Interview: How marketer Harold Weghorst believes brands can leverage on the sustainability trends

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE is proud to present Content 360 – Hong Kong: Stories for a new era, a conference about content marketing, content trends, content narratives, and storytelling in a post-pandemic era. Taking place on 20 June at Hotel ICON, our 26 speakers will share with us their insights and experiences on content strategy for crisis, sustainability, engaging with Gen Z, influencer marketing and how AI will impact consumer intelligence.

Joining us on the panel on sustainability is Harold Weghorst, global vice president of marketing and branding, Lenzing AG, who heads the company’s international marketing and branding efforts. A veteran in the global branding and marketing sector and a strong environmental ambassador, Weghorst has been driving the leading company’s transformation from a B2B company to a B2B2C company since June 2016.

In a conversation with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, Weghorst shared that since corporations embrace transparency, highlighting the use of natural raw materials in products has become a growing trend to appeal to eco-conscious consumers or partners.

“From organically grown ingredients to wood-based fibers produced using innovative closed-loop production processes, brands and consumers are eyeing materials that have a lower environmental impact from sourcing to end-of-life product disposal,” he added.

After all, he believed that the crucial driver to more sustainable economies is circularity, which covers reducing, reusing and recycling.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: What are some trends in the sustainability marketing space that marketers might want to keep a lookout for in 2023? 

With heightened sentiment towards anti-greenwashing, sustainability will undoubtedly remain top-of-mind among marketers in 2023. To navigate through the many topics on sustainability, it is necessary to stay vigilant towards regulatory changes like the EU Green Deal.

With new legislation coming into effect, constant monitoring and reviewing of pre-emptive measures will ensure that we not only stay relevant but also compliant.  

In recent years, while carbon footprint calculations have become a core element of sustainability measuring among corporations, carbon labeling on packaging or in the marketing materials for consumer products or services is still gaining traction. As governments take the lead on achieving carbon neutral or carbon zero, brands such as Everlane and Allbirds have been at the forefront practicing carbon footprint disclosure and launching products with net-zero carbon footprint.  

Such disclosure of carbon footprint, or other forms of verification of sustainability measures contribute to a company’s transparency practice, which goes hand in hand with sustainability. To foster trust between governments, corporations and consumers, greater disclosure of what goes on behind the scenes will become essential business practices across different industries. This has been seen in developments such as the recent "Who Made My Clothes" movement and the French transparency law.  

To further examine what happens at a product’s end-of-life, waste reduction is just a prerequisite. The crucial driver to more sustainable economies is circularity, which covers reducing, reusing and recycling. Though circularity can be adopted for both fossil-based materials and natural materials, to make a bigger difference, brands should look towards natural materials which are biodegradable or compostable, facilitating nature’s cycle, where natural raw materials revert to nature at the end of the product life cycle.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: Sustainability is a salient topic in the post-pandemic era, what would be your advice to brand marketers looking to convey their commitment to sustainability through marketing campaigns? 

Nowadays, consumers have not only become more conscious of their purchases, but they also want to make informed purchases to avoid falling into the trap of greenwashing. As brands plan their marketing campaigns, sustainability will need to be at the core. An example is the TENCEL brand’s "True Carbon Zero" campaign, for which the concept revolves around a carbon-zero product offering that has been certified, and where the sustainability messages covered are verifiable by industry-renowned third-party organisations.

While creativity is essential, we should be transparent and share verifiable sustainability credentials for products and services where appropriate.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: Earlier in the year, a Reuters special investigation discovered problems with a sustainability marketing campaign in Singapore. What would your advice for marketing heads worried about overreaching and getting caught in a greenwashing scandal? 

My advice is to get your house in order. Brands need to carefully study regulations and laws around sustainability claims to assess the alignment between their brand or campaign messages and the respective regulatory requirements.

As concerns about greenwashing across the value chain continue to grow, it is also increasingly important for brands to be able to confidently make their sustainability credentials visible.

Staying true and authentic, on both the inside and the outside, is key for brands.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: Effectively communicating sustainability can be an expensive affair, especially as many campaigns seem to have high production values that eats into the marketing budget. What are ways that marketers can measure the impact of sustainability-themed marketing campaigns to win over stakeholders internally? 

The measurement of a sustainability campaign is similar to that of a regular campaign, where we assess the campaign’s effectiveness in translating the communication objectives into a tangible impact or call-to-action. Such impact can be measured based on a few factors, including changes in brand image around certain sustainability aspects in comparison with competitors, increased importance of sustainability for consumers in both purchase intent and product consumption stages, and engagement or likability of the campaign’s sustainability factors in comparison with other campaigns.

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