A Decade of Yoplait’s Saving Lids to Save Lives

Date: October 20, 2009 at 1:30 EST

Whenever cause marketing program awareness surveys are mounted, a perennial “best known” is Yoplait’s campaign that rewards consumers for sending in a yogurt lid by donating a dime to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

During this one-hour session, Berit Morse, Promotion Marketing Manager at General Mills, will share the story behind “Save Lids to Save Lives” and important lessons learned during the program’s first decade.

Speaker Profile: Promotion Marketing Manager Berit Morse, now responsible for the Yoplait Saving Lids to Save Lives program, has spent nearly a decade at General Mills. Prior to joining General Mills she worked in public relations account management at Weber Shandwick. She graduated from St. Olaf College in 1997 with a BA in English.

Pam has held various marketing communications positions throughout the company including the Big G cereal, Baking and Bakeries & Foodservice divisions. In addition, Pam has held several cross-functional roles in Licensing and Direct Marketing.
 

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Note: Accessing the teleclass requires a regular long distance call. Registrants are responsible for long distance charges.

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Time to Re-think Think Pink?

This morning I walked through The Bay and had a look at the many pink products on display as a part of their annual Think Pink program. By purchasing these products consumers can support the work of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (CBCF).

 At one level, cause related marketing programs like this are a positive way to create awareness of important issues and to motivate behaviour change. However, in addition to featuring products that re-enforce gender stereotypes of women (without a sense of irony which would temper this effect), the Think Pink program raises more concern for me because of a lack consistency and clarity. For example, by purchasing a set of Think Pink Port-Style Flexible Nylon Spatula “a 10% contribution will be made to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation”.  I saw a Think Pink dish towel with a tag that states “With a purchase of this Think Pink product, a minimum of 10% (before taxes) will be contributed to the Foundation in support of ongoing research projects”. If you purchase a Pink Ribbon “Bling” Tote, “10% of the net proceeds will be contributed to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. In other cases a specific amount (e.g. $5.00) is directed to the foundation. All the tags that I saw say that “In 2008, Hudson’s Bay Co. contributed $430,000 to the Foundation through the Think Pick program. Finally, some product tags also have this health promotion message “Be Breast Aware. Know your breasts. Look and feel for lumps, changes in skin texture, appearance and shape.”

Here some of are the questions I have for The Bay:

- How much of the $430,000 that is contributed to the CBCF is in donations from consumers and how much is from the company? If this revenue comes from consumers, the tags should state this instead of leaving it ambiguous.

- Why do some product have the health message and some not? Isn’t this the whole idea?

- If I really wanted to support the CBCF, which products have the biggest net contribution to the organization?

- Couldn’t they also help to reduce gender stereotyping by including products other than dish towels and jewelery? (If they did this, perhaps they’d sell more and contribute more because men would buy things too).

When planning cause programs, don’t forget that we’re in “the age of transparency”. Make sure that your programs are clear in their intent, consistent in their messaging, and that your company is also committed at a corporate level in addition to driving donations from consumers.

I welcome your thoughts…

Paul Klein is president of Impakt Corporation, a Toronto-based outfit that helps corporations increase the returns on their community investments.

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2nd Annual Renewable Energy Finance Forum-Explores Role of Private & Public Funding in Industry

The second annual Renewable Energy Finance Forum (REFF) – West hosted by the American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) and Euromoney Energy Events in San Francisco brought together 410 investors, industry executives and policy makers for an engaging discussion on the state of the renewable energy industry.  During the two-day session, the 61 speakers and panelists expressed optimism about the quality of projects in the pipeline as well as the available financing strategies – both public and private – following the recent economic crisis.

“There appears to be a surprising resurgence of renewable energy investments and finance in the past three months.  In their flight to quality, the capital markets are now seeking out renewable energy venture capital, a new IPO window and new tax equity investors. We also see a return of international lenders to the U.S. project finance market,” said ACORE President Michael Eckhart.

Speakers from leading renewable energy companies, investment institutions, nonprofits and government organizations focused on the impact that stimulus funding has had on renewable energy development and the need for government policies to continue to drive the industry forward.  Matt Rogers, Senior Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Energy, noted the Department of Energy has already given out more than $16 billion in stimulus funding and is slated to distribute a total of $30 billion by the end of the year.  While there are other sources of federal money available, the real concern is what happens when the funding runs out.  According to Dan Reicher, Director of Google’s Climate Change and Environmental Initiatives, “We’re staring at the biggest cliff we’ve ever faced when the stimulus runs out in 18 months.”

Financial support from the federal government, however, is only one piece of the puzzle and needs to be supplemented with stronger public policy.  This was underscored by various speakers, including:

• San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom who outlined the city’s cutting-edge environmental programs and pushed for state and federal governments to take the lead on ambitious projects such as the city’s tidal-energy initiative, which is expected to be the largest in California.

