The Discourse Analysis of Brands’ Green Sustainable Development Campaigns

As a global concern, sustainability issues require system-level consideration that engages businesses and organizations worldwide. An increasing interest of consumers and investors in brands’ commitment to a sustainable future makes companies seek the tools for demonstrating it. The linguistic analysis of this language data reveals the green values brands adhere to. The authors selected Nissan, Trainline, and Nike based on the criteria of having a sustainability strategy and differing approaches in marketing. The linguistic data for analysis (e.g., sustainability reports, slogans, mottos, and songs) was taken from the brands’ official websites and considered from the content point of view. The most frequent phrases and keywords undergo semantic analysis to identify the core values of each brand’s sustainability strategy. This paper identified sets of values such as innovation, eco-friendliness, commitment, and empowerment embedded in the brands’ messaging and conveyed to consumers. This means that loyal customers are made aware of the brand’s sustainability strategy, while at the same time, the brand educates and attracts new customers by promoting a green agenda.