PRESS RELEASE -
Today, Campbell is announcing a new Paid Parental Leave policy and our CEO Denise Morrison sent the following letter to employees this morning.
LEADERSHIP -
Two of America’s most well-known yogurt brands are taking unconventional approaches create stronger ties with some of their stakeholders. Dannon is implementing a new supply system that allows the company to engage directly with its milk suppliers as part of an ambitious plan to influence farm practices, and Chobani will be giving its 2,000 full-time employees an ownership stake worth up to 10 percent of the company when it goes public or is sold.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
There’s an urgent challenge for human resources leaders: Ensuring their organizations anticipate and prepare for the inevitable effects of sustainability mega-forces. As globalization, shifting demographics and competition for the world’s depleting resources compel transformational change, companies will need enlightened and sustainability-savvy leadership to thrive in this brave new world. HR has a significant role to play to align talent with these emerging realities.
PRESS RELEASE -
When it comes to recycling, soda bottles and shampoo bottles are not treated equally: only 14% of Americans are recycling their bathroom bottles, while more than half of American households are recycling their kitchen items. That is why Unilever is reprising Rinse.Recycle.Reimagine., a campaign designed to rally Americans to reassess their recycling habits and treat their Unilever bathroom empties – like Simple®, Dove®, Suave® and more – with the same respect as their kitchen counterparts.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
German multinational automakers BMW and Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler are seeking larger shares of the U.S. urban mobility market. BMW has entered the car-sharing market with the launch of its ReachNow service in Seattle, Wash., while Daimler is merging its route-planning service with a mobile ticketing company to form a North American unit of its mobility services unit, moovel Group.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Mars Food plans to begin distinguishing between its products which are fit for “everyday” versus “occasional” consumption. Over the next few months, the company is expected to publish a list of products which should not be eaten more than once per week due to higher salt, sugar and/or fat content. The list will appear on the company’s website, and the list items’ packaging will bear a label in stores in the United Kingdom.
COLLABORATION -
As with any multinational retailer, a high proportion of the environmental impacts resulting from Woolworths operations worldwide are linked to the farming and/or processing of products that we sell. As a result, we make it our business to work together with our suppliers to minimise these impacts, and to positively influence the environmental and social outcomes of doing business. Challenges we face in our global supply chain include impacts of extreme weather events, soil degradation, declining water quality and increasing input costs; below are a few of the initiatives and partnerships aimed at addressing them.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
When it comes to sustainability reporting, companies may feel like they’re in an increasingly uncomfortable public-private vice. On one side, consumers and shareholders are pressuring organizations to be better corporate citizens and increase transparency. Governments are establishing more reporting requirements as well, which will inevitably multiply through initiatives such as the recent Sustainable Innovation Forum at COP21.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
How do you communicate your company's sense of purpose — what you stand for in simple terms — in a way that is authentic, transparent and honest?
Increasingly, the answer for many of the world's biggest companies is to highlight their sustainability work.
Why sustainability? Well, sustainability, after all, is rooted in doing business in a transparent and authentic way. And, in today’s always-on, smarter-than-before society, pledging to be a better company just won’t cut it. You have to demonstrate how your company’s purpose is creating a tangibly better experience.
PRESS RELEASE -
ATLANTA, March 8, 2016 – UPS (NYSE:UPS) today announced it has been recognized as a World’s Most Ethical Company for the tenth consecutive year by the Ethisphere® Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
‘Social Impact and profitability are two sides of the same coin’ was one of the core takeaways from the Sedex Supply Chain Sustainability Conference, which took place last week at the iconic Barbican Conference Centre in London.
The theme of this year’s conference was ‘simplification’: acknowledging the complexity of progressing environmental and social sustainability in a field that is becoming increasingly multi-faceted and prone to duplication.
NEW METRICS -
Last August, I published an article here in which I described what, to me, is the most compelling business case for corporate sustainability or CSR extant: the fact that it literally drives the market values of publicly traded firms up or down in measurable ways.
To be clear, I believe there are two fundamental business cases for CSR: an intrinsic one and an extrinsic one. The intrinsic one involves the pursuit of sustainability for its own sake; the extrinsic one involves the pursuit of sustainability for financial gain – a means to an end.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
With a growing body of evidence showing that purpose-driven brands are more successful at attracting customers, retaining talent and delivering financial returns, it’s increasingly important to define some essential elements that can bring meaning to your brand: purpose, vision and mission. Whether you’re building a global brand or a young challenger brand, any brand big or small can benefit from this kind of clarity. Here’s how one of each — Unilever and Burger Lounge (a client of mine) break it down:
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Today, outdoor apparel company The North Face launches the second installment of its locally and domestically produced clothing line, The Backyard Project. For this new line, The North Face challenged itself to find ways to expand and scale its pilot project with a goal of increasing both domestic production and impact. The Backyard Project again brought together a collective of farmers, artisans and small businesses to achieve increased production, new styles and colors and a lower price point for consumers.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Earlier this month, Patagonia released a new book aiming to offer environmental advocates best practices in grassroots activism. While it may seem counterintuitive for a big brand to be talking about grassroots activism, it’s widely known that Patagonia’s history is deeply rooted in environmental activism. The company started off as a small group of surfers and climbers who had reverence for their playground: the great outdoors.
PRESS RELEASE -
Sealed Air Corporation today announced its partnership with World Wildlife Fund’s Climate Savers program in an effort to collaborate and advance work to mitigate the effects of climate change globally. The Company made the announcement today with the Climate Savers team at the GreenBiz event in Scottsdale, Arizona.
COLLABORATION -
Ford Motor Company is proud to become the first automaker to join the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC), a nonprofit coalition of leading electronics companies dedicated to improving the social, environmental and ethical conditions of their global supply chains.
LEADERSHIP -
We have entered the Age of Purpose — purpose as a collective value of growing cultural importance in many societies; as an emerging leading force in personal and career development; and as a driver of business decisions looking to create long-term value, build resilience and connect with increasingly conscious stakeholders. It may be early days for the Age of Purpose, but there are many signs it will only continue to gain momentum.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
While these models were implemented with the best of intentions, their lack of a holistic approach to the problems they’re aiming to address undermines a key selling point for mission-driven business models: the mutual benefits of improved reputation and profits.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Great brands don’t stop at connecting with mere outward expressions of who we think we are or what we want to be. The very best brands connect with long-held mystical beliefs underlying our rational selves, the parts of our sub-consciousness that manages and helps us to cope with all the irrational, arbitrary, inexplicable unknowns in life. These thoughts take shape in symbols forged from ancient stories reflecting patterns of thought and beliefs about how we understand ourselves. Carl Jung argues these narratives and their archetypal characters are universally present in our individual psyches, to which we are powerfully attracted as a means of giving life meaning and managing reality.