Get Marketing Edge for Your Sustainability Business

Michael Britton is the founder of Protellus. He sat down to explain why he started this innovative business and the connection between sustainability and digital marketing.

Q: Can you elaborate on your professional background. What does your experience add to Protellus?

Michael Britton: I spent 30 years learning and growing as a leader in a complex global business, operating in a highly regulated industry and serving customers that literally depended upon our products and services to save people’s lives.

During that time, I grew revenue, increased profitability, developed great customer relationships, and solved tough business problems across multiple functions. I also made some mistakes and learned many valuable lessons that I think are relevant to Protellus and our clients.

One of the big lessons that I bring is understanding how to transform business teams to achieve the "business quad-fecta", i.e. simultaneous achievement of high levels of customer satisfaction, financial performance, quality and team engagement.

A second big lesson is the difficulty in affecting change when the affected participants are not fully bought into the need for change. I think this is one of the biggest obstacles we face with transition to a more sustainable environment. I don't yet have all of the answers to what works. But I certainly have enough experience to avoid tactics that don't work.

Q: Why did you start Protellus? Where did you get the idea for it?

MB: I founded Protellus because I am concerned about global warming. I want to raise awareness of sustainable options in our day-to-day lives so that it is easier for each person to find and voluntarily make choices that fit their lifestyle while also advancing along their individual paths to live more sustainably.

I also believe that we aren't destined for a devastating future if we each begin choosing to live more sustainably. That means we have to pay attention to our choices and be aware of the environmental implications of the options before us.

Also, when I look around, I don't see enough focus from businesses or marketers to inform and promote sustainable options to the public. So the idea for Protellus is to help raise the profile and performance of businesses that provide sustainable choices through marketing and consulting support.

Q: What does the name Protellus mean?

MB: Protellus actually comes from two Latin parts. The first part - "pro" means “in support of” and the second part - "tellus" means “Earth.” So it’s “In support of Earth.” It was actually a name that my older son suggested. So I have to give him the credit for it.

Q: So you’ve already touched on this a little, but why is climate change an urgent issue to you?

MB: Frankly, climate change should be an urgent issue for everyone. We are the last generation with the final opportunity to steer our species away from a future defined by global warming consequences - acidic oceans, dead coral and marine ecosystems, submerged coastlines, mass extinction of terrestrial and marine species, parched landscapes, increased food and water shortages, environmental refugees, and most likely violence as desperation spreads due to lack of access to the basic necessities of life.

Q: What does sustainability mean to you personally?

MB: Simply put, sustainability is demonstrating good stewardship over the resources that we employ for near term pursuits while simultaneously protecting our future.


Q: What do you hope that clients will gain from working with you?

MB: Ultimately, I want every client to achieve growth and have a greater beneficial environmental impact. I also want them to realize greater capacity to focus on other aspects of their business or personal goals with the confidence from knowing that their marketing is well under control with a trusted partner.

To find out more about Protellus and if we can help you, check out our services here!