BBMG | Brand Innovation for the New Consumer | New York

Five Ways to Make Transparency a Brand Advantage

Carola Beeney — Fri, 24 May 2013 13:16:25 +0000

By Mitch Baranowski


Label image by STILLFX via Shutterstock

Pink slime. Pan-European traces of horsemeat. Escolar masquerading as white tuna. Some 30 states considering GMO-labeling legislation.

The challenges and opportunities surrounding transparency affect consumers in ways that are deeply personal (if not downright intestinal) and raise the stakes for brands.

We’re living in the age of “radical transparency” thanks to the global nature of supply chains, the convergence of new technologies, the risks posed by climate change and the rise of so-called “aspirational consumers” who want to reconcile their materialism with environmentalism.

As an agency focused on the intersection of branding, sustainability and innovation, we see a powerful moment for brands to leverage transparency as a competitive advantage. Yes, it’s the right thing to do, but how might we move faster and more creatively to do it right, to drive more value across the value chain?

BBMG’s recent global study with GlobeScan and SustainAbility surveyed 6,224 consumers across six markets: Germany, United Kingdom, United States, Brazil, China and India. Almost nine in 10 consumers globally (86 percent) identify transparency as an important issue for companies to address — and more than eight in 10 (82 percent) consumers want to know the ingredients they are putting “in, on and around” their bodies.

The pressure will be greater from consumers in emerging markets. And the questions will continue as up-and-coming Millennials ask: How was it made? Where was it made? Who made it? Was it made under safe conditions? Fair conditions? Was it verified? Who verified it? How do we know? What do my friends and family think?

So, yesterday’s compliance and minimum disclosure requirements are becoming price of entry. Full product transparency is just beginning to have its moment. And not just in the environmental sense. Leading companies recognize that sustainability is an innovation imperative, and that as box-turning consumers examine the list of ingredients, the semantics of transparency offer many value-generating pathways.

Let’s take a look at the most common tropes and signifiers and the opportunities they provide for innovation, engagement and impact.

1. Harnessing your promise as platform

What do you stand for? And where does transparency fit into that narrative? Only recently have brands started to make transparency a core part of their DNA from a marketing perspective.

Burt’s Bees raised the bar with an “attack the ingredient” campaign directly comparing its muck-free goods against less-natural counterparts.

Method cultivates tribe with its “People Against Dirty” anthemics. Chipotle’s “Food with Integrity” platform sets up the brand to invest in co-ops raising free-range chickens and pigs. Whole Foods extends its promise (and simplifies its certification landscape) with its “Whole Trade Guarantee.” And Honest Company’s promise of “No Harsh Chemicals (Ever)” is the brand’s raison d’être, existing in direct opposition to the products whose ingredients we may not understand and implicitly may actually harm us.

Backed up by the proof points, an overt brand promise, pledge or pact clearly can signal the company’s mission, vision and values and sway those consumers for whom a commitment to transparency is a tie-breaker.

2. Engaging the producer as promoter

The farmer in the dell. Or the women’s cooperative. Or the master distiller. Who makes the product is easily mythologized or romanticized. Most brands can’t leverage such mystique in the era of “Food, Inc.” How you demystify or humanize is the operative question. Casting the producer in a leading role can be an effective technique, even when it comes at the expense of authenticity (Ocean Spray uses actors to depict cranberry bog farmers in its TV spots) or stretches credulity (Cascadian Farm’s legitimate 28-acre “home farm” leaves the impression there are no other growers). Last year was a hot one for “farmer ad action,” with notable efforts from McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Red Lobster and Perdue Farms designed to introduce us to real farmers, fishermen and workers. The controversy with such campaigns often scales with the size of the company.

Of course, the work is more powerful when it’s less scripted, closer to the consumer, more dialogic. Consider Organic Valley, which invites you to enter your zip code to meet your local farmers. Or Stonyfield’s farmer blog, The Bovine Bugle (sadly now on break), which offered a direct way to engage local farmers. Having producers share their stories, explain the process and debunk the ingredients for consumers will only increase. As we green the supply chain in the name of the planet and prosperity, leading brands will help consumers learn more about it, in more digestible story-driven bits.

