I read this quote online, “If you teach a man to fish, you will feed him for a lifetime. But what if there were no fish to be caught?” and it really resonated with me. I wanted to find out where it was said, and who said it – by doing so I discovered an incredible organization, Conservation International.

CI is a non-profit organization that has one simple mission: protect the people, by protecting nature. They see themselves as a human organization, rather than an environmental one. Why? They recognize the relationship between human beings and nature. We are completely dependent on everything that nature has to offer, and that is why CI has made it their mission to protect it. CI has been completing projects for over 25 years, in over 30 countries, and has made over 2,000 partnerships.

To put things into perspective, CI has protected more than 730 million hectares of land, marine, and coastal areas. Although I could write a small novel on their success, I wanted to redirect you to their website where there is endless amounts of information. I was very impressed with the layout of their website, and the degree of transparency within their organization. In lecture we discussed the difficulties companies have regarding what information they should share, and more importantly how they should share it. I believe it should be mandatory for every non-profit organization to have a high degree of transparency with the public – if they don’t share their impact, no one will want to support their cause – and if no one wants to support them, how will they grow?

CI launched a campaign which released a number of video series, and followed the hashtag #NatureIsSpeaking. I thought the campaign was an innovative approach to get people talking about sustainability, and why we should be conserving our resources. I can see why they would leverage celebrities to generate a conversation, considering they have such a large fanbase. I also think it is a unique approach to target the younger demographic. Consumers may be more receptive to content starring their favourite actors name, opposed to a non-profit organization. I have attached the names of the actors affiliated with the series, and a clip starring Julia Roberts.

At the end of each video in the #NatureIsSpeaking series, you’ll notice the repeating phrase “nature doesn’t need people, people need nature.” I couldn’t agree more with this statement, what do you think?

PepsiCo is a multinational food and beverage company. It is compromised of some of the world’s most recognized brands, such as Frito Lay, Tropicana, Quaker and Gatorade. I wanted to discuss PepsiCo, not because of their success in the food and beverage industry, but because of their leadership in sustainability.

In 2015, they were awarded as one of Canada’s top 50 socially responsible companies. PepsiCo has made water scarcity the focus of their business model, and they have seen tremendous success in the last ten years. Since 2006, PepsiCo has improved their water efficiency by 20% – this converted into 14 billion litres of water cut from their operations!

PepsiCo isn’t only focusing on their business operations, they have also partnered with NGOs to deliver clean water to communities in need. In 2007, PepsiCo set a target to provide three million people around the world with safe water by 2015. I was so impressed to discover that PepsiCo not only achieved this goal, but they did it three years ahead of schedule.

PepsiCo has sustainability at the core of their organization. Under each of their brands, they have implemented processes that  reduce their impact on the environment. For example, Quaker Foods and Snacks has decreased their landfill waste by almost 50% from 2010-2011. Frito Lay Canada has converted almost all their transportation to electric vehicles to reduce their carbon footprint. For further details regarding PepsiCo’s brands, visit their Sustainability Environmental fact sheet.

In my opinion, when I think of health I don’t really think of PepsiCo. However, after reading through PepsiCo’s Human Sustainability fact sheet I had a new perspective. For example, Frito Lay launched a new baked chip that has 80% less fat than the leading potato chip. Tropicana introduced a juice that has 50% less sugar and calories than the leading 100% juices. I think this transition to health and wellness is a smart business decision, as they can grow with the health trends and attract a wide variety of consumers.

We discussed in class how important it is for businesses to set targets for themselves, and share their progress with the public. I admire PepsiCo for their transparency and social responsibility initiatives. I think it is industry leaders like Pepsi that will set the standard for years to come. Well done Pepsi!

SodaStream is one of my favourite brands, which was recently featured in the The Circular Economy Business Model Toolkit card deck we discussed in class. It was placed as an example of a “Consumer Lock-In.” Although I do agree with this, I think it is also a great example of a company that has adopted a “Collection Service.”

If you are a sparkling water addict like myself, you can go through a SodaStream CO2 cylinder in less than a month. If I were to buy these cylinders at full price it would cost nearly $40. However, with the carbonator exchange policy, it saves me nearly $10! Not to mention it saves me from accumulating multiple cylinders, and not knowing where to dispose of them. SodaStream has made this a convenient process, as thousands of retailers honor the exchange policy. Unlike other companies, this avoids the hassle of shipping!

The CO2 cylinder takes a bottle of tap water and turns it into sparkling water in seconds. And the best part is that it does all of this with no electricity! This product is a sustainable alternative to purchasing soda at the grocery store. It saves you money, and at the same time it saves the environment!

If you’ve never seen the SodaStream in action, I wanted to share one of my favourite commercials with you:

I bought my soda maker two years ago, and since then I have seen a drastic transformation in their brand positioning and advertising. Prior to this transition, they projected themselves as a “Green” company. Unfortunately, this positioning did not align with the values of their target market. When SodaStream saw sales rapidly declining in America, they removed their focus from sustainability. According to this article, they had to do so in order to effectively compete with brands such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

I am confident that the value American consumers place on sustainability with improve. I found it interesting that SodaStream had to reposition themselves to attract a wider market in order to stay competitive in the industry. “Soda leaders” such as Pepsi and Coca-Cola are heading the opposite way, and incorporating sustainability initiatives into their corporate strategy.

I was really inspired by the “love has no labels” campaign that we discussed in class, so I went to the Ad Council website to see what other campaigns they have done. Although I came across many that I liked, my favourite was the “I am a witness” campaign. Their main objective was “to stop bullying by activating the silent majority of kids who witness it each day transform them from passive bystanders into a united, empowered and active collective that will speak up against bullying”.

At the heart of the “I am a witness” campaign was a Witness Emoji, which was available for free download on the Apple App Store. The Witness Emoji was shaped like a speech bubble, but the app provided teens with multiple stickers to choose from. The incentive was for teens to post the emoji when they saw a hurtful comment online, or send one to a friend as a form of support. I think this app is brilliant, because as we know, social media is plays a pivotal role in society (especially for teens).

I think with the right tools and resources pro-social marketing can be really powerful. I think it’s the ad campaigns like “love has no labels” and “I am a witness” that create awareness and influence consumers to make changes in their behavior. I think it’s all about starting that conversation – and who knows how to do that best? Marketers!

There’s a misconception that marketing is only for promoting products and their attributes. I think sustainability marketing goes much further than that – it is focused on changing consumer lifestyles. It shares a very close relationship with pro-social marketing, which isn’t about marketing product attributes to generate sales, it’s about influencing behaviour change. There are consumers who still drink a can of soda and throw it away in the garbage (hard to believe – I know). Consumer lifestyles are extremely difficult to change. Marketing has an opportunity to influence the way people consume, reuse, and dispose products in their day-to-day lives. Sustainability marketing initiatives share similar objectives to those of health campaigns. For example, a health campaign targeting nicotine smokers is trying to create an incentive for users to quit. This is essentially no different from the campaigns that try to incentivize consumers to recycle.