Jennifer Rice

If you couldn’t make it to the Sustainable Brands conference in Monterey last month, you missed a lot of good content, networking and discussion. The big question that came out of the conference for me was, “what does capitalism look like in a dematerialized world?” In other words, is a sustainable brand an oxymoron?

by: Jennifer Rice

I was recently interviewed for Gennefer Snowfield’s Philanthropy In 5 series at TriplePundit.com on the subject of values-based business and aligning philanthropy with strategy. The article just ran today, and I’ll republish my responses here.

1. How do you define for-profit philanthropy?

by: Jennifer Rice

As consumer expectations rise and trust in corporations decline, the need for ethical business practices is greater than ever. Yet in a recession, companies seeking to cut costs will likely postpone important CSR initiatives or cut spending in favor of core business initiatives.

But it doesn’t have to be either-or. Companies that consider social and environmental initiatives as potential innovation platforms and brand builders — not expenses — will come out ahead.

by: Jennifer Rice

There’s been a lot of discussion about elevating corporate responsibility to become a strategic driver of your business. Most companies would like to benefit from their ethical efforts in the form of increased customer attraction and loyalty, yet few have figured out how to do it successfully. When marketing and PR are relied on, it can often backfire in accusations of greenwashing. The secret is to apply brand-strategy principles to build your ethical reputation.

by: Jennifer Rice

Dear reader: this is a white-paper draft, and I’d love your comments (especially if I’m missing anything major in the audit framework) before publishing.

by: Jennifer Rice

I’ve always been interested in leveraging Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to inform development of customer-based brand strategies. A couple years ago I wrote several posts about each of the stages (summary here).

by: Jennifer Rice

by: Jennifer Rice

From New York Times, a good article on how luxury brands are embracing responsible business practices.

by: Jennifer Rice

Ok, I’m a bit late to the game, but I just stumbled upon Liberty Mutual’s The Responsibility Project that was launched last year. The discovery led me to investigate whether its focus on responsibility was rhetoric or real.

by: Jennifer Rice

Whether you sit in marketing, CSR, supply chain, HR or the executive suite, you’re likely doing your part in ensuring your brand “does no evil” and perhaps even is doing some good. You can probably point to a laundry list of company initiatives from employee volunteer programs, fair labor practices, cause marketing, cradle to cradle manufacturing, and so on.