How Consumers View Sustainability

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"Sustainability is good as long as it doesn't cost too much" is the bottomline purchasing behavior of most American consumers. But that doesn't mean sustainability as a brand platform is useless.

According to highlights from the second annual Brand Sustainable Futures report, published by Havas Media and MPG and featured on brandchannel.com, sustainability isn't a big factor in why consumers purchase a particular brand, but it does influence a customer's perception of a brand's meaningfulness.

The survey was based on an online survey of 30,000 individuals in 9 countries. And not surprisingly. U.S. consumers rank behind many other countries with only 5% of Americans claiming to always consider environmental/social aspects in their purchase decisions.

Globally, the survey suggests that 80% of respondents think "companies must act responsibly" and 76% say that businesses rather than governments "should deal with environmental and social issues." Unfortunately, only about a third of brands were considered "meaningful."

Of the companies that scored well, IKEA had the highest Brand Sustainability Futures Quotient of all. L'Oreal showed the largest improvement from last year. And Home Depot had the highest value for a U.S. company in the data from American consumers. Kraft and Google followed Home Depot based on answers by U.S. consumers.

So while America has a ways to go before positive environmental and social behaviors have a difference-making value for most brands, it is perhaps most developed in the design and construction industries where LEED credits and other green building contributions are of ever-growing importance.

And one thing you can know for certain – brands that have a poor record related to the environment will have a very hard time building business even in the U.S. Take BP for example. They're not likely to recover their lost consumer trust for many years to come.

Read the entire brandchannel story.

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