| dc.description.abstract | Since sustainability is an important marketing tool nowadays, companies are increasingly
paying attention to integrate sustainability into their marketing communication. Across the
industries and types of companies, there can be observed ambitions of integration processes.
Simultaneously, there are obstacles forcing companies to develop new approaches to
overcome them.
The paper is dealing with the integration of sustainability into a company’s brand positioning
and the upcoming challenges of this integration while also looking on possible solutions to
overcome these obstacles. The following research questions were developed:
i. How do marketers integrate sustainability into the brand positioning?
ii. What challenges and problems occur in the process of integrating sustainability?
iii. How do marketers try to overcome these challenges and problems?
By using an exploratory design, qualitative interviews were conducted with five major
German enterprises. The interviewees have either been marketing managers, sustainability
mangers or the chief execute officer itself.
The result of the analysis is showing that companies are already actively engaging in
sustainable matters and communication by the integration into their practices and strategy.
Some of them already implemented sustainability into their brand positioning, while others
are actively planning to do so. Across the companies, several sustainable measures are
already executed and implemented in the areas of logistics, waste management, internal
resource usage, fleet renewal or sustainable project investment.
Challenges of the integration of sustainability can be identified as higher costs due to the
amendment of products and services, the thread of being perceived to greenwash with green
communication and the overall choice of sustainable approach or measures. Companies feel
partly overwhelmed with the possibilities to engage with sustainability which leads to a
confusion of where to start and where to leverage sustainability in the most effective way.
Simultaneously, an inconsistent and irresponsible communication can create the risk of
building an untrustworthy image in this regard. In order to overcome challenges of sustainable integration, companies adapt their pricing strategies to cover costs, but simultaneously invest into innovations leveraging sustainability. Partnerships and cooperation are of utmost importance to share expertise and build up a whole strategic concept that is supporting each other. At the same time there is paid an
increasing caution on thorough communication of sustainable matters and the constant
control to prove the measures and believes when questioned. | en_US |
