Sustainability
Perceptions
Index
2023
The inaugural report on the value of sustainability perceptions to the
world;s leading brands
January 2023Contents.
About Brand Finance 3
Get in Touch 3
Foreword 4
The IAA – A Global Compass for Sustainability 5
Dagmara Szulce, Managing Director, IAA Global
Planet Mark – Embedding Sustainability and Net
Zero at the Core of Business Strategy 6
Steve Malkin, CEO and Founder, Planet Mark
Methodology7
Research Analysis 12
Sustainability Perceptions Scores16
Insights21
Sustainability Reporting 22
Robert Haigh, Strategy and Sustainability Director, Brand Finance
Delivering on sustainability through comprehension and community 26
Sasan Saeidi, World President & Chairman, IAA
The Paradox of Greenwashing28
Hervé de Clerck, VP IAA Global, Sustainability Council Chair
Creating a smarter regulatory environment that protects consumers,
allows businesses to thrive, and helps save the earth too 30
Jeffrey A. Greenbaum, Chair, IAA Public Policy Council
Sustainability Perceptions Value Ranking32
Our Services 46
Brand Finance Sustainability Perceptions Index 2023(c) 2023 All rights reserved. Brand Finance Plc. brandirectory/sustainability 2About Brand Finance.
Brand Finance is the world;s leading brand
valuation consultancy.
We bridge the gap between marketing and finance
Brand Finance was set up in 1996 with the aim of ;bridging
the gap between marketing and finance;. For 25 years, we
have helped companies and organisations of all types to
connect their brands to the bottom line.
We quantify the financial value of brands
We put 5,000 of the world’s biggest brands to the test
every year. Ranking brands across all sectors and
countries, we publish nearly 100 reports annually.
We offer a unique combination of expertise
Our teams have experience across a wide range of
disciplines from marketing and market research, to
brand strategy and visual identity, to tax and accounting.
We pride ourselves on technical credibility
Brand Finance is a chartered accountancy firm regulated
by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and
Wales, and the first brand valuation consultancy to join
the International Valuation Standards Council.
Our experts helped craft the internationally recognised
standards on Brand Valuation – ISO 10668 and Brand
Evaluation – ISO 20671. Our methodology has been
certified by global independent auditors – Austrian
Standards – as compliant with both, and received
the official approval of the Marketing Accountability
Standards Board.
Get in Touch.
For business enquiries, please contact:
Robert Haigh linkedin/company/brand-finance
Managing Director
r.haigh@brandfinance
For media enquiries, please contact: twitter/brandfinance
Michael Josem
Associate Communications Director
m.josem@brandfinance
facebook/brandfinance
For all other enquiries:
enquiries@brandfinance
+44 207 389 9400 youtube/brandfinance
brandfinance
Brand Finance Sustainability Perceptions Index 2023brandirectory/sustainability 3Foreword.
Acting sustainably and being seen to do so is imperative for brands, but
sustainability is a multifaceted concept that can be hard for business leaders to
navigate.
Investors, CFOs and CEOs are told by campaigners, NGOs, consultants and
sustainability teams that committing to sustainability is both the right thing to do and
a business imperative. There are indeed many opportunities, whether in supplying
the products and services that facilitate the transition to a green economy, or simply
by differentiating your brand as a sustainable alternative.
However, without articulating the case in financial terms it can be hard to determine
the business case for action. The Sustainability Perceptions Index is intended to be
Robert Haigh the first step to addressing this challenge. By quantifying the value of sustainability
Strategy &perceptions, we hope to make the value of action on sustainability more tangible.
Sustainability Director,
Brand Finance Our research shows that even for individual businesses, there could be billions
of dollars of financial value to be gained from enhanced action and associated
communication.
Equally, there can be billions at risk from insufficient action that leads to accusations
of greenwashing, or even misallocated or excessive investments in sustainability
communication that does not cut through.
We hope this report is a useful first step in understanding the financial role of
sustainability perceptions to your business (or the business leaders that you are
trying to persuade). If you would like to continue the conversation, please get in
touch. We have developed an extensive program of research and a full suite of
services intended to deliver actionable insight for our clients.
We work with CEOs, strategists, recruitment teams, CFOs, Sustainability Officers,
and of course marketers, to help answer a range of pressing questions, including:
o How sustainable is your businesses perceived to be?
o How do you compare vs competitors?
o How important is sustainability in driving consumer choice?
o How important is sustainability when recruiting staff, or securing investment?
o What is the potential value of enhancing sustainability perceptions?
o Is your brand recognized for its sustainability leadership?
o Do your brand’s actions live up to its claims? Could value be at risk?
o What are the ‘sustainable consumer’ segments and how do we target them?
o Which sustainability issues and themes are most relevant?
o Which NGOs / causes should I align my brand with?
o How do I champion corporate action on sustainability?
o How do I maximize funding for my cause?
If you have been wrestling with any of these questions, we look forward to helping
you solve them!
Brand Finance Global 500 2023 brandirectory/global 4The IAA –
A Global Compass for Sustainability.
With the digital revolution continuing to open new channels and new consumer
markets around the world, CEOs, CMOs, and CFOs who understand the tangible
and intangible assets contributing to the creation of brand value can have a
significant business and economic advantage.
However, many marketing and financial teams struggle to connect these dots and,
as a result, underestimate the significance of their brands to business.
The latest economic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound
impact on changing consumers’ perceptions towards brands. Sustainability is
increasingly a priority for consumers when purchasing brands and, as a result,
sustainability perceptions have an increased impact on brand valuation.
Dagmara Szulce
Managing Director,
Expectations have shifted from “do no harm” to “must create positive impact”. If
IAA Global
brands do not push to transform their business into a sustainable one, they, more
than ever, risk their bottom line. For many consumers, purchasing a product now
requires an alignment on ethical grounds.
International Advertising Association is the only global association that represents all
spheres of the marketing and marketing communications industry. We partner with
leading global consulting firms to serve the marketing communications industry as
the global compass in the ever-evolving marketing communications world. For over
80 years, IAA has played a strong role in reporting the latest trends in the industry to
provide valuable insights for CMOs to understand “WHAT’S COMING NEXT”.
We’ve partnered with Brand Finance, a global leader in bridging the gap between
marketing and finance, to provide the industry’s first consumer-centric index that
measures consumers’ sustain