Sustainable branding

It’s often difficult to define sustainable branding. What exactly makes a brand sustainable? How long the brand has been around? How many consumers a brand can tout? How much of a profit a brand makes? Two West decided to examine those questions, and take a look at what some companies are currently doing to brand themselves for long-term success, especially in today’s economic environment.

We kicked off our show’s topic with an interview with Hayes Roth, Chief Marketing Officer at Landor Associates, a branding firm owned by WWP Group PLC. Be sure and tune in as Roth discusses iconic sustainable brands and sustainable business practices. Our discussion also delved into transformation design and the importance of the internal structure and culture of a company to the sustainability of the company.

There was a lot we didn’t get to on the show. We wanted to examine the recent success of companies that have exploited gas prices as a marketing tool to remain sustainable and relevant to consumers. McDonald’s and Aflac are just a couple companies with commercials that demonstrate this technique. Check out the recent Wall Street Journal article about this and to view the commercials.

We also hoped to discuss the longevity of the Spam brand, which after 71 years, and an increase of over 7% in price (making it more expensive per ounce than both ground beef and pork), has still managed to grow exponentially. Spam sales increased 10% over the past 12 weeks, and have been for seven straight quarters.