3. Making cultivation a cause

How and why you make a product can be just as compelling as who makes it, of course, and there is no shortage of videos titled “How We Make Our Product.” The care, thought and attention that employees put into a product manifests more than pride; it’s a reason to believe. Ideally, the foundational commitment behind the very making of the thing translates into quality for a safe, trusted, delightful consumer experience.

Not to discount the quality pathway, unpacking the semantics here reveals a few additional themes that we can mine for brand attributes:

Heritage. A common card for many brands: We make it with respect for tradition, values, consistency and the like. Levi’s “Go Forth” campaign beckons a new audience to see its timeless attributes as relevant again, bolstered by initiatives such as the brand’s Water.

Pride of place. Try to imagine the Jack Daniel’s brand without Lynchburg, Tenn.

Ethical sourcing. The introduction of H&M’s Conscious Collection is a bold move by a big retailer.

Job creation. American Apparel has weathered its fair share of controversy, all the while touting “Made in the USA” without the use of sweatshop labor. In Texas we call that a “three-fer,” three great attributes stemming from one initiative: You get the economic development angle, the fair labor/fair wages angle and the patriotic pride of keeping those jobs in the United States.

4. Leveraging purity as product innovation

What’s in it? What’s not? Why and why not? Why is “organic” the exception and “conventional” the operationalized norm that we’ve been socialized to expect? The movement toward ingredient transparency is fascinating precisely because it plays on our base fears about the bad stuff, the processed stuff, the large-scale stuff. “Free” is perhaps the most potent modifier, rationalizing call-outs and campaigns for decades now. This plastic bottle is BPA-free. These vegetables are pesticide-free. This skin cream, cruelty-free. This paint, VOC-free.

Brands making such claims promise to give us only the good, never the bad. Sometimes simplicity and purity can drive brand innovation. When Haagen-Dazs launched FIVE, so named because it contained only five ingredients, its campaign focused on the ingredients front and center, buttressed by the tagline: “Poetically simple.” But FIVE now seems a failed experiment.

Still, others are trying the purity play as a product launchpad. Witness the Unreal candy line, on a mission to “unjunk” candy, clearly inspired by the likes of Kind and other similar pure-play brands.

5. Keeping performance primary

Last but not least, branding being an exercise where simpler is often smarter, leading brands have embraced their roles as translators, explaining the practical benefits of seemingly indecipherable ingredient names in terms that every lay person can relate to.

Aveeno, for example, displays nine ingredients on their website and explains what each benefit offers the consumer in a sentence or less. Want to know why seaweed is in hair products? Well, seaweed extract is “rich in vitamins, proteins and minerals” and “gives you weightless softness, shine and healthy manageability.” Who doesn’t want weightlessly soft hair? I know I do.

In closing, this is not just about environmental impact. It’s about values and authenticity. Communication and storytelling. Give us a promise. Introduce us to the team. Show us how it’s made. Share what it does for us and the health and safety of our families. Make it easy to understand and repeat to our friends. Those will continue to be the opportunities for leveraging ingredient transparency for brand advantage.

Let’s hope this is all clear as mud.

This article was first published May 10, 2013 on GreenBiz.com

Aspirational Consumers Unite Style, Sustainability to Shape Market Trends

Jess Oswald — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 15:23:59 +0000

New study finds two-thirds of consumers love to shop, while also feeling responsibility to society and the environment

Is there such a thing as sustainable consumption? A new study by BBMG, GlobeScan and SustainAbility finds that a majority of consumers across six international markets are seeking to reconcile their desire for shopping and style with responsibility to the environment and society through their purchases. According to the report, Rethinking Consumption: Consumers and the Future of Sustainability, nearly two-thirds of consumers globally equate shopping with happiness (63%) while also feeling a sense of responsibility for society (65%). The study draws from an online survey of 6,224 consumers across Brazil, China, India, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States conducted in September and October 2012. Key findings are:

Happy Shoppers: Nearly two-thirds of consumers globally say “shopping for new things makes me happy” (63%), including 77% in emerging markets and 48% in developed markets.

