How brands are successfully communicating their sustainability efforts — and how their stakeholders are asserting their own needs and preferences
Last week, First Lady Michelle Obama was joined at the White House by Sesame Street characters Elmo and Rosita to announce a potentially game-changing collaboration in the fight against childhood obesity. Sesame Workshop and the Produce Marketing Ass... View More
It has been a business maxim for years: Shareholder value trumps all when it comes to measuring corporate success. But by overrating shareholder value, management could focus too much on short-term stock price measures, given that outsized executive ... View More
If you are like us, your family has already started asking you what you want for Christmas/Hanukkah/insert your mass-consumption holiday of choice here. And while we like getting presents, we really, really, honestly, we promise, do not need that muc... View More
Mainstream consumers can be a fickle bunch can’t they? They tell us in research that they want to be more green, that they WILL purchase more eco-friendly products in the next year ahead than the one prior. But there’s that eternal gap between re... View More
The Carbon Trust has been selected to develop an environmental labeling scheme for products and services in Mexico, designed to promote sustainable purchasing and procurement for consumers, companies and the public sector.The objective of the project... View More
The success of Chipotle’s recent ‘Scarecrow’ video goes beyond its glossy Cannes-worthy visuals or the 7 million views it has received since its launch last month: The online advertisement is a marketing feat because it taps into the power of s... View More
I was sitting with a team of entrepreneurs yesterday. Together, we're launching a new retail concept (look for updates here — we open in January!).The conversation was all about naming. We'd landed on two great names, which one of the team had put ... View More
A coalition of 70 global investors managing more than $3 trillion in collective assets on Thursday launched the first-ever coordinated effort to spur 45 of the world’s top oil and gas, coal and electric power companies to assess the financial risks... View More
In this series, Christophe Fauconnier & Benoit Beaufils, respectively CEO & founding partner of brand consultancy Innate Motion, present the tools that the company uses to develop purposeful, mission-driven brands with their clients. Benoit &... View More
The Climate Declaration, which to date has been signed by more than 700 companies and thousands of individuals, is now up in lights in Times Square.The Declaration, part of an ongoing campaign organized by Ceres and BICEP, calls on federal policymake... View More
I believe futureproof brands are built on a foundation of two fundamentals: the brand’s reason for existence and the consumer’s yearning.These concepts may sound a bit esoteric, so allow me to explain. ... View More
While 7 out of 10 Americans say they always or almost always recycle, apparently a scant 1 in 5 consistently recycles bathroom items, according to a report commissioned by the Johnson & Johnson Family of Consumer Companies.To encourage consumers ... View More
Jean-Paul Agon, Chairman and CEO of L'Oréal, today announced “Sharing Beauty with All,” the cosmetics giant’s ambitious new sustainability commitment to transform its footprint while achieving its business ambition by 2020. ... View More
This weekend, the feature-length documentary film Project Wild Thing opens in independent cinemas in the UK.The film explores the increasing disconnection between British children and the natural world around them; kids’ roaming distance from their... View More
Cruise ships dumped more than a billion gallons of sewage in the ocean last year, much of it raw or poorly treated, according to federal data analyzed by Friends of the Earth, which is calling for stronger rules to protect oceans, coasts, sea life an... View More
Unilever, KT and Nestlé lead the Tomorrow’s Value Rating 2013 (TVR), which recognizes companies that increasingly demonstrate “clarity of vision and innovation in their pursuit of a sustainable business model.”Sprint, Vodafone, Iberdrola, E.ON... View More
Bar none, the most persistent challenge that the sustainability movement faces is how to prove the business bottom line benefits of sustainability activities. This is particularly acute for small and medium-sized companies, for whom survival is the n... View More
Earlier this week, Dell announced a commitment to reduce the energy intensity of its product portfolio by 80 percent, as part of a comprehensive long-term corporate responsibility framework to achieve by 2020.The information technology company’s 20... View More
How can consumers choose sustainable products? Eco-labels or sustainability ratings can be an important guide. These systems compare products or services in terms of their social and environmental performance, identifying those that are best in class... View More
Global opinion research consultancy APCO Insight last week revealed its list of the 100 Most Loved Companies, based on findings generated by its Emotional LinkingSM model, which measures consumers’ emotional attachment to brands. The Walt Disney Co... View More