Innovate Within Social Sustainability

I'm so not excited to see myself in those massive screens. I saw that this morning, I thought there's nothing more frightening than a 50-foot tall Lisa Hogg. So thank you so much for joining us today. We want to talk about standing for tomorrow. And I'm not going to talk a lot about the other space, but I want to talk about the facts of our essential need to innovate within social sustainability. So it's cluttered out there. From brands who really do want to make a change and who are as authentic of a space as we are, like Patagonia. If some of you don't know, they're busy suing Donald Trump at the moment for the legislation he wants to change around public lands. They've been born in environmental activism. They totally belong there. And between what you'll see is there are a couple of others where they want to make a change as well. The question I have is the indelible difference in here will be whether it is innate to their brand and to their business. Now, we throw our arms open wide to the increase in business with purpose or business for good. But, you know, and well, based on the theory that we believe, that a group of concerned citizens can change the world. But what we do want to kind of impress is if we're going to take this commercial gravitas to make systemic change in issue areas, we've got some advice. It takes time. It takes perseverance. And it takes unwavering commitment. And also, it probably takes a little bit of a hit on your bottom line. So as we, you know, and I'll be blunt. I am capernicked the fuck out at this point. I'm going to take a little bit of time and time from this conference and from other conferences I've been to. Because it's powerful. It's meaningful. It's topical. But what would make the difference for me is, you know, is there other investments in the nonprofits that are actually on the ground, that are doing the dirty work on a day-to-day basis? So if you want to be in purpose, are you actually putting your money where your mouth is or, as was referenced earlier today, where your heart is to really, really make a change out there? This is going much better than my friend Tina's experience in the CCR earlier. So what I never make the assumption on when I present for TOMS is that everybody in the room knows who we are. So, for those of you who do know, bear with me for a second. I just want to take the whole room through it. So we're a 12-year-old brand. We started in 2006. full focus on using business to do good, and it started with shoes. To date, we have given over 86 million pairs of shoes to children in need throughout the world, with obviously the help of our consumers that buy into the brand. In 2011, it was expanded into eyewear, both sunglasses and opticals, and the purpose of that was to restore sight. This happened through working with organizations that have clinics in rural areas that focus on either cataract surgery or actually providing prescription glasses. Cataract surgery takes about 15 minutes and can fully restore someone's sight. Probably takes less time than you take to choose your next pair of sunglasses, which should be Tom's, by the way, if you didn't get the subtle hint. Then in 2014, we did the natural progression into coffee, which you've all enjoyed today, and hopefully we can count all the cups of coffee we've given, and give you a heads up on how many days or weeks of water that has covered. At this point, I didn't mention, with EyeSight, we've restored over 600,000 people's sights, and with water, we've been able to give over 500,000 weeks of water. This is amazing, and I and all my colleagues are super proud of the brand that we work for, but we're not unique anymore. We don't have the success. We don't have the unique place that we had in the beginning. The reason I have this little graphic on the screen is because when we started, it was a unique story. We gave shoes, we sold shoes, we made impact, and no one else had that. The growth was exponential. The word of mouth was amazing. We didn't even need marketing, which would suck for me because that's my job. But things have changed, so we're like, what do we do now? But we have to remember, the people that we rely on to create the impact are our consumers. Without them, we can't do anything that we do because we're simply the bridge. We're the bridge from their money going to the people who need it. So what we've decided, well, what we've been busy with is actually starting to obsess about our consumer. And where we've landed is a consumer called the everyday respectful. And this consumer crosses over millennials. It's not a demographic. They are incredibly conscious and compassionate. But the thing that we've seen time and time again is the fact that consumers feel paralyzed. The world is going to hell in a handbasket at the moment. And people forget that it's kind of simple kindnesses or simple acts. There's a quote that we use in the office that I referenced a little bit earlier. It was just that never doubt that a group of concerned citizens, can change the world because in fact, it's the only thing that ever has. So trying to find ways of what are these guys care for, guys and girls, what are they? I'm South African, I say guys for everybody. So what do they care about? What is really concerning them? And how can we as a brand create that platform for them to engage in? I think as an example brand, anyone out there as a brand who wants to make a difference, how you can engage these people in issue areas that either matter to you as a brand or really matter to them, and then give them a platform to engage in it. So we've spent a lot of time thinking about this because the other truth is, they don't care so much about putting shoes on other kids feet far away. It's not to say that they don't care and they mean, it's far away. 86 million is an intangible number on a day to day basis. So where do things really have to shift? The other part, um, in case you think I'm challenged, I know I'm in Amsterdam. I just prefer this graphic. So the other thing that's really important is local. People are far more engaged with what's happening in their backyard than what's happening far away. We're all much more conscious of what's happening in our local communities or our local governments. There's more energy around using your vote. Even in places like here, if I explain to my American friends and colleagues how easy it is to vote in Amsterdam, it's kind of shocking for them. We almost spoon-fed our votes, really. We've just got to do the effort to decide who to vote on. So the local issues are really important. So you can understand with our traditional gifts, which we will always be committed to, we'll never go away from