Press Release
Excitement Builds for Sustainable Brands ‘18 in Vancouver

Over 100 Brands already registered, including HEINEKEN, Aveda, eBay, REI & others

SAN FRANCISCO, March 15, 2018 – Sustainable Brands® reveals program, networking and activity highlights for its upcoming global flagship conference: SB’18 Vancouver. More than 3,000 brand and business leaders will convene June 4 -7 at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia for a conversation on brand innovation for the 21st century.

More than 300 thought-leaders and cutting-edge practitioners will deliver main stage speeches, interactive breakout sessions and deep-dive bootcamps. Running with the theme “Redesigning the Good Life”, industry experts will provide tools, frameworks and examples of how brands are updating their products and services to meet an evolving consumer notion of The Good Life. Select program highlights include:

• Steve Vranakis, Executive Creative Director of the Google Creative Lab, presents a powerful toolkit for Good Life brands on how to thrive at the intersection of technology, creativity and complexity.
• Rossann Williams, President of Starbucks Canada, reveals how Starbucks is earning employee passion and delivering better business performance by aligning their hiring and employee benefits with Good Life principles.
• Annukka Dickens, Director, Human Rights, Supply Chain Responsivity and Sustainability at HP, Atlanta McIlwraith, Senior Manager, Community Engagement and Communications at Timberland, and Kelley Bell, Vice President of Social and Environmental Impact at Driscoll’s divulge how to find new forms of shared value in a world of evolving supplier relationships.
• Nick Udall, Co-Founder & CEO of nowhere discusses how to transition from breaking free to breaking through, unleashing high-performing teams that deliver market changing innovation.
• Tristan Harris, Co-Founder & Executive Director of the Center for Humane Technology, shares how to reverse the digital attention crisis and re-align technology with our best interests.
• Dimitar Vlahov, Director of Content Development for Sustainable Brands and Kevin Hagen, Director Corporate Responsibility at Iron Mountain and Content Council Co-Chair on the Sustainable Brands Advisory Board launch a comprehensive new tool for defining and tracking progress on the road to becoming a mature, responsible brand.
• LG, US Farmers and Ranchers Alliance (USFRA), Cone Communications, Shaw Industries and Smarter Sorting will lead lunch presentations on topics ranging from the marketing impacts of labeling your food by USFRA to the 6 Happiness Strategies by LG.
• Marc Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer at Procter & Gamble, discusses the road to positive consumption, how to embed social and environmental purpose into the heart of an iconic brand.
• Michael Kobori, VP Sustainability at Levi Strauss & Co., Steven Bethell, CEO of Bank & Vogue, Allen Langdon, Managing Director of Recycle BC and Monique Oxender, Chief Sustainability Officer at Keurig Green Mountain, reveal new collaboration models for a circular economy.
• Simon Mainwaring, Founder and CEO of WeFirst leads a CEO accelerator bootcamp, a crash course in redesigning brand purpose.
• A startup business competition called Sustainable Brands Innovation Open (SBIO), co-sponsored by Makersite and ASU Walton School of Sustainability RISN Incubator Program.

“As consumers around the world become more discerning about the brands they choose to engage with, our community of global brand leaders are beginning a race to the top — becoming increasingly bold about redesigning their products, services and communications in support of a better future for their customers,” states KoAnn Vikoren Skrzyniarz, Founder of Sustainable Brands. “More and more of them are coming together at SB events to collaborate on the redesign of systems they cannot tackle alone. We’re proud that SB has become their platform of choice for showcasing leadership, finding partners, and tapping the wisdom and creativity of our community for breakthrough ideas.”

To complement the conference program, SB’18 Vancouver offers a myriad of opportunities to connect and collaborate with like-minded peers, to build the business network necessary to transform the inspiration into action. Special events and networking highlights include:

• SB’s unique Innovation Lab Experience — the heart of the Activation Hub — where the attendees participate in solving community challenges together.
• A powerful and moving opening night plenary with a special welcome ceremony and blessing delivered by Members of the Squamish Nation.
• A series of receptions, dinners and conference parties, including the Opening Night reception, the SB Gather party at Craft beer market, Birds of a Feather dinners and many others.
• A tour of Stanley Park, some of Vancouver’s best green buildings and a meet and greet with local, mission-driven businesses.
• A tree planting in Stanley Park on Monday, June 4th, hosted by the Arbor Day Foundation.
• A private lunch for current SB Corporate Members, an orientation breakfast for new Members and an invite-only cocktail reception for prospective Members. SB Corporate Members in attendance include 21st Century Fox, BASF, Danone, Ford, HEINEKEN, The Hershey Company, Humana, Keurig Green Mountain, Novozymes, P&G, REI, Shaw Industries Group, Inc., Stanley Black & Decker and many more.

Sustainable Brands is proud to recognize the many sponsors already committed to showcasing their brand leadership in Vancouver, including P&G, SC Johnson, EY, Clif Bar, LG, Vinyl Business Sustainability Council (VSBC), Driscoll’s, LUSH Cosmetics, Savers, Braskem, 21st Century Fox and many others. Partner organizations include Nice & Serious as Global Creative Partner, the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), the Retail Council of Canada (RCC) and the Events Industry Council as strategic partners, and Upworthy, GOOD Media Group, 3BL Media, Scientific American, Innovation & Technology Today and Farm Journal Media as media partners.

SB’18 Vancouver is scheduled for June 4-7, 2018 at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia. Register now to participate and find the partners and tools needed to secure competitive advantage in a changing marketplace. Best available pricing ends Thursday, March 22nd.

Sponsorship opportunities are now available for those with breakthrough initiatives, tools and technologies that support business success through innovation for environmental and social benefit. For more information about attending or sponsoring SB’18 Vancouver, please visit www.SB18Vancouver.com or email [email protected].

About Sustainable Brands

Sustainable Brands® is the premier global community of brand innovators who are shaping the future of commerce worldwide. Since 2006, our mission has been to inspire, engage and equip today’s business and brand leaders to prosper for the near and long term by leading the way to a better future. Digitally published news articles and issues-focused conversation topics, internationally known conferences and regional events, a robust e-learning library and peer-to-peer membership groups all facilitate community learning and engagement throughout the year. Sustainable Brands is hosted by Sustainable Brands Worldwide, a division of Sustainable Life Media headquartered in San Francisco, CA.