• Diarmuid O’Connell, Vice President of Government and Regulatory Affairs at Tesla, who noted that while the Obama administration is helping facilitate funding, the government’s past performance has not been encouraging. “A lot of work needs to be done from the public policy side. From a historical track record, it may be seen as impossible, but that doesn’t mean it’s not the right thing to do,” he concluded.

• Tim Newell, Senior Advisor to the U.S. Renewables Group, who said that the effect of federal policies on the industry has been neutral to negative this year because of the uncertainty surrounding the regulations and the impact on investments.  The outlook for 2010 is better with more stimulus funding being made available and other policies taking effect.

In terms of private capital, investment executives noted that the economic situation is improving considerably with money flowing back into equity funds, the IPO market reopening and more attention being paid to project financing. Key takeaways regarding renewable energy financing include:

• The industry has always been driven by tax credits, but the types of financing structures and the key players have changed over the years. Today, the tax partnership structure is the dominant one, but the emerging industry players now include regulated utility companies and private equity funds, noted Jerome Peters, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Project Finance for TD Bank North America.

• The majority of funding is concentrated on proven technologies such as solar and wind power, which means newer technologies face funding gaps, said Jim McDermott from U.S. Renewables Group.  Since venture capital cannot help companies as they move from the research and development phase to commercialization, it is important for early stage technology investors to consider how bankers will view risk when approached for project financing.

• The markets are improving, but there is still more capital available than good deals or projects so only the top 10 percent of deals are currently being executed, according to Anup Jacob, Partner of Virgin Green Fund.

• As a result, the financial community needs to think about non-traditional funding structures or multi-layered financing strategies that combine federal funds and private capital, said Nancy Floyd, Founder and Managing Director of Nth Power LLC.

• Finally, while the boom times are certainly gone for the industry, the fundamentals have not changed—a good deal with an experienced team will certainly draw investors, remarked Matt Ferguson, Principal and Leader of Reznick Group’s Renewable Energy Practice.

“In order to effectively build the foundation of this new energy economy, we need all the relevant players at the table—from governments to project developers to financiers and labor groups—to accelerate deployment of capital into the technologies we know can scale to the challenge,” said  Dan Adler, REFF-West conference co-chair and president of the California Clean Energy Fund. “This mission was echoed at REFF-West, the premier event connecting sophisticated financial industry players with California’s centers of clean tech innovation, facilitating unusually rich discussions that will accelerate meaningful and long-term growth in our industry.”

About REFF-West
REFF-West is the largest renewable energy finance conference focused on West Coast energy issues. It is hosted by the American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE), a nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, DC, dedicated to raising the profile of renewable energy, and Euromoney Energy Events, a London-based wholly owned subsidiary of Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC and organizer of conferences to address topical issues in the energy sector. For more information, please visit http://www.reffwest.com.

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Socialnomics: Is Social Media a Fad?

Socialnomics: Social Media Revolution

Half-empty or Half-full?

Last week, EMC was ranked as #74 out of 500 in the Newsweek Green Rankings.  I received quite a few congratulatory emails, as well as one or two from folks puzzled as to whether this result warranted celebration.

To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what to make of it. I’m glad we’re in the top 100, of course – plenty of people in EMC have been working hard and making progress, and the recognition is well-deserved. But we’re not satisfied with what we’ve accomplished so far – nor should any of us on the list be.

Oh, I get that rankings create competition, and competition raises the bar. And I’m not so disingenuous as to claim that market perception doesn’t influence our environmental programs. We also appreciate the press (see EMC Commended for Leadership in Climate Change Disclosure for Third Consecutive Year, for example).

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B Corporation: Greyston Bakery (Video)

B Corporation: Greyston Bakery How good can one brownie be? Greyston Bakery’s brownies are delicious, sure, but they also help to alleviate poverty within the community of Yonkers. With a progressive, open-door hiring policy, Greyston welcomes people who may have faced barriers to employment before.

B Corporation: IceStone (Video)

If you’re looking to trick out your home with the greenest products on the market, you could do a lot worse than IceStone. Their countertops are made of recycled glass and concrete and they don’t cut corners on aesthetics or sustainability. They’re attractive from cradle to cradle.

Why do B Corps matter? Annual report will explain, inspire, motivate entrepreneurs to build a new economy NOW

B Lab, the nonprofit that certifies B Corporations (“B” is for benefit), will publish the first B Corporation Annual Report in collaboration with Sustainable Industries, the business source for leaders of the New Economy. The report will include a summary of B Lab’s progress to date in building a new sector of the economy through the growing community of certified B Corps, creation of a new corporate form, and a new rating system for impact investors.

