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Sustainability has now been something more than just a buzzword, not only for brands and companies but for the masses as well. The consciousness can be tapped with how the newer generation have not just adapted and accepted but in fact made a way of life. Discussing the theme 'Policy perspective: Sustainable Strategies & Innovations' at the Storyboard18's Power of Purpose event on Friday, October 18, Samit Mitra, managing director, country delivery, India, Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), said, "I believe that the next generation are practicing what we wanted to do. They practice it on their own, be it by just taking a metro or avoiding crackers and colours in Diwali and Holi, but we feel that they need to do a bit more."

Storyboard18 and Network18 Group recently launched a prominent platform aimed at fostering vital discussions on sustainability and purpose-driven leadership. The inaugural event took place on October 18 in New Delhi, featuring a distinguished lineup of speakers. Notable attendees included Union minister Chirag Paswan, Sanjeev Bikhchandani co-founder and executive vice chairman of InfoEdge), Rohit Kapoor (CEO of Swiggy's Food Marketplace) and Saurabh Kumar (vice president, GEAPP). 

Speaking about ‘Viksit Bharat’, Jyoti Vij, the director general of industries body FICCI, said that three or four areas have been identified as crucial for the achievement of the goal of making India a developed economy by 2047. She explained that apart from sustainability, women-led development and the Make in India initiative are important. "A large number of companies have taken the pledge to become net zero by 2030 but there are policy gaps. For this, we need to focus on a few areas, understand why industries work towards achieving their mission and what is that policy constraint that we need to be removed to make that happen," Vij said.  

Hisham Mundol, chief advisor of Environmental Defense Fund India Foundation, highlighted that India has a power generation capacity of 195 GW but it is not fully consumed. "Over the next 10 years, we are going to double the size of our economy. There is a real risk that we end up doubling our necessities as well. So the government should start actively pushing for financial incentives for this," he said. He also pointed out that India spends 0.6 per cent of its GDP on research and development, which is lower than what most industrialised countries spend. "The US spends 3 percent, Israel spends 5 percent. There is a reason why most of the innovation comes from such countries. We have to find ways of developing technology and doing more research and development in India," he added.

Chandra Bhushan, CEO of International Forum for Environment, Sustainability & Technology, carried forward that argument: "To turn the system around in 25 years, it will mean disruption in the economy. The question is, are we prepared for this disruption and how will we manage it? So, instead of thinking about the things just as techno-economic problems, we should rather install more renewable energy, more energy efficiency. Systems change by wholesale planning for that system to change."

Industry leaders discuss India’s road ahead to become net zero by 2030 at Power of Purpose event

Despite being in the business of alco-bev, Diageo is disrupting the industry when it comes to integrating the purpose of sustainability into the core ethos of the brand and strategy, said Ruchira Jaitly, Chief Marketing Officer of Diageo at Storyboard18's Power of Purpose event.

Storyboard18 and Network18 Group together have launched the marquee platform designed to spotlight critical conversations on sustainability and purpose-driven leadership.

Power of Purpose: Sustainability Edition is a pivotal platform to foster dialogue on sustainability and highlight how today’s leaders are embedding purpose and environmental stewardship into their companies.

Addressing the audience, Jaitly said, "Sustainability by design and to remember that we are part of an ecosystem are the two strong pillars for us to be sustainable." 

She claimed the company's Johnny Walker Blue has the lightest bottle ever launched. 

While talking about premiumisation, Jaitly said that a purposeful brand drives better engagement irrespective of categories. 

"Walkers & Co is one such example as it celebrates individuals who are boundary pushers, who push for social impact while asserting their identity, who are working for collective progress," she added.

She talked about how the company is spreading the idea of inclusivity, and sustainability with its brand films. 

Jaitly also mentioned one of Diageo's brands called 'Godawan', whose name is inspired by the endangered bird species, 'The Great Indian Bustard'. The brand has its factory set up in the water-scarce region of Rajasthan. "The distillery is in Alwar but we have done it in a way that we conserve water. In fact, we won the only award in Asia for this distillery in Rajasthan," she pointed out. About 98 percent of the energy at the Alwar distillery is renewable, Jaitly added.

