How we turned fiction, fabric, and steel into billion-dollar stories, but forgot how to sell the one system that keeps us alive.

Apple created a fictional team for their film Formula 1 and raised $40 million in sponsorship before it even premiered.

The team doesn’t exist.

The drivers don’t exist.

But the story does.

We have learned to move billions through engaging fiction. Yet the living story that keeps us fed, housed, and safe barely gets a mention.

Meanwhile, the Amazon rainforest burns, with no marketing budget to generate reactions or support. 2

If Nature were a brand, it would be the most essential in human history.

And the least funded.

Why Nature is Invisible to Markets

Nature is, by any measure, the most undervalued asset class of the 21st century. It underpins at least half of global GDP, according to the WEF and in truth, all of it. Yet only about 2% of global climate finance goes directly into protecting or restoring it.

Advertising, by comparison, commands investment of over $1.04 trillion a year worldwide. We spend more selling sneakers, bottled water and oat milk than safeguarding the living systems that make any of them possible.

This is a mechanical imbalance. Markets allocate attention before they allocate capital. And Nature, despite being the foundation of every supply chain and the guarantor of every balance sheet, has none.

No brand strategy. No identity. No budget.

It remains invisible to capital flows.

Undervalued, underfunded, and under threat.

No Story, No Capital

When ecosystems go unfunded, economies follow.

In 2023, UK home insurance weather-related claims hit a record of £573 million, with named storms Babet, Ciarán and Debi alone costing insurers about £560 million. 40% of small businesses hit by severe flooding never reopened. It’s estimated that droughts will cost London £330 million a day in lost output during severe events. Each of these crises is not only environmental but also financial, eroding productivity, damaging assets, and straining public budgets.

Every flood, every drought, every failed harvest is a receipt for ignoring the natural systems that underpin our entire economy.

Healthy ecosystems generate cashflow through ecosystem services, lower insurance premiums, and stable supply chains. Neglected ones drain it.

Yet because these flows are externalised, they’re excluded from the market, buried in the footnotes of disaster reports rather than included in investment models.

Scarcity Creates Desire

Every valuable asset shares three traits: scarcity, utility, and cashflow. That’s the Rebalance Earth framework for turning Nature into an investible asset class.

Here we focus on the first two: scarcity and cashflow. That’s where the marketing challenge lies.

Scarcity drives value. When something feels irreplaceable, we act to protect it or acquire it. Yet we treat Nature’s real scarcity as invisible, while at the same time manufacturing artificial scarcity for handbags, NFTs, and seasonal coffee cups.

The irony is hard to miss.

We can persuade millions to buy a new phone for a slightly better camera, yet we still struggle to persuade enough people to protect the forests that give us the air we breathe.

We know how to make things desirable. We just haven’t yet solved it for the one system that sustains everything else.

As Don Draper might frame it:

❝The market doesn’t reward what’s important. It rewards what is interesting. Nature is important. But it’s not interesting yet. That’s not Nature’s fault. It just needs better packaging.❞

Nature is still treated as a bake sale project. A worthy cause, but underpowered.

Not strategic, investible or serious.

Attention Drives Value

Attention is the engine that drives demand.

If you want proof, look at these three brands over the last 12 months. They didn’t invent new technologies or solve major global problems. They made ordinary things desirable, and in the process, they built movements. People bought into a feeling long before they bought a product.

Stanley: From Thermos to Status Symbol

For decades, Stanley made rugged flasks for builders and campers. They were everywhere. Then came the Quencher, a pastel-coloured tumbler promoted through influencer drops and limited editions. Between 2019 and 2023, Stanley’s revenue grew from $70 million to $750 million. 10 Not because the flask changed, but because the story did.

A simple tumbler became a way for millions to feel part of something bigger, proof that belonging sells better than any product spec.

Scarcity and status drove explosive growth and demand.

If people can queue for mugs, they can queue to restore a wetland.

Jellycat: The Power of Whimsy

Jellycat sells plush avocados and smiling croissants, soft toys that have become luxury objects. Shoppers line up at Selfridges for them. Annual sales now exceed £200 million, up from under £20 million a decade ago.

Why?

Specificity and emotion. People buy delight and identity, not necessity. It made people smile. And once something creates an emotional response, it starts to matter.

They built an empire by being oddly specific, a little bit weird and irresistibly shareable.

That’s the power of storytelling. It transforms ordinary materials into cultural icons.

Apple’s APXGP: Investing in Fiction

Apple’s APXGP: Investing in Fiction

Apple’s $300 million Formula 1 film created a fictional racing team, APXGP, and turned it into a global brand even before the film was released. Sponsors paid tens of millions for a logo with no history. 12 Brands bought in. Fans wore their caps to actual races. People treated the logo like it had heritage.

