NBCUniversal (NBCU) has tapped brand innovation firm BBMG to help elevate its corporate social responsibility efforts. NBCU—one of the largest media and entertainment companies in the world—will leverage BBMG’s sustainability expertise and extensive consumer research capabilities to explore ways its newly expanded CSR team can achieve an even greater positive impact. To help boost the organization’s CSR efforts, BBMG will survey its proprietary community of New Consumers, The Collective, to analyze media habits, attitudes and the issues they care about most.

NBCU owns and operates several news and entertainment networks, including NBC
Entertainment, Bravo and CNBC; a major motion picture company; television production operations and theme parks. The company is seeking to expand its Green is Universal initiative, which identifies ways NBCU can “walk the talk” by integrating sustainability and environmental responsibility into every aspect of its operations.

“In many ways, Green is Universal is already a shining example of corporate
responsibility: It has multimedia, cross-platform programming; ongoing education
components; and robust employee buy-in,” said BBMG founding partner Mitch
Baranowski. “We’re so excited to bring passionate, savvy, idea-filled New Consumers
into the conversation, and help NBCU bring their Green is Universal to the next level.”

BBMG has identified New Consumers—those who consider both practicality and
purpose while shopping—as an essential bridge for green brands looking to go
mainstream, and for large brands hoping to incorporate sustainability in an authentic
way.

Last Tuesday, April 10, my colleague Dannae and I took the Tom’s “One Day Without Shoes” challenge. And while neither of us was explicitly advocating for Tom’s, we did think it was an intriguing opportunity to experience something new and learn a thing or two in the process. As it turns out, empathy is a great teacher.

Dannae, a daily bike commuter, fearlessly chose to ride barefoot to and from the office. Her experience, like mine was both physically challenging and full of surprises. She writes, “The air on my feet was liberating, but my bike pedals weren’t designed for going shoeless. On each small hill the pedals dug into my bare feet. I also was waiting for someone to say something to me. I didn’t see anyone else without shoes and no one asked me where mine were. (This is NYC, so people have seen everything!)”

Please join us in The Collective for a special survey and sustainable recipe challenge to help spark a larger conversation about what’s next and why good food matters.

The three recipes with the most votes will win $500, $300 and $200 shopping sprees, respectively. We’ll also be sending out a range of food prizes—contributed by brand partners such as Earthbound Farm, Peeled Snacks, Divine Chocolate and 18 Rabbits—to 100 randomly selected entrants.

Let’s get cooking.

Like a lot of people, I was afraid of bees as a kid. Those yellow and black bands that resemble warning signs, that oh-so-dreaded stinger, the myth (maybe it’s true?) that bees are especially attracted to redheads. Yet (from a safe distance), bees fascinated me—the golden honey, the delicate geometry of the comb, the selfless dedication of each little worker. And this Februrary, I turned my cautious interest into passionate action by taking a beekeeping class from the New York City Beekeepers Association. Our instructors were nothing short of fabulous, but I have to say it was the honeybees who had the most to teach. Below are a few takeaways.

Don’t let the fear of the sting stop you from getting to the honey.
Being afraid is a huge barrier to life, and the benefits of courage (i.e. the “honey”) far outweigh the relatively small risk of the sting. For me, beekeeping has opened the doors to a foreign world rich in rewards and wisdom. Bees not only pollinate the plants that provide us with food, but indulge us with some of nature’s most luxurious flavors. It’s a model for the good life—a perfect balance of purpose and pleasure.

Find the small miracles in every day.
We live on an amazing planet, and especially in the city it’s easy to lose sight of the wonders of nature. Bees are truly amazing, living complex lives that have defined work ethic, teamwork and a perfect symbiotic relationship with nature. Studying bees has reminded me of just how much more there is to be amazed by—that and the importance of taking time to look.

The award for best designer goes to Mother Nature.
Honeybees are perfect examples of cradle-to-cradle designers and manufacturers, operating without need for human innovation or improvement. Rather, we could learn much from bees about their perfectly balanced give-and-take model. How can we as designers achieve exclusively beneficial solutions at all touch-points of a project?

