For many brands in this year’s Greater Good Awards shortlist, making a positive impact on their local communities — whether through internal or consumer-facing initiatives — is highly evident as a top priority. The throughling: companies are increasingly using their platforms to communicate the importance of sustainability, wellbeing and equality.
In one example, cosmetics company Aveda earned a nomination in the Sustainability category. Since its founding, Aveda has cultivated a reputation for innovation in botanical technologies and green chemistry. Cruelty Free International has given the brand Leaping Bunny approval, the most rigorous cruelty-free certification available. Aveda is 100% vegan and its hair care is 90% naturally derived. Additionally, its primary facility manufactures products using 100% wind and solar power, and the brand pioneered the use of 100% post-consumer recycled PET bottles. In a more recent sustainable packaging push, Aveda partnered with woman-owned packaging supplier Zela Pack to create a paper-based, locally recyclable sachet for samples — a first for the prestige beauty industry. The new design elevates the customer experience while a peer-reviewed life-cycle assessment calculated the sachets reduced water consumption by 36% to 68% and CO2e emissions by 37% to 64%.
For the Gender Equality category, skincare brand OLAY received a nomination for its partnership with Harper’s Bazaar to celebrate a female STEM trailblazer. As part of its philosophy that quality skin results demand a deep understanding of skin science, OLAY is committed to helping double the number of women in STEM and triple the number of women of color in STEM by 2030. To give the campaign, which carries the social media hashtag #FaceTheSTEMGap, the credibility it needed, OLAY and Harper’s Bazaar teamed up with the Smithsonain’s Air and Space Museum to unveil a statue of Mary Golda Ross, a Native American engineer best known for her work on aerospace design, on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. OLAY published an article containing a video showcasing the statue’s creation and a reveal to a group of young girls interested in STEM. The sponsored editorial generated 10,000 page views, while other earned media placements garnered more than 1.5 billion media impressions.
Nike and creative agency AnalogFolk Amsterdam are shortlisted in the Mental Health category for Nike Mind Sets, a platform designed to leverage the healing power of movement. The program helps Nike members to move in any way that helps their mental wellbeing, with curated and custom movements, expert content and experiences. As part of the brand’s shift to a more holistic approach to sports and movement, Nike Mind Sets helps younger generations understand the benefits of movement while starting a conversation about mental wellbeing. The program has also shifted the brand’s long-term strategies to athlete storytelling and activity apps content, bringing mental health into focus and including content curated on feelings, not just goals.
Online bank Ally is a finalist in six categories, including Education. In partnership with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, Ally launched the ‘Moguls in the Making’ annual entrepreneurial competition to foster opportunities for young entrepreneurs from HBCUs. For the 2021 program, Ally awarded more than $215,000 in scholarships and prizes. The company also enlisted Revolt TV, a minority-owned media company, to lead both content production and media amplification of ‘Moguls in the Making.’ Revolt TV created a three-part series highlighting the students and leaders participating in this year’s program, airing the content on its TV, digital and social channels. Since the program’s launch in 2019, Ally has employed 36 ‘Moguls’ participants as interns and hired 12 as full-time employees.
In the new Local Community Betterment category, finalists include community engagement and advocacy platform Countable. Time To Vote, a nonpartisan initiative led by Patagonia, Levi’s and Paypal, used the Countable platform to receive and approve pledges from companies to give employees paid time from work to vote. Once approved, the companies gained access to Time To Vote’s resources about empowering employees to vote, including information about Election Day, early voting and vote-by-mail options. The initiative ensured more than 9.4 million employees were guaranteed time to vote, including more than 3 million from Fortune 100 companies such as Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Akamai, JP Morgan Chase and Gap.
Altogether, the judges’ nominations in 2022 demonstrated how companies are working toward the greater good.
See the complete list of finalists below.
