TERRACYCLE NEWS
ELIMINATING THE IDEA OF WASTE®
MOY 2019: David Bigioni begins on a high note
This week, strategy is rolling out our profiles of the 2019 Marketers of the Year. Be sure to check out all of this year’s honourees as the week rolls on, and see who the overall winner is when they are revealed at this year’s AToMiC Awards.
This story originally appeared in the January/February 2019 issue of Strategy.
As midnight rolled around on Oct. 17, 2018, David Bigioni was at a Tweed store in St. John’s, Nfld., watching one of Canada’s first-ever legal recreational cannabis sales take place.
“It was an amazing experience,” says the chief commercial officer of Tweed parent company Canopy Growth. “There was such a buzz just being there with the team representing the business and the journey it has been on to get here.”
For Bigioni, that journey began a little more than a year earlier.
He had been VP of sales at Molson Coors for roughly two years when he saw Bruce Linton, CEO of Canopy Growth, speak at a conference in June 2017. Bigioni – who had spent more than seven years in senior marketing roles before moving over to sales at the beer brand – had no intention to move into cannabis. However, seeing Linton talk got him thinking.
“You are creating an industry and marketplace,” Bigioni says. “This is a business that is Canadian and global, that’s recreational and medical, that’s disruptive to so many industries, with a mile-long innovation pipeline. There was just so much opportunity.”
Bigioni joined the licensed cannabis producer as chief marketing officer in August 2017, becoming chief commercial officer a year later as sales functions were added to his remit. At first, he oversaw a team of roughly 20 staff, between brand, events, digital and an in-house creative team. That team numbers almost 350 today.
Part of that growth is because sales and customer care staff now report into Bigioni. But it’s also the result of more than a year of “building capability and capacity” as Canopy Growth positions itself as a leader in the global cannabis industry, he says.
Working with primary agency partner Cossette, as well as digital shop Konrad Group and strategy consultancy Behaviour, Bigioni’s first major task was to grow Canopy Growth’s marketing capabilities and prepare its “hero brand” for a wider market.
“We wanted people asking for Tweed, not weed,” Bigioni says. “This isn’t a category that has traditionally been branded. It has been strain-led. So establishing brands is important to reframe the whole category and what it represents.”
Even in a category as young as recreational cannabis in Canada, branding trends began to emerge by mid-2018.
Most LPs – having built their names in the medical space – created new recreational brands, typically making a lifestyle-inspired one for potential new entrants and another for current enthusiasts. Canopy Growth instead stuck with Tweed as its single lead brand for the rec market, targeting new and experienced consumers alike.
To introduce itself to the masses, Tweed launched a campaign during the summer, with OOH postings and digital ads greeting Canadians with a friendly “Hi.” (shown above). The creative directed consumers to Tweed’s website, where they could find answers to FAQs ranging from the difference between THC and CBD to details about legalization. The campaign generated over 190 million impressions, with a 38% lift in brand awareness, a 95% month-over-month increase in site traffic and click-through rates 92% higher than the industry average.
“[Cannabis] is not an image or lifestyle play; that would be in beverage and alcohol,” says Bigioni. “What it is, though, is values and personality. The ‘Hi’ campaign is bringing out the personality and approachability and what the brand stands for in a tangible way.”
Growing seeds of a new weed brand
As one of the first brands in Canada’s legal weed industry, Tweed leans into that history as a company that took over a former Hershey factory in Smiths Falls – a small Ontario town that took a major economic hit when the chocolate company left. By using an approachable brand voice, the Tweed brand embraces “small town values” and having a positive impact on the community.
That approachable, community-focused identity comes through in its actions, too.
When it was still a medical brand, Tweed offered a discount to low-income families to make cannabis more accessible. Earlier this year, it launched the Tweed Collective and “The 4/20 Commitment,” a pledge of $20 million to community-focused causes over four years. And, as legalization got closer, it developed a campaign with Uber and MADD that gave people 101 things to do instead of driving while high. It also began working with private recycling company TerraCycle to develop a program letting consumers return plastic packaging back to Tweed stores.
