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.
Ford Foresees Going Back to Basics as a Top Consumer Trend in 2014
On Thursday, Ford Motor Company released its second annual trend report for the upcoming year. Among the top 10 predicted global consumer trends on the list: Consumers reevaluating their relationships with technology, balancing the need to be constantly plugged in with a new appreciation for spending quality time offline.Looking Further with Ford 2014 highlights 10 trends for the new year that explore how the technology explosion will affect consumer choices and behaviors.
5 Things Children Need to Know About Brands
It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. Advertising's big spenders are ramping up for their favourite time of the year. The marketing machine that amplifies the magic of Christmas is swinging into action and it's an awesome sight to behold. Christmas is getting bigger and bigger each year. In the United States, Black Friday signals the beginning of a festive spending spree that last year was estimated at nearly $60 billion, a rise of over 10 percent on the previous year.
Engaging Outraged Stakeholders: The Power of Engagement (Part 1 of 2)
This is the first in a series of excerpts from Engaging Outraged Stakeholders: A How-To Guide for Uniting the Left, Right, Capitalists and Activists (Affinity Press, 2013), the new book from Future 500, co-written by CEO Bill Shireman, COO Erik Wohlgemuth and VP of Stakeholder Engagement Danna Pfahl. We begin with the first of two posts that make up Chapter Two: The Power of Engagement.
Emotion v. Action: 4 Key Engagement Lessons from Unilever's Project Sunlight
Unilever has been a clear leader in sustainability with its ambition and actions against its Sustainable Living Plan, and has just started its first consumer-facing corporate brand campaign around this, called Project Sunlight. At Given London we have noticed a step-change in the number of corporate brand teams seeking to facilitate more sustainable lifestyles for their customers.
Could You Join Unilever, M&S and Nike in #theBigShift?
Cross-Posted from Collaboration. In sustainability, the 'lone wolf' will soon be a thing of the past, as collaboration becomes increasingly necessary to make real changes.In October, Dell outlined its 2020 Legacy of Good plan, but admitted that it wouldn't be able to achieve its ambitious goals alone.Step in #theBIGshift — Forum for the Future's latest (and potentially biggest) initiative aims to transform the key systems that we rely on, and champion the rewards for those businesses and other organizations who are stepping up to the challenge of creating a sustainable future.
How to Engage Communities with Your Brand
If the perception of your brand’s green efforts is falling short of reality, then it’s time to stop and re-examine all aspects of the social impact of your outreach. Gone are the days when consumers would buy “green” for green’s sake; they want to see for themselves how a brand is actually making a difference. And it’s in your best interest to inform and educate them.
From Band-Aids to Blood Analyzers: J&J's Nimble Approach to Marketing Sustainability
How do you ensure that your company’s marketing department doesn’t get too carried away in communicating the sustainability benefits of products?
Disney, Wells Fargo, Google Among U.S. Companies Proactively Pricing Carbon, Says CDP
CDP announced today that 29 major publicly traded companies based in or operating in the U.S. disclosed an internal price on carbon pollution to CDP (formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project) in 2013, detailing both the risk and potential business opportunity for early action by their companies. Prices range from $6-60 dollars, and exist at companies spanning all sectors of the economy, including energy, utilities, airlines, technology and the financial industry. Twenty-seven of the companies are listed in the S&P 500, while the other two (BP and Royal Dutch Shell) are foreign-based.
How to Get People to Reuse Their Hotel Towels
Cross-Posted from Behavior Change. We’ve all faced this great moral dilemma whenever we stay in a nice hotel. The little sign in the bathroom reads, “Please help us protect the environment and conserve water by reusing your towel.” Even those of us who consider ourselves environmentalists often balk; we’re paying hundreds of dollars to stay in their hotel, and, darn it, we really want a clean towel.
New TV Ad in Iowa Enlists Public's Help to Save Renewable Fuel Standard
On the same day the EPA is holding its public hearing on the proposed rule 2014 Standards for the Renewable Fuel Standard Program and the same week that Delta Air Lines takes its stand against it, Americans United for Change today announced it has created a TV spot that will soon hit the airwaves in Iowa in defense of the RFS.
