Marketing and Comms
How brands are evolving in the area of sustainability marketing and communications — and how their stakeholders are asserting their own needs and preferences.
Report: Predatory Marketing Tactics a Top Threat to Children’s Wellbeing
While climate change and intensifying carbon emissions still top the list of factors endangering a healthy future for the world’s children, a new report finds that marketing of harmful products aimed at children is another major threat to their wellbeing.
MSC on Mission to Ensure Sustainable Seafood for All
MSC has researched what matters most to seafood lovers, and how to engage consumers and producers on the benefits of sustainable seafood. We caught up with Senior PR Manager Jackie Marks to find out how MSC is getting that message out.
Super Bowl’s $5.6M Question: Can Snickers Really Fix the World?
At least the game was fun to watch, because this year’s commercials make the United Nations’ sixth edition of the Global Environment Outlook report seem like interesting reading. This year, corporate America chose to laugh rather than voice an opinion.
Sell Responsibly… or Else? It’s Time to Face (Over)-Consumption and Come Up with Creative Solutions
We shouldn’t lure people into buying more than they need; but rather, help people make it all add up to a more meaningful life. Brands might be able to keep afloat on a short-term strategy and hide behind a cloak of innocence, but every dinosaur step is one closer to extinction.
What Will a Circular Economy Mean for Branding?
While a circular economy will present huge challenges to most brands' conventional business models, there are huge opportunities for those who embrace and adapt to this change — while those who drag their heels with incremental changes will undoubtedly fall behind.
Remembering Harold Burson: One of the Earliest Corporate Responsibility Visionaries
In 1973, PR pioneer Harold Burson — who passed away last week at the age of 98 — deftly summed up the role of the PR professional, related to the role of a corporation, in society: Be the corporate sensor, conscience, communicator and monitor.
Less Talk, More Action: Brand Leaders Poised for Transformative Change in 2020
Among the top 10 issues Porter Novelli identified as trending in 2019, SB Corporate Members were asked to select the one issue or trend they saw most in their work this year. They are not only ready to take action, but feel that progress and change are on the horizon.
Q&A: thinkPARALLAX Demystifies Effective ESG Communication
thinkPARALLAX is helping brands master storytelling around ESG issues to engage stakeholders. CEO and co-founder Guusje Bendeler told us more about the agency’s approach to creating a new ROI — Return on Impact.
New Roadmap Outlines Best Practice in Corporate Transparency
A rise in stakeholder interest, especially investors, in greater alignment between sustainability and financial transparency has spurred companies to more clearly communicate their purpose and how it creates long-term value across all their communication channels.
Brands Missing Opportunity to Highlight Health Benefits of Sustainable Products
Brands that are committed to sustainability could conduct efficient, cost-effective research to show that their products help reduce exposure to harmful substances, leveraging their commitment to sustainability and expanding it to a commitment to consumer health.
How a Fancy Pancake Helped Save The Bay: Lessons for Giving Tuesday
The company-employee-cause relationship has been transformed over the years; why not the company-customer-cause relationship, too? At Phin, we work to help companies build impactful relationships with consumers and charitable organizations through sponsored donations.
How Better Storytelling Can Get People to Vote: Lessons from the European Elections
I strongly believe in the power of emotional storytelling that cuts through. We need to make people *feel* something. More than ever, we have to stand up for the values that we believe in — and to do that well, we need to take more risks.
Award-Winning Creative Driving Inclusion, Diversity, Civic Engagement
D&AD Impact is a global initiative and awards program that showcases how creative thinking can be a force for good. This year’s winners highlight solutions including adaptive gaming and furniture design to wildlife conservation to turning the tables on racist rhetoric.
Gen Z Believes in Its Own Power to Make Change, But That Companies Must Lead the Way
While Gen Zers feel personally responsible to make a difference and 76% believe we will have made headway on important issues in five years’ time, 90% also believe companies must drive action on social and environmental issues.
Abbott Planting Seeds for Healthier Tomorrow with ‘Future Well Kids’
By inspiring kids to start healthy habits today, Abbott’s new Future Well Kids program aims to create a healthier tomorrow. By the time kids finish the program, they'll have developed their own definitions of what living a healthy life means.
World Food Day: Celebrity Chefs, Soil SuperHeroes Out in Force to Save Our Food System
In honor of World Food Day (Oct 16), Green America highlights the farmers and food companies leading the regenerative ag revolution; and the World Food Program launches its global Stop the Waste campaign.
Bleak New Campaign Depicts the ‘Day Sushi Disappears’
The campaign aims to alert consumers to the likelihood that climate change will continue to affect marine habitats, to the point that some of our most beloved sushi ingredients disappear.
Q&A: Extinction Rebellion’s Andrew Medhurst and the Role of Youth Activists in Shaking Us Awake
Ahead of his upcoming keynote at SB’19 Madrid, we spoke with Andrew Medhurst — a one-time investment banker and now full-time volunteer with Extinction Rebellion — about the moonshot thinking we need to get us out of our current predicament.
Q&A: The Agency Behind the Ice Bucket Challenge Gets Even More Focused on Purpose
Purpose-led communications campaigns have skyrocketed, and Porter Novelli has moved in lockstep with this trend. We spoke with CEO Brad MacAfee to hear more about their pivot towards purpose.
Ben & Jerry’s Throws Its Delicious Weight Behind Criminal Justice Reform
The activist brand has added a new cause to its docket: Its latest ice cream flavor, “Justice Remix’d,” aims to spotlight structural racism in the US’ broken criminal legal system.