Telling eco-stories to foster regenerative connections
As one engages in global transformations, connecting with purpose, strengthening market presence, and engaging in causes allows the storyteller to touch the world with their own hands
Have you ever stopped to think about the power of storytelling when it comes to engaging with the climate agenda, sustainable development, and related issues?
Whether in data management, report building, influencer relations, event creation, campaigns, training, or new product conception, the opportunities for communication professionals are numerous and growing.
The strategy and materiality of a story told, its distribution channels, and relationship forums are factors that strongly influence the impact it will have.
By positioning oneself as an active agent of transformation regarding the present and future of the planet, the "eco communicator" needs to be careful to avoid greenwashing or any kind of inappropriate discursive appropriation.
Resources such as artificial intelligence and collaborative work are prerequisites for generating scalable and sustainable connections but must be employed with criteria - ethics, critical thinking, and a healthy dose of skepticism.
How, then, can one make consistent choices in a scenario of so much (mis)information?
Understanding the mechanisms of the context and the rules of the game is fundamental to defining positioning and reputation. Embracing seals and certifications (such as the B Corp system, for example) attests to the commitment to success. Adopting voluntary goals and commitments (such as the SBTi - Science Based Targets Initiative) represents a local action in the face of global challenges. Studying materiality through frameworks like the Global Reporting Initiative allows for the construction of reports in internationally recognized standards. And so on.
While stories serve to humanize, give visibility, and connect themes to their audiences, these organizations and structures are allies to ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) positioning.
They function to lend credibility to sustainable projects and initiatives through measurable commitments, which can be disclosed and help the public understand how the organization intends to advance or overcome a certain challenge.
In recent years, ESG has gained new contours and developments, particularly greater visibility in the financial market after the Covid-19 pandemic, when the entire world experienced a common vulnerability.
After the health crisis, other crises continue to plague us - such as Amazon deforestation, homophobia, violence, environmental racism, for example - and they diminish the value of a brand when they resonate, both online and offline, generating negative impacts among its stakeholders and followers.
That's why it's necessary to talk about sustainability: not only in times of crisis but to monitor and manage these issues recurrently and proactively.
In other words, the desired change goes through education and consumption, and it only happens when people understand the concepts in a simple, practical, and connected way. To achieve this, investing in raising awareness of socio-environmental issues is a practice that involves all of us, especially through the adoption of products and services.
To address this topic and help communicators take on their leading role in the telling and construction of these narratives - which connect practice and discourse, which have technique but also purpose and a touch of enchantment - I recently conducted the "Storytelling and Sustainability - Strategies for the Professional of the Future" course.
Over three days, in 100% live online classes, we worked on concepts and examples of ESG narratives that place the storyteller in a leading position. We talked about the importance of stories for monitoring crises, regenerating ecosystems, engaging clients, mobilizing employees, or strengthening communities, which can be a differentiator for your performance in the market or in society.
By offering sustainable and circular products and services, capable of charting paths for an evolving journey (identifying less impactful attributes, such as sneakers made from other sneakers, a company led by women, or compostable packaging), brands help the consumer-citizen to be part of collective solutions.
While participating in these ongoing global transformations, connecting with purpose, strengthening market presence, and engaging in causes allows the storyteller to touch the world with their own hands. By changing people's lives, they change themselves, and in this movement, they pave the way for balance to build a regenerative future - where connecting emotions and productivity is allowed, and feeling is also a way of knowing.