Style Seekers: More than half of consumers say “I care a lot about how I look, my style” (56%), including 68% in emerging markets and 45% in developed markets.

Socially Responsible: Two-thirds of consumers globally say they “feel a sense of responsibility to society” (65%), including 81% in emerging markets and 50% in developed markets.

Buying Better: Similarly, two-thirds of consumers globally believe they “have a responsibility to purchase products that are good for the environment and society (65%), including 82% in emerging markets and 49% in developed markets.

In exploring the intersection of consumer values, motivations and behaviors, the study identifies four consumer segments on the sustainability spectrum: highly committed Advocates (14%); style and social status-seeking Aspirationals (37%); price and performance-minded Practicals (34%) and less engaged Indifferents (16%).

Aspirationals represent hundreds of millions of consumers globally, and the largest consumer segment in Brazil, China and India. More than any other segment, Aspirationals care about style (65%), social status (52%), and equate shopping with happiness (70%). Yet, they are also among the most likely to believe that we need to “consume a lot less to improve the environment for future generations” (73%), and feel “a sense of responsibility to society” (73%).

“Aspirationals represent the persuadable mainstream on the path to more sustainable behavior. They love to shop, are influenced by brands, yet aspire to be sustainable in their purchases and actions,” said Raphael Bemporad, Co-Founder of BBMG. “This consumer segment represents a significant opportunity for forward-looking brands to unite consumerism with social and environmental values.”

“Aspirationals are looking for brands to provide solutions that both improve their lives and serve society as a whole,” said Pam Alabaster, Senior Vice President Corporate Communications, Sustainable Development & Public Affairs at L’Oréal USA, a sponsor of the study. “Understanding this dynamic tension provides the greatest opportunity for companies to create positive impact through consumers’ purchasing decisions and social actions.”

“The ideals, influence and size of the Aspirationals segment – particularly in developing markets – is what makes them so compelling for sustainable brands,” said Mark Lee, Executive Director at SustainAbility. “But simply helping people to consume more products that are incrementally ‘better’ is not necessarily the answer. Leading companies will seek to meet the needs of the Aspirationals beyond just products by delivering value through services, sharing, expertise and purposeful engagement.”

Eric Whan, Sustainability Director at GlobeScan, added: “In our fifteen years of market analysis, we’ve never seen an opportunity like this. The Aspirationals will chart the future of sustainable consumption, as long as their favorite brands offer them what they want.”

Background and Methodology
Developed by BBMG, GlobeScan and SustainAbility, The Regeneration Consumer Study is an in-depth online survey of consumer attitudes, motivations and behaviors relating to sustainable consumption among 6,224 respondents across six major international markets (Brazil, China, Germany, India, the United Kingdom and the United States) conducted in September and October 2012. Drawn from consumer research panels, global data are comparable to having a margin of error of +/- 1.3 percent. Analysis of country-level data reflects a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent.

The study is part of the The Regeneration Roadmap,a collaborative and multi-faceted thought leadership initiative designed to engage the private sector in advancing sustainable development by improving sustainability strategy, increasing credibility and delivering results at greater speed and scale.

Presenting Sponsors of The Regeneration Roadmap are BMW Group and SC Johnson. Sponsors include Cisco, DuPont, Interface and Pfizer. The Regeneration Consumer Study is sponsored by Campbell Soup Company, Itau, L’Oréal, Shell and Starbucks. For more information, and to download a free copy of the study, visit TheRegenerationRoadmap.com.

Black Friday: Bridging the Gap Between What Consumers Say and Do

Jess Oswald — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 21:00:56 +0000

Our new survey suggests a majority of people want more sustainable products but won’t compromise on cost and performance. So how can brands use this to drive demand?

