Communication guidelines
Guidelines, Terms & Conditions for Sustainable Brand Index™ Winner / Industry winner badges
General information
As a winning brand of Sustainable Brand Index™ (SBI), either market or industry, you are entitled to purchase a Sustainable Brand Index™ badge to communicate about your performance. This means that you – in the annual brand study Sustainable Brand Index™ – have been perceived as the most sustainable brand in your industry and/or on the market, according to consumers.
The badge may be used by winning brands for external and internal commercial reasons to communicate about your performance in SBI, including but not limited to following areas:
Press releases
Annual & Sustainability reports
Websites
Email signatures
Advertisements
Brochures
Newsletters
Physical communication (Packaging, in store communications etc)
Do you wish to communicate about your brands’ performance? Contact us.
Terms & conditions
Sustainable Brand Index™ Winner or Industry winner badges are intellectual property material that belongs to SB Insight AB. A winning brand owner must adhere to the guidelines given by SB Insight when using our material. If a winning brand does not comply with the guidelines by altering the badge or through misleading or inaccurate communication, SB Insight has the right to contact the company and request changes or removal.
The license period & fee
The badge licence is valid for 12 months from the date of the signing an agreement. The use of the badge is subject to a fee based on the annual net turnover of the brand owner. The badge is delivered in two design versions, large and small.
If eligible, meaning if the brand has been perceived as the most sustainable brand in its industry and/or on its market according to consumers in SBI prior to this year, we give the right to use preceding winner material based on the earlier editions of SBI. More information in guidelines below.
Approval of material
The brand owner is responsible for the content of their material, which is communicated (press releases, product labels, brochures, mail signatures, shelf tags, advertising, etc.) – that is, correctly reproduces the badge. SB Insight have the right to pre-approve such communication material where the badge is part of the brand owners’ communication.
Guidelines
Layouts
DO’s
Choose from large or small SBI badge to adjust to your specific needs. The badges are always presented in its entirety.
DON’Ts
• Never divide the badge by separating the dark green text area from the SBI symbol.
• Never alter the design by replacing the green colour, cutting out the symbol or placing it on another background.
Wordings
DO’s
SB Insight encourages you to communicate about your win and urge you to follow our guidelines. When communicating about your win, you should always use the winner material provided by SB Insight and the applied wordings.
You should communicate about your brand as being “perceived as the most sustainable brand” on the market / in the industry. You may also communicate that you are “perceived as the most sustainable type of company” – e.g. “Consumers perceive us as the most sustainable restaurant”. The important thing is to always use the word perception.
Country winner default headline wording:
• (Nationality) consumers perceive us to be the most sustainable brand in (country).
• (Nationality) consumers perceive us to be (countrys') most sustainable brand.
Industry winner default headline wording:
• (Nationality) consumers perceive us to be the most sustainable (x category) brand in our industry.
• (Nationality) consumers perceive us to be the most sustainable brand in the (x industry).
DON’Ts
You are not allowed to communicate that you “ARE the most sustainable brand” or the like without, in direct relation, referring to consumer perception. In addition, you are not allowed to refer to yourself as “the most sustainable company”, since the study measures brands.
Other misleading wordings:
Consumers have voted …
Consumers have said …
Consumers have chosen …
Consumers are united …
X Brand is the most sustainable …
X Brand – best in X industry …
Examples showing misleading communication that blurres the understanding of the context. Never downplay the essential wordings. Never insinuate that you ARE the most sustainable brand.
Preceding years winner material - symbol exceptions
Exceptions can be made for brands that has won the industry or Index ranking before. Therefor there is sometimes a wish for displaying several wins. The default headline wording is placed directly next to the symbols or in a clear context. The SBI winning symbols are always placed on white circle backgrounds. These exception SBI symbols are delivered on request, together with an additional fee. Please contact SB Insight for more information.