If life hands you an ugly weed, make honey.
Beekeeping is especially fascinating to me in a concrete jungle like New York City. People ask, “Where do they find the flowers?” Everywhere. Imagine those unkept lots you see randomly throughout the city—who would have thought that the nectar from these various weeds can produce a delicious wildflower honey that can also help New Yorkers tackle their local allergies? It’s a great reminder to keep our eyes open for unexpected possibilities.

Last May BBMG had the privilege of rebranding Social Venture Network, and more recently, the organization’s website, which just launched this week.

Social Venture Network has long united a group of business leaders committed to the notion that business, a force in creating social injustice and environmental harm, could and should be a major force in solving these same issues. On the eve of its 25th anniversary in 2011, Social Venture Network had a strategic obligation and vision to reach a new, diverse set of business entrepreneurs and to reinvigorate its base around a bold vision for social and economic justice. Visually, Social Venture Network needed to modernize its look and communicate multiple layers of value, relevance and culture in order to reach potential members and retain current members.

The new logo mark symbolizes the SVN community as a kaleidoscope of different people from different backgrounds with different perspectives–all working together to lead the way in creating social change. Below is a sneak peek of SVN’s new design applications, including the new website.

After several months behind the scenes, we’re excited to share our work with Nordic Naturals on the What’s Essential campaign, aimed at creating user-generated stories inspired by the brand’s natural essential oils. Our team helped to create and develop the identity for the interactive contest, which encourages consumers to think and talk about what’s most essential in their own lives. This approach re-imagines old tactics of health-related marketing by unleashing larger conversations about health, happiness, balance and a meaningful life. The campaign—which empowers co-creativity and celebrates individuality—has already reached 24,000 Facebook likes.

PS. Throw your hat in the ring! Share what’s essential to you on the What’s Essential Facebook page or microsite for a chance to win prizes like a trip to California to visit the Monterrey Bay Aquarium and Nordic Naturals’ award-winning, LEED-certified, Norwegian-fishing-village-inspired headquarters.

A few takeaways in no particular order…

Go native. Digital native. It’s about our capacity to adapt, to use information technology to engage, inspire and improve the world. Keep up or risk irrelevance! The landscape is littered with companies that can’t or refuse to pivot. Hand me a #Gatorade (Are you tracking me, Mission Control?) Courtesy B. Bonin Bough, Pepsico, @boughb.

Take the smartcut. Kids today. They want to game this game called life, but it’s less about shortcuts and more about smarts and resourcefulness. “So, how do I get to the next level?” “Wait, you just got here.” “So?” “So, this is a job, not a game.” “Oh. (blinks) How…boring.” Courtesy Allison Hillhouse, MTV, @mtv.

TV has always been “social.” What’s all the hype? In the age of Yoots and DVRs, appointment viewing is now a thing of the past, as precious as granny’s dusty cameo. Getting viewers to share and connect, independent of place, is bound to increase, and the efforts will be expensive. Courtesy of Sabrina Caluori, HBO, @sabrinacaluori.

Can we gamify everything? Should we? What if we gamified service design, education, the retail experience? Imagine the possibilities but anticipate gaming fatigue, natch. (Read the rest of this post and earn the blue badger badge to badgeville, which will unlock a hidden link to an exclusive, never-before-seen blog post, ha.) Courtesy of Max Clark, Vitrue, @vitrue.

Lunchboxes fail to motivate. Don’t try feeding the beast with sub-par boxed lunches. Step it up next year, please. Folks were, um, restrained in their Tweets, to say the least. Courtesy Green Buzz Agency, @greenbuzzagency.

The fix is in. Understand how the “screening of our lives” and this “culture of interruption” feeds our need for speedy affirmation. If getting a text is like a hit, how can we keep the real-world, in-person conversation one that’s worth having? (Overheard at the water cooler following the “Let’s Play” panel.)

