Marketing a sustainable beauty, fashion, tourism or wellbeing brand: Interview with Sustainability Marketing Expert Nikki Mattei

When Sustainability Marketing Expert Nikki Mattei suffered a bout of food poisoning on her honeymoon, little did she know the impact it would have on her career. Often, we hear about health challenges negatively impacting a career. But in Nikki’s case, her search for a cure not only transformed her life but also shaped her career. Today, she is dedicated to marketing sustainable beauty, fashion, tourism, wellbeing and live events, helping sustainable businesses connect with customers and communicate their impact authentically, as she tells me in this interview.

The honeymoon bout of food poisoning triggered Crohn’s Disease, a supposedly incurable illness. Faced with the usual treatment route of a cocktail of pills for life, Nikki took matters into her own hands and carried out her own research. In doing so, she discovered just how many chemicals we are exposed to daily — in our food, personal care products, and even the clothes we wear, along with their health impacts.

As an organic lifestyle became second nature, she quickly realised that what was better for her health was also better for the natural world and the health of the planet. Today, she happily says, ‘I used to have Crohn’s Disease’, having been medication-free for over 15 years.

From personal health to planetary health

In 2007, Nikki’s newfound knowledge led her to set up a breast health education business to give workplace talks highlighting the importance of a healthy diet, exercise, stress management, and avoiding hormone-disrupting chemicals — simple concepts which are much better understood today. She then partnered with Breast Cancer UK to launch and run their ambassador programme.

Nikki then joined Fashion Revolution, Orsola de Castro’s global organisation that campaigns for meaningful change in the fashion industry. Fighting for workers’ rights and exposing social impacts deepened her understanding of how interlinked environmental and social issues can be.

More recently, Nikki ran a holiday villa rental in the Italian region of Le Marche (where I lived as a student!). This phase brought new opportunities to put her climate change knowledge into practice, as she learned to calculate a business carbon footprint, install renewable energy, create a climate action plan and explore the pros and cons of carbon offsetting. She also championed local businesses, choosing to use organic cleaning and personal care products.

Marketing with intention

For the past 15 years, Nikki has worked as a sustainability marketing expert with ethical businesses and nonprofits across fashion, tourism, beauty, wellbeing and live events. Often partnering with start-ups and scale-ups, she helps brands define their purpose, gain clarity on their target audiences, and develop multi-channel marketing strategies with content that truly resonates with their audience. In doing so, she empowers businesses to get clear on their unique selling points — understanding what makes them different, recognising their audience’s pain points and identifying their own aspirations. Often, being purpose-led provides that answer in part.

As a sustainability marketing consultant, the biggest challenge Nikki finds many businesses face is not knowing how to communicate their sustainability efforts — something Sustainability Communication Expert Virginia Cinquemani also talked about in her interview. Nikki says, ‘I help them to understand that sustainability is not an add-on to their marketing plan. It should be an integral part of it, as buyers and employees expect businesses to do the right thing’. However, this doesn’t mean the word ‘sustainability’ should be used at any opportunity, especially when speaking to consumers.

Another challenge is that many purpose-driven businesses lack a detailed marketing strategy and consequently struggle to communicate authentically. In fact, many businesses don’t even have a marketing plan!

With so many (often inexpensive) tools available today, it can be tempting to jump in and give something a try without a clear plan, leading to confusion and lost opportunities. Although it’s important to be outward-looking, this approach can easily set a business on the wrong path. Businesses need to have the courage to try things and then adapt as needed in such a fast-paced world.

And what are her views on fear-based marketing? ‘Fear is not a great motivator anymore, particularly in relation to climate change’, she says. ‘I prefer to inspire and embed loyalty into audiences through sharing content that appeals to people’s emotions and their best selves.’

Sustainability is an opportunity, not a burden

For Nikki, one of the biggest mistakes is viewing sustainability as separate from business strategy and marketing. Fortunately, many companies now recognise that embracing sustainability in its entirety — protecting the natural world and respecting people in entire value chains — will make them stronger. Businesses that invest in this process will reap the long-term benefits, including a stronger reputation, better risk management and energy efficiency savings.

If you’re a business looking to take environmental action, you should ‘see sustainability as an opportunity, not a burden.’ Adopting more sustainable packaging or telling responsible sourcing stories will only make your brand more credible.

Start by identifying your current brand personality and biggest environmental impact. For example, if you’re a beauty brand, plastic-free packaging should be a given. But why not take it further with refill programmes and incentives for sustainable behaviour?

Nikki also recommends carbon footprint calculators like Compare Your Footprint, which she’s an ambassador for, to understand your impact and identify quick wins. In the meantime, you can also partner with a charity aligned with your brand values.

An organic bathroom cabinet

After Nikki’s organic journey, I couldn’t wait to hear what’s in her bathroom cabinet. She’s a loyal fan of Odylique — a small, certified organic beauty brand with transparent, easy-to-understand labels, which I’ve only recently discovered myself. As an avid label-reader, she appreciates the plain English ingredient list — as do I!

However, she feels we need to shift our focus from packaging back to the ingredients themselves. ‘Certifications help a lot and there are apps that can help to identify the safety of beauty products.’ But ultimately, Nikki prefers to trust her own knowledge.

Want to connect with Sustainability Marketing Expert Nikki Mattei and learn more about how you can build your marketing strategy around sustainability? Check out her website and follow her on LinkedIn for more insights, tips, and inspiration.

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