Sustainability marketing and brand engagement to create value: the moderating role of brand reputation

In industries such as the agri-food sector (which involves producing, processing and distributing agricultural products), where significant environmental damage can be created during the work process, acting sustainably and informing customers and stakeholders of these practices is imperative to create a competitive advantage among sustainably minded individuals. In the article by Nguyen et al. (2025), the authors examine how much consumer value sustainability marketing and brand engagement can generate. They also consider the moderating role of brand reputation and how it can affect the strength of perceived functional value and consumer engagement.Sustainability marketing refers to a promotional approach that highlights the brand’s environmental and social considerations and promotes it within its advertising, promoting products, services, or supply chains that are more sustainable or support the local economy or social well-being. This marketing style is characterized by transparency, ethics and highlights the benefits of sustainability to strengthen the brand in the minds of its consumers. By combining this with a high degree of brand engagement (involving and interacting with consumers to create connection, emotion and shared behavior) by increasing consumer engagement; when consumers are more engaged with a firm, they are more likely to recognize the firm’s sustainability initiatives and become more loyal to the firm.In their work, the authors analyze the Vietnamese agri-food industry, which is vital to the country’s economy and, due to its size, has moderate sustainability concerns due to its high impact and significance.They find that in the agri-food industry, firms can promote their sector-specific sustainability efforts, such as producing more organic foods, promoting a greener supply chain, recycling and other environmental initiatives to counter some of the damage created by the agricultural industry. This will benefit firms greatly in long-term development and performance. Firms in this industry should focus on highlighting their sustainability efforts in their engagement with consumers to enhance perceived value. Firms that align their core operations and capabilities with sustainability efforts and focus on high brand engagement can enhance the perceived value of the firm. Informed consumers are more likely to engage and create positive consumer responses such as loyalty, advocacy and engagement.Nguyen et al. (2025) find that strong sustainability marketing can enhance customer-perceived value and consumer engagement to support long-term sustainability goals and customer loyalty. In this formula, consumer-perceived value plays a moderating role within these two factors. Sustainability marketing influences how consumers perceive the value of products or the brand itself, which in turn directly affects how much consumers will engage with the brand. Without the perception of value, sustainability marketing will not translate into brand engagement.The factor of reputation can significantly affect the relationship described above. When a brand has a positive reputation, consumers are much more likely to engage with the brand and create customer-perceived value. A positive brand reputation is highly likely to improve consumer perception of brand product quality and engagement; however, the effect of this depends on the specific cultural or economic contexts where the brand is from. For example, in the Vietnamese agri-food industry, consumers prioritize functionality significantly due to the financial conditions of the market, which in turn affects how Vietnamese firms promote their products more significantly by their functionality. While Nguyen et al. (2025) find that brand reputation mediates how consumers react and respond to sustainability marketing, its effect will vary depending on whether firms are emphasizing the functional, emotional, or social value of the products and services they are promoting.Overall, a strong brand reputation will strengthen consumer trust and firm credibility, making consumers more open to understanding the perceived value of the firm. Not only does it create more opportunities for engagement with consumers, but consumers engaging with a reputable firm will have more perceived value from their interactions with the brand, further enforcing their involvement and loyalty. Brand reputation is thus an invaluable asset within sustainability marketing to maximize the positive impact and consumer perceptions of engagement and build trust.The research put forward in the article offers several practical implications:Sustainability marketing has become a key facet in competitive advantage, especially in industries that have a high social and environmental impact. Nguyen et al. (2025) find that sustainability marketing and brand engagement can generate a significant amount of consumer loyalty and trust in these industries, especially by firms with a positive brand reputation, to enhance consumer-perceived value.This review is based on “Does sustainability marketing in the Vietnamese agri-food sector foster consumer brand engagement? The moderating role of brand reputation” by Minh Hue Nguyen, An Khang Trinh, Kham Thanh Tran and Thy Hoang Minh Nguyen, published in the Journal of Global Responsibility.