d much rather we all win”. Where to start with an overview of this insightful, practical and hugely inspiring conversation. Simon Dawes, environmental professional for over 20 years and working in the field of sustainability for the last 13 years, is generous in sharing with us the practicalities of how a publi...

  Less than 10% of the FTSE100 mention sustainable pensions in their sustainable strategies.   We have been supporting and following the work Make My Money Matter do for quite some time now, so we were thrilled to be joined by Holly McElhone to delve a little deeper into the trillions of pounds that are circulating everyday across investments and pensions and to learn more about what business and...

“Consistency of message is what builds trust and we’re going to need that come 2028 when we realise how badly we failed.” Sam Taylor, grew up on the factory floor (literally). From her lived experience and passion, she has gone on to become founder of The Good Factory an organisation involved in everything from consulting, sourcing and development and lifecycle assessments in the sportswear indust...

A sustainable creative agency on a journey to make positive change, we caught up with Rob Minto, managing director of The Onlii. Rob talks about his own journey into sustainability, how he was inspired by the B Corp movement and why he set up the Onlii. Aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Rob discusses how these really helped to embed the environment and the bigger picture into the bu...

  “How can organisations treat people as citizens, not just as consumers? How can organisations invite people into their agency and creativity to shape the world and not just sell them stuff?”   When Jon Alexander, author of the brilliant book ‘Citizens’ joined us on Can Marketing Save the Planet, we got straight into those questions! The subject story, the consumer story (where we are right now),...

  “It doesn’t always come in through the marketing door, but marketing is where the greatest change can be driven.”   In this episode of, Can Marketing Save the Planet we spoke to Andy Last, Executive Partner, Purpose and Sustainability from MullenLowe, an end-to-end communications and creative services agency. Part of the MullenLow Group, who believe, ‘purpose is nothing without progress’, and we...

“ The world doesn’t need what we do at the moment, we can’t continue the way we are. We need to adapt and look at long term need and deliver valuable solutions.” Aligned with the latest IPCC report, the message is clear on so many levels that we can’t keep doing what we do and making minor tweaks - transformational and urgent action is what’s required, and that’s going to require a collaborative a...

“ We need to route purpose in solving important solutions, developing meaningful solutions and reaching inclusive worthwhile outcomes that mobilise everyone we need in pursuit of that purpose.” Our interview with Paul Skinner, Author, Founder of MarketingKind and Agency of the Future, is just soooo good, we’re doing it twice! In Part 1, Paul introduces the work he’s doing - and we dive into his la...