Sustainable Brands Gathers Global Brand Innovation Leaders at SB'18 Vancouver

San Francisco, June 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sustainable Brands® kicks off its largest community gathering today with Sustainable Brands '18 Vancouver at the Vancouver Convention Centre West in Vancouver, British Columbia. Over 2,000 business executives along with their teams from 33+ countries are attending the conference and Activation Hub.

SB'18 Vancouver launches year two of a three-year global initiative to Redefine, Redesign and Deliver ?The Good Life'. This year's conference constitutes the largest assembly of brand leaders, sustainability practitioners and design innovators gathering for a collective conversation about how brands can Redesign their product and service offerings to drive positive social and environmental value. This pivotal leadership gathering complements the conversations happening globally because of World Environment Day on June 5th, World Oceans Day on June 8th and the G7 Summit in Quebec on June 8th.

Over 300 thought-leaders and brand icons will share cutting-edge tools, frameworks, case studies and business practices at SB'18 Vancouver. Program highlights and companies launching news from the conference include:

• Dimitar Vlahov, Director of Content Development at Sustainable Brands, and Kevin Hagen, VP Environment, Social & Governance (ESG) Strategy at Iron Mountain introduce the SB Brand Transformation Roadmap, a first of its kind, it is specifically designed for mainstream brands and businesses who are navigating their journey towards more sustainable business practices.
• Kaj Török, CRO & CSO at Max Burgers, launches a new climate-positive initiative from the mainstage at Vancouver, showing that businesses can make money by being good for the world.  
• Marc Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer at Procter & Gamble, reveals new insight into how P&G is working to leverage their brands to enable responsible and sustainable consumption practices amongst their consumer base.
• Miguel Naranjo, Associate Programme Officer ? Relationship Management at the UN Climate Change Secretariat, Yalmaz Siddiqui, Vice President, Corporate Sustainability at MGM Resorts International, Paul Salinger, Strategic and Creative Communications/Sustainability Champion at Oracle, and Mariela Mcllwraith, Director, Industry Advancement at Events Industry Council lead a deep-dive session on Redesigning Event Management for Sustainability.
• Sustainable Brands and Leger release new data on Canadian attitudes towards The Good Life, aspirations that will drive brand innovation and new product/service offerings.
• Mark Lee, Executive Director at SustainAbility, Chris Coulter, Co-CEO at Globescan and David Grayson, Professor at Cranfield School of Management launch their new book All In: The Future of Business Leadership, on the mainstage on Tuesday morning. The book presents an indispensable playbook for businesses that recognize how long-term commercial success is contingent upon embracing a more holistic and sustainable approach to business.
• John Izzo, Bestselling Author at Izzo Associates, shares his new book The Purpose Revolution from the mainstage. Izzo will discuss how leaders can create engagement and competitive advantage in an age of social good
• Simon Mainwaring, CEO at We First Branding, launches a new training platform -- We First Works -- to empower individuals and their companies to define their purpose, grow their business, and scale their impact.
• Makersite, SBIO Co-Sponsor, releases a new application at SB'18 Vancouver that allows the properties of products from different manufacturers to be compared quickly and easily.
• Braskem, host of the Good Materials & Packaging pavilion, announces the launch of the new Scotts® Turf Builder® with Root-Trientstm product packaging that utilizes Braskem's I'm greentm polyethylene (PE) biopolymer.
• Savers|Value Village, co-sponsor of the Opening Night reception and a sponsor in the Good Fashion pavilion, launches its third annual State of Reuse Report on Thursday, June 5th. Findings from this year's report reveal an opportunity for consumers to embrace the full cycle of reuse.

