Digital Capital Week

• Grow a sustainable brand that is truly sustainable in the long-term, not just ‘environmentally conscious’. The way to do that is to have social  mission in every aspect of business.
• From Nic’s experience, educating consumers about the importance of sustainable food was the biggest hurdle, but he advises that education is one of the most important things to tackle early on. The good news is that consumers nowadays know a lot more about than before, so it’s important to customize your message to satisfy your customers’ curiosity. Never ‘preach at’ the customer; think of more creative ways to reach out and deliver your message.
• Focus on creating a people-centered culture in your business.
• There are many different ways to connect with customers and employees. For example, Nic opened a Dupont Sweetgreen location right next to a farmer’s market. It wasn’t originally a very hip spot, so in an effort to liven it up and draw some crowds, every Saturday, Sweetgreen co-founders (two of them originally DJs) would DJ outside the restaurant. People would come in and they’d receive a free sample. Then it was comfortable for Sweetgreen to starting explaining their mission in a non-confrontational way. Also used music to connect to customers and build relationship to them. Every May for the past two years, Sweetgreen sponsors the Sweetlife Music Festival with 15,000 people attending this year. It’s a completely carbon neutral event and features organic food.
• To engage employees who are working at Sweetgreen because of the hourly wage, they think of creative ways to incentivize them to get excited about the mission of the company. For example, Nic launched a program called “Shades of Green”, which awards various perks to employees on their anniversaries of how long they’ve been at the company.
• Try to create a win-win-win core value – where financial interests, customer interests, and environmentalinterests all line up. It is always more expensive for quality products. Think of creative ways to offset the costs. For example, Sweetgreen’s energy usage in stores is offset by energy credits. It requires an upfront investment but is worth it in the long-run. Sweetgreen also gives a free topping to customers who remember to bring and use their reusable salad ‘blasters’ (bowls), which greatly reduce waste from disposable bowls.

Michael (Mike) Radparvar is the co-founder of Holstee. From the website: “The Holstee Tee. Made of 100% Recycled material the shirt featured a unique holster positioned pocket – rethinking the classic t-shirt with focuses on fit, style, sustainability, and functionality. Over the course of the first year of business the team designed and produced half a dozen new products including The Recycled Wallet, made of newspapers and plastic bags collected off the streets of India; The People Pendant, made of recycled acrylic scraps from a Chicago-area sign maker, and their Upcycled line of t-shirts which highlight the lasting value of apparel.” A few tips on sustainability and starting a business from Mike:

• Mike’s goal in creating Holstee was to re-think the T-shirt to make it really practical, with ample room in the front pockets. In an effort to eliminate packaging, some editions of the T-shirt were designed be folded into pocket itself.
• Remember that it’s perfectly normal to continue to refine your business as you learn more about the industry and people’s needs. For example, Mike and his co-founders learned that cotton is bad for the environment, needing a lot of pesticides & large amounts of water to produce. After Patagonia introduced a new material derived from plastics, Holstee founders considered the idea, but after thinking about the  unknown long term effects of plastic in contact with skin, changed their minds once again. Now, they are looking into natural fibers. Mike explains that every decision is a learning process.
• Some barriers for running a small company include that you don’t have economy of scale to dictate what suppliers give. On the positive side, smaller companies are able to take bigger risks. Some ways this is done at Holstee: Recap goals every week. Create ‘risk  of the week’. Work on the ’99 risks in 99 days’ summer internship role. The risks challenge founders to reach for the most idealistic goals. Any attempt will get you somewhere.
• Mike describes the success he found from writing a “manifesto“. In it, Holstee founders took the time to describe how they viewed success in non-monetary terms. One of the most prevelant themes in the manifesto include: “life is about the people you meet and the things you create with them.” Even though they did not market it at all and wrote it more for themselves, the genuineness of the message touched several people and it went viral, receiving 15 million views to date. Now they’re looking for ways to print the manifesto sustainably using old-fashioned letterpress machines.
• One should research the tradeoffs between the different options in business. In any case, strive to make a product that is “designed with a conscience”. Three elements to keep in mind at all times: people, planet and product. Holstee focuses on understanding how all materials used are sourced and their impact on the environment, on designers and on consumers.
• Even if you’re creating ton of sustainable products and no one using them, that’s very unsustainable.
• Make decisions based on feedback from customers. Mike designs “selfishly” (makes things he wants but can’t find): in many ways, you are your own consumer. Discover a genuine need, and most likely you’ve found something that others will relate to.
• Holstee uses a small private group on Facebook, The Holstee Inner Circle as an advisory board of sorts, which ‘helps define the future of Holstee’. These Holstee fans frequently discuss details such as designs, color options, etc. This way, a few people already feel tied to the product even before it’s released.
• Holstee hired a CEO, or a Community Engagement Officer, who manages the Holstee hotline. She knows the top 40 twitter fans who support Holstee. Her job makes a big difference in customer service; it makes a huge difference when someone from the company knows customers personally.

Olivia Khalili, “works with companies to design, market and evaluate social initiatives. She is the founder of Cause Capitalism, a consultancy and online resource that helps businesses grow by implementing a social mission. Currently, she is helping Ashoka Changemakers bring new products to market and build partnerships that connect corporations with social innovators and online enthusiasts to drive measurable social change” (DCWEEK). Thoughts from Olivia:

• Think about tboth both the longevity side and the environmental impact of sustainability.
• Ask the customer: “what is your true intent? How can you put back into the system from what you’re taking?”
• You have to start somewhere and it doesn’t have to be perfect.  You can always enhance.
• Some barriers to adding social good to your business: trying to do it perfectly and making it look really cool from the first try. Social responsibility doesn’t have to be cool or sexy – it can still speak to many consumers who aren’t looking for that, but are looking for demonstrable impact and durability.
• Another barrier is not knowing where to start. The solution to that is to look into what’s important to you internally – create a supply-chain community that is integrated into your product. Start somewhere; it doesn’t matter where – but eventually make the connections.
• As consumers, we like to be polled about how we feel about a brand.
• What if you have an online business that is trying to be sustainable? Make partnerships with a purchase trigger donation component.
• Set the stage for conversation: if consumers know that someone’s listening, they will come forward with their ideas and feedback. If you have customer base, put it out there.

Sloane Berrent is Vice President of Digital Marketing for New York-based Lippe Taylor, a marketing service focused on PR and understanding the needs of women consumers. She’s also the author of the ‘social good’ blog ‘The Causemopolitan‘. Helpful advice from Sloane:

• A company can be sustainable from the inside and/or in the products they create. Ikea is an example of sustainable practices but they don’t necessarily make ‘green’ goods in the way that people expect.
• For brands that want to build a long  term cause-based relationship with customers, maybe packaging or transportation can be enhanced but maybe not the product itself if that will take more research, resources or fine tuning. Start with what’s easy to improve.
• Keep a running “parking lot for ideas”.  We often have a passion to do something but it may not always possible in that moment. Write them down to remember them and attempt them later.
• You may decide to shift your model from nonprofit to for-profit, if that makes more sense, even if your focus still remains social good.
• Every company should release a mission.
• Ask employees how they’d like to participate – this increases employee retention and builds on the product line.
• Do a poll or survey through email. Do people know how to find ‘someone’ in the company who can hear their question?
• Think of building social good that can scale.