(First published by The Guardian, Friday, Nov. 23, 2012)

The shelves are stacked, the credit cards are primed, the lines are forming. As Black Friday dawns, there’s not much more a consumer brand can do to influence its target audience, at least not for this year. But once the dust has settled, those who are serious about driving demand for more sustainable products and services would do well to pause and reflect on what today’s consumers really think about the nature of consumption.

A new survey from BBMG, SustainAbility and GlobeScan offers some insights. Rethinking Consumption, released this week at Sustainable Brands London, aggregates the views of 6,224 consumers across Brazil, China, India, Germany, United Kingdom and the United States.

Of those surveyed, 66% agreed that as a society we need to consume a lot less to improve the environment for future generations, and 65% agreed that they feel a sense of responsibility to purchase products that are good for the environment and society.

But we rarely, if ever, see an environmentally and socially responsible product vastly outsell its less sustainable alternatives—it’s clear there is a significant gap between consumer intentions and behaviours. What’s going on?

When respondents were asked why they weren’t buying more responsible products, the top two most cited reasons were no surprise: 75% of consumers claimed they would buy more responsible products if they performed as well as or better than products they usually buy and 70% said they shouldn’t cost more. So although people want more sustainable products, positive impact won’t trump performance or price.

So what can brands do to drive demand for more responsible products? Here are three things that the survey suggests are worth considering:

1. Focus on Total Value

After performance and price, the next three most cited barriers to purchasing more sustainable products were all about communication: 64% of respondents said companies’ health and environmental claims need to be more believable; 63% said they didn’t understand what truly makes a product more environmentally or socially responsible, and 63% want to see the environmental or social benefits of a product right away.

There is a clear opportunity for improved marketing here and blending values with value is key. According to the survey this is particularly true in developing markets, where consumers are twice as likely to report purchasing more sustainable products and to express a willingness to pay more for them.

2. Use Consumer Collaboration

Consumers are ready to help companies innovate, with two-thirds of those surveyed saying they were “interested in sharing their ideas, opinions and experiences with companies to help them develop better products or create new solutions.”

Successful brands are no strangers to consumer engagement, but perhaps they need to rethink the nature of the conversations they are having. Consumer collaboration can be an important driver of sustainability by uniting both experts and consumers in generating smarter ideas and solutions because they come from both the makers and users of the products themselves. In this way, perhaps new opportunities can be uncovered to bridge the gap between consumers’ aspirations and actions.

3. Connect with the “Me” and the “We”

Particularly in emerging markets, consumers see themselves as brand fans, co-creators and champions, and they’re weighing in on corporate promises and practices – whether asked to or not. More than eight in 10 consumers in our study said friends and family are the most important thing in their life, and 42% said they would buy more a sustainable product if it connected them to a community of peers that shares their values. And in India, China and Brazil a majority of respondents claimed they encouraged others to buy from companies that act responsibly. So to drive demand for sustainable products, answering ‘what’s in it for me?’ is not enough; success depends on also addressing ‘what’s in it for we?’

Perhaps brands would be best advised to focus their engagement efforts on the group of consumers we might collectively refer to as the aspirationals: those people, especially in China and India, who are seeking to reconcile a tendency toward materialism with a growing awareness of social and environmental values. Exploring this dynamic tension – between material possessions and social and environmental progress – is a critical opportunity for companies to advance sustainable consumption and create positive social impact.

For more information, and to download a free copy of the Rethinking Consumption study, available from 27 November 2012, visit The Regeneration Roadmap website.

Raphael Bemporad is co-founder and chief strategy officer of BBMG, a brand innovation firm based in New York which designs disruptive business solutions . Chris Coulter is the president of GlobeScan, a global research consultancy that measures and builds value-generating relationships. Mark Lee is executive director of SustainAbility, a thinktank and strategic advisory firm working to inspire transformative business leadership on the sustainability agenda

Five Questions for SVN’s Deb Nelson

McKee Floyd — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 16:20:58 +0000

From working with the Social Venture Network (SVN) on their rebrand to supporting their events and strategic planning, we’ve so enjoyed being a part of this innovative and good-hearted community over the years.

