Reckitt Benckiser’s chief marketing, sustainability, and corporate affairs officer is Fabrice Beaulieu. At the hygiene and health behemoth, he has driven a significant move toward a purpose-led brand approach. In the next year, he is focused on the ways in which it can make its advertising more sustainable, notably through innovative production methods such as ‘virtual studios’. According to him, people across generations and regions are increasingly expecting brands to become more sustainable. Reckitt Benckiser has shifted its business approach to create categories while also producing more sustainable goods and making an active and constructive contribution to society. Brands are supposed to act, fight, and make an effect! This has two key ramifications for a marketer in practise. First, it reframes innovation: better product sustainability must go hand in hand with higher quality; second, it reframes communication: the programmes of positive effect that a brand generates may become the basis of its communication. In other words, sustainability is now central to the brand strategy. As a result, it readily coincides with the majority of business KPIs. At least, that’s how Reckitt sees it.

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