Podcast: Sustainable Life Media CEO KoAnn Skrzyniarz on Turning Social Challenges Into Business Opportunities

EB Mossamp160 How did Sustainable Brands come aboutKoAnn Skrzyniarzamp160 We started 15 years ago with the recognition that we were going to be facing significant environmental and social challenges in this centuryamp160 At the time the narrative was that NGOs and governments were going to save usamp160and that business was the enemyamp160 Iamp160felt that if we couldn39t engage business in driving innovation and helping change the way that we operate our global economy we were going to be sunkamp160 Our hypothesis was that the market drivers might create new business and brand opportunitiesMossamp160 When I first went to Sustainable Brands in 2008 very highprofile brands were already attending and we called it CSR Corporate Social Responsibilityamp160 Today you don39t want to label it onerously as quotresponsibilityquotSkrzyniarzamp160 This is an issue that39s core to business strategy for the future versus a quotresponsibilityquotamp160 For example Marc Pritchard the Chief Marketing Officer of the largest consumer packaged goods company in the world Procter ampamp Gamble has really come around on this frontamp160 He39s got the full support and engagement of his executive team and working on transforming their business with sustainability at the centerMossamp160 Marc spoke recently at the ANA Masters of Marketing and gave a very passionate plea to brands to really embrace this focus and to do well by doing goodSkrzyniarzamp160 There39s been a lot of conversation at the ANA about the challenges in the industry that more than half the Fortune 500 companies are in decline and to refocus marketing around driving growthamp160 The beautiful thing is that now there are more and more examples that demonstrate how embedding environmental and social good into your brand does drive sales does drive growth does drive brand loyalty makes brands relevant again this is a pathway to fixing all of thatMossamp160 Stats show it39s very important to consumersamp160they prefer the brand that displays sensitivity and sustainability as Marc showed in PampampG39s campaignamp160quotLove Over Biasquotamp160 As you know MediaVillage is very focused on DampampI as well with our Advancing Diversity Honors where we39ll be honoring Marc Pritchard as well as ANA39s Bob Liodice and others at CESSkrzyniarzamp160amp160Beautifulamp160 PampampG is seeing the halo effect of its efforts on brand reputation and sales which is part of what39s driving his confidence Obviously racial and other sorts of conflicts between groups of people are on the rise and that39s a massive risk for sustainabilityamp160 There are social issues that put us all at risk as well as environmental issuesamp160 Now is the perfect time for the Brands for Good coalition that we are launchingMossamp160 Speaking of brands you have a pretty illustrious lineup at every conferenceamp160 In addition to PampampG you recently had speakers from AFLAC Salesforce ThompsonReutersamp160and Nat Geoamp160 Can you share an example of how a focus on sustainability has lifted brand value and businessSkrzyniarzamp160 It39s hard to pick just oneamp160 AFLAC talked about their social purpose endeavor with a pet duck to help kids with cancer express their emotions and feelingsamp160 There39samp160quotLove Has No Labelsquot and the SeeHer and quotThe Talkquot campaigns from PampampG whichamp160is also now doing a lot of experimentation around environmental impact innovationamp160 For example the campaign they launched last year recovering ocean plastics to use for their Head ampamp Shoulders bottles has been a really popular campaign that39s created sales lift for themMossamp160 This even goes beyond those who produce hard goodsamp160 Look at a Nat Geoamp160and all of their charitable and environmental effortsSkrzyniarzamp160 And CNNamp160amp160the commitment they39ve made to use their platform to help inform and uplevel people39s understanding about cultural diversityamp160amp160We are really advocating for whole company organizational transformationamp160 We39ve created a brand transformation roadmap available in its entirety for our corporate members a very large spectrum of people across many market sectors which includes Unilever Nestle Mars Dell IBM Ford andamp160Keurig among othersThe matrix defines five core principles of what it would mean to actually become a sustainable brandamp160 Then five levels of maturity against that ambition so that companies can selfassess where they are on the journeyamp160 The principles start with having a purpose beyond profit that is embedded into everything the company does and that everybody at the company understands to using the power of brand for systemwide influenceamp160 It recognizes that brands are the ones that are really creating cultural aspirationamp160 We are the entities that defined what the good life looks like and should look like in the last centuryWe39re now at a time when we recognize that that status quo is not going to lead to a healthy future and we need to redefine what the good life looks like amp160Companies need to aspire to netpositive operationsamp160and portfolio management of more environmentally and socially effective value propositionsamp160 They must also be transparent and aligned in their corporate governance and moving along the journey on all five vectors to generate consumer trust and relevanceMossamp160 And we have to balance how we communicate with what we communicateSkrzyniarzamp160 Yes to be not necessarily perfect but authentic in communicationMossamp160 Are you still hopeful in our current political environmentSkrzyniarzamp160 More so actually in a strange wayamp160 Of course companies would like to have a legislative regulatory landscape that makes it easier for them to make tough decisions and level the playing field but while hope for that has disappeared that doesn39t change the reality that all the companies we deal with understandamp160amp160For example I was just talking to a large coffee company whichamp160acknowledges that the world is running out of coffeeamp160 The world is running out of chocolateamp160 We are having commodity shortages and conflict mineralsamp160 There are all kinds of things that are pressing business issues that these companies can39t ignoreAnd they are now starting to come together in ways that I39ve never seen to work on systems changesamp160 There39s a willingness even for competitors to be working togetherClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Podcast: Sustainable Life Media CEO KoAnn Skrzyniarz on Turning Social Challenges Into Business Opportunities

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E.B. Moss

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Podcast: Sustainable Life Media CEO KoAnn Skrzyniarz on Turning Social Challenges Into Business Opportunities

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