From Rich Bruer:
In 2006, I surprised even myself when I decided to leave McClenahan Bruer Communications. I co-founded the agency in 1993, so it was my “baby.” And it was (and is still) a successful high-tech public relations and advertising business.
And yet, after 21 years in technology marketing, I felt the strong pull of a new challenge: putting my experience to work for businesses and organizations creating a more sustainable future. The result is R.Bruer Company.
I helped build McClenahan Bruer into one of the West Coast’s leading technology agencies. As one of the firm’s two principals, I advised dozens of clients and their executives across North America in all facets of strategic branding and communications.
I now recognize there are greater similarities between the worlds of technology and sustainability than I first realized. Success in the technology business demands the ability to innovate and the willingness to adapt to constant change. And so it is in the realm of sustainable business.
Operating a sustainable business is about more than maximizing shareholder return. It is striking a balance among the needs of shareholders, customers, employees, communities and the larger natural environment in which your business operates. Playing by the rules of sustainability changes almost everything. It requires innovations in business models and products, added levels of accountability and new measures of success.
Looking anew at branding
Sustainability also asks businesses to look anew at their branding. A brand isn’t simply a promise communicated by marketing. It must be a promise kept by the entire company. Customers, employees and others are watching your actions more closely than ever. They’re tired of businesses saying one thing and doing another, especially when it involves claims of social or environmental virtue.
As the practice of sustainability spreads, brand building must evolve into living your brand and fulfilling its sustainability promise. You can’t leave that to marketing alone. That awareness led me to form a group of experts in branding, organizational development, sustainability, market research, design and communications.
This group is known as the Sustainable Branding Collaborative. And we’ve re-defined what branding means for businesses on the sustainability path. We call it 4D Branding.
Ask us what it can do for your business.