“Little things like that aren’t about promoting or associating us with a lifestyle, but communicate our values by putting them into action,” Bigioni says. “Being purpose-built and belief-led is a framework I’ve used since I first joined Molson, and that’s what we have in Tweed.”
While Tweed is Canopy Growth’s hero brand, Bigioni’s purview also includes Spectrum for the international medical market and DNA Genetics targeting connoisseurs and those who care about growing practices and winning cannabis competitions. The day before legalization, it re-launched its Leafs By Snoop brand as LBS, with a premium positioning around being “the gold standard” in cannabis and a plan to embrace “diversity and inclusiveness” in its marketing.
Canopy Growth closed its acquisition of Tokyo Smoke parent company Hiku in September, but Bigioni says that brand has its own marketing group that operates “semi-independently,” collaborating and sharing best practices – likening it to the Six Pints craft beer division at Molson Coors.
With the rapid preparations for legalization complete, Bigioni says Canopy Growth is being more purposeful with its marketing investments. The company leaned heavily on partners like Cossette last year to build capacity. Now, Bigioni and his agencies are working to maintain an “entrepreneurial spirit” and ownership of the brand’s voice by finding a balance between in-housing and out-sourcing work. It’s currently building out digital marketing capabilities using Adobe Marketing Cloud, CRM and one-to-one marketing, and is also looking at content creation and event execution.
Bigioni began his career at Unilever, where, as a brand manager, he led innovation strategy, positioning and activations – and he’s looking to foster those skills in cannabis marketing. He admits that marketing training at Canopy Growth was done on an ad hoc basis leading up to legalization, but the plan is to invest in developing best practices as the brand navigates tight regulations.
“This is a business that is creative, and is doing in-house innovation and brand development and creating ecosystems and retail footprints,” Bigioni says. “As we bring in people from different businesses, we need to define ‘our way.’ What’s our philosophy around what extraordinary brands look like? How do we work with agency partners? And how do we define that process?”
Education is still going to be a part of Tweed’s brand, but so is building affinity. And one of the biggest opportunities to do that is through retail. The company is currently looking to open more Tweed stores in provinces where private sale is permitted, including one at its Smiths Falls facility (which is pictured above and is now selling chocolate in prep for the anticipated legalization of cannabis edibles, beverages and extracts in 2019).
“When you think of an industry where media channels are curtailed, having storefronts is already an important differentiator,” he says. “But we’re also trying to normalize a new category using a brand built around community… For us, [retail] also represents the opportunity to show our commitment to community by having a presence that demystifies us, gives us a place to answer questions and give back to the places where we do business.”
Gottschalk Music Center’s Free Restring/Recycling Event
Description: Local musicians are invited to attend a free recycle and restring event at Gottschalk Music Center Clovis, CA on Saturday, Jan 19, 2019 from 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM. Sponsored by D’Addario and TerraCycle, musicians can bring any old instrument strings for recycling and get their electric or acoustic guitars restrung with D’Addario NYXL or Nickel Bronze Acoustic strings. Old strings collected during the event will be recycled through Playback, D’Addario’s free, national recycling program.
