Marketing Today: KoAnn Skrzyniarz Says 'Be Bold, Not Perfect'

by Alan Hart , July 3, 2019

This week on the “Marketing Today” podcast, I speak with KoAnn Skrzyniarz, founder and CEO of Sustainable Brands Worldwide.

Skrzyniarz has worked as the founder and president of Organizations That Work, and in the roles of senior vice president, vice president, and group director at Miller Freeman Inc.

Skrzyniarz discusses Sustainable Brands Worldwide’s publishing platform’s impressive growth, its goals, and all its offering including education, research, content, and events. The organization’s corporate members include National Geographic, Procter & Gamble, Pepsico, Target, CVS Health, 3M, BASF, Cisco, UPS, Dow, and ALDO.

“Today we have about 2 million readers every year that are reading our digital publishing material,” Skrzyniarz says. "About 35% of our audience is coming out of brand strategy, marketing, and communications. We decided early on that we would have the most leverage if we really targeted trying to drive system shifts primarily in consumer-branded companies.”

Tune in next week for Marc Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer, and Virginie Helias, Chief Sustainability Officer at Procter & Gamble. Pritchard and Helias discuss new announcements at Sustainable Brands Summit and new initiatives the company is undertaking around sustainability.

Highlights from this week’s “Marketing Today”:

-- What is the “theory of change” model that Sustainable Brands has? (06:23)

-- What has been the impact of of publishing platform and conferences? (08:19)

-- How has its membership evolved? (10:29)

-- What are the goals of its events, and who's attending? (14:18)

-- What does Skrzyniarz feel are the great opportunities for brands in sustainability? (16:02)

-- What has she learned about revenue growth and talent decline? (17:17)

-- How has the feedback loop been broken by brands? (19:24)

-- What companies, brands, or organizations should marketers should pay attention to? (21:18)

-- What advice would Skrzyniarz give to new CMOs? (24:39)

-- Has there been an experience in her past that made her who she is today? (28:52)

-- What advice would she give to her younger self? (30:44)