Tuesday, 10 July 2018
Going Beyond "Purpose" to Build Brighter Brands and Better Businesses
Thursday, 5 September 2019
Learn how to improve your ESG ratings and better engage with your investor audience
We are on a mission to better the world by articulating and amplifying our clients' impact. As a team of values-driven strategists, designers, and storytellers, we give meaning and voice to brands’ sustainability initiatives. Through strategic storytelling, we harness the support of stakeholders to drive systemic change and long-term success.
9 months ago - Finding a job in sustainability or social impact wasn’t easy even before COVID-19 blindsided and bludgeoned the global economy. Your sustainability and social impact job search will be challenging, but if you stay motivated and keep trying, you will eventually find a good fit.
10 months ago - While it’s still too early to tell how significantly COVID-19 will alter our way of life, we’ve learned to challenge many of our preconceived notions about how to best do business — and solidifying your company’s place within this new order is critical. The true test is going to be whether we are capable of dramatic positive change even when not spurred by a global pandemic.
10 months ago - It’s during moments of great difficulty that our authentic selves shine through — and the same is true for companies. Long after the COVID-19 crisis passes, the world won’t forget the values-driven companies that led with a conscience. The time is now to decide: How will your brand be remembered?
1 year ago - Created by some of the brilliant minds who built the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), the Long-Term Stock Exchange is a first-of-its-kind exchange that invests in companies focused on long-term value creation, while requiring the listed companies to report on their sustainability.
1 year ago - thinkPARALLAX is helping brands master storytelling around ESG issues to engage stakeholders. CEO and co-founder Guusje Bendeler told us more about the agency’s approach to creating a new ROI — Return on Impact.
1 year ago - Because it lacks the self-serving undercurrents associated with other types of marketing, sustainability thought leadership is one of the most effective tools for building trust among stakeholders while establishing your brand as an industry authority.
1 year ago - ESG issues continue to gain traction and capture investor attention in the corporate world. Yet, sustainability professionals aren’t fully utilizing the power of narrative to engage.
1 year ago - San Diego-based corporate sustainability branding and communications agency opens new office to amplify impact in San Francisco Bay Area.
1 year ago - Communications on climate action needs to be grounded in strategic, results-based initiatives — always. These six approaches will help ensure that your communications are impactful in reinforcing your company’s sustainability strategy.
1 year ago - Social media thrives on compelling storytelling, and chances are that your sustainability efforts have the capacity to pull on your audience’s heartstrings better than another post promoting your product or service.
2 years ago - Strengthening a culture is not a one-off project; it is truly never-ending.
2 years ago - We reached out to communication leaders in the SB community for their take on P&G’s spotlight on toxic masculinity.
2 years ago - As we wrap up work for the year and prepare for 2019, we reflected back on all that occurred this year within our niche realm of sustainability communications — and when looking back, it was apparent that 2018 was the year of brands taking stands.
2 years ago - While sustainability and citizenship mean different things to different people, these terms are most commonly associated with a company’s impact on the external world, focusing heavily on social and environmental initiatives. However, businesses can do a lot of good (for the world and their bottom line) by equally focusing internally, on such things as their diversity and inclusion practices.
2 years ago - The “brand purpose” bandwagon has become awfully crowded. And as more and more brands seek to capitalize on the opportunity to cast themselves in a more authentic, meaningful light, the language of “brand purpose” has become weak, watered down and increasingly meaningless. Marketing purpose is easy; embedding purpose is hard work. And while a number of pioneers and purists remain committed to embedding purpose at the organizational level, the temptation to cut corners and to exploit purpose for marketing “quick wins” — rather than to embed it in more meaningful, transformative ways — has become too great to resist. The phenomenon of “purpose-washing” is real.
2 years ago - In February, KFC in the United Kingdom had a bit of an issue — it ran out of chicken.
3 years ago - You’ve probably read the proliferation of literature about the benefits of hiring purpose-driven employees, which can result in increased productivity, higher retention rates, and more effective collaboration, just to name a few. But have you ever wondered how purpose-driven employees impact your organization’s branding and marketing?
3 years ago - It should come as no surprise that purpose — defined as your company’s aspirational reason for being beyond profit — plays a key role in the direction of your business on multiple levels. Purpose is an overarching “north star” that serves as a guidepost for decision making.
3 years ago - Not so long ago, there was a large disconnect between doing good and good business. While the idea of corporate social responsibility has been around since the 1960s, businesses have historically approached CSR and sustainability as a “feel good” silo or regulatory requirement — a means to improve public image reputation and mitigate risk, but not much else. It wasn't until recent years that companies discovered that social impact programs could benefit a company in more remunerative ways — increasing revenue, creating new markets, driving innovation, retaining talent, and opening the doors to new business opportunities. As such, it was rare for CEOs and CFOs to even nod their heads towards citizenship and sustainability, much less make it a priority.
3 years ago - We’ve done a lot of thinking, and writing, over the years about the broad topic of corporate sustainability and citizenship reporting (see here and here for examples). But for this post, I’m going to narrow the focus to what I believe are the two most important pages of your report: the CEO Letter. Why? Simply put: It’s concise, it comes from the top, and (if properly constructed) it provides readers with critical insight into your citizenship approach — all in the span of one or two (hopefully not three) pages.