Can Marketing Save the Planet?

In this episode of Can Marketing Save the Planet, we were joined by Charlotte Curl marketing consultant and Founder of No Crap Parties, a movement on a mission to shift the culture of children's parties away from wasteful plastic crap, towards more thoughtful, sustainable gifting. As happens to so many mums entering the ‘party time era’, Charlotte found herself surrounded by piles of party bag junk and endless gifts, she explains, "It seems like nobody likes this status quo of party bags and piles of presents, but they just go along with it."A survey then confirmed her hunch that parents do in fact, hate the clutter, the cost, the waste, and the overwhelm, but social pressure and fear of disappointing their children and others, keeps them trapped in the cycle. ‘The Kids Party Pact’ was born from this insight. A simple agreement between parents to give gift guidance on invitations, give more sustainable gifts, and rethink party bags. The campaign grew organically through Instagram, but really broke out when Charlotte secured a feature in ‘Positive News’, followed by a piece in The Saturday Times. She shared, "As soon as I had that, suddenly I looked credible. I wasn't just this random mum on Instagram."Today, over 25,000 people are part of the movement. A key pillar of the campaign is showing people that alternatives do exist and that sustainable parties can be fun, easy, and affordable. "I think often the eco alternative is seen as expensive. People expect that it's going to be more expensive."Charlotte provides tools and resources such as invitation templates, wording for gift guidance and real-life examples by way of supporting the removal of friction from making a change. She also successfully secured funding from the National Lottery, which will see the launch of, ‘The Big Toy Swap’ taking place November 2026. A national toy swap month with the goal of having over 50 swaps happening across the country. The goal is she explains is, “to have over 50 swaps happening across the country, led by people in their own communities, but supported by us...giving their communities an opportunity to come and get their gifts for free and be proud of giving secondhand gifts this Christmas and beyond."It's a powerful way to bring people together, tackle the cost of living crisis, and normalise secondhand gifting, so be sure to look out for that in November. Charlotte also talks about her children's book, and the binding failure that became an opportunity for creativity, and crisis management. Tune in as we talk to Charlotte about: How a survey of parents confirmed that the status quo of party bags and piles of presents is universally disliked. The power of the pact: why knowing you're not alone makes it easier to break social norms. The importance of showing real alternatives, not just telling people. The Big Toy Swap this November: how you can host or find a swap near you and get free Christmas gifts for your kids. Why Marketers must move beyond awareness to action: removing barriers, giving people the tools, and constantly reminding them of the alternative. And check out all these links as outlined in the podcast: Charlotte’s Children’s Book - Elf Chloe’s Surprise - https://charlottecurl.com/elf-chloes-surprise/ Sign the Kids Party Pact - https://nocrapparties.org/ Join in with The Big Toy Swap - https://nocrapparties.org/thebigtoyswap/ No Crap Parties on Instagram for inspo and ideas - https://www.instagram.com/no.crap.parties/ Connect with Charlotte via LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlottecurl/ Enjoy… With love Michelle & Gemma ________________________________________________________________________ About us… We help Marketers save the planet. 🌍 Join the Marketers and organisations who have signed our manifesto, engage with our newsletter and training and, work with us to communicate sustainability more effectively. Sign our Sustainable Marketer Manifesto, and join us on our mission. Get in touch to chat. You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together. Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

