COLLABORATION -
Today, PepsiCo reported progress towards its ambitious Performance with Purpose 2025 Agenda sustainability goals, announced last year. The company improved performance against goals in each of the Agenda’s three focus areas – Products, Planet and People – while returning over $7 billion to shareholders.
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT -
Gwen Migita (@gmigita), Vice President Sustainability and Corporate Citizenship at Caesars Entertainment, discusses the evolution of corporate sustainability and what she thinks companies can start doing to make high-impact change.
Keep reading to learn about her time as an MVP soccer player and the experiences that led her to dedicate her career to corporate responsibility.
FINANCE & INVESTMENT -
Earlier this week, French beauty giant L’Oréal announced that it has concluded the sale of The Body Shop to Brazilian sustainable personal care group Natura Cosmeticos.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Eco-design is now synonymous with new product development (NPD). Sustainable businesses and brands have understood that to remain resilient and competitive, product eco-design must be at the heart of their corporate strategies. This requires a considerable amount of buy-in and commitment across every level of an organization and requires a disruptive approach to business-as-usual practices and procedures. Quantis is helping to lead this seismic shift, working with industry leaders to integrate sustainability at every level, driving systemic change with action informed by solid, science-based metrics.
COLLABORATION -
Brands are increasingly leveraging their influence for good, using their tremendous reach and means to draw attention to and inspire action to address some of the biggest environmental and social challenges of our time. ‘Goodvertising’ plays an important role in this space — as evidenced by this year’s Cannes Lions — but getting it right doesn’t always come easy. Spotlighting the world’s most burning issues is important, but simply telling stories isn’t enough — businesses need to demonstrate what they’re actually doing to create a better world.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
Brand purpose consultancy Given London is making it easier than ever for businesses to identify and act upon a purpose beyond profit — and thereby stay competitive in an ever-changing economic landscape — with its new Wayfinder tool.
PRESS RELEASE -
Ford Motor Company today released its 18th annual Sustainability Report, including a short film, detailing its environmental progress across the world and commitment to continued sustainability actions in the future.
Since 2000, Ford has published its Sustainability Report to track its comprehensive approach to managing the issues related to climate change, air quality and conservation, and identifying opportunities that have significant impacts across the business, from water stewardship to supplier training and education.
PRESS RELEASE -
Outdoor lifestyle brand Timberland celebrates the 25th anniversary of its award-winning Path of Service™ program by kicking off a season of volunteer events around the globe. The events will reinforce the brand’s commitment to be Earthkeepers by working to protect and restore the outdoors and support the communities where it does business.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
In the lead-up to National Honey Bee Day (August 19), I was inspired to take a look at brands’ recent efforts to ensure the health and stability of our tiny pollinator friends. In the past few years, we have seen a host of organizations garnering attention for the issue, first with research and later, amped-up efforts with highly visible, consumer-facing campaigns to bridge the awareness gap.
WALKING THE TALK -
If you’re a U.S. business leader, this week likely threw you into a professional conundrum: Should you take a public stand against white supremacy knowing you’ll jump into treacherous political waters?
PRESS RELEASE -
GM exceeded its Better Buildings Challenge by reducing water intensity by 28 percent. Here are a few tips to secure similar results.
General Motors joined the Department of Energy’s Better Buildings partnership, a group of more than 900 organizations aiming to become 20 percent more energy efficient over the next decade and setting goals to develop strategies to conserve resources. Participating companies committed to cumulatively save $3.1 billion and 3.47 million metric tons of CO2.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Molson Coors Brewing Company has released its 2017 Our Beer Print report, announcing a bold, new sustainability strategy and goals to guide the company through 2025. This is the first sustainability report released since Molson Coors closed on the acquisition of MillerCoors from SABMiller in October 2016, making it one of the world’s largest global brewers.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Walls have conventionally been viewed as objects that divide, an idea that has intensified in this new era. But to The North Face, walls are places where people in the climbing community come together to test themselves, build trust and strengthen their bonds. They aren’t meant to divide us, but rather to unite us.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Johnson & Johnson is on a mission to improve the sustainability of its products by sourcing solutions from within the company through its Earthwards® program. In June, the program became 100 products strong; J&J’s aim is for the Earthwards® portfolio to represent 20 percent of its revenue by 2020.
We spoke with Paulette Frank, J&J’s Worldwide VP of Environment, Health, Safety & Sustainability, to learn more about the internal and external benefits of designing in sustainability.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Efforts to safeguard workers against human rights violations continue to grow, as demand for greater supply chain transparency tightens its grip on the global economic landscape.
WALKING THE TALK -
News Deeply, in partnership with Sustainable Brands, has produced a series of profiles looking at how brands are tackling some of the world’s biggest challenges. The goal is to examine trends and gather insights from a new wave of corporate citizenship – in an era when the private sector is increasingly expected to play a positive role in improving our lives and societies. This is the 11th article in the series.
PRESS RELEASE -
Every summer, New Yorkers get a few truly sweltering days where they’d like to take a dip to beat the heat. They might even wonder what it’s like to swim in New York City’s rivers. Heineken®, together with Tribeca studios, just debuted a new documentary and virtual reality films that show how a first-of-its kind, floating pool will make that thought a reality.
WALKING THE TALK -
It’s said that Peter Drucker, world-renowned business management superstar, once famously commented, “Culture beats strategy.”
Or “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
While neither version has been authenticated as being said by Drucker, I understand the proposition, which places an importance on the value of culture to a business.
That said, I think it’s really missing the point because organizational culture is strategy.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Earlier this year, Heineken released its 2016 Annual Report, marking the first time the company has combined its annual and sustainability reports into one document. To mark the launch of the report in the United States, the company tapped creative agency Nice and Serious to create a series of GIFs in an effort to make the content more relatable and interesting to target audiences.