In a time when many are looking for concrete, market-based solutions to systemic problems made plain by the financial meltdown, the B Corp community has grown 80 percent in the past year and thousands of businesses, large institutional investors and policy makers at every level of government have adopted the performance and legal standards outlined by the B Rating System.

Two characteristics distinguish B Corporations:

• B Corporations’ legal structure expands corporate accountability to consider employees, community and environment, not just shareholders, helping them to grow and raise money while maintaining mission
• The transparent, comprehensive B Corporation performance standards empower consumers to support businesses that align with their values, investors to drive capital to higher impact investments, and governments and multinational corporations to implement sustainable procurement policies. Today, there are 220 B Corporations in 28 states representing 54 industries

“This report will explain why B Corps matter and why now is the time to address fundamental, systemic problems with systemic solutions that go beyond window dressing and pleas for more regulation,” said Jay Coen Gilbert, one of the three founders of B Lab. “We hope readers will walk away inspired by the impact B Corporations are having and better equipped to forge their own path to build a new, more inclusive and sustainable new economy in which businesses serve society as well as shareholders.”

The B Corp Annual Report includes:

• Summary data on community growth, diversity and impact comparing B Corps and non-B Corps
• Profiles of B Corps achieving high impact in each area assessed by the B Impact Rating System (Employee, Environment, Community, Consumer). B Corps profiled include: Seventh Generation, IceStone, Cardinal Resources, ShoreBank, SABEResPODER, Indigenous Designs, Sustainable Harvest, Greyston Bakery, Dansko, King Arthur Flour, Method, Plum Organics
• A directory of 205 Certified B Corps arranged by industry, and profiles of innovations that can be used as a resource for journalists covering social entrepreneurship, and business owners and entrepreneurs interested in learning more about running a purpose-driven company

The B Corporation Annual Report will be mailed to subscribers of Sustainable Industries magazine with the November issue and will be available on newsstands in mid October. Limited advance copies of the B Corporation Annual Report are available to select journalists. To secure a copy, please contact Anna Ghosh at Anna@Strauscom.com.

B Lab is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to create a new sector of the economy that harnesses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. This sector will be comprised of a new type of corporation—the B Corporation – which creates economic opportunity, builds strong communities and preserves a healthy environment.  B Corps meet higher standards of accountability, transparency, and social and environmental performance.  As of September 2009, there are over 220 certified B Corporations from over 50 industries with more than $1 billion in revenues and $7 billion in assets under management.

B Lab’s objective is to help B Corps become legally recognized by the states, tax preferred by the IRS, and valued by employees, investors, and consumers.   B Lab also re-purposes the standards used to certify B Corps to help investors make high impact investments and governments implement policies to support sustainable business.

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October 1, 2009 – Wal-Mart’s Sustainability Index; Palo Alto Software’s Award; SDialogue’s Report

Corporate Social Responsible News: Wal-Mart’s Sustainability Index; Palo Alto Software’s Award; SDialogue’s Report

Online Sustainable Jewelry Marketplace Debuts

Sulusso.com launches today as the first online marketplace dedicated to sustainable jewelry. The collection of fine jewelry available on Sulusso.com is truly a unique offering of works by some of the world’s most talented designers and artists who have made a commitment to using only certified sustainable precious metal and gems to create their jewelry.

Sulusso’s featured designers include Alberto Parada, who is recognized as a leading “green innovator” in the jewelry industry. All Alberto Parada pieces are manufactured in the United States using 100% recycled gold, conflict-free diamonds and fair-trade gems. In 2007, Parada was selected as the featured designer in the first ever Green Fashion Week, which took place in Seattle.

Sulusso also carries works from other renowned U.S. and international designers including Gary Ptak, Dawes Design, Okomido, Lori Bonn and Choo Yilin, many of whose jewelry is available exclusively on Sulusso.com.

“More consumers today are seeking products that they can feel good about from an ethical and environmental perspective – luxury items are no exception. The jewelry sector was failing socially conscious consumers as well as the jewelry designers themselves,” said a Sulusso spokesperson. “We created Sulusso to make sustainable jewelry readily available and affordable to everyone.”

Sulusso.com is a curated site whereby designers must apply to become a vendor. Qualified Sulusso vendors meet the following sustainability criteria:

• Uses recycled, reclaimed, or renewable materials

• Uses ethically sourced or fair-trade materials

• Has a positive impact on local communities

• Provides economic benefit to local artisans

• Implements strict environmental and social policies for business operations

The traditional jewelry industry has a long history of contributing to devastating problems such as water and air pollution, community displacement, child labor, destruction of habitats, and armed conflict. This was the subject of the five-time Oscar nominated movie, Blood Diamond, by Warner Bros. Pictures.
 
With Sulusso, consumers can have both beauty and sustainability while helping to raise the standard of business in the jewelry sector.

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