PEOPLE & PURPOSE
“ The operational test I apply is simple: does this show up in how people are hired, how suppliers are chosen, how the company responds when things go wrong? Those are the things that determine credibility.“ Publishing actual data rather than curated case studies also matters. It’ s easy to tell a compelling story about your commitments; it’ s much harder to publish the numbers that would contradict you if you weren’ t being honest.” When brand narratives actually are grounded in concrete, verifiable metrics, it becomes much easier for marketing teams to align their external messaging with the realities of the business – allowing organisations to build genuine, trust-based relationships.
According to Yakov, who has spent more than 13 years helping to build marketing and go-to-market strategies at Schneider Electric, this is particularly important when it comes to branding around corporate sustainability.“ The moment a sustainability narrative becomes abstract, it loses its credibility,” he says.“ The brands that build lasting trust are willing to be precise: what has been reduced, what has lasted longer, what has performed measurably better. The difference between what has been achieved and what is being built towards matters. Those are different claims and conflating them is how purpose-led marketing earns its bad reputation.”
78 October 2026