Program Awareness: The Multiplier Most Brands Are Missing

Across four years of SRS data and three markets, one finding appears with enough consistency to be called a structural feature of how sustainability perception works.

Consumers who are aware of a brand’s specific ESG programs rate that brand dramatically higher than consumers who are not aware of any programs.

The most precisely quantified example is Cadbury in Australia. In an SRS driver analysis conducted with Mondelez, consumers were asked about their awareness of six key ESG programs run locally and globally by Cadbury. The result: consumers aware of at least one program rated Cadbury’s SRS 94% higher than consumers who were not aware of any. Ninety-four percent. On the same brand. In the same data collection.

This is not a Cadbury-specific finding. The pattern shows up across brands in the data set. Brands with active, funded, well-designed ESG programs that have not communicated those programs specifically to consumers at scale consistently underperform their investment. The gap between what they are doing and what consumers understand them to be doing is the lost value.

The practical consequence: for most brands with active sustainability programs, the highest-return next investment is not more program depth. It is better program disclosure.

The communications requirement has three components. First, specificity: not “we are committed to sustainability” but “we have reduced scope 1 and 2 emissions by 40% since 2019 and the data is available at [link].” Second, channel alignment: placing the specific disclosure in the channels consumers say they prefer (packaging first, then owned digital, then news and media). Third, repetition over time: awareness is not built from a single campaign, it accumulates from consistent, specific communication across multiple touchpoints over multiple periods.

The 94% multiplier is the upper bound. Most brands will see a smaller effect depending on category dynamics, existing brand awareness, and the credibility of the programs being communicated. But the direction is universal.

Every point of SRS improvement from better program disclosure is a point earned from existing investment. It does not require new programs. It requires making existing ones legible.