On November 22nd, 2021, NY NOW kicked off its three-part social impact series titled “Balancing People, Planet, and Profit” with a webinar titled “Developing Social Impact-Driven Brand Stories.” The webinar was hosted by NY NOW’s Senior Producer, Dondrill Glover, and featured presenter Elizabeth (Liz) Ngonzi, Founder and CEO of The International Social Impact Institute® (ISII). The series is designed to help individuals and organizations create a balance across people, planet, and profit, with the first session aimed at developing social-impact driven brands.
During the webinar, Liz Ngonzi stressed the importance of an organization’s brand, emphasizing that it’s the primary driver of consumer purchasing decisions. She shared statistics from PwC indicating that the majority of consumers prioritize purchasing from trustworthy, environmentally and socially responsible brands. Liz Ngonzi went on to explain the importance of an organization’s ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) story for consumers, highlighting socially and environmentally responsible retailers, labor practices of suppliers, environmental impact of production and delivery, and retailer’s diversity and inclusion practices as some of the most important factors.
Liz Ngonzi showcased six companies from different industries and geographic locations that have successfully balanced people, planet, and profit, and have strong brands that reflect their commitment to these values. She also emphasized the importance of long-term results and investing in the communities where an organization operates, as well as taking care of employees and understanding an organization’s environmental impact.
Liz Ngonzi concluded the webinar by introducing GivingTuesday as a way for organizations to integrate their values into their brand, and previewed the upcoming sessions in the series, which will focus on integrating generosity into social impact-driven brand stories, and activating social-impact driven consumers online.