Many companies are slowly becoming more sustainable and toying with transparency in an effort to establish greater consumer trust and brand authenticity. And consumers are clearly interested in more responsible products from trustworthy companies.
Yet, companies are chronically having a tough time deciding what initiatives to take and how to translate the often complex and technical language of sustainability into plain English. Traditionally, this is when a company might have their marketing department find a brand ambassador to speak on their behalf. But when it comes to sustainability, it’s hard to find an ambassador who understands the technical landscape, is walking the walk and can turn it into an understandable, authentic sound bite.
If I wanted someone to talk about my brand–especially to moms who own a lion’s share of purchasing power and who vote for change with their wallets (and actions)–it would be Alexandra Zissu.
Alexandra is the author and green living expert par excellence who helped me write Planet Home: Conscious Choices For Cleaning and Greening The World You Care About Most. It was her third book. Her first two were The Complete Organic Pregnancy and The Conscious Kitchen. Her fourth is The Butcher’s Guide To Well-Raised Meat. She is also a speaker and an eco-consultant: www.alexandrazissu.com.
Alexandra she has a knack for translating hard to understand sustainability issues and environmental health science into easy, pithy consumer English. She’s passionate about giving people the education and tools to make conscious decisions as they go about their daily routines—and especially about the collective impact this can have. She knows what parents and other eco-interested consumers really want to hear and what they don’t want to hear–drawing on her experience with her own active group of followers via books, articles, blogs, social media, talks, and demonstrations. She also has a deep understanding of the full spectrum of green—from people just getting started to the diehard lifers.
Don’t think that anyone’s going to pull the wool over Alexandra’s eyes. I’ve found her a tough critique of Seventh Generation’s as well as almost every product we reviewed for Planet Home. But that’s exactly what you want. Trust comes from transparency, a balanced perspective on the great, and the not so great. That’s what the best brand ambassador is uniquely able to do. She won’t read from a script, she’ll visit your lab, talk to other customers, do a little bit of her own testing and research, maybe even tell you quietly a few things you might not be so eager to hear.
So if I was in the market to hire someone to speak on behalf of my brand (and I was,) I would recommend that they hire Alexandra Zissu (and I did!). A better brand ambassador you won’t find!