Sustainability Summit 2020

10.30 Welcome and opening comments from the Chair

Jem Fawcus, Founder, Firefish
 

LEADING ON SUSTAINABILITY

 
10.40 OPENING KEYNOTE
Facing Change: Time to get our house in order
In this opening keynote address, Paddy will examine the fundamental role our economy plays in the perilous crises we must now face. He will explore how current beliefs are holding us back, how emerging economic ideas offer us visions of a safer, healthier, more prosperous future, and how to choose those ideas today.
Paddy Loughman, independent strategist and activist
Paddy is an independent strategist and activist. Having spent over a decade working as a market researcher, innovation consultant and brand consultant, most recently Wolff Olins, he is now taking various steps to encourage action on the climate and ecological emergency. He is focused on the roles business and culture can play in transforming our economy, which includes work with the Wellbeing Economy Alliance, the Green Economy Coalition, The UK Government's Climate Champion team, and Extinction Rebellion.

11.00 Q&A

11.05 Introducing MRS’s sustainability initiative
Market research is perfectly placed to help businesses take steps to address climate and environmental challenges. In this session we’ll consider what the role of research should be and look at the steps Kantar is taking together with MRS to make this a reality.
Jonathan Hall, Managing Partner, Sustainable Transformation Practice, Kantar

11.20 Q&A

11.25 Break

DRIVING BEHAVIOUR CHANGE

11.40 Shifting consumers towards healthy sustainable diets
There is overwhelming evidence that current diets are impacting the planet and diets must change in order to sustainably feed a global population. The Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD) partnered with Walnut to discover how to change this human behaviour. By applying behavioural science frameworks and a blended methodology approach, Walnut could better understand the subconscious drivers of consumer behavior and provide recommendations based on science and consumer insight. This has led to actionable next steps for the food industry to encourage behavioural change and target consumers at different stages of change.
Andreea Tarasescu, Associate Director, Behavioural Science and Quantitative Research, Walnut Unlimited
Lyn McGregor, Head of Qualitative Research, Walnut Unlimited 
Hannah Pearse, Head of Nutrition and Scientific Affairs, IGD

11.55 Q&A

12.00 PANEL - Ethical consumerism: using insight to close the say do gap
Join panelists to examine evolving consumer attitudes towards sustainability and how this translates into consumer actions, perceptions of brands and climate activism.

• To what extent do consumers really care about sustainability at point of purchase: convenience and immediacy vs sustainable and natural?
• How do we provide insight that understands the say do gap?

• what questions are valuable to get to the real truth of consumers’ motivations and behaviours?

• Exploring attitude and behavioural contradictions through research, to improve stakeholder understanding and facilitate effective global climate action 

Jem Fawcus, Founder, Firefish
 Panellists:
Jessica Long, Head of Sustainability UK, Ipsos
Jenny Kedros, Associate Director, Shift Insight
Sally Hubbard, Primary Research Manager, Fidelity International

12.20 Q&A

12.30 Lunch

13.00 Supporting Manchester in decarbonising its businesses
Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), The Tyndall Centre and Electricity North West Ltd (which manages the electricity distribution network in the GMCA area) formed a collaboration to support Electricity North West’s business customers in reducing their carbon emissions. Hear how this project has focused on understanding the barriers to carbon reduction that businesses face, which messages are preferred, how to communicate them and much more.
Dawn Mulvey, Head of Impact Utilities, Impact Research
Helen Boyle, Strategic Decarbonisation Manager, Electricity North West

13.15 Q&A

13.20 Driving a sea change  - Cleaning up the plastic in our oceans 
The impact of plastic in our oceans has been one of the higher profile environmental issues that has gripped consumers over the past 12 months. Retailers and brands have launched initiatives to reduce plastic packaging across their and supply chains. This session will examine how consumers feel about the this critical issue and how the coronavirus pandemic has affected our the use of single use plastic. Sky will show how a single minded focus on this issue has transformed their business both inside and out.
Nick Bonney, Founder, Deep Blue Thinking
Fiona Ball, Group Head of Inspirational Business & Sky Ocean Rescue, Sky

13.35 Q&A

13.40 Break

EMBEDDING SUSTAINABILITY IN BUSINESS STRATEGY

13.55 PANEL: Responding to consumers’ conflicting environmental attitudes
This moderated panel will bring together some of Britain’s most well-known brands for a discussion on how brands and businesses can make sense of and respond to consumers’ conflicting attitudes to the environment.
The discussion will centre on how companies can design products, services and communications that capitalise on consumers’ current and expected behaviour change.  It will examine how mega-brands are staying abreast of emerging trends and speaking the right language to reassure consumers they care about the environment.
Chaired by Hereward Feldwick, Research Director, Basis Research (and co-author of Basis’ Sustainability Playbook)
Panellists:
Georgie White, Head of Insight, BT
Evelyn Tinker, Head of European Consumer Insights, People Against Dirty
Josephine Turner, Insight Manager, John Lewis Partnership
Gerald Breatnach, Head of Strategic Insights, Google

14.15 Q&A

14.25 Embedding sustainability in business strategy
Schneider Electric and CNBC’s ‘New Energy World’ research seeks to understand how top decision-makers for household-name brands are aligning sustainability to business transformation programmes, efficiency savings and digital solutions, to place sustainable business outcomes at the heart of their activities. This qualitative case study offers a perspective from 30 senior leaders of major multinationals to show how businesses are responding to the sustainability challenge.
Ed Coke, Founder, Repute Associates
David Evans, Head of Insight, CNBC Catalyst
Phillipe Diez, Vice-President Europe, MEA & East Asia, Energy & Sustainability Services, Schneider Electric

14.40 Q&A

14.45 How sustainability truly drives consumers’ purchasing behaviour
Sustainability covers a broad range of interconnected domains; the environment, economy and social arena. Therefore, it is crucial brands understand how sustainability truly drives consumers purchasing behaviour.
VCCP’s research of 2000 UK consumers explored brand perceptions around 10 sustainability goals. The survey explores perceptions and behaviour across 10 different sectors from financial services through to food and drink and provides insight into the most effective way to communicate a consistent message that is transparent and based in actions and actual behaviour.
Mark Barrett, Business Development Director, VCCP
Sian Kerr, Director of Insight, VCCP

15.00 Q&A

15.05 Designing sustainable communications 
Examine how Maple Leaf Foods (Canada’s leading packaged meats producer) developed communications -- based on extensive insight -- to announce they were becoming the world’s first major carbon neutral food company. 
Hear how ethnographic immersion and behavioural science were used to understand the challenges in developing messaging around carbon neutrality and meat production.  This was followed by quantitative discrete choice modeling to develop credible and understandable corporate master brand and on-pack messaging. 
The research results have formed the foundation of all MLF corporate communication and consumer messaging around their carbon neutral initiative.
Darlene Macdonald, Senior Director, Consumer Insights, Maple Leaf Foods
Amy Knowles, Senior Vice President, Research Strategy Group Inc

15.20 Q&A

15.25 Closing comments from the Chair

15.30 Close