LEADERSHIP -
Climate tech alone will not save the world; the people who use it, create it and put it into action play just as crucial a role. For these projects — and the sector as a whole — to succeed, these critical elements of strong leadership are essential.
WALKING THE TALK -
JUST Capital and CNBC have released the 2023 rankings of the country’s most JUST Companies and Marquee JUST 100 List, which consistently outperform the Russell 1000 — highlighting the link between stakeholder governance and corporate success.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
The new H&M Loooptopia Experience on Roblox allows users to experiment with their digital identity and learn about fashion and circularity in a fun, creative and playful environment.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
Many employees are re-evaluating what they want and expect from their employers. This is a pivotal moment for companies to recalibrate program offerings and better support employees in applying their unique talents to purposeful projects in the communities where they live, work and raise their families.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
The VOICE Network’s Cocoa Barometer links the range of challenges facing
cocoa-farming communities to pervasive poverty. The IDH’s new, free Living Wage Action Guide helps companies find the path to the best interventions for their situation.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
We can’t keep communicating about climate change in ways that feed our evolutionary prejudices and continue kicking the can down the road. We must outsmart our biases using strategic communication tactics so we can take action when it matters — which is now. Here are 3 ways to hack our brains for climate action.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
This year, we saw companies double-down on purpose amidst a rise in consumer skepticism and politically motivated attacks on ESG. Below are six notable trends and what they might mean for 2023.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
How does identifying with a certain political party, generation or minority group influence whether consumers think more highly or more disapprovingly of a brand taking on a cause? Here is what we learned.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
When it comes to ESG initiatives and their relationship to consumer behavior, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach; but leveraging ongoing research into consumer attitudes can help align corporate ESG initiatives that can help steer your brand through uncharted waters and changing sentiments.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
As always, the goal of our gift guide is to encourage a more conscious approach to gift-giving by highlighting products, services and experiences that create value and benefits beyond short-term gratification for the recipient. Here’s this year’s list of some of the many companies, platforms and products that we’d be happy to support anytime.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
The new startup offers a regenerative ‘tree burial’ service that reimagines cemeteries as forests — enabling the dearly departed to truly give back to the land and encouraging younger generations to think about death in new ways.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Tesco Exchange, aka ‘Tesco Tinder,’ matches suppliers who have too much of a product — for example, crops, byproducts, ingredients or packaging — with other Tesco suppliers that can put it to use.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
New survey finds 83% of US consumers value brand product transparency, but only 47% feel they have the information to make sustainability-based purchasing decisions. Impact labeling will begin with Garnier products and roll out progressively across L'Oréal's brand portfolio.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
If a corporation really wants diversity and its benefits, the only way to get it is to regularly hire and promote people who don’t look like the current leadership. The task is to create not just the appearance of change, but a genuine commitment to creating equitable organizations and systems.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
For most readers, bribery or corruption aren’t part of your everyday experience — though they should be part of due diligence processes on your business partners and supply chain. However, the danger that one department says one
thing and another does something different and inconsistent is clear in every company.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
The financial and reputational freefall that Eli Lilly experienced in the first few weeks of Musk’s tenure as Twitter chief illustrated an underappreciated factor in an organization’s level of vulnerability: validity. Companies need a risk model that includes the key elements of vulnerability — and that helps them take precautions, set up checkpoints and plan for contingencies.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
BCG and the CMO Sustainability Accelerator — a coalition that includes Sustainable Brands, ANA and Adweek — have developed a practical guide to help brands “bring green to the mainstream” by developing and marketing sustainable choices for all consumers, not just those moved by sustainability claims.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
When done thoughtfully, brands can use social media to champion sustainable living and generate positive outcomes that are favorable to people, the planet and their overall business results.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
"The Cookbook in Support of the United Nations: For People and Planet" features 75 recipes divided into sections on food systems, biodiversity, sustainable
consumption, food and climate change, and food waste — and shares each dish’s carbon footprint.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
A new study examines the waste challenges companies are facing due to the global supply chain crisis and how they are being tackled, and how consumer priorities impact waste — they now report prioritizing product durability and transparency over
sustainability.