Empowering our marketers to make sustainable decisions: embedding sustainability capability across marketing teams

14 Nov 2023 Europe and TurkeyGreat BritainSustainabilityLearning and DevelopmentPartnershipsESGMarketing
Millets

Instilled with the same entrepreneurial spirit as Arthur Guinness, John Walker, and Charles Tanqueray, our people continue to defy expectations, redefine industries, and shape communities. And, driving our Spirit of Progress agenda to help create a more sustainable and inclusive world plays a central role in everything our people do.

We’re proud to have launched internal training and resources to continue to build our marketers understanding of sustainability. These resources ensure that our teams consider sustainability throughout all creative processes, from design, film and experiences, through to communicating with consumers on sustainability initiatives.

As part of this initiative, we’ve introduced a Creative Production Sustainability Charter which addresses common areas across production where more sustainable choices can be made, and

The Experiential Guidelines which identify the five top areas where more sustainable choices can be made in marketing activations. Alongside this we’ve updated internal guidance on making impactful and compliant sustainability claims that do not mislead consumers by exaggerating the claims about the social and environmental impacts of our work.

At Diageo we’re committed to the continuous learning and development opportunities we provide our people, ensuring they’re supported to carve an exciting career whilst having the opportunity to help shape the future. This work builds on the sustainability education we’re embedding across our business, with the roll out of Brand Activism training, our partnership with Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford to educate senior leaders on sustainability, and our environmental management training via the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) for our Procurement and Supply Chain teams.

Hear from some of our marketers and sustainability specialists on what this initiative means to them:

I’m grateful to be part of a team committed to consistent execution of Diageo’s ESG values and Spirit of Progress across all our touch points. When we talk about Grain to Glass, this project allows us the opportunity to show that we really mean it, and that is ingrained in every step of our product life-cycle.

I’ve really enjoyed that Diageo has enabled myself and colleagues to take a bold approach creating new Sustainability Guidelines in Marketing. The opportunity to develop Diageo’s global guidelines means the scope and impact of this workstream will play a significant role in how Diageo will deliver our Spirit of Progress ambition.

From a personal experience, I’m passionate about the opportunity to be working in an environment that creates sustainable marketing and empowers me to set bold targets. I truly believe in what we are doing and I’m grateful to Diageo and to my colleagues who have supported and enabled me to help shape the exciting direction Diageo will take.

Charlotte McGowen
Procurement Sustainability
COE lead, Europe

I’ve always believed that there is a noble cause in working for a company like Diageo, where you have inherent trust that it is doing the right things. From a motivational perspective, leading and contributing to driving sustainability across Experiential activations confirms that we are doing what we say in practice, are transforming the way we operate and are committed to making a difference and achieving our 2030 sustainability targets

Angus Peterson
Global Category Manager –
Experiential, London

Marketers have applied creativity and precision for decades, creating appealing brands and promoting desirable products, while shaping people’s cultural views and consumption habits. It’s now the time for Marketers to devote these powerful skills to creating a better more sustainable world. Sustainability is “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (UN, 1987). At Diageo we build the best brands in the world, having in mind the balance between short term gains and long term ambitions. We’re creating new principles and practices to transform our brands into forces for good, where the successes of the present are also ensuring that future generations will thrive.

Annalisa Tedeschi
Global Senior Marketing
Sustainability Lead, London

Our prioritisation and commitment to driving the Spirit of Progress 2030 sustainability agenda was a large part of why I applied for the Supply Graduate Program in 2019.
Sustainability was not only my favourite module during University but one in which I believed was important to practice during everyday life. Diageo afforded me the opportunity to align my career choice with my personal values.

Working for an organisation that prioritises both sustainability and employee development is personally fulfilling and professionally rewarding, whilst contributing to a more environmentally responsible and socially conscious world. It aligns personal and organisational goals, benefiting the individual, the company, and society as a whole.

Emma Johnston
Sustainable Sourcing Lead,
Edinburgh

Our indirect carbon emissions (scope 3 – Including the packaging & raw materials we use to make our iconic blends) are one of the most material parts of our environmental sustainability ambition. Diageo’s Scope 3 ambitions present a unique opportunity for Diageo Marketers to make discernible impact. Marketers, especially brand owners, play a key role in delivering our Scope 3 ambition. Within Diageo, Brand owners are actively driving change by assessing their brand’s contribution to scope 3 & taking bold action on the packaging footprint to manage it

Vijay GR
Global Head of Brand
Sustainability – Scotch &
Reserve, Amsterdam

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