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.
New Transparency Initiative Aims to Boost Responsible Ship Recycling Practices
In a bid to increase responsible shipping practices, Forum for the Future and the Sustainable Shipping Initiative have launched the Ship Recycling Transparency Initiative (SRTI). The Initiative brings together key industry stakeholders to improve transparency in the global ship recycling value chain by facilitating voluntary disclosure of recycling practices and related data by ship owners, and to support the use of this information to inform decision-making.
Employees Are Your Best Purpose Ambassadors
This is the fourth in a series of articles examining how business leaders and companies can transform their corporate culture in order to succeed in the midst of the impending Purpose Revolution. Find links to the full series below.
How to Take Stakeholder Engagement to the Next Level
Companies are investing in corporate responsibility programs with the goal of making a positive contribution to the communities and environments in which they operate. Successful corporate responsibility programs emphasize engagement with various stakeholders, including customers, partners, governments, and employees. In today's changing communications landscape, stakeholders have an important role in shaping these programs. Stakeholder engagement is critical to the shared success of corporate responsibility programs. It is time that companies take a fresh look at how to engage with these individuals to arrive at common goals and maximize collective resources.
Purpose-Driven Employees Are Your Strongest Brand Ambassadors
You’ve probably read the proliferation of literature about the benefits of hiring purpose-driven employees, which can result in increased productivity, higher retention rates, and more effective collaboration, just to name a few. But have you ever wondered how purpose-driven employees impact your organization’s branding and marketing?
Garment Worker Diaries Reveal Working Conditions, Wages in Bangladesh, India, Cambodia
A first-of-its-kind research project led by Microfinance Opportunities (MFO) in partnership with Fashion Revolution and C&A Foundation gives the most comprehensive picture yet of the living and working conditions faced by female garment workers in Bangladesh, Cambodia and India.
Kering, LCF Launch First-Ever Open-Access Course for Sustainable Luxury Fashion
In response to growing demand for sustainable apparel products, Kering and London College of Fashion, UAL (LCF) are launching the world’s first open-access digital course in luxury fashion and sustainability.
Corporate Community Engagement: 5 Essential Considerations
Back in the early days of corporate philanthropy, companies typically selected causes to support based on the personal interests of the chairman — or the chairman’s wife! — with little or no regard to issues of strategy, relevance or impact. Fortunately, things have moved on, with many companies now adopting more innovative, imaginative and considered approaches to their companies’ community involvement activities — such that in many cases they can no longer be understood as purely ‘philanthropic’.
Unleashing the Power of Online Reporting
Confronted with an ever-growing demand for transparency and materiality, companies need to find an adequate format to publish both financial and pre-financial information to their stakeholders in an effective way. While traditional reporting reaches its limits, online integrated reporting features a number of key advantages that enable them to get the job done. It is fair to say that 2017 was an important year for corporate reporting. A number of events established the disclosure of relevant ecological, social and governance (ESG) specific data as the “new normal”:
Unilever Threatens to Pull Ads if Tech Platforms Don’t Clean Up ‘Toxic Content’
In a bid to build trust into our systems and society, Unilever has announced a new commitment to cut investment in platforms that breed division in society — and is challenging the rest of the industry to do the same. In his keynote speech at the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting in Palm Desert, Calif., Keith Weed, Unilever’s CMO, demanded the industry work together to improve transparency and rebuild consumer trust in an era of fake news and toxic online content.
Toyota Tackles Climate Change, Inclusivity in ‘Start Your Impossible’ Campaign
Building on the success of its “Good Odds” spots released during the Super Bowl, in which it highlighted the real-life story of Canadian Para-alpine skier Lauren Woolstencroft, auto giant Toyota has released a new ad campaign “Start Your Impossible” for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.
Winning Over the Purpose-Focused Employee
This is the second in a series of articles examining how business leaders and companies can transform their corporate culture in order to succeed in the midst of the impending Purpose Revolution.
Absolut Bares It All in Humorous Transparency Campaign
Absolut is leading the way for transparency with a new campaign that proves that it really is ‘the vodka with nothing to hide.’ The Åhus, Sweden-based distiller has created a short film that takes viewers on a revealing journey to discover Absolut Vodka’s CO2 neutral distillation process and sustainable ethos.
Can Being Socially Responsible Get You a Date?
In my book, Rise Up: How to Build a Socially Conscious Company, I made a number of predictions about the future, ranging from the rise of women to a more equitable and influential role in the workplace to the growth of worker collectives, such as co-ops and employee-owned companies, in the marketplace. I also predicted that ratings systems would proliferate in every walk of life, from companies to cities to individuals:
Corporate America Swings from Sobs to Silence in This Year’s Super Bowl
It was a sad Super Bowl. Sad, as only Trump can say it. Saaad. One minute I had a cunning, fast-talking clown trying to sell me stuff in true ad-land fashion. The next, I felt emotionally mistreated by a sobbing stranger playing curling with my heart. Corporate America appeared not to care at all — and if it did, it cared too much — which is exactly the problem. Of four quarters of fast-paced commercials only around 10 aimed for something bigger than product plugging.
UN Talanoa Dialogue Portal Invites Businesses to Contribute to Climate Discussion
The UN Climate Change secretariat is launching an online portal that invites countries, businesses, local government and civil society to contribute to the climate change conversation. The platform will support the Talanoa Dialogue, an international conversation mechanism launched during COP23 in Bonn, which will help track progress on current commitments and drive global climate action.
Purpose Differentiates in an Age of Disruption
What makes a good company successful in an age where we are blessedly cursed with a wide selection of products in every category? With technology being a widespread disruptor, the business landscape is rapidly changing and making some companies obsolete almost overnight. Do you recall Blockbuster?
5 Hacks to Activate Purpose in the Workplace
It should come as no surprise that purpose — defined as your company’s aspirational reason for being beyond profit — plays a key role in the direction of your business on multiple levels. Purpose is an overarching “north star” that serves as a guidepost for decision making.
Budweiser Launches Label for Beers Brewed with 100 Percent Renewable Electricity
Budweiser is launching a new initiative to communicate its commitment to sustainability to consumers and kickstart an industry-wide movement. The AB InBev brand has created a renewable electricity symbol that indicates when its beer is brewed with 100 percent clean energy.
Outdoor Industry Film Series to Highlight Business Imperative for Embracing Purpose
The Outdoor Industry Association (OIA), whose members include REI, Iron Mountain, Patagonia, The North Face and Timberland, is producing a new film series that shares the stories of outdo
CVS to Stop Altering Imagery for Beauty Products, Challenges Others to Do Same
In a bid to put people on the path to better health, CVS Health has made significant changes in its retail stores, such as ending the sale of tobacco products, embracing healthier food options and committing to remove certain chemicals of concern from all st