As SVN gathers in New York this week to celebrate 25 years of businesses changing the way we do business, we sat down with Executive Director Deb Nelson to talk about the anniversary and what’s next for the organization.

Here are some highlights from our conversation:

BBMG: For folks who don’t know Social Venture Network, how do you describe it today?

Deb Nelson: SVN is an influential community of innovative, mission-driven entrepreneurs — the early pioneers of social enterprise, like the founders of Ben & Jerry’s, Stonyfield, and The Body Shop and the new pioneers, like the founders of Terracycle, Method and Green For All. We help connect our members to the people, resources and ideas they need to succeed and grow. [For more, visit www.svn.org.]

Why an SVN Hall of Fame? Why now?

This year marks the 25-year anniversary of Social Venture Network. We wanted to celebrate that milestone by honoring 25 of the most successful leaders of the social enterprise movement [see them here: www.svn.org/HoF].

We also wanted our Hall of Fame honorees to pass the torch to the next generation of world-changing entrepreneurs, so our Hall of Fame Celebration is a benefit for the Bridge Project, which supports young social entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs of color.

As you celebrate 25 years, it seems like the pioneers you’re recognizing have done their job. There are more social entrepreneurs than ever, and social responsibility infuses global business. Do you feel like “mission complete” or is there more work to do?

I think we’ve all learned it’s never a good idea to say, “Mission Accomplished.”

I will say I’m encouraged by the many ways the business world has evolved over the past 25 years. That said, climate change and global poverty aren’t going to disappear anytime soon, so we have a lot of work to do if we’re going to create a truly just and sustainable economy.

What role has the recent rebranding played, if any, in positioning SVN to celebrate 25?

Are you kidding? Before we worked with BBMG, SVN’s logo looked like it was 25 years old, and our website needed a massive makeover. You understand this community so well, and we’re thrilled with the work BBMG did to help us convey what SVN is all about, and appeal to a new generation of social entrepreneurs.

What has surprised you most during your tenure?

I’m surprised and impressed by the level of intelligence, creativity and generosity I see in the young entrepreneurs I meet through SVN. Recently, two of our Innovation Award winners, Alejandro Velez and Nikhil Arora from Back to the Roots, hosted a gathering at their offices in Oakland with all their most successful advisors. They thanked them and then introduced them to other up-and-coming food entrepreneurs who needed help. That kind of connectivity and generosity is what gives me hope for the future.

Is there anything that still keeps you up at night?

Definitely. These days, it’s my two young sons.

This disruptive agency only slightly disrupted

Jess Oswald — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 22:35:13 +0000

Thanks to all of you who called, texted and emailed about the BBMG team during Hurricane Sandy. We’re all safe and sound—only a handful of us were displaced—but our office building lost power and the basement was flooded with 3.5 million gallons of water. We’re grateful it wasn’t worse.

Our hearts and thoughts are with those families still struggling to recover, and our deep thanks to the men and women behind the many rescue and restoration efforts. We’ll be supporting the recovery in our neighborhood in the coming weeks. This Wednesday is a local fundraiser, The Dumbo Rebuild, and we’ll be donating to the Brooklyn Recovery Fund and we invite you to join us if you so choose.

We’ve reached out to many of you individually, but do not hesitate to contact us if you have questions or concerns. All phone numbers and emails are working.

Here’s to rebuilding the New York area as quickly as possible.

Photo courtesy of @barneyrobinson

“Now, this next slide may surprise you.”

Mitch Baranowski — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 19:56:16 +0000

It’s a whirlwind of events as we round the corner into late fall. Please look for us, and we’ll look for you (wink).

In addition to making the scene at BSR in New York this week, here are a few upcoming speaking engagements.

Net Impact: Innovation Workshop with 3M / Oct 27 / Baltimore

At the annual Net Impact Conference, BBMG partners with 3M to lead an interactive workshop, “Unleashing Consumer-Driven Innovation.”

