Chocolate shows responsibility

Got together with students of the University of Amsterdam about sustainability and consumer. How do you communicate to the consumer? You may be shocked when I say that the consumer is not necessarily interested in sustainability in general, as we certainly hoped he or she was. The consumer is mainly interested in issues that have a direct impact on the lives of themselves and their families. They don’t put their money where their mouth is unless it’s something that clearly benefits them directly. Seems to be a logical reaction. Well, anyway, the students created a chocolate bar, trying to find out what split-marketing is and how it works, also in terms of sustainability. So one group created an interesting transparant packaging with Chocolate shows responsibility stamped on it. And a cartoon showing the production process inc. the farmer growing the cacoa.

The kangaroo, the wild cat and the penguin

What binds them together? They are all stakeholders that we can learn from. From the kangaroo that hops around in a very energy efficient way from issue to issue. From the wild cat, normally very wary of humans, but also related to the house cat, that bites itself into an issue and alerts the world about it. From the penguin, that lives in huge colonies, and is not always very fast when it comes to new issues.

How to find out about new trends and issues, that was the theme of the workshop I was presenting at the Ethical Corporation 2010 conference.

The kangaroo stands for the investors, the issue hoppers, not necessarily acting upon what they ask: CDP, Forest Disclosure, DJSI, FTSE4Good. New: CR and renumeration. Advise: put your money where your mouth is.

The wild cat stands for the NGOs, the issue biters, always on the look for new issues around sustainability in the supply chain. New: they follow an agenda. Advise: one voice please!

The penguin stands for the retailers, the issue freezers, not always very efficient in handling new issues. New: they cooperate with competitors on sustainability. Advise: do not be afraid of nobody.

And also listen to what is not coming out the ark, those things that nobody talks about: health, shortages, aging.

So goes the the story of the sustainability zoo!