SASB Standards for Tech & Communications Sector Now Open for Public Comment
Innovation in the Technology and Communications sector is playing a powerful role in improving the sustainability performance of companies, governments and individuals across the economy. Disruptive sector trends such as cloud computing, expansion of mobile device usage, machine learning and big data analytics present new risks and opportunities for companies in the sector. This year SASB conducted research and convened industry working groups to identify and refine a minimum set of material environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues and related accounting metrics for six industries.
For Those Who’d Rather Give Than Receive, #GivingTuesday Marks True Start to Holiday Season
Cross-Posted from Behavior Change. While thousands of retailers across the U.S. and cyberspace are dusting their shelves and crossing their fingers for lucrative Black Friday and Cyber Monday takes, respectively, thousands of organizations around the world are gearing up for an event that represents the true spirit of the holiday season, #GivingTuesday.
Luxury Most Poised for Instigating Positive Change Within Fashion Industry, Says Eco-Age
In a sector where social and environmental commitments have traditionally focused on philanthropic efforts, luxury is perhaps the most poised for instigating positive change within the fashion industry, argues Nicola Giuggioli, CEO of Eco-Age. According to Giuggioli, the luxury industry’s intimate knowledge and appreciation of high-quality materials, manufacturing and notions of provenance, alongside its smaller scale in comparison to mass fashion, position it to become a leader in the sustainability space.
This Black Friday, Patagonia Invites You to Celebrate the Stuff You Already Own
Socially conscious outdoor apparel company Patagonia has made its feelings about mass consumption clear in a number of ways — last month, it launched its Responsible Economy campaign, which calls on consumers and businesses alike to rethink disposability for more effective resource allocation; its Common Threads Partnership urges customers to only buy what they need and to recycle their worn-out Patagonia gear through the company’s take-back program; and, perhaps most famously, with its full-page New York Times ad on B
Effective Sustainability Strategies Case Study #2: Soma Water
In the first post of our multi-part series on proven sustainability strategies, we saw how Pret a Manger applied the “style & substance” sustainability strategy to create a £450 million a year sandwich business. In this post, we are excited to profile Soma, a company sending ripples through the water filtration industry by placing sustainability at the heart of its offering.
Study: 90 Companies Responsible for Two-Thirds of GHG Emissions
Only 90 companies, including Shell, ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco and BP, are responsible for causing nearly two-thirds of all man-made global emissions since the start of the Industrial Revolution, according to research by the Climate Accountability Institute.The research, titled Tracing anthropogenic carbon dioxide and methane emissions to fossil fuel and cement producers, 1854-2010, found the top emitters include 50 investor-owned companies, 31 state-owned companies, and nine government-run industries in the former Soviet Union, China and other countries. Some 83 of the 90 are coal, oil and gas producers and the remaining seven are cement manufacturers.
What Do People Really Want?
What people want was the nub of the most exciting conversations at Sustainable Brands London earlier this week.
Climate-Related Weather Disasters Cost U.S. Taxpayers $100B in 2012
Extreme weather events cost the United States $100 billion in 2012, most of which went towards federal crop, flood, wildfire and disaster relief, according to a new report by Ceres called Inaction on Climate Change: The Cost to Taxpayers.
Unilever's Project Sunlight Aims to Motivate People to Live More Sustainably
In honor of Universal Children’s Day (November 20), Unilever today launches a new long-term initiative, Unilever Project Sunlight, to motivate millions to live sustainably. With the help of pop star and new mom Fergie, Unilever aims to inspire people to help create a brighter future by making donations to help two million children.
Sustainable Minds' New Tool Adds Approachability to Product Life Cycle Transparency
In response to market demand and the release of LEED v4, LCA software pioneer Sustainable Minds has launched an innovative new way for manufacturers to transparently report the environmental performance of their products. SM Transparency ReportsTM is a new alternative to environmental product declarations (EPD) — with equivalent credibility and superior distillation of technical information for end users. NSF International, industry leader in product certification, is providing the LCA verification and report certification.