The Activation Hub at SB'18 Vancouver

The Activation Hub is the focal point for networking, collaboration and co-creation at SB'18 Vancouver. In the Activation Hub, attendees can meet solution-providers from various market sectors, participate in facilitated discussions around sector-level challenges, and hear from inspiring brand leaders from the Activation Hub stage. Activation Hub highlights include:

• A ?Good Growth' pavilion, hosted by P&G and featuring American Forests, World Scouts, CarrotNewYork, The Embedding Project and Makersite discusses navigating the delicate balance of a growing brand and responsible consumerism. P&G will be discussing their Ambition 2030 goals and, through their augmented-reality "innovation box", showcase how their products are sustainable.
• Nick Bailey, VP, Innovation and Products at Salesforce.org, provides a sneak peak of the organization's Philanthropy Cloud, a platform for companies to manage their philanthropic efforts.
• A ?Good Food' pavilion, featuring Nestlé, Clif Bar, U.S. Farmer & Ranchers Alliance and others explores changing food systems and innovative products and services for the food industry. Clif Bar hosts three hikes of The Great Trail with Ultra runner and Clif Ambassador, Ellie Greenwood. Nestlé celebrates 10 years of honey bee conservation efforts through a virtual reality experience and free ice cream samples at their booth.
• BASF, lead sponsor and Opening Night Reception host, will share their sustainable palm oil commitment from the Activation Hub stage on Tuesday, June 5^th.
• The Sustainable Brands Innovation Open (SBIO) pitch competition takes place on Tuesday, June 5^th, featuring 11 publicly-chosen semifinalists. Judges include Christina Nicholson, Director of Sustainable Innovation at Gap Inc., Christoph Wilfer, Co-founder and CEO of Makersite, and Alaina Johnson, Corporate Responsibility Lead at Target.
• A ?Good Cities' pavilion, hosted by PwC and featuring Vancouver Economic Commission and intengine, collaborates on ways to make cities healthier places despite their continued growth.
• Unifi, Inc. brings their Repreve truck to the Activation Hub, which showcases how peat gets turned into recycled materials and gives attendees the chance to win upcycled clothes. They will be kicking off dialogue on reducing plastic waste and recycling it into everyday products during World Environment Day.

The Activation Hub is open Monday, June 4^th through Thursday, June 7^th. Community Passes are available for those who wish to be part of this immersive, educational experience. Registration is available onsite or in advance at SB18Vancouver.com/registration.

This global gathering of prominent business leaders is led by Lead Sponsor BASF, Principal Sponsor Salesforce.org, and Premier, Sponsors Clif Bar, P&G, SC Johnson, Nestlé, Braskem, Living Elements and PwC. Unifi, Inc., LG, Starbucks, TD Bank, Target, Smarter Sorting, EY, Telus, Radisson Hotel Group, The Nature Conservancy, U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance, Vinyl Sustainability Business Council (VSBC), Cone Communications, Diversey, Driscoll's, Shaw Industries Group, 559 Labs, ECOR, Leger, Elevator Strategies, SoulBuffalo Expeditions, and Boothster are Major Sponsors. Sustainable Brands partners include Nice & Serious as a Global Creative Partner, Upworthy, Good Media Group and Innovation & Tech Today as Major Media Partners, and ASU Walton as Premier Affiliate Partner. Strategic partners include Vancouver Economic Commission, The Erb Institute, Events Industry Council, Retail Council of Canada (RCC) and Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA).

For a complete list of sponsors, partners and speakers, please visit the conference website at www.SB18Vancouver.com. Leadership and Executive Passes for full conference programming or Community Passes for complete access to the Activation Hub can be purchased onsite at Vancouver Convention Centre West.

About Sustainable Brands
Sustainable Brands^® is the premier global community of brand innovators who are shaping the future of commerce worldwide. Since 2006, our mission has been to inspire, engage and equip today's business and brand leaders to prosper for the near and long term by leading the way to a better future. Digitally published news articles and issues-focused conversation topics, internationally known conferences and regional events, a robust e-learning library and peer-to-peer membership groups all facilitate community learning and engagement throughout the year. Sustainable Brands is a division of Sustainable Life Media headquartered in San Francisco, CA.

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