Having a very inspiring purpose that the company aligns with is another way how one can implement the idea of sustainability into the business, she said.

Held on October 18, in New Delhi, the event was graced by the presence of Union Minister Chirag Paswan, Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Co-founder & Executive Vice Chairman, InfoEdge; Rohit Kapoor, CEO - Food Marketplace, Swiggy; Saurabh Kumar, VP- India, Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet; Jyoti Vij, Director General, FICCI; Hisham Mundol, Chief Advisor, Environmental Defense Fund India; Chandra Bhushan, CEO, iFOREST; Ramnath Vaidyanthan, AVP & Head Of Sustainability, Godrej Industries; Alok Lall, COO, Microsoft India and South Asia; Angelo George, CEO, Bisleri International; Ridhima Pandey, 16-year-old climate activist; Prof Chetan Solanki, Professor, IIT Bombay and 'Solar Man of India'.


Sustainability by design is a strong pillar for Diageo, says Ruchira Jaitly

Greenply Industries has launched the Green-Rise initiative under its eco restoration and plantation drive at its Tizit facility in Nagaland, aiming to contribute positively to the environment while fostering self-reliance within communities. Under this project, a plantation of a sapling is being done in the name of an architect associated with the wood panel industry. 

The plantation project signifies the company's commitment to sustainable practices, particularly by embracing the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) forest management model. It is noteworthy to mention here that Greenply has attained the FSC® – FM (Forest Management) Certification from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®) for its sustainable plantation unit located in Tizit, Nagaland and it is the first company to have successfully achieved the certification in the interior infrastructure segment in India. This certification provides an assurance to consumers that the products they are buying come from a responsible/sustainable source and protects the rights of indigenous people to use the forest and helps to combat deforestation, forest degradation and illegal logging in certified areas.

The Green Rise  project's opening phase involved planting over 780 saplings in honour of architects from Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu. Later, architects from Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Madhya Pradesh and across India will be similarly honored. Each tree planted under this scheme is labeled with a barcode containing pertinent information such as the architect's name, address, plantation date and time, tree species, and contact number. These trees will mature over 7 to 8 years, and upon harvesting, proceeds will be bestowed to charitable organizations or schools in the architects' names.

At present, Greenply's cumulative plantation across pan India is across 52,983 acres of land, utilized for this mission with over 41.57 million saplings covering the area. It is the company’s aim to plant 50 million saplings by 2025. Towards executing the initiative, Greenply has collaborated with the State government, and local communities and has achieved enthusiastic participation of the locals. 




Greenply Industries launches Green-Rise initiative under its eco restoration and plantation drive in Nagaland

Rohit Sharma and Sunil Gupta on Adidas and sustainability

Sudhir Sitapati joined Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) as managing director and CEO last year, just as the world had begun to open up in a post-pandemic era. In a candid interview with Storyboard18, Sitapati tells us how he articulated his vision for GCPL back then and his approach towards marketing and brand building. Sitapati also shares how Godrej is democratizing categories and the secret to building enduring brands. 

Edited excerpts. 

<strong>You joined the company in year two of a life-changing pandemic. How did you articulate your vision for GCPL at the time? </strong>

I think the vision that I articulated for GCPL was based on what I found Godrej to be good at and what I found it to be not so good at. 

<blockquote>I found GCPL to be a very innovative company. I found it to be a frugal company. I, however, found it to be relatively poor in terms of category development or market development. And I found it to be more complex than necessary for a company of its size.</blockquote>

 So what we basically said is that we need to grow this company at close to double digit volumes, right? That's what the potential of this company is. We said that strategy is market development and we will release the funds for market development by radically simplifying the organization. So that was the basic vision that I laid out to the company which is to focus on developing categories.