Gottschalk Music Center’s Free Restring/Recycling Event Sponsored by D’Addario and TerraCycle in Clovis
GOTTSCHALK MUSIC CENTER’S FREE RESTRING/RECYCLING EVENT SPONSORED BY D’ADDARIO AND TERRACYCLE
Local musicians are invited to attend a free recycle and restring event at Gottschalk Music Center Clovis, CA on Saturday, Jan 19, 2019 from 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Sponsored by D’Addario and TerraCycle, musicians can bring any old instrument strings for recycling and get their electric or acoustic guitars restrung with D’Addario NYXL or Nickel Bronze Acoustic strings. Old strings collected during the event will be recycled through Playback, D’Addario’s free, national recycling program.Gottschalk Music Center’s Free Restring/Recycling Event
Local musicians are invited to attend a free recycle and restring event at Gottschalk Music Center in Clovis, CA on Saturday, Jan 19, 2019
About this Event
Sponsored by D’Addario and TerraCycle, musicians can bring any old instrument strings for recycling and get their electric or acoustic guitars restrung with D’Addario NYXL or Nickel Bronze Acoustic strings. Old strings collected during the event will be recycled through Playback, D’Addario’s free, national recycling program.
We need to bin disposable items for good. Here are 5 ways to do it
Single-use products and packaging are convenient and affordable - and causing a growing waste crisis. Scientists have been alarmed to discover plastic pieces in locations far removed from human populations, such as the Arctic and on remote islands. Earlier this year an entire plastic bag, completely intact, was found at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the ocean’s deepest point; a chilling example of plastic’s pervasiveness throughout the natural environment.
Manufacturers send products and packaging into the world that are not captured by even the most well-managed disposal systems of landfilling and incineration (let alone recycling), and these end up as litter. Making their way into marine environments, they never fully degrade, leeching chemicals, releasing greenhouse gases and breaking down into microplastics, which are mistaken by animals for food and thus penetrate the human food chain and water supplies.
It is today’s consumers, not producers, who currently bear the brunt of this waste. Developing economies are even more deeply awash in trash. That we might see more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050 is old news in light of the recent UN report that says we only have 12 years to steer ourselves away from climate catastrophe.
Plastic in and of itself isn’t the problem. Rather, it’s the fact that plastic items are actually designed to be disposable — used once, then thrown away. Every step away from durable, reusable materials such as glass and metal towards plastics and multi-compositional pouches and films - in other words, making packaging lighter and less expensive - effectively cuts the packaging’s recyclability in half.
Image: TerraCycle
This linear, take-make-dispose economic model has delivered profits, created jobs and met consumers’ desire for accessible, innovative and convenient products, all while bringing down costs for producers. But this is not sustainable.
Globalization offers hope for a change in the future of production and consumption by supporting economic growth through the transformative power of collaboration. But to move away from a disposable culture and towards a circular economy - one that favours reducing the amount of raw materials used in manufacturing, reusing materials and recovering resources - influencers must begin to integrate rather than stay in their current silos.
Companies looking to effect change and end society’s dependence on disposability must demonstrate clear benefits to consumers, businesses, governments and the environment. This will be a challenge at first. But changemakers can develop their own initiatives and deploy them across industries to future-proof against our growing waste problem.
Invest in recycling
Recycling is a reaction to the systemic issue of single-use items, overconsumption and disposability. But comprehensive recycling systems and manufacturer take-back programmes are essential to not only change how we value single-use items, but in recovering materials for new production and diverting them from landfill and litter.
Manufacturers who engage in voluntary producer responsibility through take-back programmes for consumers and pre-consumer operations can demonstrate value for their stakeholders. Supporting the market for secondary materials then incentivises governments and municipalities to better enforce recycling with more resources.
Stop producing, using and buying single-use items without reclamation systems
This one is simple, but tough. As consumers, this means watching out for plastic cutlery, toting reusable mugs to replace coffee cups, reducing online shopping (or only buying from companies that use reusable e-commerce packaging, such as RePack), and shopping for used goods. We can only buy what is available to us, so while it remains the responsibility of consumers to demand a move away from disposability, manufacturers, brands and governments must create new models for consumption.
Retailers such as restaurants and commodity stores must favour reusable goods, and the manufacturers who produce them must find new ways to deliver the value benefits of things such as disposable razors, diapers and feminine care while transferring to durable equivalents, so that consumers are willing to make the switch. This sort of value creation requires these markets supporting one another through collaboration.
