🌍 What does it take to build a climate-conscious brand that drives real impact? In this special episode of Tangelic Talks, co-hosts Victoria Cornelio and Jensen Cummings sit down with Toufiq Tonoy, Tangelic’s Marketing & Communications Manager, to break down the art of green sector marketing and climate justice storytelling.
🎯 From emotional storytelling and global campaign strategy to Earth Day lessons and fighting greenwashing—Toufiq reveals what it really takes to craft messages that inspire action, not just awareness.
🎙️ What You’ll Learn:
📢 Toufiq’s journey from finance to climate marketing
đź’ˇ How Tangelic builds powerful, story-driven green campaigns
🌱 Using data + emotion to connect with global audiences
⚡ Real tips for avoiding greenwashing in climate messaging
🌍 Behind-the-scenes of a successful Earth Day campaign
đź’¬ How do you balance authenticity, emotion, and data in storytelling? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!
👇 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the bell so you don’t miss the next episode of #TangelicTalks!
#GreenMarketing #ClimateStorytelling #ClimateJustice #SustainableMarketing #EarthDayCampaign #AuthenticBranding #ImpactMarketing #CleanEnergyCampaigns #ClimateCommunicator #EthicalMarketing #DigitalMarketing
🎯 From emotional storytelling and global campaign strategy to Earth Day lessons and fighting greenwashing—Toufiq reveals what it really takes to craft messages that inspire action, not just awareness.
🎙️ What You’ll Learn:
📢 Toufiq’s journey from finance to climate marketing
đź’ˇ How Tangelic builds powerful, story-driven green campaigns
🌱 Using data + emotion to connect with global audiences
⚡ Real tips for avoiding greenwashing in climate messaging
🌍 Behind-the-scenes of a successful Earth Day campaign
đź’¬ How do you balance authenticity, emotion, and data in storytelling? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!
👇 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the bell so you don’t miss the next episode of #TangelicTalks!
#GreenMarketing #ClimateStorytelling #ClimateJustice #SustainableMarketing #EarthDayCampaign #AuthenticBranding #ImpactMarketing #CleanEnergyCampaigns #ClimateCommunicator #EthicalMarketing #DigitalMarketing
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đź“š
LearningTranscript
00:00Thirdly, create a warm and engaging mechanism for your podcast and simply tell me as a suggestion that combines an upbeat and abiding spirit of humanity by grow music.
00:10Welcome to Tangelic Talks, your go-to podcast from Tangelic, where we dive into the vibrant world of clean energy development, sustainability, and climate change in Africa.
00:20We bring you inspiring stories, insightful discussions, and groundbreaking innovations from the continent making waves in the global community.
00:28Tune in and join the conversation toward a brighter, greener future. Let's get started.
00:37Welcome to Tangelic Talks, a podcast at the intersection of energy, equity, and empowerment with your co-hosts, Victoria Cornelio and myself, Jensen Cummings.
00:46Exciting episode today. In today's episode, we're discussing marketing for green sector and climate justice storytelling with our guest, Tofiq, who is our own communications and marketing manager here at Tangelic.
00:58Tofiq's expertise spans across content production, distribution, SEO, digital advertising, social media, e-commerce, pay-per-click ads, and more.
01:07And Tofiq is really the force behind Tangelic Talks, along with Nosy, that makes everything go from our YouTube videos to our audio episodes on Spotify to blog posts, our social media presence.
01:18So, we really are excited to have you on, Tofiq. Thanks for being here.
01:23Welcome.
01:24Thank you, Jensen and Victoria. I'm really happy to be here. And it's a lot, you said, Jensen.
01:34Yes. Yes. And this is your first time being on the podcast. So, we have this type of conversation all the time. Every single week, we're meeting with the Tangelic team.
01:44We're meeting with the podcast team. Then we have an Earth Day campaign called the Impact Engineers. We're meeting on that team.
01:49So, we get to have these conversations all the time. And we wanted to bring this conversation, this think tank, to the forefront, to our audience, to our guests, to allow people to understand what it takes to bring your message and your story to life through media, through marketing, through advertising.
02:06So, we're going to share that a little bit. And as I said, we have an Earth Day campaign dropping right now. So, that's a great example that we might touch on a few times throughout this conversation.
02:16But I want to start with your background a little bit. Your background is in finance and human resources. And now you're making a shift into kind of the green energy sector.
