CARGILL
SUSTAINABILITY MARKETING
Juan-Victor Seminario, Karena Mahung, Osman Sengul, Randall Brown, Tao Jiang (Tony)
Facts
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The largest private-hold company in terms of
revenue ($134.9 billion in 2014)
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67 countries. 143,000 employees
6 regions: North America, Asia Pacific, Latin
America, Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa and
North Africa/Middle East
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Vision: Expresses the collective aspirations of the people who
work here. It unifies us, directs our efforts and sets us apart
from other companies
Purpose: To be the global leader in nourishing people
Mission: To make food more abundant, accessible, safe and
nutritious, and to support sustainable and responsible practices
7 business units
Agriculture commodity
trading and processing
Some Customers
Food ingredients
and products
Meat, poultry
and eggs
farmer
services
animal feed
and nutrition
Energy &
industrial
products
Financial
service
Sustainability & CSR
Improvement in energy
efficiency
Renewable sources in
energy portfolio
Improvement in greenhouse
gas intensity
Improvement in
freshwater efficiency
2014
Progress
2015 Goal
2014
Progress
2015 Goal
2014
Progress
2015 Goal
2014
Progress
2015 Goal
4.6%
5%
14.3%
12.5%
5.1%
5%
8%
5%
Cargill’s 2014 Sustainability report
CSR:
Cargill improved the livelihoods of more than 100,000 people from rural farming communities in emerging markets. Some examples include:
•
Partnering with Coca Cola and the World Wildlife Fund in China to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers
•
Offering financial tools to manage price volatility to help farmers in Romania gain better access to seeds, fertilizers and technology
•
Invested $30 million to construct a chicken processing facility in Russia and help community with vocational school, building new playgrounds
and refurbishing the local children’s hospital.
Current Marketing Strategies
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In the United States Cargill has a limited
general marketing strategy in regards to
marketing to consumers since they are
known as B2B company in this region
In certain international regions, however,
Cargill does operate as a B2C company
with products that they sell directly to
consumers but use a brand name other
than the Cargill name
Awards in sustainability:
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2014 McDonald’s Best of Sustainable Supply Awards (7 awards)
2013 Presidential Green Chemistry Award
2011 Design for the Environment Award
2011 ENERGY STAR Award
2011 Connekt Sustainable Logistics’s Lean and Green Award
In Brazil, Cargill has consumer
brands sold in supermarkets such
as “Liza”, “Mazola”, “Mariana”,
and “Purilev”
In India, they had a
commercial for Sweekar oil
using a famous Indian chef to
market to consumers
ASSESSMENTS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Cargill should devise and implement both a B2B and a B2C marketing strategy
that is aligned with the company’s overall corporate culture and business strategy
which embrace strong sustainability and social responsibility practices
Marketing Assessments
Strength
Weakness
Opportunities
Cargill has been able to position and differentiate themselves as a world leading supplier with sustainability
focused core values that can help bring more sustainable, natural and corporate socially responsible products to
major household brand names such as McDonalds
Cargill has a limited marketing strategy with regard
to consumers but does promote its sustainability efforts
through awards given to Cargill by its business
customers
Cargill has a commitment to sustainability that is
well perceived by its customers but does not
necessarily target “green” customers through either
its B2B or B2C aspects
Cargill’s current marketing strategy does not communicate this well to consumers and as a result there is
substantial opportunity to more properly and adequately communicate and promote their sustainability efforts
and products which can help drive the sustainability aspect of their corporate mission as well as their bottom line
Business to Business
Integrate Cargill’s VI in their customers’ media and marketing campaigns, which can be dually shared with the
member bases of the partners, as well as Cargill’s business and consumer bases
Make use of McDonalds to promote Cargill brand on their marketing
campaigns (packaging, website, commercials etc.), emphasizing how the
eggs (McDonalds USA) or Chicken McNuggets (McDonalds Russia) are
sustainably produced and sourced by Cargill.
Cargill
Co-Branding
Cargill
Co-Branding
Brand Content Marketing: “Opening the backstage door”
Example: GE #InstaWalk
Use the influence and power of social media to visually demonstrate
their engagement with local farmers and investment in rural
development in countries such as Brazil, Indonesia and others.
Business to Consumers
Cargill can use its own brand as the “Endorser
Brand” to the local brands such as “Liza” or
“Mariana”. In this way, Cargill could leverage
the local brands to better penetrate local
markets, and at the same time it would be
able to promote the Cargill “master” brand by
providing support and assurance to the local
“endorsed” brands’ equities
Cargill can create campaigns targeting
“green” corporate customers and/or
consumers to capture the value of its current
sustainability measures
Example
This can be done by maximizing the marketing potential
and perceptual differential advantage that partnerships
and projects pursued with well-known and respected
conservation organizations such as The Nature
Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund can provide
Mockup references
THANKS
Q&A