Redesigning how products are made, distributed and owned to create value for manufacturers and consumers will help the shift towards a new way of thinking about product design and ownership.
Focus on product and packaging redesign as a growth strategy
Design for recyclability in the current infrastructure, and for reusability today and beyond. With the increasing popularity of premium foods and beverages packaged in glass and durable plastics, we see that consumers are willing to pay more for a product presented in high-quality packaging. A move towards more easily recycled packaging and, better yet, packaging that is reused over and over, is already underway.
Creating a durable or reusable container uses more energy and resources than creating a disposable (or single-use) container. However, over time the reusable container has a lower environmental and economic cost as it does not need to be remanufactured for every use; instead it only needs to be transported and cleaned, which levy much lower environmental and economic costs.
Innovate for the future of consumption by looking to the past
For most of the 20th century, distributors of consumable and perishable goods provided reusable containers that customers could empty and then leave on their doorsteps - such as glass milk bottles, for example. These containers flowed through a system in which the producer was responsible for them and owned them as an asset. This is in contrast to the present day, where consumers and governments are responsible for products and packaging upon possession, paying for their disposal through taxes.
In the service-based models of yore, producers offered not just delivery, but cleaning, storing and transporting their containers, which were durable and reusable. We already invite producers to our doorsteps through e-commerce delivery and subscription service models. What if consumables and durable goods came with the added value of cleaning and repair services?
Build a circular economy movement focused on abundance and prosperity
Replacing the single-use, one-way model requires a very clear demonstration of value that is comparable or exceeds that of disposable products and packaging, which are convenient, inexpensive and easy to use. Most of the innovation here lies in ensuring that reusable packaging concepts are easy to understand and accessible to those on average incomes.
Conservation and austerity are not concepts that businesses, NGOs, advocacy groups, academics and individuals take to with much effect. The movement away from disposability towards a circular economy needs to be irresistible, not just the ‘right thing to do’. Consumers and stakeholders will reward businesses that do this effectively.
Remember this contest - A. Lorne Cassidy Elementary School
Back in December, Stittsville Central asked everyone to vote for A. Lorne Cassidy in the TerraCycle, partnered with Staples, “Box that Rocks” contest. The school had submitted their environmental project using recycled markers. From entrants across Canada, the school was placed in 8th position as one of the top finalists.
The school found out about the contest as they already recycle through the TerraCycle program. They had registered in 2017 with TerraCycle because the company provides fundraising opportunities to schools across Canada.
Well, obviously a lot of Stittsville people voted and Thank You because A. Lorne Cassidy has won! First prize was a chance to win two outdoor garden beds and a picnic table made from 100% recycled plastic, as well as a $1,000 donation to any school or non-profit organization of choice, along with a $300 cheque for garden supplies. The school is going to donate the $1,000 to the Dunrobin Disaster Relief fund. A. Lorne Cassidy is named along with the 2 other schools who won second and third place as the winners.
Congratulations to all of the students and teachers who were involved in this project.
Thanks go to Mandy Hambly for sharing this follow-up information with us.
Stittville will be watching A. Lorne Cassidy for future winning environmental projects!
GPN Industry Insights: Waste management
Government Product News (GPN): How has your industry’s involvement with the public sector evolved over the past few years?
Tom Szaky (TS): Regulated waste is tied at the hip of the public sector and has been since the formation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). We’ve seen tremendous growth in recycling and the handling of difficult waste in recent years. Consumers are more aware of the impact their waste has on the environment and they are demanding their leaders do something about it. Ultimately, they want to know where their waste is going. Communities are turning to companies like ours to answer that.
GPN: What are some new innovations that have been integrated into your industry’s products recently?
TS: The biggest innovation in hazardous waste has been the growth in community efforts to divert the waste. The EPA does not require residential generators of hazardous waste to take any special steps to throw things out. In fact, only about 2-3 percent of households properly dispose of bulbs. A homeowner can just toss their burned-out bulbs in the general trash for pick-up, but cities and counties have begun to make an effort to divert these items from the landfill. People are learning to take a moment and consider where their trash ends up. When they find out that they can and should recycle, they do.