02:24So, I was interested, like, what inspired that transition? What made you want to get into a very complicated, very, very interesting and exciting sector in the green sector? But it's complicated, it's challenging, and you jumped right into it. So, what inspired you to do that?
02:40Okay. So, it was like a roller coaster to me. And in my academic year, I started accounting and finance. Then I work in a project management sector.
02:54Okay. So, it is all about interior project, hotel project. We do, like, five-star and four-star hotels in Bangladesh. And then I shifted into digital project management. So, program management. Then I shifted into this marketing and strategy sector. Then green energy and green marketing sector. So, it's a roller coaster to me.
03:23So, yeah, obviously, that seems like a natural progression. Of course, you're going to go from finance and accounting into the green sector and marketing. It makes sense.
03:32So, it is like that when I'm working for ISO limited. They are, like, all of the pioneer interior project management in Bangladesh. So, I work as a project coordinator over there.
03:49So, what is happening over there? I work with different hotel and industry. They always ask for, like, green certification and other certifications. So, always I'm curious. What was those? And why this is important to them?
04:06Okay. Okay. Then I start researching on them. Then I get more interested on them. Then I shifted into digital project management. I work with, like, some green energy consultant.
04:20And there, I learned about a lot of things regarding this green energy, different tools, different items, and how we can proceed with it. How we can progress with it. So, a lot of things I learned from there.
04:39Then I came to Transelic. So, I have a big background over there. Then I come to Transelic. And Transelic teach me a lot. I mean, a ton. So, Justin and Justin, great leader. They support me, like, everything.
04:58And they have, like, they have all the solutions because of their experience in this industry, in this sector. So, yes, now I'm working for Transelic.
05:13He's referring to our Justins. Justin Dargan, Justin Williams, the two leaders, our president of the board and founder. And then also, Justin Williams, who's our executive director. And they are really the Justins, the Jays, that make this whole thing go. So, we appreciate their leadership.
05:32Victoria, jump in here. I'm curious what your first question is for Tophique.
05:35That's a natural progression for you. Like, almost going up the ladder to the green sector. And you sort of explained how you were curious about it. But was there a pivotal moment where you said, okay, I'm doing it. This is where I pivot my career into green marketing, basically.
05:53Yes. Actually, that moment was like, I want to share a case study. Like, when I'm working with that interior projects. So, they ask for green certification. And the media chain do not, like, give clearance without that certification.
06:15And that moment. And that moment, why this is so important. And why this is happening. And I went to China. I went, I discussed with that organization, like, actually, what is happening? What is your procedure?
06:30And I got to run a diagram. And I was trying to make this period of time that I really liked it. And this is my next interview. And I wanted to ask. What are you doing?
06:41And I wanted to ask the question about my career. And the question about my career. And I want to ask the question, what do you think about my career?
06:45And when you're questioning, how do you do this? And if that's the best way I wanted to answer. And how do you think about it?
06:49And how did you think about this now? And how do you think about it?
06:51So, are you, I wanted to ask the question about your career?
06:53And then I worked with that other third party company who do inspection and test of those products. Then we tested the docu, we tested that material, then we bring the document to Maryart, then they gave us like clearance. Okay, you can use it.
06:53This is a pivotal moment that pushed me toward this and pushed me to know more about it.
07:02Yeah, and now that you're fully immersed into it, I want to know from your perspective, why do you think it's important, useful, whatever word we want to put in there, to have this kind of knowledge about marketing to bring into the concrete sector?
07:20How does it help us sort of amplify messages and advocate for the changes we want to see in terms of sustainability?
07:28Okay. First thing first, I hear this in some other podcasts, like we do not have multiple arts, so we have only one.
07:40Okay. So we have to preserve it and it should be our always like effort. We have to make it better.
07:50This is one of the main concern from my side.
07:55And other thing, the marketing thing is like, basically before coming to Transelic, I worked with many different organizations and see, I mean, I worked with some e-commerce as well.
08:07And that they want to be like, go green. And sometime in customer perspective, they want green product.
08:15Like they want sustainable product. They want some product like that have zero carbon emission or like, for example, plastic bottle versus aluminum bottle.
08:29So this thing is pushing me to think about this, like, what can I do with this marketing? What can I do with this type of thing? And how can I improve it?