In this episode of Can Marketing Save the Planet, we are joined by Helena Mansell-Stopher, CEO of Products of Change (POC). POC, is a brilliant and active membership organisation working with over 1,400 people across brands, manufacturers, and retailers to come together and drive environmental and social change. This part of Helena's journey started at National Geographic, where she had the idea and insight to start connecting incubator brands doing things differently with retail distribution, while also helping larger brands learn from them. What started as a think tank six years ago has now become a movement with international reach. "Education is the biggest barrier, people in industry are problem solvers. If they know what problem they need to solve and why, they'll get on and find a solution." A key focus of Products of Change is shifting the language of sustainability from moral obligation to smart business. "We've got to start using more business language. It's how you're reducing your impact, reducing the cost of that, mitigating taxes, reducing risk because you're enabling your supply chains to be more robust." Helena shares the example of, UK Greetings who have been on a 6 year journey. They removed glitter and single-use plastic from their cards, and brought back a lot of their production to the UK, and as a result, have seen double-digit growth, retained staff, and unlocked creativity through paper engineering. We delve into POC’s initiatives such as ‘Recycle to Read’, a programme Helena explains, "showcases that our waste has a value." ‘Recycle to Read’ enables children to swap or recycle toys, earning Planet Care points that translate into free books for their school through a Harper Collins partnership. They collected 15 tons of hard plastic toys last year in a small Tesco trial (now rolled out to 160 stores), with no PR. It’s a programme which is building the blueprint for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in toys. Helena talks about the POC Conference held annually, where the industry gathers to share innovations from brands such as Lego, Disney, Universal Music Groups and Primark. She also shares the work they do on ‘The Partner Maturity Index’, which was built with investment from Netflix and Paramount. The Index further accelerates progress by allowing manufacturers to fill in their sustainability data once and share it with all the brands they work with, reducing duplication whilst also benchmarking industry maturity. This is a really great listen! Tune in as we talk to Helena about: How Products of Change grew from a think tank to a global membership organisation. Why sustainability conversations must be framed as business resilience, risk mitigation, and cost reduction. How working as an industry can make change happen faster. Recycle to Read – getting value from waste. Why honesty in marketing is so important and how the language needs to change. Find out more visit https://www.productsofchange.com/ For The Partner Maturity Index see here Details of the 2026 POC Sustainability Conference Enjoy… With love Michelle & Gemma ________________________________________________________________________ About us… We help Marketers save the planet. 🌍 Join the Marketers and organisations who have signed our manifesto, engage with our newsletter and training and, work with us to communicate sustainability more effectively. Sign our Sustainable Marketer Manifesto, and join us on our mission. Get in touch to chat. You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together. Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

In this episode of Can Marketing Save the Planet, Michelle is joined by Amy Williams, Founder and CEO of Good-Loop, a platform that sits at the intersection of brand purpose, media performance, and social impact, proving that doing good can also deliver exceptional business results. Almost a decade ago, Amy had a very a specific goal which was, to bring ideas of brand purpose and business responsibility into media. She saw a gap between well designed presentations about purpose and the practical tools brands needed to execute, measure, and quantify it. As she explains, "If you don't articulate the business value of social impact or responsible business, then it won't last." Good-Loop is all about ad experiences that convert attention into donations. Every impression and every eyeball generates funding for non profits which in turn create a genuine value exchange that leaves consumers feeling positive, and brands seeing great results. The proof is in the performance, and Amy shares an example of a yogurt brand targeting parents who saw their YouTube completion rate jump from 33% to 78% when Good-Loop connected them with a non-profit focused on building playgrounds. "On a cost per view basis, the donation more than pays for itself," she says. Amy argues that, “this is values alignment in action, and values alignment is the business case for good, driving loyalty and long-term customer value.” Amy is refreshingly honest about the current landscape and agrees that many brands have retreated in response to political and cultural shifts. However, she sees this as a clarifying moment, "values aren't values until they cost you something. And right now they cost you something. So we can see amazing brands step up at a time where there's more space and attention to do so because there's less noise and less fakers.” Looking ahead, Good-Loop is focused on quantifying the ROI of good, and making media sustainability practical through tools like their new IPA-partnered carbon calculator. Amy's advice to marketers is to look outside their bubble, because there is so much opportunity to learn. Tune in as Michelle talks to Amy about: Why the business case for good is values alignment. How the current cultural shift is revealing which brands' commitments are genuine. Practical, actionable steps any marketer can take today. The power of bringing non profits into the conversation as the authentic experts. Why Good-Loop's theory of change is helping huge organisations move "one percent in the right direction”. Loved this conversation - so many useful insights and learnings. Thank you Amy. For more info about Good-Loop and their Good Engagement platform and Good Measures technology - visit https://good-loop.com/ With love Michelle & Gemma ________________________________________________________________________ About us… We help Marketers save the planet. 🌍 Join the Marketers and organisations who have signed our manifesto, engage with our newsletter and training and, work with us to communicate sustainability more effectively. Sign our Sustainable Marketer Manifesto, and join us on our mission. Get in touch to chat. You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together. Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