those, but how those don't necessarily fulfill on this point alone. So we've spent time with our German, French, and UK friends to try and understand what are those issues that are really bubbling up. Because as much as we want to be consistent, anyone who's worked across EMEA knows that we have a lot of nuances to take into consideration. Um, that we want to show up globally consistent. But if we want to talk about local matters, and as much as there are some, um, are some overarching ideas, and issue areas that they care about, it still kind of ladders up in a different way. Um, I think we know this is true if you just, you know, if we had to tell a joke of a German, a Frenchman, and an Englishman walks into a bar. We know that there's plenty of material around there to kind of, um, tell a story. What we've seen with Germans, for example, is that they really care about dignity. They really believe in the fact that nobody should be left behind. And they have a really strong commitment that a better me makes a better community. So then, how do we, how do we address that? Um, then from a UK point of view, it's about fairness. Um, one other interesting thing that we, um, found out is obviously we can't be as earnest with the English as we can be with the Germans. Um, so even tonality of how are we kind of landing those stories is important. But in the UK, they believe that the public and the private sector should empower the youth. Um, not to spoon feed, but just elevate and, um, and give them access to the things that they need to be more autonomous. And in France, I wish I spoke French because when they say solidarity, it sounds so much better than when we say it. But they believe in solidarity, the rights and the commitment to rise up with each other in solidarity against something that they care about. We also found out though, that in general, the French kind of strain more to what's called outsourced solidarity. Being in the fact that they don't necessarily initiate it, but they will absolutely participate in it. But then as I say that, what we've learned in a very short space of time, um, in looking for special people in France is that there's a groundswell of young activists who I think are going to completely challenge the status quo in France around multiple, um, issue areas. So, issue areas. So, you know, what's that? If we have to make decisions around where we're going to create these other project investments. So if we have shoes, sites and water, and then we start looking at kind of areas of local impact, how do we make those decisions? Um, so we, we spend some time looking at kind of this group. Um, these are predominant markets with the, um, exception of the Netherlands. That's not on there that we focus on in, um, EMEA at the moment. And where we landed, on big overarching topics of economic empowerment and education. Now it can, you know, for some of you it might feel like, well, but there's, where are refugees? Where's this? Where's that? Those all can ladder up into, um, education, economic empowerment. And the reason why these came up was, um, because economic empowerment, the youth have a fear of stagnation of self. They're concerned about having access to things that can make them autonomous and powerful. Um, they have a urge to be spontaneous, but they also, um, spend time on goal setting and planning. And without economic empowerment, it feels kind of, this is a limitation. This is going to hold me back. And then from an education point of view, specifically in France, it used to be seen as an equalizer. And it's not anymore. It is an elitist, um, kind of area where only certain privileged people get, um, access to certain levels of education. So how can we restore that kind of education being an equalizer again? But then outside of the standard education points, there's the fact that they're also looking for life skills and mentoring. Um, so how do you, how do you connect with them there in order to empower them? And then there's choice. Because the, the younger consumer base that we really want to engage with is, um, very engaged with the idea of they, they get to decide. As a brand, we shouldn't be making all the decisions for them. Um, obviously this creates an incredibly complex dynamic for us as a brand on the fact that, um, if any of you understand supply chain, the supply chain part of our giving program is incredibly difficult because we give in very different spaces. And we also, even more importantly, need to, um, prove our impact because people call bullshit on us all the time. So we need to figure out exactly how we can prove exa- where we're making the impact, why, and is it really making a difference? Um, which, you know, is kind of, can really frustrate me because, um, if you go back to my first slide, a lot of those brands asked, aren't asked, are you really making a difference? Um, so what we've trialed in the US, just as a very simple example, we have more retail stores in the US than we do in EMEA. Um, and we did a choose your country, specifically around the shoe give. And we gave, um, each customer, um, a, the choice of making the decision that correlated with their purchase. Um, and gave them a number of countries to choose from where we give. And it, not surprisingly, based on the insights that we have, they, the highest percentage actually chose to give in the US, in their local markets. Um, which was really interesting for us to validate. Um, and for those of you who don't know, we do give in the US, actually. Um, there are a lot of kids in the US that need help. Um, which would have been way more interesting to say now, um, I mean, before than it is now. I think we all know that. Um, so the choice aspect, um, becomes very, very important in how we represent the needs of our, or the needs and desires of our consumers who actually fund the impact. So what we've started looking at is some project investments. And I'm going to go through an example that we actually launched last week, just to show you, um, a little bit of kind of where we're tracking and, um, what our intention is. So we looked through the lens of economic empowerment, um, and realized that there really is, across EMEA, an issue with homelessness. Um, we've had interesting conversations with nonprofits in Germany who've said it's actually quite hard to track homelessness now, because of, um, smartphones. Because most people do have, um, homeless people do have smartphones, and they actually are not on the streets anymore, so it's actually harder to ascertain, um, how big the issue is. Um, and we see it in the UK, um, and, um, we're still spending time on kind of figuring out what it looks like in other markets. So we decided to focus on homelessness. Once we have