How brands are evolving in the area of sustainability marketing and communications — and how their stakeholders are asserting their own needs and preferences.
Taiwanese salon hair care brand Hair O’Right is the first successful participant in a pilot project to harmonize the product carbon footprinting and labelling schemes run by the Carbon Trust and Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration (EPA).
We’re hearing more and more products, processes, events and even entire companies described as ‘carbon neutral,’ and many more striving to become so — but what exactly does that mean?
UPS today launched Your Wishes Delivered, a campaign designed to invite the public to share their wishes during the holidays. This year, the company will donate $1 for each wish submitted using #WishesDelivered to one of three charities — The Boys and Girls Clubs of America, The Salvation Army or Toys for Tots Literacy Program, up to a total donation of $100,000."While many people see a package as just a cardboard box, UPS knows that the contents often amount to someone's special wish granted, just waiting to be delivered," said Alan Gershenhorn, UPS’ chief commercial officer. "We are responsible for delivering packaged wishes to millions of customers during the holidays."
Google, Microsoft, Walt Disney and BMW have the best CSR reputations globally, according to new research from the Reputation Institute (RI).Although this year Google beat out Microsoft for the top spot, the same companies remain in the top four as last year. The top companies based on their CSR reputation come from the IT, automotive, consumer goods and media/entertainment industries. The new entrant in the top 10 this year is LEGO, while Nestle is no longer in the top 10 list.
At SB ‘14 London last month, one thing that really stood out for me was the focus on how storytelling can be used to help brands engage their customers with the theme of sustainability. For example, on the first morning of the first day, Daianna Karaian and Stuart Duncan from Futerra ran a workshop that focused on how to tell a sustainable brand story that customers will listen to.
At the Official Draw for the 2015 OrangeTM Africa Cup of Nations today, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) joined football (soccer) stars, celebrities, international health organizations and corporations to announce the launch of Africa United, a global health communications campaign aimed at preventing the spread of Ebola in West Africa. The campaign, which is supported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Foundation and driven creatively by actor Idris Elba, is designed to recognize the vital role of frontline healthcare workers, as well as to provide critical education and resources for the people of West Africa.
A group of angry-looking men surround a woman seated alone in the desert, and proceed to "stone" her … with flower petals, in a striking (no pun intended) new campaign by United Colors of Benetton in support of UN Women (the United Nations agency that promotes gender equality and empowerment of women), launched to commemorate the UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (November 25).
The global environmental industry grew 3.6 percent in 2013, generating revenues of $1.047 trillion, while the U.S. environmental industry grew only 0.7 percent in 2013 compared to 4.5 percent in 2012, according to new research from Environmental Business International.In 2013, the U.S. environmental industry’s total of $344.84 billion in annual revenues represented 2.81 percent of the gross domestic product, while the environmental industry employment reached 1.75 million.
Vermont-based Green Mountain Power (GMP) has become the first utility in the world to become a Certified B Corp, according to a recent announcement.GMP says it is helping to lead a transformation that is delivering cutting edge energy products and services to help Vermonters save money by using less energy. This year GMP even lowered rates for customers.B Corps are companies that believe business can be a force for good and are certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency.
Hatch, a SheKnows Media program that empowers kids to use media and technology to express themselves in productive ways, announced Monday that it has teamed with Unilever Project Sunlight on The Hunger Project, an initiative that strives to help families build awareness and take action to address child hunger in America.
There is a limit to how much companies can expect consumers to pay for higher sustainability standards—a limit in terms of the price that they will be willing to pay and also in terms of the market share that can be commanded, according to a new report by U.K.-based Sustainable Food Supply Chains Commission.
Forward-thinking restaurant operators are more frequently using marketing strategies that incorporate health, safety and environmental concerns, which can resonate with consumers seeking out more responsible restaurants and food choices, according to a new report by market research publisher Packaged Facts.
Effie Worldwide and the World Economic Forum (WEF) have announced the inaugural call for entries for The Positive Change Effie Award, which recognizes and celebrates the most effective marketing programs that have measurably shifted consumer behavior toward more sustainable choices, and/or grown demand for more sustainable products and services by incorporating sustainability as a part of their marketing communications.The call for entries opened in September, and the deadline period runs from December 4, 2014 to January 12, 2015.
This is the second in a series on Lobbying for Good.
Fans of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy will be familiar with the wretched character Grima Wormtongue, adviser to King Theoden of Rohan. He whispers from the shadows into the ear of the decrepit ruler, urging self-interest and accommodation with evil.Such is the common perception of how business lobbyists conduct themselves within the labyrinth of government: peddlers of dark influence and maintainers of the status quo. The tobacco sector’s half-century conspiracy to resist health regulation is just one example of why such a negative perception is, in part, warranted. There is another side to the story, however.
Nearly two-thirds (64%) of Americans say they are more inclined to support social and environmental issues in a variety of ways, including volunteering, donating and sharing information, after first “liking” or “following” an organization online, according to new research by Cone Communications.Americans also view their online activities as a positive way to make an impact on the issues they care about, with 60 percent believing tweeting or posting information online is an effective form of advocacy or support.
This Monday afternoon workshop offered great insight into the way innovative and successful companies have made the transformation from a culture of Storytelling to one of “Storydoing.” For those not familiar with the term, Ty Montague (author of True Story: How to Combine Story and Action to Transform Your Business) set the scene by doing just that, and telling us a story.
In a workshop on Monday morning, day one of SB ’14 London, Futerra’s Head of Brand Strategy, Daianna Karaian, and Marketing Manager Stuart Duncan shared several guidelines on customer engagement and suggested a 4-step strategy to effectively enhance customer–brand relationships. Starting point: Companies need to involve their customers while communicating their brand promise in order to get their attention and consideration for future purchases.
What if 15 of the biggest Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies decided they really wanted to change the world? How would they go about communicating their sustainability commitments to the millions of consumers they need to persuade to live more sustainably?At present, even though FMCG companies are starting to understand the need to explain sustainability directly to consumers, they continue to put most of their communication efforts into their Sustainability and CSR corporate sites — an obvious destination for NGOs, shareholders and academics but not the first place the general public go to get information.
Reporting companies find themselves in a colorful landscape of codes, frameworks, indicators. Many of these companies — not only SMEs — are concerned and overburdened by this complexity. Many discussions are summed up with one thing many agree on: the need for “alignment” of the different frameworks or approaches suggesting principles or indicators.What I see is that the experts in the corporate reporting field very quickly enter a quite technical level of capitals, indicators, assurance-potentials ... But isn’t the question: What exactly needs to be aligned — and for what purpose? In these discussions it came to my mind that any attempt at alignment in this field needs to address three cornerstones — which I see as the “Trilemma of Reporting”: