• by Alan Hart , July 10, 2019

This week on “Marketing Today,”I share a two-part interview with Marc Pritchard, chief brand officer, and Virginia Helias, chief sustainability officer at Procter & Gamble.

Pritchard, who has worked at P&G for an impressive 37 years in multiple capacities, talks about the business justification for sustainability on the heels of the Sustainable Brands Summit in Detroit.

Helias also has an amazing 31-year career thus far at P&G, and she discusses programs that deal with sustainability being spread across the company worldwide.

Pritchard talks about a new initiative called Brands for Good, and tells a personal story about how he came to understand how businesses carry a huge responsibility to the world.

Helias talks about the Ambition 2030 program at P&G, the company’s work with the World Wildlife Fund’s new resource plastic initiative, how P&G  started the Loop pilot program to replace disposable packaging with waste-free packaging, and the initiative for leaving no P&G waste in the ocean.

Highlights from this week’s “Marketing Today”:

          -- What does Marc Pritchard think about the Sustainable Brands Summit compared to other conferences he has attended? (01:27)

          -- What is the Brands For Good coalition? (02:34)

          -- What did Pritchard learn from the research that drove why P&G got involved in sustainability? (04:35)

          -- Who are the other companies that joined P&G in Brands For Good? (07:45)

         --  What makes Brands For Good different from what other brands and companies are doing? (10:27)

         --  Virginie Helias talks about her role in sustainability at P&G. (23:20:)

          -- What is the World Wildlife Fund’s new resource plastic initiative? (28:11)

          -- What is involved in the Loop pilot program to replace disposable packaging with waste-free packaging? (31:16)

          -- What is the end goal of Ambition 2030? (35:52)

          -- What are the top priorities of a brand leader to make an impact in sustainability? (37:47)

Resources Mentioned:

• Sustainable Brands Worldwide
• Force for Good – work by P&G
• #BrandsForGood initiative 
• Ambition 2030 – P&G’s goals for sustainability announced in 2018
• Ariel Case Study on Sustainability
• World Wildlife Fund (WWF)’s new platform ReSource: Plastic
• Loop – new pilot service in NY Metro area and Paris that P&G is participating in