<strong>One of your key strategies is the democratization of categories through innovation and accessibility. Can you elaborate on that and is the launch of a ready-to-mix body wash a part of the plan to democratize categories? </strong>

<blockquote>The DNA of GCPL in terms of frugality and innovation is geared towards democratization and not premiumization.</blockquote>

 Strategy is about making choices and the first big choice is really about democratization. It has to do with getting access packs. Now, if you take body wash as a category, we’re the number two player in India in the soaps category or the skin cleansing category. It is one of those categories that is very underdeveloped. In many other parts of the world it's a very large category. And our thesis for underdevelopment was that the category's pricing is not accessible. So this was certainly one of the levers for launching Godrej Magic body wash

<strong>What were the other levers? And will we see more of these launches and incentives for consumers coming up?</strong>

The big sort of parallel track for some time has really been our commitment to sustainability and ESG. GCPL is not the largest company in India, but it's always a top five in terms of sustainability and takes it very seriously. Reduction of plastics has been a big drive within GCPL and this innovation has the intersection of making body wash more accessible and by reducing plastic and energy footprint. They're not two independent things. I think that's the really interesting thing about this product, which is that it's not ecological and economical. It is ecological because it is economical. Because you remove plastic, because you remove the diesel that it takes to carry bottles of body wash into shops from factories, we've been able to get the economy right. I think in both these dimensions we will continue working because if we're about democratization, we've got to bring categories at the right price to consumers and we have a deep commitment to sustainability. So we're going to try and do this in a way that minimizes the footprint to the environment.

<strong>What are some of your key focus areas in terms of categories and markets? </strong>

GCPL is blessed to have three of our markets account for about 80 percent of our revenues, which is India, by far the largest market, Nigeria and Indonesia. We've actually got a very large global footprint or almost half our business is outside India and this is not from Indian exports. They're all independent businesses in those countries. These three are really the focus countries. The three categories that are the core of our business are household insecticide, hair colour and aircare. Hygiene is the emerging one that has a lot of potential which is where Magic body wash is. So this is a 3+1 - three is where we are today, and +1 is what we're trying to do with Magic body wash.

<strong>Let’s dial back to the point about sustainability. So sustainability is a bit of a buzzword these days at all major organizations. But we also know that sustainability is an essential operating principle for any organization striving for financial success. How are you driving the sustainability agenda at GCPL and what are the challenges to putting some of the strategies and philosophies in action? </strong>

GCPL along with a lot of companies has focused a lot on sustainability in its own operations. So, for instance, 30 percent of the energy we use is renewable. We've cut our emissions by 50 percent in the last decade. All our factories have targets on water usage. We don't send anything to the landfill. One of the targets for every factory manager is the environment friendliness of the operations. Now, what we're trying to do with Magic body wash is to move one step forward. Our own operating footprint is a fraction of the footprint of our consumers, and what consumers use with our products. That's where the real big impact can be. 

So that is a big jump that GCPL is making and I certainly think Magic body wash is a unique product anywhere in the world because I've seen it, we've studied a lot of countries and products. We haven't seen a super concentrated product anywhere in the world at this kind of discount. We've seen green products at a premium where you make consumers pay a premium for being green conscious. But we haven't seen a green discount. The handwash which we launched a few years ago was a good proof of principle. But I think 

<blockquote>if we can contribute to the idea of having a green discount, and sell cheaper products which are green, I think it would be a really big step in sustainability.</blockquote>

<strong>
Are Indian consumers ready for that? </strong>

I think so. Indian consumers are both environmentally friendly and very conscious on the economy. I mean, I remember that my grandmother used to hang milk packets in her washing line. She would wash them, dry them and reuse them anytime somebody had to go out or to give something. So it was both environmentally friendly and economical. She needn't have done it. So I think it's very ingrained. Probably one of the reasons why Magic hand wash has worked in India is because consumers are both.  

I think this can be a contribution because I know there's a lot of conversation going on in countries like the US on super concentration. I saw Target having products that were at a green premium. But dollar stores don't have green products. So this disrupts their whole thinking and says get to the belly of the market or, in fact, the bottom of the pyramid with green products.

