Episode 103: ‘Navigating Greenwashing and Green Claims - 4-Part Mini Series’, Part 4 - Adrian Ma, Founder, Fanclub PR

Can Marketing Save the Planet?

Agencies and green claims – Walking the talk or just talking?

In our final episode of our four part mini-series on navigating green claims and greenwashing we speak to Adrian Ma, founder of Fanclub PR, about the role of agencies in green claims and the rise of purpose-led marketing. Adrian shares his insights from working with impact-driven brands such as Who Gives a Crap, Music Magpie, SMOL and many more, and dives into the challenges agencies face in balancing creativity with compliance.

Adrian talks us through the journey Fanclub PR is on and notes the ‘purpose-led’ space is gaining a lot of traction, but with a big question mark over the authenticity and ‘trends’ many are jumping on. Adrian explains how at a recent roundtable event he attended, many introduced themselves as ‘purpose-led agencies’, in addition to that, Meta descriptions of 450 agencies revealed the number one trend was all related to … you guessed it… purpose. However, as Adrian states, “there's a huge, huge disconnect here when it comes to awareness of green claims, I think the awareness is low and the trend is that most agency people are led by the clients (which is fine), but agencies have a duty of care to their own staff to make sure that they know stuff.” At Fanclub PR Adrian and his team work closely with organisations such as Clean Creatives (two-time guests on the podcast - EP 24 and EP 67), and Creatives for Climate, with whom they have helped create an agency guide to greenwashing to support knowledge, education and awareness. (Linked below).

On greenwashing vs. greenhushing, Adrian believes, "good creative agencies should help brands be transparent, giving them the confidence to talk about what they’re doing”. We discuss the importance of good communication, something we are very passionate about at Can Marketing Save the Planet, given effective communication is critical to driving engagement and change, both internally and externally. Adrian agrees that communication cannot be underestimated as part of the green claims process, telling us “that process of interrogation is only going to make the work stronger”. As well as good communication we also touch on the future of marketing where Adrian is a firm believer in, "if brands stay consistent with their commitments year after year, they build communities, confidence, and leadership—that’s where real change happens."

Tune in as we talk to Adrian about:

• The need for agencies to educate their teams on greenwashing to ensure compliance and ethical, authentic storytelling.

• How transparency beats perfection and how brands should be sharing both successes and challenges to build trust.

• The disconnect between sustainability teams (focused on data) and agencies (focused on messaging) and the need for collaboration to bridge that gap.

• How consistency builds impact and creates deeper engagement than those jumping between campaigns.

• Why good communication is critical both internally and externally and the need to challenge will only make the work stronger.

For more information about Fanclub PR and the work they do… visit https://www.fanclubpr.com/

And here are some related links discussed in the podcast:

• Creatives for Climate Anti Greenwashing Guide for Agencies

• Big Brand Came and Stole My Purpose

• Video case study – Mount Recyclemore

• Video case study – Winnie The Pooh: Deforested Edition

  Across this mini-series you’ve heard some fantastic insights and we’ve provided plenty of signposts to training and resources. Don’t forget… if you’re looking to upskill your team with the green claims landscape - you can also check out our 3 hour Greenwashing 101 short training course via our Sustainable Marketing Training Hub.

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