the issue area, we then find what we call, um, not a new term, but what we use as a tool. So we use it as the change maker. What influential person is out there actually making a difference in that space? So I'm sure you can't see him super clearly here, but I'm sure some of you have come across, um, a gentleman by the name of Joshua Coombs. Joshua is a very, very special man. Um, we absolutely love Joshua at Tom's. Joshua's a hair stylist, and for years now, he's been cutting the hair of homeless people in the streets, and listening to their stories, believing that time that is, which is a commodity that he has, is something that he can use in order to restore some dignity to a person who really is overlooked by most people on the street. Joshua has a, um, platform, which is the, the logo in the middle, called Do Something for Nothing, which really does talk to us and our commitment in the fact that small acts of kindness, um, cumulatively can make a really big difference. So he will help us tell that story, because as we, we hear often enough, it's not about the brand. It's about the issue, and it's about the impact that we're trying to achieve. And so we'll work with him in order to raise the awareness around this issue. But then what we will do, the one-two punch of it all, is in order to retain our legitimacy in the impact space, we will then make contributions to a nonprofit that is active in that specific space as well. So that whole red thread of that issue area, and the impact we're trying to achieve, is there. Um, Centerpoint, for those of you who don't know, is a UK-based organization that focuses on youth homelessness in the UK. And it is far more prevalent and a lot more devastating than you think. From a point of issues like economic empowerment, from an education point of view, there are actually so many kids out there that are illiterate. So they spend time on housing, on care, on counseling, on helping others. Helping them be able to get into the workforce, and ultimately become autonomous individuals again. So what I'm going to show you next is the 30-second clip that we did of Joshua, with our friends Harry and Steele, who are in the house. And we're really proud of this work. And so far, we've actually seen quite a good reaction. Tom's has very small marketing budgets. And I had a conversation with a friend of mine, just kind of probably half an hour ago. And it would be great to have an example of brands that are trying to make a difference on a dime. And we are. We're really trying to tell the story. And it's the first time we've actually had some kind of more substantial media investments. And I use the phrase more lightly. And what we've done there as well is we're working with an organization, well, a company called Goodloop. Goodloop is a media company. Like any other media buying company out there. But they're a one-for-one, just like we are. So part of the media investments, if a consumer watches past 15 seconds of the 30-second ad, it unlocks a give. And we've pre-decided which three organizations, again, going back to our issue area, are going to be highlighted and who they can contribute their give to from our media spend. So it's really going full circle and making sure that every touchpoint we have has purpose. If you don't know Goodloop, check them out. It's an amazing team. And the results we've seen through going from the actually completed views is 85% so far. And I'd throw that down in front of anyone. That's a pretty staggering result, especially in the context that we are inundated with content right now. So without further ado, one of my favorite men in the world, Joshua. In any big city, you pass by hundreds of people each day and still feel completely isolated. I first took to the streets with my scissors three years ago. I cut hair for men and women who were homeless. I've spent time listening and learning about the person in front of me and their story. I believe that each and every one of us is hardwired for human connection. And a haircut is a great way to experience this and to make someone feel more dignified in the process. So, thanks Tina. Sorry, it's one of my besties in the front. Plus my whole team. So that's a piece of work we're really proud of. And it's a little snippet of the space that we're going to head into. So besides always supporting shoe sites and water, and I keep on saying that, because I don't want anyone to think we'll move away from our authenticity and where we were originally. We'll start doing these project investments. So you'll see issue areas that matter in different markets being raised, partnered with change makers and partnered with nonprofits. And then I just need to, I just forgot something. Did I give you a piece of paper with my phone? Yeah. Sorry. Thank you. So... Oops. Sorry. Before I close, I just wanted to say I hope you've all enjoyed having coffee. I think everyone's going to probably switch to wine soon. But just remember that as you've enjoyed your cup of coffee, that cup of coffee has provided some clean water to communities in need. If you haven't done the VR experience, I know it's not always has someone manned there, but check it out. We have Astoria from Peru and Astoria from Colombia, where we have shoe programs. So you can go have a look there. And then next to the one coffee stand, we have a little fact wall about some of the facts of things that matter to us. And then I've got on a piece of paper because I don't think I'm officially allowed to put it on the screen. So just food for thought in kind of where the manifesto of where we want to go as a brand and where we want you to go with us. It's funny because all brands tend to have a manifesto. And I guess now officially Tom's is no exception. So I'm just going to put the clicker down for some reason. It makes me feel awkward. Before coffee provided safe water and before sunglasses restored sight, before even the first pair of shoes connected a guy in Los Angeles to a kid in Argentina, there was a belief in tomorrow, a belief that everyone has the ability to create change. And so many years and 88 million acts of impact later, we believe it more than ever. But to create the kind of change the world needs now, it takes more than a belief that's been tested. It takes action on a scale that hasn't. So we're calling on our community of change makers, the artists and the activists, dreamers and doers, students and service people from London to Liberia to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to take a stand with us. We stand for opportunity for everyone. We stand for equality and justice. We stand for our environment. We stand for active citizenship. We stand for tomorrow. And we hope you'll stand with us. Thank you.