MARKETING AND COMMS -
The heat is on — from Greenpeace protesting Cannes to concerned citizens and legislative pressure — for advertisers to make their work count for more than selling more products to the Western world. Here are six key takeaways from this year’s Cannes Lions, and how your campaigns can be and do better.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
The partnership aims to commercialize and scale more sustainable alternatives to palm oil and fossil-fuel-derived cleansing ingredients — the current industry
standard in everyday cleaning and personal care products.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
The company — committed to sustainable agriculture and a truly inclusive approach for creating economic opportunity for the people of Boone County, West Virginia — has been growing lavender and raising bees on reclaimed coal mine soil since 2019.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
A new report by TRAFFIC, the FAO and the IUCN Species Survival Commission Medicinal Plant Specialist Group looks at 12 common, wild-harvested plant ingredients and their effects on local sourcing communities and ecosystems.
COLLABORATION -
In an effort to combat climate change and reduce plastic waste, Estée Lauder Companies’ charitable wing, the ELC Charitable Foundation, has partnered with Plastics for Change to improve the livelihoods of waste collectors in India while diverting ocean-bound plastics.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Bite has reimagined the way consumers can and should use routine personal-care products. It has disrupted the linear approach to a stale industry with a fresh, waste-free format that offers a successful, premium model of circularity.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Big Plastic (and Big Oil) have a five-decade lead and massive economies of scale that will take a little longer to match in terms of costs and simplicity. But working with the right partners and openness to shaking up the status quo is paying off for brands willing to put their
principles and profits on equal footing.
COLLABORATION -
Mobile shower pioneer LavaMae^x^ and Unilever brand The Right to Shower have built a partnership that’s given more than 38,000 unhoused people dignity, hope and a fresh sense of opportunity.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Brands and retailers using HowGood’s Latis platform can now further improve product impacts using uniform metrics and thus contribute to a global agricultural transition.
WALKING THE TALK -
Through its Kirei Lifestyle Plan, Kao aims to empower at least 1 billion people to live more gently and sustainably by 2030. We caught up with Kao’s Dave Muenz to hear about the company’s progress toward its goals; and how the pandemic has both impacted, but also provided opportunities for, progress on sustainability.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Aveda and L’Occitane Group continue to raise the bar for beauty industry sustainability ambitions with new packaging innovations and a ‘nature-positive’
biodiversity strategy.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
The Edible Fats and Oils Collaboration urges the food and feed industry to advocate for new policy that considers the sustainability aspects of all fats and oils in one holistic system, instead of vilifying individual ingredients.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Food-grade sample bottles produced by a consortium of companies dedicated to the cause are using Carbios' breakthrough enzymatic recycling process.
WALKING THE TALK -
When Kevin Murphy announced that all of its packaging would be made from “plastic pulled from the ocean,” it had every intention of delivering that. While the claim was doomed from the start, the company quickly communicated its mistake with tact, transparency and a plan to make it right.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
The fifth annual 'Who's Minding the Store?' retailer report card shines a light on both market leaders and laggards in chemical safety. Grading retailers against one another motivates action to improve; and mobilizing public concern reminds companies that customers matter the most.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
Carbon neutral since day one, we see our next task as going beyond sustainability towards an approach that preserves, heals and actually improves the planet. So, we’ve charted a path to become the world’s first climate-positive grocery store by 2025.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
The two companies are putting their money where their mouths are when it comes to increasing inclusion, both in their messaging and in the media at large.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Unilever is eliminating the word “normal” from all of its beauty and personal care brands’ packaging and advertising, championing a new era of beauty that is equitable and inclusive, as well as sustainable.
COLLABORATION -
Colgate-Palmolive, General Mills, L'Oréal, Tesco, Unilever and 40 more of the world’s largest food and personal care brands, retailers and manufacturers will provide local aid to communities that have been hardest hit by the pandemic.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
No offense, 2020 — but it is high time we put you to bed and look toward the future. After the year we’ve had, we all deserve a little pampering — and so do the makers of these thoughtful, ethically made products …