1. Saving Pocket & Planet: Community Swap Shops & Repair Hubs

Chiming with Deloitte’s 2022 research revealing that post-pandemic, inflation-squeezed consumers are exploring new ways to cut costs (including choosing more durable, reusable or reparable items), new swap, repair and mend-based pilot spaces are putting circularity practices on the shop floor. Many dovetail with our report Civic Centred Commerce: Socialising the Retail Revolution, part of our latest Macro Trend, New Ways of Living.

2. Confrontational Campaigning: Ads & Collabs

With climate crisis warnings intensifying daily, as highlighted in Cop27, some brands are becoming more hard-line in the tone of their communications. However, it’s not a universally applicable stance. According to British sustainability strategist (and co-founder of eco-comms agency Come Across) Shaunie Brett, it fares better for environmental pioneers whose fans aren’t easily alienated, or those who are a step removed from retail.

3. Honest Comms: How to Do Educative Well

With almost half of Brits believing brands are guilty of greenwashing (see Key Stats), other retailers are deploying ultra-honest messaging. But whether it’s the journey to B Corp certification or exposing the reality of hidden waste, the educative line should be trodden carefully, says Brett. She also suggests rewarding better behaviour is more motivating than insights or instructions alone.

4. New Resales: Hang Tags & Auto-Ads

The global secondhand fashion market is skyrocketing (see Key Stats) – boosting resales’ perceived status as a bedrock of circular retailing. Influential fashion-tech partnerships are mainstreaming pre-loved luxe, while ingenious auto-resales apps are streamlining reselling for fans and helping brands keep their hard-won visual identities intact. However, there’s danger surrounding fast-fashion – the newfound ease of offloading items could spur additional consumption.

5. Greening Christmas: An Opportunity for Intervention

The Christmas period might be a feast of hyperconsumerism, but – similar to Back to School in August – it also tends to amplify a sense of altruism relatable to both people and planet (see Holiday 2021: Purpose-Led Brand Engagement). That attitudinal shift presents key opportunities for brands to harness more ecologically positive behaviours, services and products.

6. Ads & Initiatives Assuaging Eco-Anxiety

The accelerated rate of climate change is spurring a rise in eco-anxiety – profound, mental-health-impacting fears about the Earth’s and humanity’s future (see Key Stats). A topic surfacing via media and retail platforms dealing in Mindful Media, there’s a distinct and important opportunity for brands of any kind to assuage such tensions – such anxiety often leads to apathy.

7. Eco-Evolved: Ads About Moving On or Moving Up

Other recent ad campaigns have sought to catalyse net-zero lifestyles by framing sustainable behaviour as either indicative of an evolved consciousness or simply adulting, or showing how brands can support major life-stage changes that can make being sustainable seem unachievable.

8. Eco Entertainment: TV & Gaming Step Up

Seeking to insert climate change awareness directly into the public consciousness – including adding a degree of cachet for younger viewers – several mainstream juggernauts in TV and gaming have stepped up this season with bespoke storylines and creative treatments. These include British soap operas EastEnders and Hollyoaks, as well as gaming giant Minecraft.

9. The Youth Factor: Unexpected Icons & Better Days Messaging

Late 2022 also saw several noteworthy Gen Z-targeting ads, featuring brand ambassadors and pop cultural influence primed to capture budding environmental intentions. “Harnessing an eco-identity early, before disposable income really kicks in, is so powerful,” says Brett. “Communications are all about feeding identity, and are especially powerful when you’re very young.”