Environmental claims are losing their authority. Greenwashing, efforts by corporations to falsely exaggerate positive environmental impact, is an ongoing phenomenon. 

This has made consumers more sceptical towards brands, with 7 out of 10 Brits not believing the environmental claims they see.  

Recent legislation from the ASA and CAP code also makes the repercussions of getting things wrong more damaging than ever.  

Panasonic, a multi-national corporation with sustainability at its core, enlisted Media Bounty to equip marketers across the business with the right skills to create engaging, truthful green claims, that don’t deceive the public and comply with new regulations.  

Challenges 

• Our training had to be relevant to employees from marketing, communications and other departments of Panasonic’s consumer electronics business, across their five key markets. 
• Panasonic products and services cover a wide range of sectors, industries, and categories, some of which  have a tougher job to create green impacts where business models and product developments must be newly thought through. While examples of existing green impacts are fewer, there is a higher risk of potential greenwash.  
• Employees need convincing of the importance of creating good green claims. 
• Regulations and the legal landscape are also still in an evolutionary stage while some countries have already established anti-greenwash legislation. 
• Difference in ecological consciousness across regions, putting high expectations onto Europe. 

Approach 

Disseminating complicated, and rapidly changing, legal regulations and making them eligible and relevant for marketers from all over the widely different markets and sectors of Panasonic was no easy feat.  

We decided to take a broad approach, which focused on the fundamentals of making claims, rather than finetuning on individual consumer product sectors and regional markets to ensure training was widely applicable across the consumer electronics business. 

Solution 

The training guide which we developed with the Panasonic Core team (Corp Comms, Sustainability & legal) was written in plain English to aid understanding, and used visually compelling tools. Real-life examples were used to help employees apply best practice. We worked with legal and sustainability experts from Panasonic, and Unitmode’s Seán Boyle, to ensure everything was precise as well as captivating. 

Our research into mainstream audiences also informed our advice on the fundamentals of claim making. Employees were taught to lead with how claims benefit the consumers everyday life, use clear and engaging language, and choose imagery that not only avoids greenwashing but helps Panasonic stand out. 

Finally, we took employees through the guide over an interactive Teams session, sealing the deal with previously worried internal stakeholders, and ensuring Panasonic were ready to speak confidently and with substantiation about sustainability.