1
Societal marketing at the heart of sustainable development goals
Carel Haffar
Department of marketing, LAU
MKT 201; Introduction to Marketing
Dr. Hossein Eslami
March 24th, 2022
2
At the heart of the United Nations 2030 Agenda are 17 Sustainable Development Goals
created as a call for urgent climate actions and ecological communities to improve future
societies welfare. As the world is fighting for a better future, sustainability is becoming
increasingly important across all industries and companies worldwide.
In present time, the new generation Z is progressively concerned about social and
environmental challenges which mirrors their purchasing selections. As revealed in a study
by Deloitte (2021), 45% of Gen Z participants refuse to buy from particular companies due to
ethical and sustainability issues. Accordingly, as the standards on businesses accountability
rise, companies are adopting sustainable strategic approaches as a mean to build durable
relationships with customers, create and capture value for the company. In fact, 62% of
CEO’s believe that a sustainability plan is vital to remain competitive amongst other brands
and another 22% feel it will be in the future (Haanaes, 2016).
In 2009, a couple living in Hawaii developed the Hydro Flask, which is now a first in the
industry, a range of designs made from “food grade 18/8 stainless steel, durable, BPA-free,
sweat-proof, freeze proof, 100% recyclable and backed by a lifetime warranty”
(Akkaraju,2019). The company’s groundbreaking design keeps drinks cold for up to 24 hours
and hot beverages warm up for 6 hours. Furthermore, through advertising campaigns, Hydro
Flask® raised awareness on the harm caused by plastic use, stressing the fact that single use
plastic bottles are the third most common ocean debris item thereby encouraged the public to
shift to reusable water bottles and avoid plastic disposable straws.
Additionally, Hydro Flask® vision isn’t solely focused on presenting innovative technology
to satisfy their customers, however, it also works hand in hand with Parks for All program.
The company’s own charity organization is dedicated to create, preserve and allow fair
access to parks. Thus far, it has donated over 2.5 million dollars in assistance of parks as a
way to highlight the current and historical discrimination faced by racial minorities, the
3
LGBTQ, disabled people, and other disadvantaged groups. Furthermore, Hydroflask partners
with the Sulfrider foundation in its effort to protect the world’s ocean and eliminate plastic
pollution. To date, it has collected more than 7600 pounds of debris from multiple beaches
(Surfrider, 2022).
The brand has been particularly popular among “VSCO girls”, young girls who embody an
environmentally aware mindset. This trend shook by force all social media platforms in 2019,
resulting in a nearly 10% increase in Hydro Flask sales, which totaled 418.1 million dollars.
On another hand, in the 2006 Lebanese conflict, the only green glass producing factory in
Lebanon was entirely demolished. Ever since today, nearly 71 Million green and amber
containers wind up in dumpsters or unauthorized sites. In 2013, The Green Glass Recycling
Initiative (GGRIL) was launched, seeking to remove as many green and amber bottles from
dumps or forests, where they pose a serious fire threat. Furthermore, they offer a wide range
of products from tableware to cups, vases, candles and lamps. After the Beirut blast, more
than 5000 tons of window panels glass were shattered. To minimize the amount of glass from
ending up in loaded landfills, they teamed with glass packaging firms in Tripoli, providing
them with clean glass and eventually designing a new product line, dedicated to Beirut.
Furthermore, they operate a street recycling bin project, which allows individuals to have
their waste collected for recycling. The goods created as part of this project are resold to
actively fund the street recycling bin initiatives. Lastly, they established a “Helping Hand
Project” to provide Lebanese farmers and producers who already struggle due to the
country’s economic and political meltdown, with recycled blown glass packaging for them to
package their produces like oils, jams and other products (Green Glass Recycling Initiative
Lebanon (GGRIL) –2022).
In the effort to save and protect our planet from irreversible damage, people and big
manufacturing companies must unite and take immediate action for the sake of humanity.
4
References
THE 17 GOALS | Sustainable Development. (2022). United Nations Department of
economic and social affair. https://sdgs.un.org/goals.
Sustainability & Consumer Behavior (2021). Deloitte United Kingdom.
https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/consumer-business/articles/sustainableconsumer.html
Haannaes, K. (2016). Why all businesses should embrace sustainability. International
institute for management development IMD.
http://www.imd.org/research-knowledge/articles/why-all-businesses-should-embracesustainability/
Akkaraju, M. (2019). Travis Rosbach speaks about Hydro Flask at Berkeley Forum event.
The Daily Californian. https://www.dailycal.org/2019/09/26/travis-rosbach-speaksabout-hydro-flask-at-berkeley-forum-event/
Bouteilles isothermes en acier inoxydable (2022). Hydro Flask. https://www.hydroflask.com/fr-fr/
Hydro flask and partners look to stop lukewarm at summer outdoor retailer (2022). Business
Journal. https://www.outsidebusinessjournal.com/press-releases/hydro-flask-andpartners-look-to-stop-lukewarm-at-summer-outdoor-retailer/
Amador, M. (2019). VSCO girls and the effects of stereotypes on teenagers. The Dispatch.
https://thedispatchonline.net/10116/commentary/vsco-girls-and-the-effects-ofstereotypes-on-teenagers/
Diverting glass from landfills while saving the jobs of Lebanon's last glassblower (2022).
Green Glass Recycling Initiative Lebanon (GGRIL). https://ggril.org/categories.php