BBMG joined over 2,000 business executives from 35+ countries in Detroit this June at Sustainable Brands 2019, the largest annual gathering of global brand and sustainability leaders dedicated to advancing social and environmental innovation. BBMG played a role throughout the event, hosting two “Pull Factor Project” workshops, facilitating panel conversations on the circular economy and engaging consumers in preserving clean oceans, and helping launch the SB Brands for Good movement to make sustainable living easier, aspirational and more rewarding for all. Here are just a few highlights of the ideas and initiatives that are shaping what’s next.

The Pull Factor Project: Inspiring Sustainable Consumer Behavior

This year’s conference marked the culmination of an exciting collaboration we’ve been leading over the past year called the Pull Factor Project. In partnership with leading retail, beauty, CPG and media brands, we conducted in-depth consumer research to help close the gap between consumers’ intentions around sustainable behavior and their actual purchase and lifestyle decisions when it comes down to it. The output of the collaboration was a new brand-building framework and workshop protocol that we piloted on day one of the conference with more than 100 brand leaders along with our partners from Target, P&G and National Geographic. The workshop was such a hit, we ran it again later in the week with partners from PepsiCo and Nestle Waters.

Chief Marketing Officers from P&G, National Geographic and Nestle Waters Join Forces to Launch Brands for Good

The Pull Factor Framework also provided the foundation for the launch of Brands for Good, a new movement of leading global brands, including National Geographic, Nestle Waters, P&G, PepsiCo, SC Johnson, Target and VISA, who have joined with Sustainable Brands to make sustainable living easier and more rewarding for people around the world. As part of the initiative, the brand partners commit to embedding environmental and social purpose into the heart of their brands, products and experiences as well as working together to transform the field of marketing to shift behaviors and drive positive impact for people, communities and the planet. BBMG created the brand identity for the coalition and had the honor of unveiling it at the launch during SB’19.

“As a founding partner of Brands for Good, we want our brands to be a force for good by promoting sustainable behaviors, habits and lifestyles,” said Marc Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer, Procter & Gamble in the launch press release. “We want our brands to make it easy for people to responsibly consume products and to offer them sustainable innovations and solutions that help make their lives better now and for generations to come.”

Creating Consumer Desire and Demand for a Circular Economy

While several panels and guest speakers at the conference talked about reducing waste in supply chains and building circular business models, BBMG facilitated a panel on how to inspire consumer desire for a circular future. Because we need consumer participation to help scale circular systems, we need to create the stories, experiences and cultural norms that will help drive the transformation. “We need to view the circular economy not as a sacrifice, but as a true alternative,” said Briana Quindazzi, head of strategy for BBMG.

Melissa Radiwon, Marketing Director at Resource Recycling Systems, reported for Sustainable Brands:

Quindazzi believes consumer behavior is at a tipping point — with findings from the recent Pull Factor Project indicating consumers are donating/reselling goods, purchasing products with recyclable content and reusing/repairing products. However, there is still a disconnect with waste — which represents an opportunity to show consumers how to get involved on an individual basis.

Apparel brand Eileen Fisher realized this back in 2009, when it launched its take-back program. Customers can drop off their used Eileen Fisher clothing to any of its stores and receive a $5 coupon. Clothing in near-perfect condition is resold; any clothing with damage is remanufactured or fiber-to-fiber mechanically recycled.

“The customer is the key focus of our program,” said Carmen Garna, designer at Eileen Fisher Renew. “The program doesn’t work without the customer. It creates loyalty; they are contributing to a larger story.”

Other panelists were Lisa Boyd, senior director of corporate responsibility at Target, who spoke about investing in partnerships, infrastructure and solutions to provide services like their car seat take-back program that remove friction from their guests’ lives while also keeping materials out of the landfill. And Shalma Bhalia, pre-sales consultant at Cisco, talked about ways technology can be a great tool in making progress toward circularity. BBMG’s Briana Quindazzi shared highlights from our work on the launch of The North Face Renewed, the brand’s first circular collection. The key takeaways from the conversation: start by solving for a human need, build from relevant brand equities, reduce friction in the experience, make it rewarding and communicate the individual and collective impact we can make together.

Inspiring Ocean Thrills to Catalyze Action on Ocean Health

As world-renowned broadcaster and naturalist, David Attenborough, puts it, no one will protect what they don’t care about and no one will care about what they have never experienced. That sentiment, reinforced by this jaw-dropping video from our clients at OceanX, really is the driving idea behind the work that was shared by the panelists who joined BBMG’s senior strategist Nicole Pontes on Tuesday’s breakout session. They gathered to talk about the importance of storytelling and experiential learning when it comes to driving consumer participation in ocean conservation.

After OceanX’s managing director Joe Ruffalo shared a stunning video of deep sea exploration in the Antarctic, Alexis Olans Haass, director of sustainability & business strategy at adidas spoke about their partnership with Parley on sneakers made from ocean plastic. James Sullivan, head of Global Sustainability Innovation Accelerator at SAP discussed their new plastics mobile app in the UK that proactively keep plastics from the ocean by helping people understand how to recycle better. And Bridget Croke, external affairs at Closed Loop Partners talked about their work getting investors excited about circular solutions that would keep plastic out of the ocean.

Growing Commitment and Ambition to Deliver The Good Life for All

Every year the audience at SB’s annual flagship conference grows more creative, committed and diverse. Working together to redefine, redesign and deliver a new version of The Good Life so that sustainable living is more attractive and attainable at scale. From an expanded definition of “sustainable” to include social impact around equity and inclusion to new coalitions of brands addressing the greatest challenges of our times, the Sustainable Brands community is gaining momentum to meet the moment.

And we know that this is more than just the “right thing to do.” Like never before, consumers will follow and reward the brands who lead with more delightful products and experiences, more meaningful relationships and more measurable actions that help them live better today and create a more sustainable future for all.

Event photos courtesy of Sustainable Brands