ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
Organizations across the globe are becoming increasingly focused on delivering sustainable products and services to their customer base as a way to limit their environmental footprint and to create a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Though these are good policies, truly sustainable business is not simply an external matter, in the sense of producing and delivering responsibly produced offerings to markets. It is also very much an internal matter, in the sense of encouraging sustainable behaviour within the organization.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
With hundreds of millions of individuals logging into social media accounts every day, using the medium as a platform for social change and activism is just common sense. Today, about 61 percent of consumers use social platforms to learn about sustainability issues. In this open forum-style digital environment, consumers are able to have open conversations about corporate social responsibility and other salient subjects in sustainability.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Purpose-driven brands know that the key to successful engagement is connecting consumers to their brand purpose and mission. The most effective ways to do that is to listen, communicate, and build trust. Here we offer five inventive new ways to actively connect with the growing segment of conscious consumers.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
For all the talk about the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR), the truth of the matter is most executives don’t believe it drives direct bottom line business benefit, or that it effectively addresses societal problems.
The authors of Connect: How Companies Succeed by Engaging Radically with Society interviewed 70 CEOs and found that they view CSR as commercially irrelevant, believing it focuses more on boosting employee morale than addressing the way a company engages with society’s concerns.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Climate change has slowly become more of a partisan issue over the last few decades, fuelling heated debates despite the scientific consensus (and, quite often, about whether there is in fact a scientific consensus) that human activities are causing climate change. Amidst this tumultuous political landscape, how to communicate effectively about climate issues has become difficult.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
Price remains one of the biggest draws for American consumers. Results from a recent Associated Press-GfK poll show that the vast majority of Americans say they prefer lower prices instead of paying a premium for items labeled “Made in the U.S.A.,” even if it means those cheaper items are made abroad.
PRESS RELEASE -
Parents are leading the way in shaping future generation of recyclers, though admit there is still work to be done
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
Survey results published this week by the U.K.-based Institute of Environment Management & Assessment (IEMA) show that Environment and Sustainability Professionals are highly satisfied workers who find their jobs personally, professionally and financially rewarding.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
It would seem we can’t go a week these days without seeing a new brand campaign using social purpose to help sell a product. Whether it’s Honey Nut Cheerios saving the bees, Always promoting the power of girls or Whole Foods selling ugly fruits and vegetables to combat food waste, social purpose has become the fifth “P” in the marketing arsenal.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Consumers these days want to know that when a business says that it is producing something ethically and sustainably, that it can back up such claims throughout its entire supply chain. After all, a business’s claims to operating sustainably are only partly fulfilled when it can’t confirm the sustainability of its raw materials or other products involved in production. So customers increasingly expect businesses to make sure their supply chain is as committed as they are to principled behaviour.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Products that can be positioned as ‘natural,’ ‘organic,’ and/or ‘free from additives/preservatives,’ are part of a movement that is here to stay, according to global ingredients solutions company Ingredion. Research commissioned by the company reveals that European customers are paying more attention to food packaging and ingredients, with a preference for clean label positioning – a short, simple ingredient list that features minimally processed ingredients.
“Our research tells us that consumers are actively looking for products with clean label claims,” said Mona Schmitz-Hübsch, European Marketing Manager at Ingredion.
LEADERSHIP -
In the summer of 2012, after two decades of research to find the missing link between human nature and Mother Nature, the “Voice Code” emerged. This disruptive equation reconciles more than a century of social research and shows the scientific basis for the seemingly supernatural powers of game changers such as Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Theresa, Gandhi, Oprah Winfrey and countless lesser-known outliers of human thriving.
COLLABORATION -
There is yet another new group that can be filed under Sustainable Development Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals. Yesterday, Unilever and several industry partners announced the creation of an open platform to share their ideas, data, and insights on addressing key global challenges.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Mislabeled seafood products have become a widespread problem: A recent study found that across 4,500 global samples, 30 percent of seafood products are mislabeled. The issue threatens reputable and sustainable fisheries and seafood traders, and can allow illegal and unregulated fishing practices to go undetected. Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing has been estimated at 11-26 million tonnes of landed fish each year, representing losses of $10-23.5 billion to the fishing industry.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
Many sustainability-driven businesses aren’t providing consumers with the environments in which to meet their sustainability aspirations — that’s according to Sille Krukow, founder of Krukow Behavioural Consulting. Krukow was speaking during an interview at the SB’16 Copenhagen preview event in Denmark earlier this month, where she took delegates on a captivating journey into the world of Behavioural Economics.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
While consumers are becoming more comfortable with online shopping and are enjoying the convenience it can bring, there are growing concerns around its environmental impact. The human desire for instant gratification is driving faster and faster delivery services for e-commerce, and that quick service carries a hefty impact.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
In 2014, nearly 90 percent of Americans said they consider where a food product is produced when making a purchasing decision, and about two thirds said they would pay more for food that is produced closer to home. As the local food movement continues to become more mainstream in North America, it seems inevitable that brands will jump on the bandwagon.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Consumers are steadily becoming more conscious of environmental issues, and more eager to reduce waste at home and work — but are these enough to translate into action? Moreover, will consumers pay to live up to ‘green’ standards and aspirations in their lives? The success my company, TerraCycle, is seeing with our Zero Waste Box platform seems to indicate that many are willing.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
Millennials (adults ages 18 to 35 in 2015) comprise over 30 percent of the labor force in both the United States and Canada. They are doing things differently, hold different values, and have a high affinity for technology.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Sustainable Brands recently referenced a study from Ohio State University that shows that “not only do many consumers not want to put much effort toward finding out whether our purchases were produced ethically (which is not exactly news), they have a way of looking down on those who do.”I can relate: My in-laws feel that way about me! They see organic food, for example, as expensive nonsense for fools/snobs/hippies who believe in that “green stuff.”