PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
When you’re shopping for your next hoodie, this startup is hoping you’ll choose to plant as many as 93 trees: ch8se (choose) is a new experimental fashion brand from Amsterdam that has decided to donate its would-be advertising budget towards planting trees or providing food or water to those in need.
“This is an attempt to democratise consumer activism. We believe that conscious consumerism is our most effective tool for making a change and it's currently extremely under-utilized,” ch8se co-founder David Eros told Sustainable Brands in an e-mail.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
In a dystopian portrayal of the future, the landscape is rife with fires, rising seas, and thick clouds billowing from power plant smokestacks; humans must wear gas masks for their own survival. This apocalyptic vision is captured in a series of photos featuring 8 popular Vietnamese singers, actors and dancers as part of a new anti-coal campaign.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Artist network Brandalism believes that the talent, energy and creativity of ad agency employees is “sinking into an ever-expanding black hole.” The network recently launched a campaign to appeal to those who feel the same, by placing several posters in front of ad agency offices in Manchester and London.
CLEANTECH -
The trade organization representing investor-owned electric companies, the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), has hired a communications consultant who will help utilities rebrand themselves into something more appealing to the public. The changes will include shifts in messaging, such as from “utility-scale solar” to “community solar.” A new communication plan is expected to be presented to the organization’s members within a month.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Kraft Heinz followed through on its promise to remove artificial flavors, preservatives and dyes from its iconic macaroni and cheese – three months ago. In what the company is calling “the world’s largest ‘blind taste test,’” Kraft Mac & Cheese quietly changed its recipe and the ingredients listed on the box in December, and sold over 50 million boxes before making a formal announcement about it.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
How do you communicate your company's sense of purpose — what you stand for in simple terms — in a way that is authentic, transparent and honest?
Increasingly, the answer for many of the world's biggest companies is to highlight their sustainability work.
Why sustainability? Well, sustainability, after all, is rooted in doing business in a transparent and authentic way. And, in today’s always-on, smarter-than-before society, pledging to be a better company just won’t cut it. You have to demonstrate how your company’s purpose is creating a tangibly better experience.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Air pollution in China is unavoidable, and a huge health problem. Last year, a Berkeley Earth study found that deaths related to the main air pollutant, PM2.5 particles, total 1.6 million a year or 17 percent of China’s mortality rate.
LEADERSHIP -
Over the next month, the Manchester Boston Regional Airport in New Hampshire’s five video screens will regularly show an animated ad depicting the state’s four leading presidential candidates with tides rising to their waists from climate-induced sea level rise. The 10-second spot asks, “How will you deal with sea level rise in New Hampshire?” and is expected to be seen by the candidates, their teams, and the press as they arrive for the GOP presidential debate on February 6 and primary on February 9.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
The Federal Trade Commission announced complaints and proposed court orders barring four national retailers from mislabeling and advertising rayon textiles as made of “bamboo,” and requiring them to pay civil penalties totaling $1.3 million.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Colgate toothpastes and toothbrushes will not be the focus of the brand’s first-ever Super Bowl advertisement. Rather, it will be using its airtime to remind viewers to turn off the tap when brushing their teeth.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
This Tuesday afternoon breakout session saw Thomas Kolster, founder and creative director at the Goodvertising Agency, and Kerry Eustice, Editorial Partnerships Editor at The Guardian Sustainable Business, share their perspectives on changing the conversation around sustainability values.Early on, Kolster asserted that sustainability advertising is not doing enough to drive change, as it tends to be less engaging than other advertising messages. He and Eustice discussed dos, don’ts and new approaches that could change the way the message of sustainability is communicated.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
For many marketers or entrepreneurs, building a business with a purpose is the Holy Grail. It feels great – and we all want to do a job that makes sense. And it’s good business: brands with a purpose work better – Jim Stengel and a few others have clearly made the point.But building a business with a purpose requires a change of paradigm. For many of us, that means unlearning what we studied at marketing school.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
After nine years as a spokesman for Nespresso in Europe, actor and activist George Clooney has finally agreed to promote the brand in North America. Television advertisements began airing yesterday, and online videos promoting the company’s social impact and sustainability commitments are part of the deal. Clooney is a member of the Nespresso Sustainability Advisory Board.
CLEANTECH -
Schneider Electric, global specialist in energy management and automation, announced the launch of a new brand campaign in North America to showcase the business and societal value of sustainability and efficiency. The brand campaign executes on the company's newly launched global brand strategy, Life Is On, which aims to clearly articulate how the company helps customers around the world transform the way they access and consume energy.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
This might be the best recent trend in children’s brands.
After years of being a less-than-progressive feminine role model, Barbie is on the verge of becoming the feminist icon she should be. Mattel’s latest ad features a college professor, a veterinarian, a soccer coach, a businesswoman, and a museum tour guide — all girls under the age of 10. It asks the audience, “What happens when girls are free to imagine they can be anything?”
MARKETING AND COMMS -
There was a time when the only way a company could hope to talk directly with real people was through the medium of advertising or public relations. Companies felt distanced from consumers and they worried that people wouldn't take them seriously unless they could broadcast a big campaign or get their PR agency to persuade a journalist to write about them.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Designer Chris Onesto created California Water Company to highlight the state’s historic drought. The company’s water bottles are only about 6 percent full, to reflect the current capacity of California water reservoirs.“The Golden State is turning a toasty golden brown all thanks to a record drought,” reads the project’s website. “Oddly enough Southern Californians could care less. In response I created the California Water Company, bottled water that moves the drought from a startling thought into a disturbing reality.”
BLOG -
Sustainability marketing is a strange and special animal. To be effective, it needs to popularize the work of sustainability teams, which tends to be based on rigorous systems thinking, carefully and scientifically considering the whole picture before suggesting ways to improve it. And of course, sustainability marketing also needs to be as sexy and appealing as successful mainstream marketing. Striking that kind of balance is not easy, and there certainly has been significant progress over the last few years. At the same time, there still are some important sustainability marketing tactics that are not understood and adopted well enough.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
On the heels of a coalition of British NGOs and businesses issuing a “litter manifesto” to help clean up the UK last month, research from Keep Britain Tidy has revealed that an anti-littering campaign launched in May has achieved rather impressive results.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
A cloud seems to be looming over the recycling industry today. No matter where you turn, the reigning attitude seems about the same — the future of recycling is in trouble.