Press Release
Sustainable Brands Announces First Look at 2012 Conference Program

Over 1000 Attendees will Learn, Discuss, and Collaborate to Tap Opportunity in Response to Global Environmental and Social Issues June 4-7, 2012 at Paradise Point in San Diego, CA

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., March 22, 2012– Sustainable Brands today published an early look at program highlights for its upcoming SB’12 conference. With over 150 speakers and 80 program sessions, nearly 1,000 attendees will explore the market drivers and innovation now underway in response to growing environmental and social pressures, including activism by consumers turned citizens worldwide. Based on the overarching theme of “The Revolution Will Be Branded”, the conference will continue to explore three perennial areas of focus: (1) Supporting the Business Case for Sustainable Brands, (2) Shifting Consumer Demand and Behavior (3) Driving Radical Innovation for greater differentiation and impact.

Plenary sessions begin the morning of April 5 and feature many of the world’s leading thinkers and practitioners of environmental and social innovation. Each day, plenary presenters will facilitate new conversation about trends and drivers sparking the revolution, forward-driving business innovation, and consumer-captivating communications. Some of the plenary session lineup includes:

• Umair Haque, author of Betterness: Economics for Humans, will share insights on why this is the year for a sustainable brand revolution and how brands from here forward will be called to create higher-order wealth than before.
• Christiaan Maats, founder of OAT Shoes, will share his breakthrough effort to design and bring to market compostable shoes that grow flowers.
• Abigail Rodgers, VP of Sustainability Strategy and Communication at The Coca-Cola Company will share inside details on this past season's arctic home campaign and why it's a milestone on the march toward purpose-driven brand marketing.

To provide sustainability, brand and design professionals with the tools needed to build business and brand value, facilitated break out sessions consisting of skills training sessions, best-practice case studies and discussion groups will inspire, engage and equip the SB community covering a variety of topics. Some of the distinguished faculty leading these sessions include:

• David Griswold, President of Sustainable Harvest Specialty Coffee Importers, will discuss the importance of creating shared value in the supply chain.
• Mathieu Turpault, Managing Partner, Design at Bressler Group, will cover how to reduce impacts and eliminate waste in the design phase of product development.
• Shama Alexander, Director of Sustainability at Lush Cosmetics, will talk about revolutionizing brand through positioning, product design, employee engagement, and more.
• James Gregory, CEO of CoreBrand, will analyze the value of brand alignment in the age of transparency.

“Each year since our launch we’ve been pleased to have major sustainable brand innovation and communications initiatives debut at SB. This year, we are proud to showcase more of the leaders who are helping shape the future of sustainable commerce,” said KoAnn Vikoren Skrzyniarz, Founder/Chief Catalyst of Sustainable Brands. “Furthermore, as our growing community becomes more engaged with the potential for coming together to build partnerships for more impactful change, we expect a real shift this year toward the creation of new initiatives directly coming out of ideas that will be generated at the conference.”

Sustainable Brands is ground zero for sustainability, brand and design leaders working to understand and leverage environmental and social innovation as a driver of brand innovation and value. The conference is being continually redesigned to create and encourage more productive connections within the global Sustainable Brands community and to catalyze collaboration, relationship-building and integrated approaches to the community’s challenges by creating a sense of shared purpose and retaining a commitment to openness, authenticity and mutual respect.

This year, the Sustainable Brands community will gather June 4-7 at the Paradise Point Resort in San Diego where attendees will learn from the organizations that are succeeding in turning their brands into platforms for purpose and find new ideas and connections to help them do the same.

About Sustainable Brands

Sustainable Brands is the global learning, collaboration, and commerce community committed to replenishing the world through better brands. Sustainable Brands offers news and views from thought and practice leaders, online and live events, a robust resource library, peer-to-peer learning groups, E-learning, and a set of solutions providers for corporate brand and sustainability professionals, social entrepreneurs and the eco-system of supporting value partners. Sustainable Brands inspires, engages and equips today's business and brand leaders to grow revenues and enhance brand value, reputation and loyalty, while helping create a healthy and sustainable future for all. Sustainable Brands is a production of Sustainable Life Media located in San Francisco CA.