Eco-friendly companies must significantly invest in building their brands to broaden their outreach and avoid potential pitfalls. This was a key takeaway from a recent interview with Joseph D. Simpson, Creative Director at 4800 Partners, where he discussed with Muhammad Younis the essential role of strong branding in achieving market success and the strategies necessary to do so.

#CTS: How essential is brand building for eco-friendly companies seeking to captivate a global audience in the fight against climate change, and what significant challenges must they overcome to succeed?

Joseph D. Simpson: I see brand building as an essential step for sustainability-driven brands — especially at early stages. Building strong brand foundations from the beginning not only helps communicate your vision to potential customers and investors, it also is a hugely beneficial process in itself; aligning your team and stakeholders around a common strategy.

Yet, it’s so common to see leaders at startups and scaleups in the climate space who forgo this exercise — or even worse: leave branding up to the interns whilst they focus on the product.

As a result, it’s common to see climate tech brands overly relying on complexity, jargon, academic rigour, or their social/environmental beliefs.

Brand building is not just an add-on but a foundational element for the success of sustainability-driven brands. As a result of these challenges, it’s akin to attempting to build a skyscraper on the foundations of a one story bungalow. It’s simply not sustainable.

#CTS: What are the most compelling strategies for communicating a climate-friendly brand, and how do you measure their effectiveness in resonating with both conscious consumers and broader audiences?

Joseph D. Simpson: As the age-old mantra goes: The strategy is the story. Communicating climate-friendly solutions today, revolves around storytelling and framing opportunities. Instead of bombarding people with facts and numbers, which often fall flat, we need to craft engaging stories that tap into emotions and human experience. Stories that: 

• Are optimistic: If we want doom and gloom, we’ll watch the news. In the era of climate technology, we want to believe that action can lead to change. 
• Are localised: Images of polar bears on ever shrinking icebergs don’t evoke action in the era of climate technology. 
• Set in the present: It’s comforting to believe that climate change will happen in the future. But action often requires an immediate risk to the status quo of your audience’s life. I can’t stress this enough: if you want to evoke fear, show the immediate risk of inaction. 
• Show a destination for your audience: A sustainable future is an airy fairy concept. Go deeper into what that world looks like for your customers. Beyond “having a fairer and more equitable world for the planet, animals, and people”. 
• Highlight the journey: The path from Planet A (your customer’s status quo) to Planet B (their ideal world) doesn't necessarily have to be perfect (think most German EV commercials). This is where creativity comes in.

In this new era of climate technology, narrative is a key element of getting buyin for change. Tying your story into greater climate narratives is important, but crafting your own and telling it consistently: that’s honestly the most compelling strategy.

#CTS: Can you provide examples of companies that have transformed their brand to reflect eco-friendliness, and what lessons can other businesses learn from their journeys?

Joseph D. Simpson: It’s really easy to look at the Patagonias of the world and give them as an example. But I think that it’s far more important to look beyond the obvious. Transformation of the mid-market across industry is extremely important if we have a chance at achieving our climate goals. But for many of these companies, they’re stuck in a cycle of compliance and reducing negative emissions, rather than transforming to align their primary business model with impact creation. My two examples show breakout of business as usual, and are of internal transformation (i.e., corporate innovation) and external transformation (i.e., spinoffs). I believe that they both show there’s no direct route to transformation, but that aligning your strategy (and your brand) can lead to longevity and financial sustainability when done correctly. 

• Topsoe: One example I like to bring up is Topsoe: A Danish company that’s a global leader in catalysis and process technology. They’ve always been focused on solving societal challenges since founding, which led them to the energy industry. But they’re going through a period of transformation which has actually led them to create an internal startup called Power-to-X, focused on decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors, designed to disrupt their business model. Better do it to yourself than let someone else do it to you. 
• Polestar: Another great example of transformation is Polestar. Jointly formed in 2017 by Volvo Cars and Geely Holding Group, the EV manufacturer has grown to become a staple on European roads. The company is serious about operating sustainably and driving forward the mobility transition in a way that Volvo simply couldn’t have done themselves. This gave them the ability to shake off the shackles of the mother company and invest in a new, stand alone, brand themselves.