Kan we kalculate your Klout? As we engage more consumers beyond insights generation toward innovation and influence, knowing their impact–and whether we can trust them– will get easier to track and gain import. That a job candidate will put his/her Klout score on said resume still has me scratching ye olde noggin. Brave new job interview, indeed. Courtesy Tim Mahlman, Klout, @tmahlman

Optimize thy video. The metrics are off, way off, as most campaigns fail to drive key brand metrics, favoring impressions and/or click-thru rates instead. Do not pass go. Go back and re-examine your campaign objectives first. Courtesy Mark Rotblat, TubeMogul, @tubemogul.

Brands of the future will be ‘sustainable brands.’ Twenty-first century brands will go to market with practical or functional benefits, but they will also embed into their DNA how they’re making the world a better place, and how they connect us to ‘tribes’ of like-minded and like-hearted consumers. Courtesy of me, BBMG, @whichmitch.

Visuals rawk! You know the cliché: a picture is worth a thousand words. So why aren’t more presenters following TED’s model: tell me a story, say it with dynamic visuals and video. Don’t torture me with 10-point type and undecipherable charts and graphs. Courtesy of Death by Powerpoint, no Twitter handle at press time.

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So what were your takeaways? Lemmeno. And don’t be a stranger. See you at SXSW Interactive.

My sustainability journey began at a young age. I studied the causes of acid rain and frog deformities in agricultural areas. Industrial pollution and agrochemical runoff became dinner-table talking points. I pursued a degree in environmental policy, hoping I could address sustainability issues through regulation and policymaking, spending time in the U.S. Senate, at the EPA and a number of environmental NGOs. The work was important and rewarding, but something in my worldview was shifting.  I was starting to look at the very industries and companies that we were working to regulate or campaign against as the key to driving positive impact on a large scale.

My first foray into the sustainable business space was at Seventh Generation. I was blown away by the passion and vision of Jeffrey Hollender and the company as a whole. After witnessing the positive impact consumer brands can have on the world, I had decided on a new career path.

I joined Walmart in 2008 and fully immersed myself in the world of corporate sustainability thanks to the retailer’s 200 million U.S. customers, mission to save people money so they can live better and bold sustainability goals. I created campaigns that educated consumers about the business benefits of renewable energy, helped introduce more sustainable products into stores and worked across the supply chain to better understand and quantify products’ total life cycle impacts. My tenure at Walmart solidified my belief that business embracing sustainability represents the greatest economic and environmental opportunity of our time.

Today, I find myself at home at BBMG, working at the dynamic intersection of branding, sustainability, technology and social purpose. Every day brings a new challenge and a new opportunity to engage consumers in a vision for making the world a better place. I still get to partner with the Fortune 500 set as well as with the bold visionaries at companies like Seventh Generation and Earthbound Farm. It’s a perfect fit.

Through this journey I’ve realized that there are many ways to do good work and bring sustainability and social equity to the world–and that it doesn’t matter if that mission is carried out inside the world’s largest company, at a small Vermont NGO or in the halls of government. What is important is finding the environment that excites me the most and feels the most authentic, and where I can leverage my strengths to make the greatest impact.

And, I’ve learned a few lessons along the way:

Passion is Paramount – A business case or new policy alone won’t cut it.  If you’re passionate about the issue or the outcome you’re driving towards, you’ll be much more successful. You will use the power of storytelling to bring others on board and draw attention to your initiative.

Create a Coalition – Don’t try to go it alone; build a robust team of supporters along the way and keep them updated, engaged and excited.  Share the work and share the success with your network at key milestones.

Stick with It – Having a great idea and a handful of supporters is just the start and, in some ways, the easy part. Follow-through and determination is what wil get results in the long run.

To help guide organizations on their journey, we started with a basic question: “Do you have a green team?” From there, we charted dozens of Yes/No follow-ups consistent with our experience and the interviews we conducted with leading companies, then we revised the fishbone and revised it some more.

The end result, featured in our latest Fast Company blog, helps bring our framework to life in a more visual way (at least we think so).

That was our challenge. Here’s yours: go through the flowchart and see where you end up!