In this episode of Can Marketing Save the Planet, we are joined by Neil Callanan, founder of Loose Grip, a performance, analytics, and insights agency who work with values-led brands to bridge the gap between their activism and their commercial goals. Over the last three to four years, Loose Grip has specialised in helping brands understand how their purpose impacts both their business performance and their people-and-planet objectives. Neil shares, ”I feel like a lot of values-based brands almost look down on measuring their impact in the same way that they would measure the profits or how many things they've sold. There's a tendency to keep things separate." Separation, Neil argues, is a mistake. The two aren't mutually exclusive, they're symbiotic. "When the data is there, you can actually find pretty symbiotic relationships. Consumers, especially younger consumers, make buying decisions based on wanting to feel good about the companies where they're putting their money."  Neil feels that many brands lack the ammunition to tell that story internally, to the board, or to shareholders, to help solve this, Neil and his team developed the GRASP Framework, a process designed to help brands define clear objectives for every piece of content, then measure what actually matters. The framework typically distils objectives into two or three buckets: Discover(maximising reach) Engage(depth of connection) Convert(driving a specific action - a purchase, a petition signature, or a donation). By bringing teams together to collaboratively define and prioritise metrics, Loose Grip builds buy-in and protects against the lure of, "glamour metrics that look good but don't drive insight." Neil talks about how he sees huge potential in AI for retroactive analysis. Instead of waiting six months for data, brands can now train AI agents to analyse five years of content, identifying patterns in what worked, whether that's post length, format, timing, or language landed, this means they can start every new campaign armed with proven insights. Tune in as we talk to Neil about: Why purpose-driven brands often shy away from measurement. The GRASP Framework: moving from objectives to action by defining discover, engage, and conversion metrics. The power of creative measurement to value sustainability impact alongside commercial metrics. Using AI to enrich historical data and give campaigns a proven starting point. How to ensure your activism is authentic and not just reactive cringe. During the conversation Neil mentions some links and case studies - you’ll find these below: The Grasp Your Impact Framework - https://graspyourimpact.com/ The Grasp Your Impact Podcast - for more case studies - https://graspyourimpact.com/podcast/ Case study from Ben & Jerry’s - Ben & Jerry's! https://open.spotify.com/show/3jDmbKd1Vgi8ofkSoUrv1n?si=644e10c4bf474a67&nd=1&dlsi=5d2079301ca64c1d With love Michelle & Gemma ________________________________________________________________________ About us… We help Marketers save the planet. 🌍 Join the Marketers and organisations who have signed our manifesto, engage with our newsletter and training and, work with us to communicate sustainability more effectively. Sign our Sustainable Marketer Manifesto, and join us on our mission. Get in touch to chat. You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together. Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.

In this episode of Can Marketing Save the Planet, we are joined by John Marshall, CEO and Founder of Potential Energy, a coalition dedicated to changing the way we talk about climate change by finding messages that transcend division and actually move people to take action. John's journey into climate communications came from a place of frustration around how public concern wasn't translating into action. He realised the issue wasn't a lack of information, more a lack of connection, "we don't really have so much of a division issue in the US, we have more of a distribution issue. People aren't getting the message, but when you do the message well, everybody moves." John put their insights to test with a Super Bowl ad for Science Moms which delivered 14-to-one positive sentiment, and was ranked a top 10 Super Bowl ad by the New York Times, and importantly grew more support among conservatives than progressives. Why? "It was a story about a mom and her kids. If you twist it 90 degrees and find universal values that everybody cares about, then you can actually get universal appeal." Potential Energy's whole approach is about stripping away the technocratic language and telling human stories. Comedy works. Animals work. Children work. Their “Protect what we Love” campaign in the UK proved that framing climate action around protecting the things we hold dear, cuts through where data alone fails. John also challenges the instinct to lead with sacrifice, "sacrifice messaging connotes in people's brains that costs will go up. We need to talk about abundance and more energy.” This reframing around economic benefit, energy security, and patriotism opens doors that guilt-based messaging closes. For marketers feeling the fear of speaking up, John's advice is simple and direct,"don't be afraid to talk about it. It's not a bad word. It's not going to hurt you. Be real, be authentic, but it's on your consumers' minds. Be courageous." Tune in as we talk to John about: The Super Bowl ad and what that tells us about universal messaging. The failure of technocratic language and the power of human stories. How to make climate communication resonate. Moving from sacrifice messaging to abundance messaging. Why talking about more, not less of everything, is a more effective. The "distribution issue" and how to create content interesting enough to earn its own distribution through cultural carriers. Practical advice from a decade of message testing And why “protect what we love” always, always works. For more information and insights visit: Potential Energy Coalition website: https://potentialenergycoalition.org/ And sign up for regular updates via their newsletter: Potential Energy Coalition's That's Interesting Newsletter: https://potentialenergycoalition.org/newsletter/ Enjoy… and as ever, do let us know what lands for you. With love Michelle & Gemma ________________________________________________________________________ About us… We help Marketers save the planet. 🌍 Join the Marketers and organisations who have signed our manifesto, engage with our newsletter and training and, work with us to communicate sustainability more effectively. Sign our Sustainable Marketer Manifesto, and join us on our mission. Get in touch to chat. You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and also on The Global Player. If you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together. Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.