SAN FRANCISCO, June 9, 2016 - The largest global peer community of brand leaders and sustainability practitioners focused on advancing brand value creation through sustainability-led innovation is heading to Detroit, Michigan in 2017. Sustainable Brands® announces the next gathering point for its flagship event in the U.S. will be at the Cobo Center, May 22-25, 2017.
Stemming from this year’s focus of Activating Purpose, the SB global community of over one million professionals not only understands the role that brands play in creating flourishing societies and economies, but also realizes the opportunity embedded in re-infusing businesses with sustainable purpose. Against a backdrop of stunning economic and community revitalization, the SB community has decided to convene its next flagship in Detroit for a global dialog about how to collectively Redefine the Good Life.
“Our community is focused on the global truth that, at this moment in history, it is time for all businesses to get back to the place where they have embedded a meaningful purpose beyond profit into the core of their activities,” states KoAnn Vikoren Skrzyniarz, Founder of Sustainable Brands. “But what comes next? It’s time for us to leave ‘Paradise’ as it is classically envisioned, with the sun and sand and palm trees, and redefine a new global societal aspiration that goes beyond the ‘Dream’ of the Industrial Age. What better place than to begin that Imagineering than in the heartland of America where the industrial age took hold and innovation unfolded?”
Several companies and organizations have already committed to supporting the journey to Detroit. Nearly 150 notable sustainability leaders, influential business leaders and prominent local and national government representatives convened in April for a pre-launch of SB’17 Detroit. The Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan hosted an evening reception in tandem with Sustainable Brands at the Shinola Flagship Store in downtown Detroit to share challenges and opportunities of revitalizing cities. Hosted by The Ford Motor Company, a networking event was also held at the Detroit Institute of Arts to begin the ideation process and design of Sustainable Brands’ 2017/2018 global activities around the theme, “Redefining the Good Life”. Additional organizations who have already committed their support to SB’17 Detroit include Dow, General Motors, Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau, BASF, Kellogg’s, Fiat/Chrysler Automobiles, thinkstep, Guardian Sustainable Business, NatureBank, and the Detroit Experience Factory.
The 2.4 million square foot Cobo Center complex, located on the bank of the Detroit River, is the centerpiece of downtown Detroit’s civic center. It is a Green Meetings Industry Council ASTM/APEX Standard Certified Facility with a commitment to environmental stewardship. Sustainable Brands has a commitment to leading international event industry standards compliant with ISO 20121 Event Sustainability Management Systems and APEX/ASTM Environmentally Sustainable Meeting Standards. The Sustainable Brands team will be working with the Cobo Center team in the coming year to ensure standards are met for SB’17 Detroit.
Further information about Sustainable Brands and SB’17 Detroit can be found at www.SustainableBrands.com or by calling 1+ 415.626.2212 or emailing [email protected]. Sponsorship and media partnership opportunities are now available.
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Sustainable Brands Staff
Published Jun 8, 2016 9pm EDT / 6pm PDT / 2am BST / 3am CEST