08:43Okay. So actually so many things compile as me today now.
08:49Yeah, that makes sense. And the climate crisis is such a, at least for me, right? I won't speak for you guys, a quite emotional topic.
08:58It's very heavy. And when it comes to communications, we want to present a voice that explains that, you know, dread that some of us feel, but also keep it light and engaging.
09:11So how do you balance that when it comes to crafting a message that is both factually accurate, but also compelling?
09:19Okay. So regarding storytelling is must because an individual person connect with the story and backing that with fact is must because when someone engaged with that story,
09:37if he is going to see if he is going to take it or not, it will be based on that fact.
09:43Okay. So we need credible data and good story. So after combining them, we present to our audience.
09:51And from there, we look at their like action, for example, like if we compile a story about like solar energy in Ghana.
10:04Okay. So for example, we are installed a small solar panel on their house.
10:10And, uh, we want to share that, like, they have this much less energy consumption.
10:18And that, uh, maybe that child give have that much like more educational time at night and they have, uh, mitigate this security problem.
10:34So like this, we're compiling the story and connect with our people or our stakeholder.
10:42So it's all about right thing, credible fact, and good storytelling.
10:48Yeah. And you're specifically talking about the sunrise spectrum initiative that we're doing with green for change Ghana out there in Ghana.
10:54And so what we're talking about doing is, is putting solar panels on top of, uh, individual domiciles, individual homes to be able to power potentially electricity for the kids to be able to stay up later and not have to just read by candlelight, as well as solar electric cookware.
11:13So that they're able to produce their traditional dishes in that way.
11:18So, right. We have meaningful, compelling kids being able to stay up later and be able to study and expand their educational time, being able to have cookware that they're not using potentially harmful fuels, like, like dried animal dung that's toxic to the lungs.
11:32So going to electric cookware. So there's an emotional pull and there's clearly a factual pull as well for you.
11:39So I think that's interesting. I want to talk about organizing kind of a campaign and storytelling and being able to slot things in, right?
11:47Because we have, let's say for any organization out there, you have a meaningful story, you're making an impact and you have the data, the science, the facts behind you to back the work that you're doing.
11:57So you have those three things. And there's many organizations that do most struggle desperately to get anybody to care, to get anybody to pay attention.
12:07And so I want to talk about that, how you bring that to life. And so I mentioned the Earth Day campaign.
12:12I think it's an opportunity for us to talk about how we've organized that, how you've kind of taken us and gotten us onto a calendar and said, here's when we're going to post and here's what time and here's what platforms.
12:23Here's the copy. Here's the hashtags. You're really detailed and organized in that way. Here's the message we're trying to get across.
12:30So when you're thinking about starting a campaign for anybody out there who's starting a campaign, be it crowdfunding, be it awareness building, be it brand building.
12:41Where do you start for you when you're thinking about starting a messaging marketing media campaign? Where do you start?
12:48Okay. Let's discuss about this other campaign. Okay. So what we are doing it in background, let's discuss about it. So everyone will get clear.
13:01So in our campaign, what we will do at very initial stage, we will set our goal.
13:10Okay. We set our goal and then we set some objective as well. Like we are doing this, this and this and, and then some little bit of messages, some little bit of slogans.
13:23So this period is like brainstorming period. Then we move to our storyboard, then different audience compile with different story.
13:36Like some audience connect to it, like how much electricity they can save. Some audience connected is like how much carbon he can save or it can save.
13:50Or some audience is like they look into that emotional factors, like how is going on over there, like my life versus their life, this emotional side.
14:04So we consider all of this. And then we compile our story. And after compiling the story, we just make a small, small part, but not that small.
14:18That like, like if someone miss one or two posts, he have that impression. We miss a lot. Not like that. Like we, we want to share a short compiling story.
14:31And, uh, behind that, there is a big story. Okay. So like this, we frame our storyboard and, uh, with our historical data in our social media, we like schedule our posts.
14:49Like this post this day, this time works better. This, this type of post this time works better.
14:56So we organize that. And regarding the hashtag and, uh, um, keywords, we look into like different, we work with different tools and see how it works in same time in previous years.
15:14And, uh, and, uh, hopefully it will work in this year. Not only that within, within this keywords story.
15:24And, um, and also we will do some visual representation as well, like some shorts video, some like picture, some castle, some like document.
