Sustainability Can Lift Brand Value, But Credibility Remains Elusive: Kantar

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For years, marketers have treated sustainability like the office treadmill: everyone agrees it's important, many claim they're using it and surprisingly few can point to meaningful results.

A new global study from Kantar suggests the problem isn’t consumer apathy. It's execution. Consumers still care about environmental and social issues, but they're increasingly skeptical of brands that confuse lofty promises with evidence.

The report, based on surveys of more than 18,000 consumers evaluating 2,160 brands across 12 countries and 12 categories, found that sustainability perceptions can account for as much as 10% of brand value for some of the world's strongest brands. Meanwhile, sustainability's contribution to brand equity has grown 25% in the past five years.