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Foreword by Mikael Selling
CEO and Founder of Opticom
It’s been a busy quarter here, not least because we are seeing increased demand for our services when it comes to sustainability issues. Clearly, all things green, and listening to what consumers as well as direct customers are saying and thinking about sustainability, is key - now more than ever.
Among our recent work was a comprehensive study of 10,000 European consumers across 10 countries for Skogsindustrierna, the Swedish forest association. You can read my top take-aways in more detail here, but very briefly: Consumers care deeply about climate change, they support the transition to a green economy, and they want to see renewable products replace fossil-based. That’s the good news.
Rather more challenging is the news that they don’t want to pay for more sustainable alternatives, especially during times of economic hardship. And despite improved efforts from forest product companies to communicate the potential and green credentials of the sector, consumer understanding of working forests is still very low.
Consumers strongly support replacing fossil-based products with more sustainable alternatives, but there’s a paradox here. While they would like to see everything from textiles and plastics to cement and fuels replaced with renewable sources, a staggering 65% of the people we spoke to believe that Europe’s forests have shrunk significantly or somewhat in the last 10 years (the opposite is true). Where will the raw material for their green wish-list come from if not the forest? This paradox needs to be addressed, and sooner rather later.
Consumers need to realise that the forest products sector is growing not shrinking the forest. They also need to understand carbon capture and storage – most believe a tree stops storing carbon the minute it is felled, unaware that carbon continues to be locked into a wood product.
This knowledge gap is not just an industry issue: the sector’s branding problem affects the entire value chain, from printers and fashion houses to construction companies and retailers. Everyone in this substantial value chain shares both challenge and opportunity here, and all need to start working together to communicate the unique potential of the forest products industry when it comes to green credentials. Consumers have spoken. Now it’s time to work together and listen to what they’re saying, the sooner the better.
Also in this issue, two testimonials on the importance of understanding the bigger picture. Read why Södra Bioproducts and SCA both chose Opticom recently to help them make better business decisions.
Contact me today
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Consumers have spoken. Time to listen
Green Insights Europe 2024 is an in-depth study of more than 10,000 European consumers.
Skogsindustrierna, the Swedish Forest Industries Federation, commissioned Opticom to examine their perceptions on climate, purchases, carbon capture and forest resources.
Read the key highlights here
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Södra picks Opticom to survey solid bioproducts customers
Swedish forest products group Södra has been working with Opticom for some 20 years to track customer satisfaction for its pulp products. Now its Bioproducts team has added us to its toolbox, conducting the company’s first in-depth survey of its growing solid bioproducts customer base.
Read why this is crucial for their success
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SCA: “It’s easy to turn to Opticom”
Don’t take our word for it. That’s the view from SCA Pulp’s Sales Director for Italy and Austria, Marcus Hellberg, who recently hosted a workshop event with us to review the results of their latest in-depth customer study with Opticom.
“SCA has worked with Opticom on a range of projects for many years,” Hellberg explains. “It’s an easy choice because their experience in the forest products sector is unrivalled. They use the utmost discretion, of course, but their wealth of knowledge built up over 35 years provides a very useful benchmarking picture of the industry as a whole."
Read the full story here
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| Services |
Our mission is to help our clients make better business decisions by transforming data and knowledge into strategic advice and concrete action plans.
We offer a unique portfolio of consulting services with different scope and content but all focusing on creating value:
- Customer research
- Brand building
- Brand tracking
- Stakeholder management
- Future Lab
- Tailor-made research
- Workshops
- Market segmentation
- Sustainability Insights
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