Social Venture Network 25: Designing Better Brands / Nov 16 / NY
At SVN’s fall conference, Raphael Bemporad joins ex-BBMG’er Benita Singh (now founder of Source4Style) for an interactive workshop exploring the intersection of branding, innovation and sustainable design.

SB London: Untangling the Action Gap / Nov 27-28 / London
Raphael Bemporad joins a panel discussion designed to do a deep dive on the “perplexing contradictions” between consumer beliefs and purchasing behaviors, and how we might close the so-called action gap.

See you soon!

For Graindrops, Five Whole Grains + Ancient Japanese Process

Jess Oswald — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 20:21:53 +0000

When was the last time you had an artisanal, non-dairy, vegan, Kosher, GMO-free, gluten-free, whole grain, certified organic beverage?

Riiiiight. Neither had we until we tried Graindrops—the first “triple cultured” probiotic beverage made by fermenting brown rice, oat, millet, amaranth and quinoa thanks to Koji, a centuries-old Japanese process. Not only does the result taste great, it’s high in fiber, low in fat, great for digestive health and pretty darn satisfying.

This past summer the Graindrops team turned to BBMG to help refine its brand strategy, develop the core identity and extend that visual strategy to six product SKUs.

We engaged The Collective, our proprietary community of “sustainable mainstream” consumers for key insights on the category, explored dozens of concepts and quickly landed on a friendly, clean design that was mostly white to highlight the product’s pure, milk-like quality.

A subtle gradient adds warmth to the bottle design while complementing the logo: two abstracted grains holding a drop, visually signaling the amount of care behind the Koji process. We differentiated flavors by developing extensions to the color palette and creating unique “bouquet” product shots.

“It was a lot of fun working with the BBMG team,” says founder Torodd Lien. “They were dynamic, creative and flexible, but also stern task masters about timelines, which was great because we had limited time to accomplish a lot. We are very grateful for BBMG’s help and look forward to the next phase of our collaboration.”

Indeed. Onward and upward.

Sometimes You Have to Sit Down to Stand Up

Jess Oswald — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 20:21:24 +0000

With “Sit With Me,” Technology Companies Invite Changing the Paradigm

Today technology is more important than ever, but half our workforce is being left behind as IT advances. Fewer women are choosing IT as a career path, and more are opting out at the mid-career point.

The National Center for Women & Information Technology turned to BBMG to create its first national advocacy campaign, made possible by Google.

Designed to advance the dialogue about the critical role women play in the future of IT, the campaign revolves around a small but symbolic action: women (and men) sitting down to raise awareness for technical women.

In addition to developing the concept, creating the campaign identity and producing a comprehensive toolkit with companion videos, BBMG refined the “Sit With Me” platform in a series of co-creation workshops with academic and corporate partners. The strategy helped ensure the initiative could be readily adopted by a diverse set of organizations large and small, and it worked.

Since its soft launch, 100+ “Sit With Me” events have taken place around the world, capturing images and stories about how and why women should stay engaged with technology. Companies like IBM, Microsoft, Google and Facebook are leading the charge, with Sheryl Sandberg committing to making the “red chair” part of a permanent installation in the social network’s new office.

Mmmmm…Hand-picked Apples

Mitch Baranowski — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 21:09:43 +0000

We love fall!

How Radical Sustainability Can Save Your Business

Jess Oswald — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 15:55:47 +0000

Sure, it’s an ugly thought, baring all, letting the outsiders in, opening ourselves up for examination and criticism, discussing our failures as much as our successes. But.the.paradigm.is.shifting. Slowly but surely.

In today’s marketplace, expectations for transparency, sustainability and social impact have never been higher–or more important–for long-term, enduring customer relationships and business success. The challenges are great, and we must do all we can to accelerate net-positive impact across sectors.

In our latest post for FastCoExist, BBMG Chief Strategy Officer Raphael Bemporad and Jeffrey Hollender, former CEO of Seventh Generation and founder of JH Partners, examine the notion of radical sustainability and what it means for fully embracing a paradigm that prizes regeneration and resilience.