World Z rhymes with Sustainability

Happy Friday 

Thanks, Frank; it sounds like your visit to the mothership was a blast. 

I remember my first visit to Mountain View representing the Yellow Pages at a Premier Partner Summit, the same week Donald Trump was elected. To kick things off, Google welcomed a Harvard professor on stage to present her work for Project Implicit, a non-profit organization aimed at educating hidden biases one could have, for example, against women.  

Courageous choice of keynote after such a pivotal moment for America. That day, I decided to join Google one day. 

Now that I have, I decided to create my own Google Marketing Live in Montreal for a watch party with Montreal-based brands from various industries and present topics that don't naturally come to mind for big tech; like Sustainability.

We opened the day to discover all things Gen Z, sharing 9 truths about our Zoomers and the importance of meeting them where they are and understanding their language. Let's say that these  will never mean or be used in the same way for many of the participants'   .

Followed by discussions about something so dear to the iGeneration: sustainability. For it, we invited Masse Critique [the first ever collective to address the environmental impact of the marketing and communications industry in Quebec] and Adjunct Professor Sylvain Amoros from HEC Montreal to talk about our impact on our marketing efforts, and we'll see as the 50 shades of green that the web presents.

Sustainability is a critical discussion to have, even at Google and be part of. Fast Fashion is having a hard time solving it. Business of Fashion dedicated an entire section to help retail and beauty leaders think about it. But it's definitely

- not a cost-cutting exercise but a value-creation exercise 

- not as easy as it sounds to solve and brings forward the tension between actions and intentions for people and corporations

- nor just a campaign; if the communication budget is higher than the value created, one could wonder if efforts are put at the right place. 

I loved organizing the event, seeing all the innovations to build brands and the conversations around Zoomers and sustainability.Let's make it a yearly event.

See you next week