MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS -
Early marketing for products promising sustainability was all about what they “weren’t.” Tofurky wasn’t meat. Soy milk wasn’t dairy. Solar wasn’t coal.
Positioning against the negative helped companies attract consumers who were revolting against the polluting impacts of standard manufacturing practices and products. But doing so ignored what potential customers still wanted, whether a product was sustainable or not: delicious taste, high performance, reliable quality and comfort, and overall satisfaction.
Consider the ominous ads for the first Prius, which started running in 2001. The only virtue they extolled was fuel efficiency, and portrayed oil drills as monsters.
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS -
The brand communications crisis is not an urban legend, albeit just as scary
Between 2001 and 2002, Brazil went through its largest energy crisis. The lack of infrastructure planning combined with economic growth forced the Government to ration the energy supply from its main urban centres, for intermittent periods of time. Back then, as a student living in São Paulo, I remember streets darkening as the sun went down. In one of those evenings, walking back home from university, two men driving a motorcycle stopped right in front of me. One of them jumped off the bike and before I knew it, he hit me on the head with the back of his gun and stole my backpack.
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS -
Leading figures from the worlds of business, advertising, design and philanthropy gathered in New York City this week to honor the best in creative work creating a real social impact at the third annual D&AD Impact Awards.
D&AD Impact celebrates creative campaigns that contribute towards a better and more sustainable future. In total, 76 D&AD Impact Pencils were awarded to campaigns, projects and products addressing some of the most pressing issues in the world today.
PRESS RELEASE -
In the world of marketing, less than seven percent of directors are women.* Gillette Venus wants to help close that gap with the launch of the Her Shot campaign, a social experiment in storytelling and celebration of all the ways a female perspective can disrupt and improve the world.
Gillette Venus is partnering with 10 up-and-coming female directors to create video content spotlighting the importance of a woman’s point of view and sharing unique perspectives on the positive impact this can have on the world. The brand is also partnering with actress/director Regina King to serve as a voice of inspiration to the directors, providing tips and advice on success so they can elevate their voices in the industry.
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS -
Nike’s 30th anniversary edition of its iconic “Just Do It” campaign, released this week, features embattled football star Colin Kaepernick, in a move practically designed to stir up controversy — but which ultimately aligns perfectly with Nike’s ethos of living courageously.
ORGANIZATIONAL GOVERNANCE -
Who are you and why should I care? Since the 1950s, companies have turned to externally focused branding methods to answer these questions that consumers have about their businesses. Today, companies face an increasingly hyperconnected, skeptical marketplace where customers are demanding more. They want to know the substance beyond the sizzle of advertising. For branding to remain the economic engine it has been over the past 70 years, we need to ask: What’s next?
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Coca-Cola Great Britain has launched a new design for the Coca-Cola range, featuring new-look packaging for original Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola zero sugar. The changes unify both varieties with the trademark Coca-Cola red and form part of the company’s commercial strategy to encourage more people to try Coca-Cola zero sugar.
Along with the redesign, a £5 million marketing campaign communicates the changes to consumers, featuring 10- and 30-second ads alongside out-of-home advertising. The ad, “One Way or Another,” reminds consumers they can enjoy Coca-Cola, with or without sugar.
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS -
In the true spirit of coopetition, 17 of New York’s top marketing, advertising and communications agencies have partnered with leading climate scientists and non-profits to harness consumer insights and creativity to motivate urgent and collective action to address climate change, starting with Gen Z — an estimated 17 million soon-to-be-voters citing a deep passion for climate change and other societal issues.
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Coca-Cola Great Britain and Coca-Cola European Partners have partnered with Merlin Entertainments to offer 50 percent discounts at some of the UK’s best-known attractions in exchange for empty plastic drink bottles. Specially created reverse vending machines will be on-site at four of Merlin’s leading attractions and will instantly reward those who deposit their used bottles between July 25th and October 19th, 2018.
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Last week, over 2,000 representatives from our global community of sustainability practitioners, brand strategists, product and service innovators, thought leaders and other change-makers converged at SB’18 Vancouver to share their latest insights on a multitude of themes pertinent to all of those committed to improving business around the world. Here, we dig into brand and organizational efforts to get consumers to deliver their part of the equation, through responsible consumption.
P&G: The road to responsible consumption
By Marissa Rosen
ORGANIZATIONAL GOVERNANCE -
In recent conversation with Marc Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer at P&G, we spent our time talking about shifting out from old paradigms and models, to create new frameworks for building brands and advancing sustainability. Here are Pritchard’s top five paradigms to shift:
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS -
CVS Health continues to put its money where its purpose is. Following up on the promise it made in January to stop altering imagery for beauty products, the company’s retail division, CVS Pharmacy, has launched an advertising campaign, “Beauty in Real Life.”
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY -
For the second year, Fast Company is celebrating businesses, policies, and nonprofits that are poised help shift society to a more sustainable and more equitable future with its World Changing Ideas Awards. From melted down guns to nitrogen-producing microbes, there’s quite a bit of variety among 2018’s twelve winners.
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS -
Is there any better platform than Instagram to turn the jealousy of wanderlust into environmental awareness? Followers scroll through the feeds of travel influencers, admiring the photos of scenic destinations and express their enjoyment with a 'like' and their envy in the comments. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and ad agency TBWA\Paris saw this as an opportunity to highlight how many beautiful places are being lost to pollution, clear-cutting and other forms of environmental destruction.
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Environmental charity Hubbub has launched a campaign that challenges male gym-goers to replace half of their animal-based protein with plant-based alternatives.
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS -
From #DeleteUber to sexual harassment allegations, the Greyball scandal and a recent European court ruling that declared it a transportation business and taxi service, it’s fair to say 2017 has been a pretty rough year for Uber.
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Over the past decade, Danish energy company Ørsted has effectively transformed itself into one of Europe’s leading sustainable energy companies, transitioning away from oil and coal in favor of offshore wind. The company has already reduced carbon emissions by 52 percent since 2006 and is on track to achieve its science-based target of 96 percent by 2023.
ORGANIZATIONAL GOVERNANCE -
Starbucks is harnessing the power of new media to highlight the efforts being made by real people across the United States to effect positive changes in their communities. The coffee giant has brought back its Upstanders original series for a second season, which features stories of ordinary people showing extraordinary courage.
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS -
D&AD and Advertising Week have unveiled the winners of the second annual D&AD Impact Awards, which recognizes creative ideas that have made an impact and ultimately have contributed to creating a safer, more equitable and sustainable world for all. The Awards’ coveted ‘Pencils’ are given out across 12 categories aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS -
From Visa’s recent Hurricane Harvey spot to Boost Mobile’s “Boost Your Voice” and Whirlpool’s “Care Counts” campaigns, advertising is undergoing a paradigm shift, with brands across industries increasingly moving towards purpose-driven messages that address some of the biggest environmental and social challenges the world faces today.