James McGowan is a sustainability advertising and marketing chief who has taken on a number of of excessive profile roles in his profession thus far, working with charities, businesses, startups and multinational companies, in addition to learning for a grasp’s in sustainability. At the moment, he leads advertising and marketing at Maeving, a British firm that creates electrical bikes.

Earlier than Maeving, McGowan led advertising and marketing at Muddy Trowel, an organization that makes gardening extra accessible. Previous to that, he spent 4 years at Unilever — three of them as senior world advertising and marketing supervisor for its $3 billion Persil and Omo enterprise. 

I lately linked with McGowan to be taught extra about his profession journey as a sustainability advertising and marketing knowledgeable. Right here he attracts from his wealth of expertise to share recommendation on the necessity to see sustainability extra holistically, the best way to leverage a data of sustainability as a differentiator inside advertising and marketing and the one piece of recommendation that helped him stage up his profession. 

Shannon Houde: James, when did you see the clear crossover between a profession in advertising and marketing and sustainability? 

James McGowan: It was in 2013 after I was working for an company and I observed quite a lot of organizations had a web site that appeared to articulate sustainability fantastically, when the truth was that it was greenwashing. It dawned on me that nothing on this planet is ideal so why give a false narrative when your sustainability journey could possibly be your advertising and marketing marketing campaign. That spurred me to do a grasp’s in sustainability. And at that time, I used to be at a crossroads — ought to I be switching my profession right into a sustainable lead position, or proceed with advertising and marketing? 

On the time, Unilever was solely three years into its Sustainable Residing Plan and the sustainability sector was nonetheless rising. It was clear for me to stay with advertising and marketing as a result of that is the place my strengths are, however to more and more convey my understanding of sustainability into that position. Now, all the things appears to be about sustainability. There isn’t any new innovation that may’t be launched from the advertising and marketing aspect that does not meet sure sustainability standards. 

Houde: Is it truthful to say that whilst a marketer you possibly can’t actually do your day job with out fascinated with sustainability? 

McGowan: I feel there’s a extra holistic aspect to sustainability. Lots of people leap into the environmental aspect however there’s an enormous social affect to sustainability that folks neglect about. A number of the initiatives that we had been driving whereas I used to be at Unilever had been round stereotyping, for instance. I labored for the laundry model Persil and never that way back it could be quite common to search out solely a feminine in these commercials. So, I take a fuller view on sustainability overlaying the social aspect and the environmental aspect. Finally, we have to serve folks. Till we begin serving folks, we won’t actually generate the earnings, we have to then defend the planet so seeing sustainability via simply an environmental lens is sort of limiting. 

Houde: Talking of consumers, is the demand push or pull on sustainability do you suppose? Are firms pushing out the agenda or are they responding to shopper demand?  

McGowan: There’s a pull there. However take the instance of laundry once more. Eco might be essentially the most sustainable however technically it doesn’t clear as effectively and it’s barely dearer. So the know-how is there, however it’s simply not inexpensive, and we’ve bought to create new markets for that. However there may be definitely quite a lot of pull. From say 2025 to 2030, you are going to see an enormous change in the way in which that we eat these merchandise, so I really feel very assured about huge companies with the ability to remedy these points. However there’s some work on cost-benefit that must be achieved. 

[It’s the same on] infrastructure. We have seen tons of of hundreds of kilos value of funding in waste assortment and recycling world wide however there simply is not that infrastructure. And the query is; who’s going to pay for that? These items sadly do take time. And I feel that is a part of the position: resilience and endurance. 

Numerous it comes again to storytelling. I inherited a challenge that had been tried 5 occasions. So, how do you get a analysis and growth group again on board a challenge that is had so many knocks? 

Houde: How do you differentiate your self as a marketer and leverage that sustainability aspect? 

McGowan: I by no means educated in advertising and marketing, however I’ve bought a advertising and marketing profession with a sustainability grasp’s. So, I feel one of many key components of my position is to have the ability to converse to folks with the science and the technical abilities after which translate that again into the advertising and marketing piece. 

Typically there tends to be a little bit of a disconnect. Notably when entrepreneurs go and discuss to the science groups they don’t really feel listened to however, with my sustainability piece, I may really entry the science and convey that again into the position. Inside huge organizations, it is the marketer’s job to attach the skin world to the people inside that group, and ensure that we’re getting everybody’s perspective into key choices.

I’ve had fairly an atypical profession. I arrange my very own enterprise, labored with material specialists and been at an company and a charity. And I feel – when making use of to Unilever for instance – that was fairly distinctive. 

Houde: What can be your one piece of recommendation to others trying to break into sustainability? 

McGowan: I feel it is very straightforward to get fully caught up within the world difficulty of sustainability and local weather change. I bear in mind being with some pals at a restaurant a few years in the past and we had been speaking concerning the plastic disaster. We requested the waiter to say of their subsequent group assembly the plastic straws they used and even via a dialogue like that you could have quite a lot of affect with out actually having to do lots. In the previous few years, I’ve definitely tried to deal with what I can do personally in addition to what I can do in my profession.

However apart from that, maintain hustling. There are superb jobs on the market. Even for those who begin small. Your subsequent transfer is about laying the foundations for the transfer after that. So do not try to remedy it abruptly. 

LinkedIn is only a implausible instrument too. I discovered each job via the platform and I constructed a community. It’s a special form of nepotism. It isn’t your dad and mom or your uncle that can get you a job however it’s nonetheless the individuals who you understand and that’s what LinkedIn is for. 

Houde: And equally, what particular recommendation has actually helped you personally in shifting your profession to the subsequent stage? 

McGowan: One of the crucial beneficial workout routines I did was my very own values, what makes me tick after which translating the abilities and traits I’ve to establish what work I wished to do. Whenever you consider sustainability, it is extremely broad. There’s a lot to do and having a really clear goal about what you need to obtain is absolutely essential. You have to discover one thing that you just care about, and that makes you tick, as a result of work must be enjoyable.