Animal Welfare
Ally & MKTG Sports + Entertainment – Ally Racing Best Friends Season Long Program
FarmHouse Fresh
Anti-Violence
Merkle & Stop The Traffik – Using machine learning to prevent Human Trafficking
Salesforce, Interpeace, Second Peninsula – PeaceTalks International Day of Peace Film
Arts and Culture
Ally
Ally x UnitedMasters – Earn Your Masters
Reverb – Reverb Gives
WeTransfer
Yahoo In The Know: Double Take debuts first-ever NYFW fashion show with SMA community: ‘regardless of disability or not, fashion is a form of self-expression’
Yahoo In The Know: Futurists Lady Pheønix
Children
1o8 Agency
Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center & HangarFour Creative – Overcame: Art of the Abused Child Exhibition
Epsilon’s Partnership with FIA
GoFundMe x ATTN: #StandForSomething
Hill Holliday
Kendra Scott – Kendra Cares Program
Subaru of America & MikeWorldWide
Education
Ally
Financial Times, Infosys, and WONGDOODY
Neutrogena Studios: First Frame Fellowship
Smartsheet / McLaren Racing / DeadlyScience – Sponsor X
Sony Pictures Television and WonderFirst – Impossible Science
Thred Media powers Thred.com
VAHDAM® India
Emergency Aid
1o8 Agency
On/Go by Intrivo – On/Go for Good
The Thomas Collective and Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission – Angels: Lost + Found
Environment
Cadence
Carrier Global
Financial Times, Infosys, and WONGDOODY
GoDaddy Series Made in America and Short Film Big Water Summer: A Creation Story
INVERSA
Mossy Oak – Wild Turkey Conservation Stamp and Gamekeeper Grants
OpenX Technologies, Inc.
Gender Equality
Chief “This Guy Means Business” Campaign
Estée Lauder – Launch of the Estée Lauder Emerging Leaders Fund
Hearts & Science, OLAY & Harper’s BAZAAR: STEM Statue
Woolf Strategy
Yahoo + Degree: Bracket Gap Challenge
LGBTQ+
Accompany Creative & Nespresso – Nespresso x The Ali Forney Center
Ally
AT&T x attn x Hearts & Science : – The Love Connection
Havas New York
Havas New York & The Ali Forney Center
House of Greenland & Google – #OpenToEveryone 2022 – Pride Activation
Local Community Betterment
Consumer Reports’ Fight for Safe and Sustainable Food Packaging
Countable
Havas New York
Havas New York & The Ali Forney Center
Lowe’s and ATTN: – 100 Hometowns
Verizon – Launch of Verizon Small Business Digital Ready
Mental Health
#It’sNotJustHair – Monpure
AnalogFolk Amsterdam – Nike Mind Sets
Harry’s
Talon America on behalf of Find Your Anchor, Born This Way Foundation, and the Ali Forney Center – Launch of Please Stay Pledge Campaign
Verywell Mind The Equity Issue
Yahoo In The Know: Walks of Life
Public Health
American Century Investments and COFFEE Labs – #myACCnft
Critical Mass
CTZN Cosmetics – Code Red
Gradient Experiential
Gravy Analytics & Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering – Using Location Analytics to Model COVID-19 Transmission in Anytown, USA
Havas New York & Havas Germany
M·A·C VIVA GLAM Empowers Healthy Futures and Equal Rights for All
Racial Equality
Ally
Digitas & Ascend
Fabrik
Givebutter Gives Back: Black Philanthropy Month
Mailchimp – Bloom Season
thirteen lune
Social Justice
Ally
Bellwether Coffee’s Disruptive Living Income Pricing Model
Brooklyn Public Library
dentsu
Human Rights Watch – Gaza
theSkimm’s #ShowUsYourLeave Movement
Sustainability
Aveda
Eat Just, Inc.
Grove Collaborative, Camp + King
Paradigm Eyewear
Wongdoody
ZenWTR
Water
hai: the world’s most personalized, eco-friendly smart shower
McKinsey Global Publishing
Near Me Politics & Advocacy – PFAS Awareness
P&G x Vice Media Group – The Ripple Effect
ZenWTR
World Hunger
Contobox and Rogers Sports & Media – World Vision Canada
Corteva Agriscience
McKinsey Global Publishing