by Kemila Velan
December 19, 2008
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of GOOD Worldwide, opened the third and final day of the Sustainable Brands International conference Dec. 9-11 at the posh, newly renovated and re-opened Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, where Hybrid drivers received $10 off valet parking.
“CSR is also known as corporate spin and rhetoric,” Greenblatt said to the audience of corporate marketers who were looking for strategies to leverage the concept of sustainability without losing authenticity.
To make the point, Bob Isherwood, former Worldwide Creative Director of Saatchi & Saatchi, took the stage and projected on the oversized ballroom screen: “MAKING SUSTAINABILITY IRRESISTIBLE.”
“We need to change consumers’ minds on a mass scale,” said Isherwood, whose research found that people want to do good, but aren’t ready to sacrifice their lifestyles. “Up until now, advertising has been part of the problem. I believe it has the power to do much more.”
He showed a commercial that depicts a world without mobility while a Prius loops around frozen people. Then he showed how the value of Prius cars has been increasing.
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After Isherwood’s presentation, Ian Yolles, vice president of marketing for Nau Eco Friendly Activewear and Outdoor Clothing, took the stage and immediately challenged the notions suggested by his predecessor. “I have a problem with the word ’sustainability’ because it implies keeping the status quo and what we need is radical change.”
Nau, made up by an ambitious group of passionate innovators from Patagonia and Nike, set out to change the face of business in 2005 by re-engineering their little start up for sustainability from the ground up in a multitude of new ways, from governance to product design to supply chain and distribution. In a relatively few short months, they landed millions in investment capital, created a passionate following and found themselves named by Time Inc. as one of the top 25 Style & Design Visionaries alongside John Mackay of Whole Foods and Miuccia Prada.
It was a heart-warming story until Yolles got to the unexpected part about Nau going out of business because it failed to raise another round of funding. He pointed out the lesson: to be sustainable, a company must grow slowly and organically rather than relying on venture capital hormone injections for faster growth.
“When you’re operating with sustainability at the center, it invites certain questions…the way you think starts to change and what you do starts to change,” said Yolles. “That’s just my observation.”
Yolles illustrated his point with a cartoon depicting the old either-or paradigm: “Son, we can either be proud of ourselves, or we can be rich. Your call.”
The good news was that Nau had such loyal customers that the company was able to re-open under the Horny Toad Athletic Wear brand.
“For me, it has to do with the concept of storytelling – [stories] help us understand who we are and our relationship to the cosmos. Stories that challenge and have provocative story lines are what people want to hear.”
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MC Jonathan Greenbalt’s introduction of the next speaker, Scott Vitters, director of sustainable packaging, Coca Cola Company bordered on hyperbole – “Coca Cola – the greatest brand the world has ever known…” But the facts Vitters offered were surprising.
“We’re truly a local business,” said Vitters, because it is a franchise company that uses 300 independent bottling partners, 900 local manufacturing facilities and a choice of 2,600 beverage products. “We allow our bottlers to have products that are relevant to the community.”
The company’s sustainability model highlighted 3 core issues: Global Water Stewardship, Energy & Climate Protection and Sustainable Packaging. “We have a vision of zero waste,” said Greenbalt.
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Beth Keck, senior director of international sustainability for Wal- Mart, Inc., focused her presentation on the supply chain of one of the largest corporations in the world.
Some of the memorable initiatives included the Personal Sustainability Project that teaches “associates,” a.k.a. employees, how to incorporate sustainability into their lives, and phasing out plastic bags by 2013.
Author’s unsolicited thoughts: Hearing the many attempts at corporate sustainability, I wondered why does it take so long to phase out plastic bags? Why don’t they close more of their stores as a real solution to the problems they have caused? I am not convinced a monolith company can be sincere about changing how they do things without doing something drastic.
Editor’s response: “I understand the desire for drastic and the need for incremental. With the work I do in weight management, I see many people who need drastic change to improve their quality of life. But, no matter how dramatic a change they make, the effect is incremental – the body can only shed so many pounds in so many days. I regret that big corporations are much the same. Sure, change to plastic tomorrow, but your liability is millions of dollars to forfeit a contract. Those millions have to come from somewhere, so cut employees/benefits/expansion/going organic? I’m not a corporate sympathizer. As far as I’m concerned, they started all wrong. But to repair the damage is long term and to limit damage is even longer.
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After lunch, which was served in very good-looking but cumbersome plastic, Marci Zaroff, founder of lifestyle brand Under the Canopy, showed the audience how to build a business by being a change agent. She said that cotton is one of the most harmful crops to grow, so finding organic ways to produce her organic line of home wares and Eco-fashion – a phrase she coined when she started her company in 1996 – wasn’t easy. So she outsources most of the work to India.
Controversial? SBI’s online audience called her out on this fact, and she answered that producing the clothes within the U.S. would increase costs. Zaroff said she has faced lots of challenges in certifications – the U.S. hasn’t regulated the term “organic” on the “finished product level” (unlike agriculture, which is monitored by the USDA). Zaroff also went through conventional methods of distribution in mass media, celebrities, Target, Macy’s…
It wasn’t a story of authentic sustainability. Instead of buying new products, how about recycling clothes at local thrift stores?
Author’s unsolicited thoughts: I must be jealous because I have trashed Zaroff more than commended her. What kind of Power of Yin woman am I?
Editor’s response: Part of the Power of Yin is listening to your gut, first, and responding from love and generosity second. If we don’t acknowledge our instinct, then the “kindness” with which we respond is only facade, not real. Granted, gut leads to venting which isn’t always kind. Just yesterday, Hazel [Henderson] commented on a book she gave me with little tear-out cards for daily reflection. What struck me was how, even though she liked the book enough to give me a copy, she said “you take the dailys as a guide, not as absolutes.” This coming on the heels of “I chose peace over conflict” as the daily reflection on a day with lots of conflict. So, live POY from a place of truth accepting that sometimes what you share is catty but okay because you’re among other POY friends!
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Authenticity. In a world where the news is dominated by headlines about corporate and political liars, one must ask the question, “Is it possible?”
John Marshall Roberts, communications specialist for Evenson Design Group and author of “Igniting Inspiration: A Communications Guidebook for Visionaries,” who taught a workshop on the first day of the conference called, “Inspiring Sustainability in Skeptical Audiences,” thinks it is possible.
“I kept hearing from people that new insights on how to deal with difficult clients cropped up automatically in the days after the workshop,” said Roberts, who presented a model called Transformational Design based on psychologist Clair W. Graves’ 8 levels of human existence. “This excites me, because my goal was to convey a new paradigm to think ‘from’ rather than load people down with a bunch of heavy information.”
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