Also, it's crucial to emphasise the economic benefits of sustainable practices. People want to know how adopting these technologies can save them money or solve their problems better than existing solutions. By framing climate tech as an opportunity for growth and prosperity, rather than merely a response to a threat, we can inspire action and enthusiasm for sustainable solutions.

• Over-Complexity: Climate tech brands often struggle with over-complicating their messages by using industry-specific jargon. This can alienate potential investors, partners, and customers who might not fully understand the technical aspects. 
• Inauthentic Communication: Authenticity is vital, but challenging to maintain. Brands that fail to live up to their stated missions or those that do not back their statements with concrete actions risk being perceived as inauthentic. This can harm credibility and trust, both of which are vital in the sustainability space. 
• Aligning Growth with Impact: Entrepreneurs in climate often prioritise innovation over business development. This results in significant innovations not reaching their full market potential because of a lack of a well-rounded growth strategy. Bridging the gap between sustainability ambitions and entrepreneurial growth mindsets is necessary to accelerate impactful technology adoption and scalability.

#CTS: How have you and the organisations you've been involved with navigated the complexities of brand building within the climate tech sector, and what innovative approaches have proven most effective? 

Joseph D. Simpson: Brand Building is a complex process of stakeholder engagement… and too often, it is based on your stakeholder’s intuition and emotion. Ferrari’s are red so our logo should be red because we’re building the equivalent of a concept car. Or, the CEO wants to put the term ‘ecosystem’ in our mission because it’s hot in sustainability right now. However, brand building is about eliciting emotion strategically, not building based on emotion.

To navigate the complexities of brand building, you need to align your stakeholders. And that starts with showing just how unaligned they are. I’ve held workshops where I had co-founders literally breaking down and storming off because their vision for the company was different from their investors. It can be painful but it’s so damn worth it.

Once you’ve broken down the false pretences and pleasantries and shown misalignment, then you can start building. I’m making my role as a brand strategist sound like marriage counselling!

#CTS: What inspired you to write the book, Climate Tech Branding: How to Build a Sustainable Technology Brand, and what groundbreaking perspectives does it offer on sustainable brand development? 

Joseph D. Simpson: The driving force behind writing Climate Tech Branding was to showcase the change I saw in the world that many climate tech founders didn’t: how communications evolved with the transition to the climate tech era.

In the book, I suggest that sustainability can be understood in three distinct eras:

1. The Green Era (1970-2000): Defined by NGOs, charity and philanthropy.

2. The Social Era (2000-2020): Defined by CSR, eco-friendly, ESG and social impact.

3. The Climate Tech Era (2020-today): Defined by innovation and entrepreneurship.

Whilst each era had its own path to creating impact at scale...the communication strategies that worked in the Green and Social era are no longer fit for purpose today.

In the same way that images of polar bears on floating icebergs are of a bygone era, Climate Tech companies that rely on outdated green and social narratives struggle to get funded, to attract partners, top talent, and to scale their impact.

In this new era, climate-positive companies need to build a brand that’s disruptive, unique, and goes beyond impact. For us in the branding space, it’s not that groundbreaking, but for climate entrepreneurs and investors, it can help shift a mindset that holds back growth.

#CTS: The London Climate Technology Show 2024 is pivotal for showcasing innovations driving the global shift to a net zero economy. How significant do you find events like this in promoting sustainability?

Joseph D. Simpson: I really hope that I can be there this year, but with a pregnant wife, I can’t make any guarantees! That being said, events like the London Technology Show 2024 are crucial for promoting sustainability due to their multifaceted impact on the industry and public perception.

Firstly, such events offer a platform for showcasing innovative sustainable technologies, capturing the interest of investors, partners, and other stakeholders. This attention can catalyse significant financial and institutional support for sustainable projects, as demonstrated by the rapid growth of the impact investment sector that aligns financial returns with sustainable practices.

What’s more, these events help shift the narrative from sustainability being a mere challenge to an immense opportunity. By highlighting success stories and framing sustainability as a profitable venture, events like the London Climate Technology Show can inspire a broader audience to recognize the potential for growth within the sustainability sector.