1. Introduction

Formulating appropriate brand communication strategies is crucial for the survival of enterprises. Previous literature on brand communication strategies mainly falls into two categories, including studying brand influence from the perspective of brand positioning and image, and studying the influence of brand communication from the standpoint of channels [1,2]. However, existing literature still has limitations in exploring enterprise brand communication strategies: first, this process often regards enterprises as a single subject, thus ignoring the impact of national strategies and public opinion on brand communication strategies. In other words, studying enterprises' brand communication strategies requires a more comprehensive and multi-dimensional research perspective. Second, from the overall standpoint of enterprise brand communication, it tends to overlook that the formulation of brand communication strategies includes two interrelated paths: one is the adjustment of enterprise development regulations for internal management, echoing the establishment of long-term brand communication strategies; the other is the behavioral display for the public, attempting to build a brand image and form long-term public brand memory.

ESG was proposed by the United Nations Global Compact in 2004. ESG marketing, starting from the evaluation of environment, society, and governance, provides a new perspective for studying brand communication strategies. Brand communication strategies based on ESG broaden the horizons of existing research in two key aspects: first, they demonstrate a multi-faceted perspective combining enterprises, country, and social responsibilities; second, they can effectively distinguish the two paths of formulating internal and external brand communication strategies for enterprises.

Beijing Pop Mart Culture & Creative Co., Ltd. (referred to as Pop Mart) has constructed a unique brand communication strategy through ESG marketing. It has completed the transformation from a toy retailer to a leading trendy toy IP enterprise through the "IP + blind box" model, building a comprehensive operation platform for the entire trendy toy industry chain. In recent years, Pop Mart has continuously promoted ESG marketing strategies, highlighting unique advantages in enterprise regulation construction and public image building, which provide opportunities for the construction of brand communication strategies. Taking ESG marketing as an entry point, Pop Mart's internal and external brand communication strategies can be demonstrated.

2. A case study based on Pop Mart

2.1. Internal focus: policy adaptation and proactive social responsibility engagement

In terms of internal governance, Pop Mart carries out ESG marketing practices through three aspects: compliance management, organizational structure optimization, and evaluation system construction. Through these three paths, the enterprise's rules and regulations can better align with social norms, while demonstrating a high degree of adaptability to legal norms and initiative in assuming social responsibilities. It is worth noting that previous literatures often consider that ESG strategies contradict enterprises' development. Enterprises' short-term investment in environmental protection and social projects will increase costs [3]. Similarly, Erben Yavuz argued that ESG strategies, to a certain extent, disperse enterprise resources and hurt enterprise development [4]. However, Pop Mart's development process shows a different situation.

According to Pop Mart's "2024 Sustainable Development Report", the company's revenue reached 1.304 billion yuan in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 106.9%. ESG strategies and enterprise development are not contradictory, but have formed a cohesive force for promoting business growth. In response to national supervision, Pop Mart's ESG strategy has performed excellently. It has incorporated ESG-related risks such as climate change risks and employment and labor standard risks into a comprehensive risk management system, actively responding to the country's "dual carbon" strategic goals. In terms of social responsibility, Pop Mart has also shown a high degree of initiative and enthusiasm. It has established a three-tier governance structure consisting of the board of directors, the ESG management team, and the ESG coordination team, formulated sustainable development strategies and social responsibility system management measures, and fully integrated ESG concepts into enterprise management.

In addition, based on ESG marketing, Pop Mart has built a professional and systematic evaluation system. In the environmental dimension, it quantitatively evaluates indicators such as carbon emissions, energy consumption, and the sustainability of packaging materials in the product production process; in the social responsibility dimension, it focuses on factors such as employee rights protection, community participation, and consumer rights protection. Through such a comprehensive and detailed evaluation system, Pop Mart can not only accurately measure the effectiveness of its ESG work, but also adjust strategies in a timely manner based on evaluation results, continuously optimize brand communication methods, and further enhance the enterprise's social image and brand value.

2.2. Externally: the integration of the industrial chain and the establishment of the brand image

Pop Mart is committed to establishing a good brand image in the public eye, and this effort runs through all links of the upstream, midstream, and downstream of Pop Mart's industrial chain, and is expanded around the construction of the "IP" image. In the upstream of the industry, Pop Mart leverages IP cross-border marketing to expand the integration of ESG and brand communication. It incorporates the concept of biodiversity protection into the entire product development process, and infuses social value into products by the public welfare attributes of different IPs, thereby helping the public develop a clear understanding of public welfare initiatives. In the midstream, according to Pop Mart's 2021 Corporate Social Responsibility Report, by the end of December 2021, Pop Mart had cooperated with 54 domestic suppliers to jointly build a green supply chain. In the downstream, Pop Mart focuses on consumer reach and public participation, achieving brand premium through public welfare behaviors.

