Featuring Marc De Swaan Arons, Founder at Institute for Real Growth (IRG); Conny Braams, Chief Digital and Commercial Officer at Unilever; Silvia Lagnado, Chief Sustainable Growth Officer at Natura & Co; Antonio Lucio, Founder at S4Diversity; Andisa Ntsubane, Board Director and Global Sustainability Council Member (IAA); Andrew Stephen, L’Oréal Professor of Marketing, Associate Dean of Research at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.

• This new reality requires collective action, and marketing should step up and play your role.
• Profit should not be the sole focus because of social justice and environmental movements.
• Marketing professionals should reimagine their partnerships on all levels from the board room to HR to the public.

The pandemic has made business professionals more reflective than before. Shifting online during the pandemic also fundamentally changed business models. Global social justice movements such as Gender Based Violence, Police Brutality, and Diversity and Inclusion require companies to become more empathetic to stakeholders and to themselves. Winning organizations will build trust and values with the public as businesses reassess over the next few years on how to be sustainable.

From the panel

Conny Braams (Chief Digital and Commercial Officer at Unilever)

• “If the world can change for a virus, it can change for good as well.”
• “People look at values of brands but also choose brands for their values.”
• Values drive positive change.
• “It always starts with a fantastic product at the right price” and now companies should collaborate in the ESG sphere to drive the world’s agenda further.

Silvia Lagnado (Chief Sustainable Growth Officer at Natura & Co)

• Companies need to think really hard about what’s meaningful and what’s relevant.
• Marketers will be exposed if they jump on a band wagon
• “I feel very strongly that we’re moving toward a time of collaborative advantage”.
• We must look for solutions that create income and profit in all circles.
• Packaging is an example where businesses can create change. If my packaging cannot be green, that we cannot expect other people in the chain to invest in green packaging.
• “Find the intersection between your passion and your capabilities and what the business needs.”

Antonio Lucio (Founder at S4Diversity)

• The pandemic accelerated distrust. “It’s important that brands move from a place of preference to a place of trust.”
• “You need to have community benefits in mind. No brand will stand the test of time without that.”
• There’s no going back and now is a perfect storm to do good. Companies will need to perform. “If not, we will continue the fraction we’ve always had.”
• “Winning organizations in this new reality […] will be deeply emphatic about all of the stakeholders they serve starting with employees.”
• Begin the path to empathy by taking care of yourself and your health.

Andisa Ntsubane (Board Director and Global Sustainability Council Member (IAA))

• “There’s no better marketing than to do something for your customers.” It creates a positive impact on our bottom line.
• “Winning organizations take leadership positions and connect the ‘what’ to the ‘why’.” and enables business to move beyond fighting for their market share.
• “By creating a people brand, people become champions and ambassadors” of the brand during this difficult time.
• Businesses need to put “aside their differences and collaborate about landing the message about what humans need to do.”
• We must communicate “what they need to know, but also what they need to do.”

Andrew Stephen (L’Oréal Professor of Marketing, Associate Dean of Research at Saïd Business School at University of Oxford)

• There’s been an acceleration of people demanding more because people have started reevaluating issues.
• People started weeding out the stuff that’s necessary and what’s not necessary requiring an increased expectation for brands to be better and more responsible.
• “Brands that are relevant to those needs are going to do better”.
• “Success stories from a marketing leadership standpoint turn lofty ideals into meaningful, relevant, practical actions that they can take and filter down through their organizations.”

This article is part of a series covering the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit. The UN Global Compact (UNGC) Leaders Summit is an annual convening of global stakeholders from the UN, the public and private sectors, and civil society that takes stock of progress of the SDGs so far, and addresses the gaps in knowledge, resources, and funding. The 2022 Leaders Summit, like last year’s summit, will be a hybrid event of live and virtual speakers. Featured venues this year include an in-person event held in Bangkok, as well as virtual plenaries in Latin America, Australia, East Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, in addition to UN Headquarters in New York. This inclusive global event — which will run continuously for more than 24 hours — aims to empower business leaders at every level to take collective action and inspire future leaders to embed a sustainability mindset in their work. ESG News is the exclusive media partner of the event, and will cover all 26 panels. To read all of the articles in the series, visit here.

Event Details

Day/Time of Panel: Day 1; 6:00 pm EST

Sequence of Panel: 12th panel of Day 1