15:37So we, we, we make it. And also the, uh, blogs for website, if someone want to visit translate website, they, they gather some knowledge about this art day.
15:50So, so I want to name, name those like stars behind it.
15:57Like Jensen is our story. Like Jensen is our storyteller. Like he kept all of the story. Like nosy. He is, she is like a wizard in video editing and image making.
16:12So, so, and, um, Victoria is our writer. She writes blogs and she is cohost in like, in translate talks.
16:24So she is a star and Amber Matthew. Overall, we are a impact engineers.
16:32Yeah. I love that. And there's so much that goes into it because like you said, when you see the final product, there's all this behind the scenes that goes into it.
16:43And, you know, I can imagine for you being our lead in comms, it's quite intense balancing all these things.
16:51So can you give people advice on how you prioritize what you want to work on, but also how do you keep your eye on the ball when it comes to messaging and that story that you're trying to tell when all these things are coming at you from every direction?
17:05Okay. I have a very small philosophy. Like how can you eat an elephant? Okay. One bite at a time, small step. So when you like, it is a process, like start with this thing, then do this thing, then do this, this thing.
17:23So you have to like manage your time. You should know your time management and the story just be authentic, be transparent and back with back to it data.
17:37So your story is compiling, but you are not data accurate. So it's a problem. It's not good for your brand. Regarding that storytelling, just set your goal first.
17:52And then your objectives, then make some different, different stories. What is going on with you, then shortlisted them, then again, expand them.
18:06And with your already historical data, you can easily post. And if you are like, you are in very initial states, just do some research, look into some credible blogs.
18:19So you will have some idea, like this type of post is when perform better. Like if it is a website blog, if it's a like YouTube video, or if it's like Instagram story, Instagram post.
18:37So just look at them. And one more thing, you do not push yourself too hard, like be genuine. If people want to just look at your process, not like where you go.
18:53Go. Okay, they want to know your journey. So share your journey, whatever it is.
19:01Hmm, that's really great. Two things come to mind from what you're talking about. One with just the handling the workload. I'll share with people specifically something we, we were maybe too ambitious at first with how much we thought we could get done.
19:15So we're like, we're going to start April 1st. We're going to do all these things. We had this massive amount of content we're going to put out. And at a certain point, we said, slow down. Let's really focus. We readjusted our timeline. We readjusted the amount of content that we put out.
19:29So that we didn't just throw things out there. We wanted to be very thoughtful about it. So we scaled back, we focused. And we got to the second part of what I wanted to say was pillars of content is something that I always think about.
19:42So like, what are those core messages? What are those core data points that you have that you want to highlight? And you look at those and to your point, you really look at them and understand how can I bring the most value?
19:54What's the most compelling part of this specific story? And then you look at the way you want to tell that story. Do I want to tell that story through blog posts? Do I want to tell that story through email marketing to our network?
20:06Do I want to tell that story through pictures, carousels on Instagram? Is it going to be a post on LinkedIn that's more long form written? Is it going to be a short form, quick hit little video on TikTok or Instagram reels?
20:20So you start to take that pillar content, you pull this thread down into that micro content, and then you start to develop that hashtags and the keywords, and people that you want to tag or collaborate with on that post.
20:32So that pillar is a content piece, I think is the way you're speaking on is really important and keeping keep coming back to that and make sure you're telling that authentic story in that I think is really valuable.
20:44So global and local reach.
20:48We are trying to figure that out for Tangelic. Tangelic has an international team.
20:54I'm in the United States, we have multiple people in the United States, you're in Bangladesh, Victoria is in the UK, we have people in Ghana, South Africa, Bahrain, and other countries.
21:08So we're trying to figure out how to get our message into the communities that need our support.
21:12We're working a lot in Ghana, specifically, so we want the audiences there, but we're also have this international feel to us.
21:19How do you balance that? How do you know who you're talking to?
21:23How do you know, is this message going to resonate with somebody in California versus somebody in Ghana?
21:28And I think we were trying to balance that and I don't think we always know the answer to that.
21:32So we're working through that. How do you think about messaging to a global audience while still staying relevant in kind of a localized way?
21:39This is a beautiful part of Tangelic.
21:43We are a global team. OK, so it is very easy for us to crafting a message in globally because what is happening over here, like I'm from South Asian region, someone is in African region, someone in American region.