Where we see the biggest innovation is in the creation of municipal drop-off locations for household hazardous waste. Athens-Clarke County, Ga., for example, does a great job collecting these difficult to recycle products with a couple of locations. They’re looking to divert 75 percent of all their waste from the landfill by 2020. That is a big change that benefits their community environmentally.
GPN: What is the biggest misunderstanding/myth that you think public sector professionals may believe about doing business with your industry or using your industry’s products?
TS: I think that the biggest myth public officials have is that their constituents will not support expanded recycling programs. People generally want to take care of their environment, but they don’t know how to do it. They will make the effort to dispose of things properly if we educate them.
It is becoming more important to recycle the items that are hard to recycle now, with China blocking our plastic, paper and glass. People watch the news and hear that our trash has nowhere to go, but that isn’t necessarily true. We just need to get the word out that there are other options available.
GPN: What resources can elected officials use to educate themselves more on your industry and its importance to government operations?
TS: Obviously, I would recommend elected officials contact reputable recycling firms for information on programs offered in regulated waste and recycling complex waste streams. We understand that the problem with waste is that it is a cost that can often be irrecuperable. To help keep cost down for groups like cities and counties, we have created business relationships that can make waste and recycling cost-effective, if not free. They really need to research co-op programs that put the cost on someone else. It becomes very difficult to deny a program when it doesn’t cost you very much.
GPN: What should local government professionals consider most when buying and/or using products within your industry?
TS: I think that government professionals should take a good look at the downstream service providers when making a decision. All to often, decisions in the public sector are made solely on cost. We pride ourselves on having a strong network of service providers that are ethical in their business and compliant in their service. You see stories all the time of illegal dumping or recycling scams. What good is saving money on one side of the operation, when you lose consumer confidence on the other? There were just a couple of examples of this in the news. The two big hardware chains were fined by the EPA for improperly disposing of fluorescent bulbs. They had offered recycling programs for customers and were not actually recycling the bulbs, they were just tossing the bulbs in the trash compactor.
GPN: What future developments can governments expect to see from this industry?
TS: The future of hazardous waste is in the continuing tightening of the loop. Bringing the circle in and getting industries on board with creating a waste solution, not just the waste. In regulated waste, we’re going to see fluorescent lamp waste slowly decrease. It will take time, as the LEDs become more popular and cheaper, the fluorescents will fade away. But, at the same time, the next wave of regulated waste might be solar panels. The technology there is just about 20 or 30 years old, and we’re going to start to see the early photovoltaic panels come in for disposal.
Tom Szaky is the CEO of TerraCycle, which he founded in 2001 while a student at Princeton University. TerraCycle is a waste management company whose regulated waste division provides products and services to facilitate the effective and compliant management of regulated, universal and hazardous waste.
Campanha recicla material escolar
A cada início de ano letivo, materiais escolares são descartados e trocados por novos por milhões de estudantes de todo país. São incontáveis canetas, borrachas, lápis e apontadores que vão para aterros sanitários e lixões. Na contramão do desperdício, entretanto, a campanha Faxina nos Armários busca que consumidores, instituições e empresas doem esses objetos para reciclagem.
Become Good at Giving Bad News: Business and Leadership Advice with Sean Grundy of Bevi
“You can’t escape disappointing people in this role, but you need to learn to do it as thoughtfully as possible.”
I had the pleasure of interviewing Sean Grundy, CEO of Bevi, a high-growth beverage technology company that has raised $28M in venture capital. Bevi makes smart water coolers that provide sparkling and flavored water on demand. Prior to founding the business, Sean worked in water conservation at an environmental non-profit organization in the US and China. He studied at Princeton University and MIT.