The Feed
You've set the targets. Built the programs. Made real progress. Now you want to make it matter to the customers who buy from you, the partners who back you, and the markets you're trying to move. But there is internal resistance. This article covers how to build your case.
Your purpose message is dismissed as too risky to go anywhere near your brand's commercial message.
"Our customers don't want to be judged."
"They don't want to feel guilty."
"They just want to buy the product; they don't care about all this."
These are reasonable-sounding cautions, that come from teams that are judged on hard numbers. Your challenge as a sustainability or purpose leader is to both inspire these gatekeepers about the opportunity, and to reassure them about how the risk gets managed.
In this article, we'll talk about how.
In 2025’s Global Meaningful Brands report, consumers said that they wouldn't care if 78% of the brands featured in the study disappeared tomorrow, a figure up 5% year on year. Most brands are not disliked. They are "unmissed".
This indifference is a potentially expensive condition. It exposes a fickle relationship and emphasizes the importance of a deeper, more emotional connection with audiences. Purpose, done properly, is one way to build this.
Kantar and Ad Net Zero have tracked nearly 16,000 ads worldwide and found that just 4.5% feature any sustainable behaviors, a figure that is falling. In the US, it sits at 3.8%, down from 5.3% in mid-2025. The conclusion is that this constraint is self-imposed by brands rather than a reaction to consumer readiness. Also, a NYU Stern and Circana study found that since 2013, products marketed as sustainable have delivered 44.9% of all growth in US consumer packaged goods, from just a quarter of branded shelf space. Together, these two studies show us that gatekeepers are driving down purpose messaging, and that there is a proven commercial opportunity that is being left on the table.
Sustainability is where purpose has been measured rigorously, so most of the evidence here comes from there. But the observation holds for health, inclusion, livelihoods, or community. What your brand stands for either earns trust and loyalty, or it doesn't.
"Most brands are not disliked. They are unmissed."
It starts with your internal culture. Gartenberg, Prat, and Serafeim built a measure of corporate purpose from around 500,000 employee survey responses across US firms, then tested it against financial performance. Purpose on its own showed no relationship at all. Purpose combined with clarity predicted stronger future accounting and stock market performance. Clarity is the key active ingredient here. Without it, everything else is moot. Be clear and concise about what you are recommending, why, and what benefit it provides before asking for anything.
Brand differentiation. Kantar puts sustainability perceptions alone at up to 10% of the equity of the BrandZ Global Top 100. In a market where most brands wouldn't be missed, a credible position on what you stand for is one of the few authentic sources of distinctiveness still available.
Commercial growth. Sustainability-marketed products grew 4.9 times faster than conventional ones over five years, and carry a price premium closer to 27%. In B2B, more than 80% of buyers paid a premium on their most recent sustainable purchase, and half already give more business to their more sustainable suppliers.
Association with a positive impact. This is the argument only you can make. Behavior change happens at a commercial scale, or it stalls. A message confined to an impact report can't move a market. But a message with a product or in an aisle can.
Credibility that builds trust. 57% say they have seen, or heard, false or misleading information about sustainable actions taken by brands. This results in consumer suspicion. Proof must travel with your product, or it won't travel at all. LLMs will read your claims AND your criticism before handing a summary to someone who'll never visit your impact page. This matters because trust is now as much of a purchase consideration as quality and price.
"Customers don't want to be judged." True. Purpose messaging that leans on guilt and shame produces anxiety and reduced enjoyment, which is the opposite of what a brand campaign is for. The answer isn't to hide the work. It's to sell desire rather than duty. This is something that a good creative team can easily achieve. So when offering proof, show how you intend to both inspire and influence behaviors. A request without a solution places the emphasis and work on the gatekeepers you need to influence.
"They just want to buy the product." Also true. Your customers aren't campaigning. They're choosing. 44% of people name inconsistent brand practices as a top barrier to shopping sustainably, ahead of price at 42%. Therefore, consistency is an opportunity. Markets see disconnected messaging as a purchase barrier. Brand unity is what you are offering.
"It'll cost us effectiveness." This one is testable. Across 16,000 ads, the ones carrying sustainable behaviors performed in line with everything else on short and long-term brand measures, while scoring higher on distinctiveness and emotional engagement. There's no effectiveness penalty. Boldness is rewarded. Ads pairing a visible behavior with an explicit environmental message sit 16 percentile points above ads with neither on brand equity, and 23 points above on distinctiveness.
"OK, but don't people care less now?" It's a fair point. Kantar's Sustainability Sector Index 2026 puts environmental concern down year on year and behind wars and conflict. Similar studies show the same slide, from 90% of consumers being highly concerned in 2023 to 79% in 2025. But these consumers are still a majority. Also, the regularity, quality, and framing of the messages consumers receive have all declined over the same period. Consumers don't want to be instructed. They need to be shown why a purpose message is relevant to the purchase decision they are looking to make, so they can be inspired and make up their own minds.
view disconnected messaging as a barrier to purchase
Brand gatekeepers and CMOs are understandably protective. A brand message is architected, and every addition has to work with rather than dilute what is already there. So the key is to lead with relevance and benefit rather than just to make a request.
These leaders are generally tasked with growth rather than Impact progress. What they need from you as a purpose or sustainability leader is a growth case for your message, with stron evidence inside it. Build it for them, and help make it compelling as they seek budgetary approval.
“Don’t just ask for space. Offer proof.”
If you want to make an impact, or broaden the reach of your purpose or sustainability message, HOWL is here to help with strategies and creative ideas designed to work with established brands, rather than in parallel or in a silo. We can help you sell this internally or externally. It is what we were built to do.
So if you have made progress but you are struggling with brand access, come and talk to us.
Paul Newton is an EVP and leads integrated strategy for both HOWL and Antenna Group, delivering on the agency's mission to promote sustainability, purpose, and impact. In his role, he manages a diverse team of creatives, technologists, and project managers to deliver innovative brand and campaign solutions that help clients inspire positive environmental or societal impact, and reach their commercial potential. He also leads the agency's innovation and IP and is the architect of both THE READ and the Conscious Compass, a 360 brand diagnostic.