Narrative preceded value.

If we can generate capital from a story, we can capitalise a river catchment.

Real sponsorship ($) for a fictional sports team

These are not stories about mugs, toys, or films.

They’re stories about attention, the currency Nature lacks.

Over $40 million was raised in brand deals and sponsorship for the fictional racing team, with real brands paying to be represented on the race suits and cars that appeared in the film.

Why this Matters Now

If we can make people care about fictional racing teams and fabric avocados, we can make them care about living rivers.

Nature doesn’t need a new logo. It needs a story people are proud to tell.

Something to make people say:

“I want to be part of that.”

“I want my name on that.”

“I want to protect that because it reflects who I am.”

That’s not branding as fluff, or ESG box ticking.

That’s branding as an alignment between attention and value. If you’re a brand leader reading this, ask yourself: what living system is your business most dependent on, and what story are you telling about it?

Why This Matters to Brands Like L’Oréal, Mars, Hermès, and Patagonia

It isn’t another philanthropic pitch. It’s a business strategy.

Every global brand already trades on Nature’s image.

L’Oréal’s products rely on healthy ecosystems.

Mars depends on clean water and fertile soil.

Hermès sells craftsmanship rooted in landscapes and legacy.

Patagonia shows what happens when values and Nature are inseparable.

The question is not whether your brand depends on Nature, but how visibly you acknowledge it.

Marketing Nature as the Ultimate Asset

If we can sell £30 plush avocados and create year-long waiting lists for tumblers, imagine what we could do for rivers, forests, wetlands if we applied the same tools of storytelling, status, and emotional design.

The problem isn’t lack of capital. It’s a lack of connection.

This November, the world will gather in Belém, Brazil, for COP30, in the heart of the Amazon, and the heart of the problem. Here’s how brands can start taking the lead on Nature:

1. Craft a Clear Identity

Stop hiding Nature dependencies behind ESG reports and compliance checklists.

Position it as critical infrastructure. A hero. A brand. Nature isn’t just a cause. It’s core to continuity, quality, and trust. Treat it like the asset it is and package it as the asset it could become.

2. Make It Specific and Relatable

Invest in restoration that has a name, a place, and a narrative. Fund stories, not just spreadsheets. Show us the endangered species. Let people track the restored river. Brand the impact.

We value what we can picture. We protect what we can name.

Right now, most Nature projects are out of sight, invisible.

Make them feel more personal, relatable, and shareable.

3. Create Scarcity and Visibility

Brands excel at creating scarcity from NFTs to seasonal coffee cups to limited-edition handbags. And yet, Nature’s very real scarcity goes unbranded and unseen.

We can change that. Create branded, time-limited releases tied to iconic species, ancient woodlands, and disappearing coastlines. Use product scarcity to highlight real-life scarcity and show leadership.

4. Embed Nature in Your Story

Focus on bringing Nature into the frame, not as a footnote, but as a main character.

Use your design, campaigns, ambassadors, and influencers to connect customers to the living systems behind the product. Make Nature central to your brand story.

The Challenge - What Will Your Brand’s Legacy Be?

The Italian-Swiss watchmaker Panerai has shown how heritage brands can modernise without losing identity. Its Submersible eLAB-ID™ is made from 98 per cent recycled materials and is tied to ocean restoration projects as well as partnering with explorer Mike Horn. 13 14

This isn’t guilt marketing. It’s continuity.

Craft + Conservation = Brand Longevity

*Panerai x UNESCO = Ocean Literacy Program*

Every brand depends on Nature somewhere in its supply chain, whether it’s soil, water, air, or biodiversity. The question is no longer whether you rely on Nature, but whether you’ll help fund its recovery. Invest in what your business relies on and ensure its continued resilience, as well as your own company’s.

Map the living systems your business depends on. Name them. Value them. Then act, not as philanthropy, but as strategy.

We’ve talked and deliberated enough. Now is the time for meaningful action.

Because when the ecosystems behind your brand collapse, your brand follows.

Closing Thought

Marketing has always been about stories that move people to act. We’ve told stories that sell everything but the one thing that matters most. Until now.

Nature has never been marketed as interesting, yet it’s the most extraordinary system on Earth. The greatest story never told.

Not that it needs a new story.

We just need to start telling it properly.

Note to the Reader

Some readers may find the premise of this piece, that we must “brand” and market Nature, unsettling. Shouldn’t Nature be valued for its own sake?

I agree. But I’m also a realist. This approach isn’t about commodifying Nature. It’s about protecting it at speed and scale by using the very tools that already shape capital, culture, and consumer attention.

Capital follows attention. Attention follows the story.

Nature doesn’t need to change. But our perspective, and our priorities, must.

The World’s Greatest Brand Has No Marketing Budget