Organic brands should “stop ego marketing” and prioritise communicating the benefits of their products. And unless the sector flips the dominant ‘aren’t we great’ marketing message to an ‘aren’t you great’ one, it will stay stuck at 2% market share”. 

That was the uncompromising message delivered to a packed Soil Association Trade Conference last week by the entrepreneur and sustainability expert Solitaire Townsend. 

Townsend says that “selling sustainability” should be more about telling compelling stories, and less about reeling off statistics and facts. “We’ve got them coming out of our ears – statistics on climate change, on biodiversity loss, this percentage, that percentage, this impact measure – and we often forget that no-one gives a damn.”

Who gives a damn?
But do consumers really not give a damn? Townsend believes that deep down they do. She rejects the so-called value-action gap (the difference between what people say about making sustainable choices and what they actually do), because it loads the responsibility onto the consumer and creates “this unpleasant view that people are lying about their values and don’t believe what they are saying”. The real problem, she says, are the “barriers that stand in the way of people living their values”.

These barriers are multiple, ranging from availability (can I find it?), price (can I afford it?) and trust (do I believe you?); to shame (is it embarrassing?), social acceptance (is it normal?), desire and fatalism (have I given up?). Drilling down, Townsend said: “I might ask, is it embarrassing to buy organic for people like me (I grew up on a council estate)? Will I get eyed up by the person at the checkout – as if to say, you don’t look like the sort of person who buys organic? Will I get found out, will I get questioned? Will somebody wonder whether this is something I should be part of, if I buy organic? Will my husband be angry with me because I spent too much money? These are very deep, important barriers that we don’t think about.”

It’s clear to Townsend that the purpose-based marketing traditionally favoured by many organic and sustainable brands is not the solution. “We’ve got to stop ego marketing. Those ads with the uplifting music, beautiful cinematography and incredible production values – they make you want to cry, but they don’t make you want to buy. We really need to get out of our little bubble of talking about us, our purpose, what we stand for.

“…people can smell that odour of sanctity, that odour of self-righteousness. They can smell the fact that we are criticising them”

“We’ve been too busy for too long telling consumers they can be better people by sharing our vision of the world. But people can smell that odour of sanctity, that odour of self-righteousness. They can smell the fact that we are criticising them. 

It’s the benefits, stupid
“But there is one thing that smashes through all of the barriers I’ve been talking about. And that is benefit.”

Townsend groups benefits under three main headings – functional, emotional and social. She says that functional benefits – things like health, value for money, quality, efficacy and convenience – should be “front and centre of your campaigns”. But it’s also important to communicate emotional and social benefits too, she says. “Talking about emotional benefits is where you are inviting the question, is this going to give me more pleasure? Is it comforting for me? Do I get a sense of self-worth? What you are saying to consumers is what an incredible customer you are, what a great hero you are. Looking at messaging by this sector, what I see is a lot of self-heroing going on. So, let’s be clear, you are not the hero.”

When brands convey social benefits they remind consumers that they are part of a bigger more virtuous community. But this, says Townsend, is also where brands should be directly addressing the question of status. “When you convey a product’s status, you are telling people they are smarter than the average – that they’re a winner. 

Status anxiety
“Status is a huge driver particularly in what is an increasingly a very status -driven social media arena. People in this sector will ask, wouldn’t it be better if we weren’t such a status-driven society? Wouldn’t it be better if you weren’t obsessed with the Kardashians and keeping up with the Joneses, and more  community minded instead? Well, yes, but we’re really fucking not! We’re a bunch of great apes. We’re status obsessed, we always were and we always will be. It is just part of what we are. I don’t like it when brands greenwash – but we really should be enabling consumers to virtue signal what they’re doing with organic and show off why they’re using organic.”

“I don’t like it when brands greenwash – but we really should be enabling consumers to virtue signal what they’re doing with organic and show off why they’re using organic”

Townsend believes organic brands are making a mistake when they present ‘organic’ as the benefit. “It’s as if you think that people already know what the functional, emotional and social benefits of your products are”. As that’s the reason we’re at 2% market share in the UK, and not the 12% of Sweden. It’s because we haven’t sold the benefits of organic.”