 Robert Nuttall, former head of internal communications at Marks &Spencer, played a key role in devising and implementing the internal and external brand and communications strategy for “Plan A”, M&S's five-year, £200m, 100-point eco-plan. He told conference delegates that this was probably “the biggest sustainability project in the UK”.
He added that he thought sustainability was “one of the biggest untapped employee engagement opportunities around”.
Robert said that M&S felt sustainability was something that it should embrace and in line with its existing brand values of:
- Quality
- Value
- Service
- Innovation, and
- Trust.
He explained: “If you asked customers if they trusted M&S they said 'yes' – but they really didn't know why. Their trust probably went back over 20 years.
“We felt that we couldn't rest on our laurels and looked at everything we were doing. When we looked more closely we found that we had a few great stories to tell and it was the beginning of a voyage.
“However, we then received feedback that customers thought it was great, but couldn't see how it all held together – and neither did we. Over a four-month period we looked at everything we could do and came up with 'gazzillions 'of ideas.”
The outcome was the theme: “Plan A. Because there is no Plan B.” This looked at the themes of climate change, waste material, fair partners and health and included 35,000 products lines and 250,000 workers.
“We asked 80 NGOs to ask what they thought we should do. One of the craziest ideas was to launch it to the customers first and not employees,” Robert said. “But the launch was very successful.
“Our tone was very much 'do you know what, we aren't very good at this, but we're learning' – PR flannel wouldn't have worked.”
M&S also asked customers what they wanted from M&S around sustainability and they fell into four groups:
- Don't tell us about green issues
- Motivate me by demonstrating how easy it is to make a difference
- Make doing my bit an easy part of my life
- Tell me about the big things you are doing.
Employees (or colleagues in M&S speak) were generally much greener, Robert said. M&S appointed 700 “Plan A” champions to be the eyes and ears of the initiative.
“It was easy to engage colleagues,” said Robert. “We looked at recycling and the 'carbon hotspots', such as washing clothes at 30 degrees not 40, but the first outing we had with Fairtrade cotton was not good – the colours were dull and the cost was too high. The next outing was better and we began to sell.”
A trial where M&S started to charge for plastic bags was a great success, with an 80% reduction in their use. They have also sold 300,000 fleeces made from recycled plastic bottles.
An initiative was also introduced whereby customers taking their old M&S clothes to Oxfam received a £5 M&S voucher- Oxfam have since raised more than £1 million with this scheme.
“We struggled to find the right tone of voice for the 'Plan A' brand, which is different to our main brand,” said Robert. “But it is working – two years on we are cost neutral and the take-up and feedback among customers and staff has been excellent.”
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