How far away are we from being ‘the perfect’ marketer?

In the hope that responsible marketing becomes the default.

Going through my bookmarks this past weekend, I came across an article I had read in 2020 that had resonated with me deeply. Entitled ‘The Perfect Marketer of 2025 will be a responsible one’, it was Jan Gooding’s write up of her response to the Marketing Society’s question - what would the perfect marketer look like in 2025. Instead of thinking about creative strategy or media effectiveness, Jan Gooding focused on the responsibility that marketers have, whether they accept it or not, to be leaving a positive legacy through their activities.

We are now only a few months away from 2025 so it is a good time to reflect on how much progress we have made as an industry around responsible marketing, and how much more we have left to do.

To start with, it is baffling to me that the idea that businesses should behave in a responsible way is even up for discussion, and can be met with such reluctance and skepticism from the business community. Surely, a business would have to think about future generations - its future employees and customers in its current dealings and marketing decisions? Especially as marketers are directly responsible for a driving overconsumption, creating waste, enabling product obsolescence to drive sales and even leaning into stereotypes through advertising that can have harmful societal consequences.

“ We are part of a system that is destroying the world.” - Jan Gooding

It would be remiss of me to not acknowledge that there have been some strides made by the industry, and that some brands are particular agitators in this space. Ben and Jerry’s is a great example of a brand that has been created to not only produce ice cream, but champion positive change in the world. Furthermore, 42% of companies had added sustainability metrics to their marketing dashboard in 2023, compared to just 26% in 2021 according to Kantar and the World Federation of Advertisers.

There is still more that needs to be done. Our efforts so far, while they have begun, feel sparse, tentative, scattered and cherry-picked. Even brands that are at the forefront of culturally relevant marketing, that push the boundaries of inclusion have been found wanting.

A good example of this is Dove. The legacy of Dove’s Real Beauty campaign is undeniable. It has taken on the unfair and unrealistic beauty standards and worked to widen them out, challenging stereotypes and pointing out the dangers of social media for young girls. This year, they launched their stance on AI - highlighting its dangers and promising not to use it for their campaigns. However, even as the brand celebrated 20 years of its Real Beauty campaign this year which should be lauded as it shows dedication to the cause, its parent company, Unilever, came under scrutiny as Greenpeace’s campaign lambasted it for its plastic pollution.

Of course, all change towards responsible marketing cannot happen overnight, but we need companies to be comprehensive in their efforts, looking at the whole marketing process and value chain, and transparent in their mistakes and missteps. A big way of injecting this would be to facilitate more conversations around ethics in marketing courses, accreditations and in the industry at large.

As an industry, we are going to have to accept the risk of a short-term loss as we change to drive profits in ways that are not exploitative of people and planet. This can be done using tools that Jan Gooding highlights in her article, such as ‘doughnut economics.’ This is a concept introduced by economist Kate Raworth who argues that we need to stay within a ‘social foundation’ and the ‘ecological ceiling’ to make sure that we are catering to the development of the world’s population but not at the expense of the planet. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development asked the business community to join in on the goal of achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals that were announced. While in 2017, 43% of 250 of the world’s largest companies in terms of revenue had referenced SDGs in their CSR reports, a report published by the UN in June 2024 revealed that only 17% of the SDGs were on track.

The importance of responsible marketing then also increases because marketing’s role within the organisation has evolved to be more influential. In 2023, a survey conducted by Marketing Week showed that 40.9% said marketing has a greater strategic role within their business. A Chief Marketing Officer has so many areas under their belt from advertising, sales, innovation to customer experience. Marketing as a discipline also crosses a lot of other areas within a company. What is also important to note, is that marketing is the voice of the consumer and should have a stake in fighting for what is right for consumer, both now and in the future.

Ultimately, the way the marketing industry is functioning is neither sustainable nor viable when thinking about the present or future of this planet and its future inhabitants. While these are not problems that can be solved by the marketing industry alone, it’s something we should think about and act on more as an industry beyond just the bottom line and regardless of consumer sentiment and belief around climate change, inclusion, or the political headwinds and tailwinds.

“Our mindset should be one that imagines our brand is on loan to us from future generations.” - Jan Gooding.

Here’s hoping that by 2030, we are closer to this vision of a perfect marketer; that responsible marketing becomes the default and articles like this slowly become irrelevant.