22:01So if some some masses or something is offender, we can easily address that within our organization.
22:13OK, but for someone, it is not that much easy who have only like team in United States, they will like very limited understanding of Africa.
22:28OK, if some team in like South Asia, then that has very limited knowledge about USA.
22:36OK, like this, what we need to do, like just share our masses.
22:43Look, is it working or not and do your research properly and also when you doing this research, try to put yourself in your target audience show.
22:58So this audience demographic is very important in this area.
23:05OK, so consider like Zenzis are like they are more into like facts.
23:13They they are not into like emotional connection, but millionaires, they are very emotionally connected.
23:20They are very ethically connected.
23:22And for boomers, they are they want like grow the economy.
23:28So if I share my masses with Zenzis, I need to share like facts.
23:38If I want to share my masses with millionaires, I want to share my masses with ethical standpoint.
23:46If I share my masses with like boomers, I have to share my masses in economic point of view.
23:55So all of this thing we need to consider.
23:59And so these are basically thumbs rules.
24:02And when you continue doing it, you will research on it and you will know what's working and what's not.
24:13But if sometime you offended someone, address it.
24:18No response is very bad response.
24:20So address it, just say sorry, like we do not mean to do that.
24:26Next time won't happen it again.
24:29Yeah.
24:30And I think it's a lot to balance, especially with a global team, different languages and cultures, interests in between the generations and things like that.
24:39But I want to touch back on when we were talking about being authentic, because being authentic with all of these things to consider is quite the task.
24:47But also, how do we avoid greenwashing while promoting sustainability initiatives?
24:53Because something that happens is if we're so focused on sending out a message in a certain way for a certain audience, there's a lot of critique about how that message is received.
25:03And one of the critiques is greenwashing or, you know, maybe posting and things like that.
25:08So how do we make sure that that authenticity shines through and it isn't taken as greenwashing?
25:14So whatever we do, like we take credible data, like we have a partner in Ghana.
25:23OK, when if I discuss about that sunrise spectrum, then we have green for Ghana partner over there.
25:33What they do if we install a solar panel in any home roof, then they will provide us data like they have this much economic benefit in their house or they are enjoying this much economic benefits.
25:49So this is credible data and other one is what we take third party data as well.
25:57We make sure we have the right data to get not greenwashing.
26:02And if someone address it like like in our social media, like this is not right, this is this is you need to change.
26:12So we share our data with them like this data is this this this data that is came from here and these are authentic.
26:23So, OK, you can take it and something what happening is there if we do not address that some other people may think, OK, this may be a fake data.
26:37So it is very crucial that this data is not correct.
26:42We address that and like unclose our data.
26:47Yeah.
26:48And it sounds like a lot of it is we're not just making authentic content, but we're also being transparent when our audience engages with us.
26:56And a lot of that is you.
26:57So thank you, Tophie.
26:59Yeah, it's balancing, balancing that equation, being able to have, again, the data and the motions live as one, be able to interplay in that way, which is incredibly difficult to do.
27:11Again, why I was it's so great to hear your trajectory and your story of starting out from finance and accounting and then moving into this space that is so incredibly complicated.
27:21It's so political.
27:22It's so socioeconomic.
27:23It's so global.
27:25And then it also hits home at a very local level when we're putting a solar panel on a single family home who's living off the grid that that child has an opportunity to be educated to then go on and maybe be a future marketer in the green space as well.
27:39So really, really important work that's happening here.
27:41So I can't believe that is time.
27:43We're going to wrap this part of the episode here.
27:46We've been talking marketing for the green sector and climate justice storytelling with the one and only Tophie, our own communications and marketing manager at Tangelic and the force behind Tangelic Talks.
27:57As always, we're going to stay on with Tophie a little bit longer, get some Q&A, dig a little bit deeper into some topics.
28:03There'll be some more actionable things that you can check out at TangelicLife.org.
28:07Check out that blog post, excuse me, that Victoria will put together.
28:12As Tophie said, she's our writer and make sure that our story comes out through the written word and always some really good nuggets in there.
28:20So definitely check that out.
28:22It's going to be strange for Tophie to have to put together his own blog post and page for himself, which is going to be nice on that front.
28:30Once again, this was our episode with Tophie on green sector marketing and climate justice storytelling.
28:40That's it for this episode of Tangelic Talks.
28:42Appreciate y'all.