How brands are successfully communicating their sustainability efforts — and how their stakeholders are asserting their own needs and preferences
In honor of National Soil Conservation Week, which commences on April 16, the Soil Conservation Council of Canada (SCCC) has launched a new campaign encouraging Canadians to play in the dirt. Initiated by the Innovative Farmers Association of Ontario, the Soil Your Undies campaign aims to draw attention to the importance of soil health.
We’re continuing our discussion (see part one) on the role of activist brands in today’s roiling political and social climate. Our insights come from the Purpose Collaborative – North America’s largest community of purpose, corporate responsibility, and sustainability experts. Tread lightly into this minefield …
The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (aka Global Goals) are viewed by most in the sustainability community as the biggest opportunity yet for the world to shape a new and better way of doing business while shaping a new and better world.
Luxury goods maker Shinola has unveiled a new national campaign — Let’s Roll Up Our Sleeves — that celebrates the American worker and work ethic, and encourages Americans to band together for the greater good.
As Georgetown University linguistics professor Deborah Tannen says, “We tend to look through language and not realize how much power language has.” We rarely realize it, but language is the lens through which we form perceptions about people, places and products. From my involvement in corporate marketing, I know that companies and advertisers are keenly aware of language’s power for consumers. Marketing specialists pore over focus group data and behavior studies to understand what makes consumers tick, carefully selecting words to evoke emotions, motivate us and shape our tastes. The right phrasing can make a world of difference.
Sustainability isn’t just a buzzword these days — it’s insurance against reputational risk, the key to new market opportunities, a safeguard against climate change and a critical element for staying competitive. And companies that are resistant to adopting a defined sustainability standards will feel the effects.
January’s Women’s March was one of the biggest global movements of recent years. An estimated 5 million people marched in 17 different countries to show their support for basic human rights — freedom, equality, justice and personal security - which are increasingly under threat across different areas of people’s lives.
In celebration of World Water Day, brewer Stella Artois and National Geographic have joined forces to create Our Dream of Water, a documentary by Crystal Moselle spotlighting the effects of the global water crisis. The film, which was commissioned by Stella Artois, will premiere on National Geographic on March 22nd at 6:00 p.m. EST/PST. Our Dream of Water is an extension of the brewer’s Buy a Lady a Drink campaign, an ongoing partnership with Water.org.
When a U.S. President can impact stock valuation and sway public dialogue in just 140 characters, what’s a brand to do?
Ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8th, Proctor & Gamble has launched a new campaign dubbed We See Equal along with an ad spot highlighting its latest gender equality initiative.
The language of business can be combative (launch, target, strategize), or very often it is about profits, sales, shared value - the language of money. We are either warriors or accountants when it comes to business. However, both warring and counting money are inherently non-productive. In themselves, as actions, they are incapable of producing growth.
Growing demand for seafood and a global population growing at a rate of 75 million people every year has put ocean resources under significant strain. Approximately 90 percent of global fishing grounds are now over-fished or fully-exploited. Sustainable consumption of seafood is therefore imperative, and one of the only ways to reverse the decline and collapse of fish stocks within our lifetime.
The year has hardly begun and we’ve already witnessed radical shifts throughout society - growing anti-establishment contingencies, women’s rights marches, and the new US administration are some of the major talking points of 2017. Many have called this the ushering of a new era, one where institutions are met with anxiety rather than trust; in such a climate, brands and businesses can play an important role through establishing a distinct POV and by supporting actions that address critical societal issues of the day.
The political unrest seems to be good for advertising with a conscience, as this year’s Super Bowl saw the highest number of Goodvertising campaigns ever.
Cross-Posted from Materials & Packaging. Environmental and corporate social responsibility non-profit As You Sow has called upon four major US companies — Amazon, McDonald’s, Target and Walmart — to ditch polystyrene foam packaging from their operations. And they’re not the only ones: A new report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, endorsed by leaders of 15 global brands, has also called for globally replacing polystyrene.
Cross-Posted from Consumer Behavior Change. The question is no longer if an organization will engage with society, it’s how. Yet, from Brexit to Trump to Black Lives Matter, how is now harder than ever before. So, throughout the year, we will illuminate the “how” for business and societal impact. We started by asking the Purpose Collaborative – North America’s largest community of purpose, corporate responsibility, and sustainability experts: “What key recommendations would you share with clients to accelerate the impact of their work in 2017?” Their wisdom follows.
A decade after An Inconvenient Truth brought climate change into the heart of popular culture, the follow-up to the watershed environmental documentary, An Inconvenient Sequel, will make its world premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival as a Day One screening, part of The New Climate - a program dedicated to conversations and films about environmental change and conservation.
Minority groups are usually the ones that have the most to lose when it comes to polluting fossil fuels, both in terms of their climate change and health-related risks. But with its Fueling U.S. Forwardcampaign, the Koch brothers are trying to tell another story in a desperate attempt to save a dying industry, spinning fossil fuels as the saving grace for minorities and low-income families.
‘Science Guy’ Bill Nye is coming back to television this Spring – this time to put climate deniers in their place.
One year after its formation, the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TFCD), a global task force created by the G20’s Financial Stability Board (FSB) to prevent market shocks stemming from climate change, has published its report, Recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures.