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.
Sky Rainforest Rescue: Engaging Consumers to Purpose While Creating Clear Business Benefits
The trick to communicating sustainability is to start with the right ingredients. Sounds so simple, doesn’t it? Of course, we all know that it’s not so straightforward in practice.There is a raft of urgent economic, social and environmental needs out there that must be addressed. It can be tough to decide what your organisation is going to focus on. Where to begin?
Proposed Laws Would Require 'Not Recyclable' Label on Biodegradable Plastic Containers
In an effort to mitigate consumer confusion and help maintain the integrity of recyclable materials streams, three laws proposed in North Carolina and Alabama would require containers made from biodegradable or compostable plastic to be labeled “non-recyclable,” according to Plastics News.
Research: Choosing the Right Strategy for Sustainability Communications
A new report by UK-based analyst firm Verdantix says most companies have inadequate budgets for sustainability communications and are running risks by failing to integrate sustainability themes into their brand identities. The report, “Rethinking Sustainability: Brand Risks and Opportunities,” identifies five archetypes of how companies communicate about sustainability.
Sustainable Education Brands: How Learning Institutions Are Attracting Values-Driven Students
For the centuries that tertiary education has been part of society, further education was a privilege afforded those who could afford it. But with the advancement in recent years of communication technologies and speeds, the battle for the student dollar is now being waged online.
Les Bêtises et Les Vaches: Two French Brands Use Humor To Engage Consumers in Sustainability
French consumers want to know more about where their products come from to make more sustainable choices. Besides, trust in business is higher when brands take action for sustainability, demonstrate their achievements and communicate well.
Emotion Is Currency: A Five-Point Plan for Effective Sustainability Communications
"How will it deliver value?" is a commonly heard response to a proposal for a new sustainability communications campaign.Behind this innocent little phrase is a dangerous assumption that sustainability communications is a separate strand of activity with a message aimed at a hypothetical audience segment of 'greens.'
EthicMark Awards Accepting Nominations For Best Environmental, Sustainability Campaigns
Ethical Markets, the World Business Academy (WBA) and the University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business recently announced they are accepting nominations for the 9th annual EthicMark Awards for ads and media campaigns that “uplift the human spirit and society.”
Less Than 100: How Percentages Show True Understanding of Green Trends
In early March, Cone Communications teamed up with ORC International to conduct a survey of over 1,000 adults to better understand how consumers interpret and grapple with the flood of environmental information coming their way. The survey included many questions on how consumers seek out information, usage and disposal instructions, and how well they actually understand what it is that they are being told. The results are now a part of the 2013 Green Gap Trend Tracker and boil down to a series of statistics. Usually, a list of percentages can be tedious and meaningless if taken out of context.
Communicating Sustainability: It’s Time To Get Emotional
Starting this month, Sustainable Brands will bring you a treasure trove of insight, examples and opinions on communicating sustainability, all to help you persuade, motivate, nudge and inspire people and brands to do things differently. That’s a very important goal; once impetus is established people can achieve great things.
Lost Confidence: Can Ratings Help Brands Rebuild Faith in Big Business?
A 2012 Gallup poll reported sobering news for Corporate America — only 19 percent of the public has significant confidence in big businesses, 41 percent has some and 39 percent has little or none. The only institutions doing worse in the public’s eye are HMOs and the U.S. Congress.This comes as no surprise given the plethora of corporate controversies, CEO scandals, bailouts and environmental accidents that have dominated headlines in recent years. These types of stories often overshadow the good work being done by more conscientious brands, making it difficult for them to stand apart from less-responsible competitors.
Bacardi Cuts Water Use in Half, Energy Consumption and GHGs by a Third
Bacardi Limited has achieved a nearly 50 percent drop in water usage and roughly 33 percent reductions in both energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in the last six years, according to its latest corporate responsibility report, released online Wednesday. Reductions were achieved through a combination of conservation measures that included more efficient equipment and greater use of renewable energy sources.The digital report, “Our Spirit is Clear,” embodies Bacardi’s commitment to reduce both its carbon footprint and impact on the earth’s natural resources. The company says the water saved is equivalent to providing a glass of water to every person on the planet.
An Argument for New Ideas in Storytelling, Not Just Better Stories
“The world is not made of atoms, it’s made of stories.” — Muriel Rukeyser
H&M Disclosing Supplier List Along with Sustainability Progress
H&M for the first time has made its supplier factory list public alongside its annual sustainability report, released last week.
Kellogg Is Latest Company To Adopt GreenBlue's How2Recycle Label
This week, GreenBlue announced the successful completion of the soft launch phase of its How2Recycle labeling system, and the addition of The Kellogg Company to the 11 other brands already using the label.
Unreal Helps Unjunk Sweets with Easter Bunny Apology Tour
Candy company Unreal is sponsoring the 2013 Easter Bunny Apology Tour, a social media and publicity campaign aimed at “unjunking” popular candy products, according to a recent announcement.
Brands More Trusted Than Millionaires When Espousing Sustainable Consumption
The old cliche “money doesn’t buy happiness” still rings true; yet in this economy, apparently it can buy sustainable consumption.
Tom’s of Maine Shares Sustainability Goals, Progress in New ‘Goodness Report’
Tom’s of Maine has launched a new website that makes it easier for people to learn about the way it does business, its goals and its progress against those goals.The Tom’s of Maine Goodness Report breaks the company’s efforts into six categories — energy, ingredients, waste, water, packaging and community. The Report features 2011 benchmarks, updates on recent projects and a goals tracker for 2015 and beyond. Highlighted goals include:
New Research Suggests Marketers Underestimate Consumer Interest in CSR
New research released last week by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and Edelman shows global marketers overwhelmingly agree that "purpose" will be increasingly important to building brands in the future.
First FTC “Green Guides” Settlement Reinforces Need for Transparency, Truth in Marketing
On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved a final order settling charges that The Sherwin-Williams Co. and PPG Architectural Finishes, LLC made false and unsubstantiated claims that some of their paints contained zero volatile organic compounds (“VOCs”) after tinting.
Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project Launches Interactive Tool for Rebutting Climate-Change Deniers
The Climate Reality Project and communications agency Arnold Worldwide announced on Thursday the global launch of Reality Drop, an innovative social media tool that educates users about the reality of climate change and uses modern gaming techniques to combat climate-change deniers.
