ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
Walmart employees’ low wages make it difficult for them to meet ends meet, and many go hungry or require assistance from local programs and food banks, according to OUR Walmart - a worker-led organization focused on pressuring the world’s largest retailer to pay its workers $15 an hour and extend full-time employment. To bring the issue to the attention of the Walton family leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday, OUR Walmart has launched a “Fast for 15” initiative.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
For many marketers or entrepreneurs, building a business with a purpose is the Holy Grail. It feels great – and we all want to do a job that makes sense. And it’s good business: brands with a purpose work better – Jim Stengel and a few others have clearly made the point.But building a business with a purpose requires a change of paradigm. For many of us, that means unlearning what we studied at marketing school.
PRESS RELEASE -
How can we get food to the 800 million hungry people in the world?Esther Ndichu | UPS
PRESS RELEASE -
Panera Bread is proud to share its progress in reducing confinement and antibiotics across its U.S. Panera Bread® and St. Louis Bread Co.® bakery-cafe menus.Highlights include:Laying Hens (Eggs): 100% cage-free by 2020Pigs (Pregnant sows): 100% gestation-crate free in 2015Poultry: 100% of chicken and 100% of roasted turkey in sandwiches and salads raised without antibiotics in 2015Beef Cattle: 89% grass fed, free range in 2015
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
DIY retailer Kingfisher and Swedish housewares giant IKEA both recently told edie of the potential to incorporate elements of the sharing economy and servitization, in what they see as a "natural progression" of their business models.
CLEANTECH -
Schneider Electric, global specialist in energy management and automation, announced the launch of a new brand campaign in North America to showcase the business and societal value of sustainability and efficiency. The brand campaign executes on the company's newly launched global brand strategy, Life Is On, which aims to clearly articulate how the company helps customers around the world transform the way they access and consume energy.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Environmental health non-profit Environmental Working Group (EWG) has launched its new verification program to help consumers quickly and easily identify consumer goods that do not contain toxic ingredients. The EWG VERIFIED: For Your Health™ mark will appear on personal care products and cosmetics that meet criteria set by EWG scientists.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
To celebrate Thanksgiving this year, outdoor gear and apparel retailer REI is taking a bold stand against the chaotic caricature of capitalism that is Black Friday by closing its doors and paying its employees to live the company ethos — by spending the day enjoying the great outdoors with their loved ones.In an email sent to customers on Monday, the co-op announced that it’s closing all 143 of its stores on Black Friday.
PRESS RELEASE -
You may have heard that Target is evolving its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy
MARKETING AND COMMS -
This might be the best recent trend in children’s brands.
After years of being a less-than-progressive feminine role model, Barbie is on the verge of becoming the feminist icon she should be. Mattel’s latest ad features a college professor, a veterinarian, a soccer coach, a businesswoman, and a museum tour guide — all girls under the age of 10. It asks the audience, “What happens when girls are free to imagine they can be anything?”
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Core to Avery Dennison’s long-term success is developing products and solutions that are sustainable for years to come. With the volume of materials it produces, how does the company deliver a positive environmental and social impact for its customers and the communities in which it operates? For Avery Dennison, it’s a core responsibility — and it all starts with sustainability.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
The Dow Chemical Company and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) have released a new study focusing on how nature can help protect business assets from natural disasters. Based on research completed as part of the ongoing Dow-TNC collaboration, the study demonstrates that asset protection strategies can include green infrastructure — such as marshes, mangroves, coral and oyster reefs — along with more conventional infrastructure — such as dikes and levees — to protect business assets from hurricanes and flooding.
COLLABORATION -
Mars has signed a new partnership agreement with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to help make food safer across the globe, with a specific focus on the developing regions of the global South.The partners will do this by promoting international standards for food safety and quality, improving food safety management to reduce illness caused by unsafe food and improving global access to information. The plan is to share our expertise and data, helping the FAO to identify food safety issues early, as well as to develop tools that will help support food safety programs in developing countries.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Recently, I was invited for a panel discussion on the future in brand communication at the renowned faculty of advertising and marketing, the ESPM, in São Paulo. I shared my view that society nowadays demands brands to positively contribute to the solution of societal issues. One of the questions raised was: “All very nice, but is it in companies not all about the financial results at the end of the month? So is the investment in purpose not the first cut a brand faces when financial results are down?”
MARKETING AND COMMS -
There was a time when the only way a company could hope to talk directly with real people was through the medium of advertising or public relations. Companies felt distanced from consumers and they worried that people wouldn't take them seriously unless they could broadcast a big campaign or get their PR agency to persuade a journalist to write about them.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
The world’s most innovative leaders know that social businesses are more profitable businessesConsumers around the world, from Vancouver and Toronto to Shanghai and New York, believe that a company’s social role goes beyond simply meeting legal requirements, complying with ethical standards, creating jobs and paying taxes. Research shows that consumers everywhere expect companies to act as social leaders, using their business expertise to lead social change.
NEW METRICS -
While quantifying and valuing the true costs and benefits of environmental impacts has matured, doing the same for social impacts remains elusive.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
“Women challenge the status quo because we never are it.”Addressing a (thankfully) diverse audience of sustainability professionals in London, UK, last month at an event hosted by The Crowd, Cindy Gallop -– a global activist for the gender equality movement -– pulled no punches in reminding business leaders why women are essential to making corporations fit for a better world.
WASTE NOT -
Today, Nestlé USA released its second Creating Shared Value (CSV) report, which details the company’s progress against 27 commitments set in 2013 related to nutrition, health and wellness, environmental impact and water use, social impact, and responsible sourcing. Nestlé has added a new commitment to achieve zero waste to landfill status in all factories by 2020; its global CSV report for 2014 was released in March.Among the highlights:
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Royal Dutch Shell PLC CEO Ben van Beurden promoted a carbon-pricing plan at the Oil & Money conference in London on Tuesday. The Wall Street Journal reports that the plan will encourage investment in renewables and favor cleaner-burning natural gas over more carbon-intensive coal.