Most companies have made headway towards sustainability within marketing efforts, but problems around cooperation and implementation are delaying their transformation, says a new study by the UN Global Compact and Kantar.

CMO Sustainability Benchmark Study conducted surveys among 1,713 executives from marketing, sustainability, innovation, and operations departments. The results revealed that 63% of executives felt that their organizations were either progressing in sustainability marketing or had done well in incorporating the idea in marketing.

However, there was a disparity regarding progress among various departments. Marketing executives felt that 69% of the organizations had been making steady progress in incorporating the concept of sustainability in their marketing efforts, while only 49% of sustainability executives held the same view. In terms of advancement, 27% of marketing executives considered their organizations as being at the advanced stage, while only 9% of sustainability executives felt the same way.

The study further revealed a lack of alignment among different teams pursuing sustainable goals. Collaboration on sustainable goals was reported by 52% of marketing executives and 43% of sustainability executives.

Five areas have been benchmarked regarding sustainable marketing practices. In terms of progress achieved, Communication, Advertising, and Media scored the highest percentage, with 56% of marketing leaders indicating improvements. Brand Strategy was second with 54%, while Growth Strategy scored 52%. Innovation scored 50%, whereas Collaboration and Partnerships recorded the lowest score, at 48%.

It appears that organisations are progressing faster in areas that are solely under marketing responsibilities than those requiring collaboration among several other departments and external stakeholders.

Under communications, 64% of participants reported improvement in making sure that advertisements depict people accurately and positively, without any stereotyping. Some 60% reported alignment between the message for sustainability and the organisation's positioning. Additionally, 59% of participants indicated that efforts had been made to promote sustainable living through their communications and marketing strategies.

In today's competitive environment, companies are faced with more demands regarding social and environmental initiatives. Organisations in all sectors are including sustainability goals in their brand, product, and communication strategies.

As highlighted in the report, collaboration among functions is still one of the areas that requires focus. From the results, it can be seen that despite the increased awareness of sustainability in marketing plans, organizations continue to experience problems implementing sustainability principles across the board.