3. SWOT analysis based on ESG marketing strategy

3.1. Strength analysis

The ESG communication of brands has significant advantages in realizing enterprise structure optimization and brand premium. It makes the construction of brand image no longer just a marketing issue, but a social issue with more governance implications. As Turker pointed out, the marketing logic of ESG is closely related to enterprise development, national policies, social responsibilities, and environmental protection [5]. For enterprises themselves, the implementation of ESG strategies is closely related to enterprise efficiency. By practicing ESG concepts, enterprises continuously optimize their governance structures in development and innovation, and achieve green transformation and upgrading. When facing sudden external risks, ESG marketing can help enterprises establish stable cooperation and trust relationships with partners, thereby overcoming difficulties [6]. From the perspective of consumers, IPs that combine environmental protection and social issues are more favored by consumers, and this social topicality further promotes consumers' willingness to purchase products [7]. In the 2023 Consumer ESG Attitudes and Behaviors Report survey, which targets millennial and Gen Z consumers, more than 70% of respondents said they are more willing to buy brand products with clear ESG concepts. In other words, brand ESG communication is not only conducive to building a long-term good public welfare image of the brand, but also vital to enhancing consumers' favorability towards enterprises.

3.2. Weakness analysis

However, brand communication based on ESG also has limitations. Since ESG marketing involves multiple dimensions of environment, social responsibility, and government participation, it will lead to high operating costs in the short term, which may affect the profit performance of enterprises. In terms of supply chain management, although many enterprises cooperate with multiple suppliers, the uniformity of ESG standards under the OEM model is still difficult to guarantee [7]. In addition, some scholars have pointed out that the existing ESG evaluation system has the problem of inconsistent standards. Different evaluation agencies may have large differences in ESG ratings for the same enterprise, which makes it controversial to evaluate enterprise transformation and performance improvement through ESG. In other words, enterprises find it difficult to clarify their exact position and improvement direction in ESG practice [8].

3.3. Threat analysis

The inconsistency of evaluation standards and huge short-term investments make brand communication based on ESG risky. In a highly competitive market environment, considering costs and innovation, the homogenization of ESG marketing is serious. At the same time, enterprises have a high degree of freedom in disclosing positive and negative information related to ESG, which makes them prone to "greenwashing" controversies, thereby damaging brand reputation [9]. The outbreak of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill caused the stock price of BP, which was suspected of ESG greenwashing, to plummet, its market value evaporated rapidly, and it was boycotted. This further reflects the risk of transforming from green marketing to green safety crisis.

3.4. Opportunity analysis

Nevertheless, it is undeniable that brand communication based on ESG contains unique opportunities. As an intersection of the government, society, and enterprises, ESG marketing is conducive to the mutual promotion of enterprises and social responsibility. In this process, the public welfare image of the brand is easier to build, attracting more social attention. It is worth mentioning that relevant research on information disclosure shows that among different types of disclosures, governance disclosure has the strongest positive correlation, followed by social disclosure and environmental disclosure. This means that when enterprises flexibly use ESG strategies for brand communication, they are not only marketing subjects to a certain extent, but also governance subjects with broader social interaction, and the high freedom and concealment of enterprises in ESG information disclosure also provide certain possibilities for enterprises to expand their governance boundaries and seek more flexible governance freedom, even regulatory arbitrage space. ESG marketing also provides opportunities for enterprises' cross-border development and a broader market, facing a wider range of consumer groups. Some traditional manufacturing enterprises have carried out ESG practices by involving themselves in environmental protection technology fields, which not only improved their brand image but also opened up new business growth points [10].

It can be seen that focusing on the integration of the supply chain and the establishment of a positive corporate image, ESG marketing presents significant characteristics of high freedom and involvement of multiple subjects, with both advantages and disadvantages, opportunities, and challenges. On the one hand, the lack of a unified evaluation mechanism and the high freedom of ESG decision-making make enterprises' ESG brand communication highly subjective, which may bring difficulties for enterprises in going global and adapting to compliance reviews, and overly opaque information disclosure mechanisms may also reduce social trust. On the other hand, this high degree of freedom also endows enterprises with greater brand communication rights with a governance nature in ESG practice, which means that under ESG brand communication strategies, enterprises will be more closely connected with consumer groups, the country, and society. In other words, the construction of brand image will go beyond consumption scenarios and extend to broader social issue scenarios, thus having greater influence and memory. Therefore, how to correctly use the high autonomy brought by ESG strategies for effective brand communication has become a key issue for the sustainable development of enterprises.

