Day Two of the IAA World Congress saw a forceful call to action to businesses and brands in saving the planet and being a force for good from some big names in the consumer goods business.
Former Unilever CEO Paul Polman, President of the ICC, and Vice-chair of the UN Global Compact, poetic and forceful in part, said that it was more important than ever for businesses and brands to have a purpose and be a beacon for society. Speaking at the IAA World Congress, Polman said businesses need to move from CSR to RSC, which he described as 'responsible social corporation'.
Continuing the theme, Mark Pritchard, CMO of P&G said “What if brands could be both a force for good and a force for growth?” The bigger challenge, he said, is taking action. “ It’s one thing to talk about purpose, duty and goodness, but it’s quite another thing to truly live by a Brand Dharma,” he said.
Polman said businesses have a few urgent challenges to address. Industry needs to 'decarbonise' itself and reduce its carbon footprint. "We need to be less of carbon junkies; companies with a lower carbon footprint are better performers financially," he said. Secondly, companies have to free themselves from the tyranny of the quarter and take a longer term view; companies which took a long view were more profitable. Businesses need to move towards a circular economy as "waste was created by us and we can talk ourselves out of waste as well." Citing the example of plastics, he said 86 per cent of value of plastic was lost after one use. Lastly, Polman said businesses need to look at inclusive growth as all the value creation has been in the capital market while the labour market sees little of it.
Polman quoted Charles Dickens to reflect the times. While it was the spring of hope, it was also the winter of despair. Businesses have created enormous wealth and people are leading longer and healthier lives. At the same time there were worrying statistics about the growing inequality between the rich and the poor. He said businesses are missing the plot as consumers are saying something while industry is interpreting something else. "Consumers don't trust us by what we say, but what we do," he said, emphasising that businesses should put purpose before profit.
Pritchard, who also touched upon climate change worries, said that each one of P&G’s companies was taking positive individual action for equality, sustainability and technology. “We are starting to work together through important alliances for collective action. These alliances create collective accountability to do good for the world and to drive growth, he said.