<strong>
What do you think is the secret to building future-ready homegrown brands and businesses that are built to last? What are the lessons younger Indian companies and brands can take away from legacy organizations like GCPL? </strong>

I think all companies that succeed, young or old, definitely have consumer focus and are, you know, solving unmet consumer needs. I don't think young companies have that much to learn from the older companies on that front because I think they do it very well. Older companies that have lasted for a long period like Godrej have value systems and commitment to the environment is an example of a value system that sometimes transcends profits and, in the long run, it pays off. So companies that last a long time almost always have very strong value systems ingrained in them. Second, you have to have a manic focus on cash and you have to pay for whatever you do. Your own investments have to be paid from your own pocket, in general, I would say. 

Get to the bottom of the pyramid with green products: Sudhir Sitapati

Layer’r Shot, the deodorant brand from Adjavis Venture Limited, has been pulled up after a user on micro-blogging platform Twitter called out its latest campaign for being sexist, questionable and disrespectful towards women.

"There have to be some regulations for ads man. That Shot deo ad is nothing short of disgusting actually. Even though I knew it was an ad and it wouldn't happen. The fear for a second I felt was real. Imagine making an ad on the fears of millions of women! WTF!," the user wrote.

Can't find the ad online but here it is, apparently being played during the match. I didn't see it till @hitchwriter showed it to me

Who are the people making these ads really?

— Permanently Exhausted Pigeon (@monikamanchanda) June 3, 2022
"Can't find the ad online but here it is, apparently being played during the match. I didn't see it till @hitchwriter showed it to me Who are the people making these ads really?," the user added.

The 30-second feature features a bunch of teenagers walking into a room where a young couple was there. They make suggestive remarks which imply scoring sexual favours from the woman in question.

The ad has opened a can of worms as users on Twitter started posting about the other ads done by the brand previously as well.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">One more <a href="https://t.co/6oYQkv49QN">https://t.co/6oYQkv49QN</a></p>
— Ris...? (@RishitaPrusty_) <a href="https://twitter.com/RishitaPrusty_/status/1532633304737796097?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 3, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

One of the users also called the company's founder Devendra N Patel for approving such objectionable ads.

"Found it horribly wrong and uneasy to watch. It’s sickening, actually. There are more in the series. @ascionline please intervene," tweeted another user.

The advertising regulator promptly took to Twitter to respond to the request and stated, "Thank you for tagging us. The ad is in serious breach of the ASCI Code and is against public interest. We have taken immediate action and notified the advertiser to suspend the ad, pending investigation."

Speaking to Storyboard18, Manisha Kapoor, CEO &amp; secretary general, ASCI said that this ad has been processed under suspended pending investigation. (SPI).

"This is used in exceptional circumstances, when it appears prima facie that an advertisement is in serious breach of the ASCI Code and its continued transmission on/through/by any medium causes or has the effect of causing public harm and/or injury or its continuation is against public interest. ASCI has, pending investigation, forthwith directed the advertiser/the advertising agency/the media buying agency and the media concerned to suspend the advertisement. The advertiser has already been written to asking for immediate suspension of the said ad," she noted.

Often synonymous with sexist advertising, male grooming category, dominated by deodorants, has been accused of creating highly sexist, objectionable and stereotypical advertising.

Brands such as Wild Stone, Addiction Deo, Set Wet Zatak (Paras Pharma), Denver Deo and Axe (Unilever) commercials have been called out for being sexist.

The I&amp;B Ministry has also taken cognizance of such advertising and asked the regulator to intervene.

Over the years, the deo brands have started taking baby steps away from their sexist ad legacies, to talk about equality and respect. Axe, which has once relied heavily on ads which showed how Axe made men wildly popular among women, is changing the way it pushes the brand to consumers, adding a larger purpose.

However, there have been occasional bad apples who continue to stick to sexist titillating advertising. Stuck perhaps in old industry beliefs like "sex sells".

An earlier version of this story attributed the ad to Triton Communications. Triton Communications did not make this ad, and the copy has been edited to reflect this. We regret the error.

SUSTAINABILITY