4. Suggestions for brand communication based on ESG

4.1. Theoretical suggestion

At the theoretical level, to correctly use the ESG brand communication strategy, it is necessary to accurately position enterprises according to the high freedom characteristic of ESG brand communication. First, enterprises should expand their social attributes, actively transform marketing issues into larger social issues, and use the freedom of ESG strategies to actively build the social image of the brand. This involves the flexible grasp of ESG information disclosure. In other words, enterprises should use their advantages in information disclosure to selectively display a positive social image, thereby avoiding the risks of compliance issues and loss of consumer trust. In addition, the multi-dimensional attributes of ESG involving governance, environment, and society require broader consideration of the subject issues involved in brand communication. In previous academic literature, enterprises are often strong subjects in brand communication. However, under the construction of ESG brand strategies, enterprises are not only marketing subjects, but also have broader social issue attributes, thus transforming into a major subject participating in governance. In this case, brand communication is no longer within the scope of enterprises' problems and responsibilities, but is placed in a broader social governance system involving the country, enterprises, and the public. At this time, brand communication from a marketing perspective also needs to face broader social reviews, and enterprises, as participants in social topics, will assume broader responsibilities and face the problem of building long-term social brand images, requiring proper handling of public opinion and more comprehensive reviews from the government. Therefore, as new opinion leaders on social issues, enterprises should also accelerate their own transformation and upgrading, and promote the social agenda of brand communication.

4.2. Practical suggestion

At the practical level, to give play to the advantages of high freedom in ESG brand communication, enterprises need to actively participate in the construction of brand scenarios. Internally, enterprises need to complete the optimization and upgrading of their own structures to adapt to ESG strategies and realize the transformation from marketing subjects to social subjects. At the same time, enterprises should also establish a sound ESG evaluation mechanism, adapting to domestic and foreign reviews to demonstrate compliance. For the public, forming a connected and standardized supply chain is the key to improving production efficiency. In the Internet era, enterprises should be good at using social media to expand the communication volume of the brand's social topics and achieve a broader consumer reach. Let the brand scenario not be limited to physical stores, but form a deeper cultural scenario connection with society and consumers. Taking Pop Mart as an example, it attempts to construct a consumption space including five dimensions: subcultural style, cultural aesthetics, consumption space, leisure time, and social interaction [11].

In summary, based on the SWOT model, enterprises' ESG brand communication should focus on using the characteristic of flexible freedom in ESG communication, transforming the brand from a marketing subject to a social subject, attracting a broader potential group, and enhancing brand stickiness. In addition, when enterprises are placed at the intersection of social responsibilities and national policies, adapting to national review needs through reasonable information disclosure and avoiding the risk of greenwashing, and expanding their governance power may also become the foothold for enterprises' transformation and upgrading.

5. Conclusion

This study finds that, based on ESG marketing, enterprises have the advantage of high freedom in brand communication. Enterprises represented by Pop Mart actively assume social responsibilities while making compliance adjustments, and use the flexibility of communication to realize the transformation of the brand from a "marketing subject" to a "brand subject". In this process, enterprises optimize and upgrade their internal structures, and externally try to connect the upstream, midstream, and downstream of the industrial chain, establishing a long-term and positive brand image for the public.

Theoretically, this paper makes up for the gap of a single perspective in previous literature when examining brand communication. It connects the government, enterprises, and consumers through ESG marketing, discusses the multi-subject game and enterprise transformation in brand communication from multiple dimensions, and provides a fruitful research starting point for the research on the social transformation of brands. In addition, starting from the two paths of internal enterprise structure adjustment and external brand image construction, this paper subdivides brand communication into internal and external aspects, which is conducive to a clearer exploration of the targeted efforts made by enterprises and a more comprehensive evaluation of enterprises' ESG efforts.

At the same time, this study also has the following shortcomings: it does not further explore the complex non-linear relationship formed by the government, enterprises, and consumers under ESG brand communication. In addition, the concept of high autonomy is difficult to further explain the specific mechanism by which enterprises more freely navigate and avoid risks in brand communication. In the future, further research is needed on the motivation and influence mechanism of this high autonomy.