‘Endless brand growth on a finite planet is a suicide pact’: Maren Costa

At a marketing conference chockful of reminders about customer-centricity, leveraging AI to its fullest, and maximising ROI, it’s helpful to be reminded of the cost of it all. To be specific, the climate and labour-related cost of it all. In a powerful keynote session to kick off 2025’s Campaign360, climate justice leader Maren Costa delivered an urgent message to marketers in the room: The ethical treatment of workers, sustainability, and a livable future are fundamentally incompatible with business as usual.

Costa began her presentation detailing her incredible journey as Amazon’s former principal UX designer to becoming a climate activist. While working at the tech giant, she discovered that the company was complicit towards the climate while failing to be transparent to its staff and consumers. This spurred her to co-create Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ) with colleague Emily Cunningham, which eventually led to her firing from the company and her current work around climate activism.

The crux of Costa’s speech was that corporations and brands cannot continue to operate the way they do right now without eventual climate repercussions in the near future.

“We are driving consumption harder than ever while hiding the consequences that are now mostly landed on the global south. To our collective but unequal detriment, social media and AI have captured the world's attention not to enlighten us, but to sell more. We're not happier, we're not more connected, we're just consumed with more stuff,” said Costa.

Part of what leads to this culture is how brand success is measured. We often look at factors such as ROI and business growth, often ignoring the climate destruction that overconsumption might leave in the wake.

“Endless growth on a finite planet isn't a success, it's a suicide pact,” Costa said.

However, consumers are slowly waking up to the fact that the brands they love must evolve with the needs and repairment of the planet. Factors such as circularity, ethical leadership, and transparency are high on the agenda for the discerning, modern consumer.

Costa shared that 90% of millennials, Gen Z and alpha consumers will make purchase decisions based on their causes, with 81% of consumers under 30 believing that brands are an essential part of the solution for the global challenges we face. Meanwhile, 85% of them want to share ideas to co-create solutions, and 93% of employees under 30 agree that as their employers become more socially and environmentally responsible, they become more motivated in their roles.

To move forward, she urges brands and individuals to take charge in this cause rather than waiting around for governments to enact change.

“Governance is moving too slowly and when they fail to lead, the burden and opportunity falls to our business,” Costa said. “Don't wait for the inevitable carbon taxes, ban on plastic bags or producer responsibility regulations. Lead before your course; that's how reputations are built and how civilisations are staked.”

Costa was also critical of brands’ inability so far to leverage tech to make a noticeable impact on their supply chains, processes, and general impact on the planet. However, she calls technology a tool, not a saviour.

“Tech reflects the values of the systems and people who deploy it, and under our current global systems of capitalism, colonialism, and supremacy, tech is largely used to maximise profits, concentrate power and increase [profits] without changing the underlying systems of power holders,” she said. “Think about it: we have all the technology we need to stop the climate crisis for decades, and yet, here we are. Use your superpowers for a bit. You are innovators and storytellers who shape and influence behaviour. Make equity, sustainability, and ‘consuming less while living more’ aspirational.”

In practical terms, this could mean reallocating budgets and redefining metrics to support and track long-term viability, circularity and trust; challenging the CEO and the board while reminding them that business as usual has no future; and building and supporting employee advocacy. Of course, from a branding perspective, this could also mean shifting brand messaging and advocating against overconsumption.

Costa ends with the question: “Do you want to be the brand partying on the top deck of the Titanic, maximising quarterly profits and chasing endless growth, only to lose it all in the crash? Or do you want to be the brand who looks the future in the face, takes it all in, makes a plan, turns the ship and is leading [its staff and consumers] to the next horizon? Every crisis is an opportunity to lead. Let this be your turning point.”

For more coverage on Campaign 360, read our highlights.