#128: Sweetgreen on greenwashing - "it works," RIP Clayton Christensen, eyes on TN brands, and Facebook's sponcon mistake
Happy Saturday, my friends. As we continue our day jobs, we live through history.
A brief sonnet from Rep. Adam Schiff:
You can imagine Putin in the Kremlin with his aides when one of his aides comes into the office and says "Vladimir, you're never going to believe this. The President of the United States is pushing our Crowdstrike theory."
I mean, you can all just imagine the incredulity of Vladimir Putin. "You're kidding, right? You mean he really believes this? His own people don't believe this. Nobody believes this."
And it's not -- I mean, it would be bad enough, of course, that the President of the United States believes this Russian propaganda against the advice of all of his advisers, common sense and everything else, but it's worse than that. It's worse than that. On the basis of this Russian propaganda, he withheld $400 million in military aid to a nation Russia was fighting, our ally.
In this week's edition #128 of The World's Best Newsletter:
1. RIP Clayton Christensen
2. It counts, here - all eyes on TN
3. Marketing predictions and advice for 2020
4. Key trend from CES2020: HUMANS
5. Happening now - NFL and #EveryonesChild
6. Facebook gets caught with sponcon re: election integrity
7. Quote of the week: Sweetgreen admits greenwashing works
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1. RIP Clayton Christensen
Author, professor, business strategy icon Clayton Christensen died this week. HBR pulled 11 essential articles to understand his theories stemming from his well-known threat of disruptive innovation in the mid-90s.
One of my favorites reveals many lack a strategy for their lives. He argues that clarity around purpose is more important than any business theory we master. Read: How Will You Measure Your Life?
2. It counts, here - all eyes on TN
The governor of Tennessee wants to sign a bill allowing adoption agencies, foster-care homes and businesses to exclude LGBTQ families (and use taxpayer funds.)
Brands doing business in TN have boasted of their pro-equality mindset in the past. This including Amazon, Ausrion, Nike, Hilton, Lyft, IKEA, Marriott + more.
But, as CNBC found, though these brands have signed letters against the measure, and some "strongly urge" the governor to reconsider, none plan to change their plans in response to the governor's intent to sign the bill into law.
Currently, the HRC does not deduct points from corporations for not taking a stance on anti-LGBTQ issues. It likely should.
>>> Weigh in on this conversation on my LinkedIn post (and share!)
3. Marketing predictions and advice for 2020
a. Marketo (an Adobe company) asked 10 of us to predict what's happening in marketing this next decade. I predict more brands than ever will lose our trust. My peers had GREAT predictions - to get their insight, download the full eBook here.
b. Meanwhile, as marketers prep for 2020, LinkedIn asked me what they should leave behind in 2019. I TRULY hope we leave behind this false value-signalling and pandering to social movements. Read my response here.
c. And finally, IMPACT asked what's holding us back as marketers. My advice: make your values crystal clear to connect with B2B buyers at a deeper level. Read what we all said - some REALLY good nuggets in this roundup.
4. Key trend from CES2020: HUMANS
JWT Intelligence is out with a CES recap that shows tech is focused on being... more human.
This year at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES), there was a shift in the language used by technology companies to reflect a much more human-centric approach—indicating an important evolution in the tech world.
5. Happening now - NFL and #EveryonesChild
Checked Twitter this morning to find the NFL promoting #EveryonesChild to bring awareness to the Botham Jean Foundation, named for the victim who was shot in his own apartment.
Digging deeper, I learned it's part of a larger PSA that will air ahead of the Super Bowl with a CTA that "we need to do more to create change." (Not really a CTA, to be honest.)
Per Yahoo! Sports:
There was another PSA aired during the conference championship games last weekend that showed retired receiver Anquan Boldin speaking about his cousin, musician Corey Jones, who was killed by a plainclothes officer in October 2015 as he sat in his broken down vehicle on the side of a Florida highway.
During his trial last year, the officer Nouman Raja was found to have lied several times, and the presence of an audio recording of the interaction with Jones showed that Raja was not in danger as he claimed. Raja was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
So, the NFL is pumping marketing dollars into campaigns around social injustice. This is the same NFL that Colin Kapernick kneeled in, right?
Note: 30 second ads will run $5M - $5.6M in this year's game.
6. Facebook gets caught with sponcon re: election integrity
Oops, Facebook paid for a sponsored article in Teen Vogue about its 2020 election integrity efforts, telling the story of five women and showcasing their work behind the scenes. Then they tried to pass it off as an editorial piece. Now it's gone.
Read the full NYTimes recap of this situation, and h/t to Scott Galloway who called it "lipstick on cancer."
7. Quote of the week: greenwashing works
"It's frustrating, and it works."
- Sweetgreen co-founder Nicolas Jammet on greenwashing.
The company's brand promise has been “Nothing from inside Sweetgreen goes to the landfill.” LATimes reports that hasn't been entirely true - but the company is trying to improve its sustainability efforts.
🤷
Have a great weekend,
Katie
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