Anthesis Kicks Off 2024 With Brand Strategy And Communications M&A Deal With Revolt

Anthesis Kicks Off 2024 With Brand Strategy And Communications M&A Deal With Revolt

Anthesis, a pure-play global sustainability consulting firm, has announced its merger with Revolt, a brand strategy and communications agency. The merger has brought together Anthesis’s 1,300-strong group of sustainability professionals with Revolt’s 70+ strategists to bake ESG and sustainability strategy and impact into meaningful communications and branding.

Revolt is a London-headquartered global consultancy, which has been supporting businesses such as ABInBev, Diageo and L’Oréal to deliver on sustainability purpose over the last seven years. The firm has delivered engagements to C-Suite stakeholders across a range of sustainability topic areas, including climate and DEI. The capabilities that Revolt possesses help to integrate sustainability strategy with marketing, corporate affairs, and ultimately the brand image and messaging that enters the public domain.

Over the last decade, Anthesis’s growth strategy has relied on a steady string of M&A activity to help build capabilities in line with client needs and market demand. Notable 2023 deals included Wallbrook – an anti-corruption, investigations and dispute resolution advisory firm – and Ndevr Environmental – a sustainability advisory firm in APAC – among others. While these deals have strengthened the Anthesis sustainability services portfolio, the integration with Revolt will continue another trend, which kicked off a few years ago: building brand, communication and innovation support into the Anthesis sustainability consulting services. Examples of other creative and innovation agencies that have been brought into the Anthesis fold encompass Charlescannon, GoodBrand and Progressive.

Why is the communications element of sustainability strategy increasingly important?
In an environment of mounting climate litigation – and particular action against greenwashing and product misrepresentation – brands need clear and accurate messaging. ESG regulation is set to grow in 2024, namely with the start of CSRD reporting, and alongside impending product-related requirements like the EU Green Claims Directive, this means that the space for creative marketing faux-pas is shrinking. Thus, a service offering that is able to build the sustainability strategy of an organization, provide the roadmap for its implementation and operationalization, and then seamlessly tie in how the plan is disseminated, shared and communicated with customers and broader stakeholders, is increasingly valuable. The end-to-end service is likely to provide greater continuity from sustainability strategy ideation to brand and image distribution, without losing credibility or creativity.

The upcoming Verdantix Green Quadrant for ESG and sustainability service providers will provide greater information on Anthesis’s offerings, among other consulting firms. Stay tuned to find out more.