Tensie Whelan and Randi Kronthal-Sacco discuss insights from research on the most effective sustainability marketing claims.

"In these polarized times, corporate leaders are growing skittish about promoting sustainability in their products. Yet our research on actual consumer purchases demonstrates that sustainable products are growing two times faster than conventional, at a 28% premium in average, across most demographics.

To help brand managers and marketing leads capitalize on this growing market, we partnered with Edelman and nine leading brands across different industries (tech, apparel, beverage, food) to research which sustainability messages work best with consumers. In contrast to current hyperbole about polarized consumers, we found that the most resonant sustainability claims are highly compelling for all demographics — old/young, blue state/ red state, high income/low income, men/women, etc.

We conducted a custom online study of a sample of the U.S. general population in end 2022/early 2023 for the nine iconic brands."

Read the full piece in Harvard Business Review.