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Marketing & Communications

How brands are successfully communicating their sustainability efforts — and how their stakeholders are asserting their own needs and preferences

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RPGs Tapping Energy, Smarts of Gamers to Generate Understanding of Global Problems

Gaming, particularly role-playing games (RPGs), is increasingly serious business — US retail revenue from the video game industry was estimated at $887 million as of February 2014, and the global video game industry now exceeds $76 billion with pro... View More

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Kenneth Cole Teams Up with Take Part for 'Look Good, For Good' Campaign

Fashion designer Kenneth Cole, a champion of social change throughout his 30-year career, is introducing a new campaign for Fall 2014 called “Look Good, For Good.” Building upon the company’s heritage of promoting “style with a purpose,” as... View More

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Yum! Launches 'Pass the Red Cup' Challenge with Christina Aguilera to Aid World Hunger Relief

Yum! Brands, the parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, has announced the launch of its annual World Hunger Relief effort, the “Pass The Red Cup” challenge, featuring multi-Grammy Award winner Christina Aguilera. The challenge is designe... View More

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World's Top PR Firms Won’t Work With Climate Deniers

WPP, Weber Shandwick, Waggener Edstrom (WE) Worldwide and several others in the top 25 global PR firms have told the Guardian they will not represent clients who deny man-made climate change, or take campaigns seeking to block regulations limiting ca... View More

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Participant Media's 'TakePart World' Highlights Sustainability Progress in Developing World

Participant Media, with the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, this week launched a new multi-platform series, TakePart World, which investigates the myths and misconceptions people across the globe have about the developing world. T... View More

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Napa Green Wines: Not Shouting It From the Rooftops

Of the 50 certified wineries, surprisingly, only three have opted to display the Napa Green logo on their labels — despite the time and cost involved in obtaining those certifications — so, I dug a little deeper. ... View More

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Can Chipotle Learn About Food Integrity from McDonald's?

McDonald’s Canada’s experience is evidence that social media is pushing transparency mainstream, and that for them the risks have been worth the rewards of increased customer trust. ... View More

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Effective Sustainability Initiatives Garner Accolades from Cannes, IPA

The word sustainability, first used around 1727, is derived from the Latin sustinere (tenere, to hold; sus, up). By that definition, sustainability just got a boost at the recent Cannes Film Festival as superstar musician/activist Bono was awarded th... View More

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From Economic Brand Value to Holonomic Brand Value

You may be wondering about the word holonomics. Although the word was first used in 1896 to describe a branch of mathematics, we coined a new definition for the word, which can be thought of as the combination of the words economics and wholeness.My ... View More

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No More Eco-Babble: How to Construct a Meaningful Social-Good Narrative

For the second year in a row, I was in Cannes last month doing a Palais session on marketing sustainability. This year, I was joined by my colleague Chip Walker, director of global planning for Young & Rubicam. Our strategic planning workshop was... View More

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Greenpeace Ramps Up LEGO Campaign with Emotional Video

Greenpeace continued its campaign against LEGO on Tuesday with the release of a dramatic video, called “Everything Is NOT Awesome,” aimed at further illustrating the reasons the toy company should sever its ties with Shell, which Greenpeace conte... View More

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How to Communicate Effectively with Young Consumers (Or, Lessons from 'Funny or Die')

When an irreverent spoof video can increase web traffic to the Affordable Care Act website by 40% in less than a day, understanding why can help your brand better communicate with young consumers. ... View More

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Walmart Introducing 'Women-Owned' Labels This Fall

A new “women-owned” label on goods will appear in Walmarts nationwide this fall, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.In recent years, many brands have responded to growing customer trends to purchase products they deem ecologically and socially e... View More

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Greenpeace to LEGO: 'Shell Is Bad Company'

Greenpeace has launched a campaign urging LEGO to #BlockShell and end its partnership with the oil company, which the NGO contends has been using LEGO’s brand to clean up its image as an Arctic oil driller. ... View More

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Unwieldy Restoration Hardware Catalogs Stir Social Media, Consumer Backlash

A few weeks ago, Restoration Hardware mailed out its annual catalog. Only, this one weighed 17 pounds. The 13 different 'source books,' as the company calls them, had 3,300 pages and were delivered by UPS. Consumers reacted furiously to what was seen... View More

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Bevy of Brands Abuzz with Bee Campaigns

Bee colony collapse disorder continues to generate concern, debate and action around the world. With bees playing a critical role in our lives and economy, a number of companies are running campaigns for the cause, particularly those whose businesses... View More

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New Research Shows Food Marketing Can Create False Sense of Health

Health-related buzzwords mislead consumers into thinking packaged food products labeled with these words are healthier than they actually are, according to a new research study conducted by scholars at the University of Houston (UH).Some of these wor... View More

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From Conflicted to Regenerated in 4 Days: A Reflection on the Activists of SB '14 San Diego

If I had written this last Tuesday, it would have been titled “Environmental activists stoop to new low: Spend money to rent boat to illegally trespass to protest sustainability conference.” However, after three days with thought leaders in corpo... View More

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Will GMO Labeling Muddy the Sustainable Food Waters or Make Things Clearer?

Socially responsible investment themes come to light in a range of industries we touch every day. Agriculture and food is a prime example, and the emergence of GMO labelling is a big part of the conversation. With Vermont now the third state to requi... View More

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Regenerating Trust, Connection, Engagement Key Keynote Themes on #SB14sd Day 4

Annie Longsworth of Saatchi & Saatchi S served as MC for our last day at SB’14. Reminding cause-marketers that we do things when we want to and need to and not when we’re told to, Longsworth eloquently introduced a series of plenaries with th... View More

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