the future of hype?

Last week I polled the Linkedin community to gauge how genuine the biggest brands in retail were regarding their sustainability ambitions - and the results were clear.

More than 70% believed these brands to be sustainability hypocrites.

After all, if their core business model revolves around pumping out more stuff year after year, and in doing so depleting the planet's limited resources, then how can they be 100% genuine?

So what do the big players need to do to better align their actions to their words?

Could they leverage the power of the hype machine that they are so good at manipulating, for example through more meaningful collaborations?

Typically in my world, as a brand it's useful to partner with another brand, athlete or celebrity. It raises your profile, introduces you to a new audience and drives up your desirability - meaning you can do one key thing:

Sell.

More.

Gear.

adidas x lego : an impressive feat of product development, but for what purpose?

But what if these high-profile partnerships - instead of feeding the commercial machine - were used to advance an environmental agenda and drive up your authenticity?

Recently adidas, in partnership with Allbirds, delivered an industry-defining moment through creating the “world’s lowest carbon footprint performance running shoe”. And in doing so - through knowledge-sharing, collaboration and transparency, and NOT through competition - they laid down a blueprint for the rest of the industry to follow.

So could hype be a force for POSITIVE CHANGE?

Going forward should collaborations solely focus on pushing sustainability ambitions that brands claim they represent?

It might be a start. And it might help secure the future relevance of your brand.