Expert: Russians have a demand for brands that counter global warming

According to the trade, compliance with sustainability principles helps companies attract new customers and serves as an advantage in the eyes of consumers.

Photo by: X5 Group

Socially responsible marketing is not a tribute to the ESG fashion (concern for the environment — environmental, social development — social and corporate governance — governance), but a real demand from the audience. Galina Sekirinskaya, Head of corporate brand department of X5 Group (supermarket chains “Pyaterochka”, “Perekrestok”) declared about it.

According to TASS, she expressed her opinion at the meeting of the Marketing and Corporate Strategy Committee, Sustainability Committee and ESG Committee of the Managers Association.

According to Galina Sekirinskaya, companies that do business in line with environmental and social agendas are better perceived by consumers. This is reflected in people’s willingness to buy goods and services as part of campaigns with a social component.

Irina Antyushina, Unilever Rus Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Director, supported the opinion that social projects are important for brands, despite economic difficulties.

As an example, she cited the initiative of Domestos, a cleaning product brand, in which the company repairs school toilets and provides educational institutions with household cleaning chemicals. Despite the difficulties, the company decided not to give up on the sought-after campaign.

Irina Antyushina described 2022 as a difficult period for product brands, when restrictions on media and advertising communications emerged. At the same time, she noted that the demand for social projects remains and companies will benefit from them in the long term.

Elena Dubovitskaya, Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Skolkovo School of Management, clarified that lack of education about ESG aspects and unwillingness to pay extra for sustainability brands on the part of consumers leads to excessive gullibility on the part of consumers and greenwashing — unfair promotion of products and services under the guise of environmental, although they are not.

“There is a lack of awareness, a lack of understanding of what sustainability is, what is behind it and what the long-term impact of this or that initiative, this or that company, this or that product is. This leads to the fact that people are too trusting. That is, if I tell them that this product is environmentally friendly, they certainly believe it,” the agency quotes the expert as saying.

Cover photo: X5 Group