You are Camille Auvray, chief marketing officer of Botané, a natural personal-care brand from Lyon. The board wants 18% more revenue in twelve months from a new hair-care line, and its flagship claim, "Climate Positive", rests on a reforestation programme that is real but not yet verified by anyone outside. By the second week of April you must decide what the campaign does with it.
The situation
Botané began in 2009 as a soap stall at a Lyon market. Today it bills €78 million through pharmacies, organic shops and its own website, with 240 employees and a 9% EBIT margin, thinner than conventional rivals' because it reinvests in its B Corp status, in reforestation and in a supply chain traceable to 92% of its sources. By its own tracking, 71% of customers buy it "because of what it stands for", and that conviction is what lets it charge roughly 25% more than the competition.
On 14 March the board approved the campaign: +18% revenue, about €14 million, on a fixed budget of €3.2 million, eight weeks to launch and the brand's first entry into supermarket chains. The target is already wired into the leadership bonus pool, and a growth investor whose own position depends on it sits on the board.
That same week, new European and French rules on environmental claims tightened, and a competitor was fined €2 million for an unsubstantiated "carbon neutral". The maximum possible fine is 80% of campaign spend: up to €2.56 million. A group that tests brands' claims has already said it will examine Botané's within 72 hours of the first advertisement.
Of the seven claims drafted, legal has flagged three. Two, "100% natural" and "plastic-free", have a wording problem: the refill caps are 6% fossil plastic. The third is the one the line is named after. The forest exists; the outside auditor's certificate does not, yet.