Community Updates

Energy Building for Sustainable Brands '19 Detroit

Sustainable Brands reveals program, networking and activity highlights for its upcoming global flagship conference: SB’19 Detroit.

Brand Provided | By Sustainable Brands | Published 5 years ago | About a 5 minute read

Image: Sustainable Brands

More than 2,500 business leaders will convene June 3-6 at the Cobo Center in downtown Detroit to participate in the largest global gathering of brands transforming the economy through sustainable innovation.

Nearly 300 thought-leaders and cutting-edge practitioners in marketing and sustainability will deliver keynote speeches, interactive breakout sessions and collaborative workshops. The Innovation Expo will feature industry experts and brands showcasing tools, frameworks and examples of innovative product and service offerings designed to meet the evolving needs of today’s customers searching for sustainable lifestyle alternatives. Select program highlights include:

Steven Cahillane, CEO of Kellogg Company will present on embedding purpose into business growth strategy and operating with an eye toward making a real difference for future generations.
William McDonough, Chief Executive of McDonough Innovation and recently featured on Fortune’s 50 World’s Greatest Leaders list will speak on a bold new vision for the collection, processing, circularity and productivity of plastic waste.
Matthew McCarthy, CEO of Ben & Jerry’s will share his perspective on advancing systemic social change through the power of brand influence.
Marc Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer at Procter & Gamble along with KoAnn Skrzyniarz, CEO and Founder of Sustainable Brands will together launch a bold collaborative initiative aimed at tapping the power of brands to shape culture and mobilize action at scale for encouraging consumer sustainable lifestyle changes.
A research roundtable highlighting several new studies from J. Walter Thompson, Cone Communications, WestRock, NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business, Marine Stewardship Counciland others will focus on how consumers define The Good Life, what they currently believe about sustainability, what they expect from brands, and how it is driving loyalties and purchase behavior.
A session incorporating the UN Global Compact, Hilton, Salesforce.org, Brand VO2 and South Pole Group will focus on prioritizing and scaling corporate action on the UN SDGs. The discussion will focus on how brands are prioritizing their initiatives and which relevant actions are helping scale SDG-inspired change the fastest.
A lively discussion covering the most promising approaches, as well as critical challenges, in scaling up a much-needed transition to regenerative agriculture will feature General Mills, Dr. Bronner’s and Regen Network.

“The Sustainable Brands community sits at the epicenter of purpose-led business strategy,” states KoAnn Vikoren Skrzyniarz, CEO and Founder of Sustainable Brands. “For over a decade we have worked to redefine the path to brand success by inspiring thousands of business executives throughout the world and enabling them to deliver breakthrough innovation for environmental and social benefit.”

To complement the conference program, SB’19 Detroit offers a myriad of opportunities to connect and collaborate with purpose-driven business leaders. Special events and networking highlights include:

SB’s unique Innovation Lab experience - the heart of the Innovation Expo - where attendees participate in solving community and business challenges together. In partnership with the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, designers will facilitate ideation sessions around topics critical to the future success of sustainable economies.
The Erie Hack 2.0 Semi-Finals competition in partnership with Tech Town Detroit will be featured in the Innovation Expo on Wednesday. Teams will pitch their solutions to Lake Erie’s greatest problems. This data and engineering competition is designed to generate innovative solutions for Lake Erie Basin’s most pressing problems.
A series of receptions, dinners and conference parties, including the Opening Night Reception hosted by BASF and co-sponsored by Marcus Thomas and CHEP Brambles, the SB Gather party hosted by Ford and co-sponsored by Cone Communications, Birds of a Feather dinners, cohort orientation meetings and alumni gatherings.
A community Impact Project at Lincoln Street Art Park, made possible by generous contributions from Timberland. In partnership with Green Living Science, the city of Detroit, and through the leadership of Clean and Green Service Day, conference volunteers will participate in several park beautification and general greening/planting projects in Lincoln Street Art Park on Monday.
The Arbor Day Foundation will host a tree planting activity at Muliett Park on Monday. Sustainable Brands, Procter & Gamble and CHEP Brambles invite all attendees to dig in and celebrate trees in Detroit.
Suit up and explore active honeybee hives with Bees in the D. Get a first hand look at the industrial nature of honeybees and learn about how Detroit is becoming a leader of urban beekeeping. Activities run throughout the week at the Cobo Center and the GM Renaissance Center.

Sustainable Brands is proud to recognize the many sponsors already committed to showcasing their brand leadership in Detroit, including Presenting Sponsor BASF and Lead Sponsor National Geographic. Additional sponsors include Procter & Gamble, Vinyl Sustainability Council, Ford, Caesars Entertainment, Cone Communications a Porter Novelli Company, Braskem, Cox Automotive, Danone, Detroit Convention Bureau, DTE Energy, Marcus Thomas, EY, Kellogg Company, Nestlé, Salterbaxter MSL, UNIFI, The Dow Chemical Company, Alaska Airlines, Keurig Dr Pepper, WWF, American Forests Foundation and others. Newsy Brand Studio and HuffPo are Premier Media Partners. Arizona State University and the Erb Institute at the University of Michigan are Premier Affiliate Partners. Additional media and affiliate partners include: 3BL Media, Scientific American, Guardian, Innovation & Tech Today, Real Leaders, Wharton IGEL, The Sustainability Consortium, UN Global Compact and others.

For further information on the conference program, a growing list of confirmed speakers and sponsors or available sponsorship opportunities, please visit the conference website at SB19Detroit.com or call (415) 626-2212. Registration is now open and global business leaders with innovative solutions are encouraged to participate.