The mission of these summits is to bring big brands and leading social impact organizations together to share how they are supporting communities as part of running their businesses. 

“Several of our advisory board members have been encouraging us to put a stake in the ground around Cause Marketing,” said Brandon Gutman, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Brand Innovators. “They feel it’s extremely important to showcase how brands are significantly supporting social impact organizations while also generating significant business results in the process. We agreed with them that by having brands share best practices with their peers, it will not only provide necessary proof points and tips for others to follow but they can also discover opportunities for collaboration.”

“We want these summits to bring purpose-driven brands together to not only learn and share with each other but to ultimately partner together as much as possible,” added Gutman. “By doing so, the impact on helping causes and communities on a global level will be incredible.”

Brand Innovators Cause Marketing Summit hosted by Starbucks and Starbucks Foundation

The first Cause Marketing summit kicked off on National Day of Giving on December 3 at The Starbucks Reserve in the Empire State Building in New York City.

“Each event will be hosted by a Fortune 500 brand in conjunction with their foundation and/or select charitable partner,” said Marc Sternberg, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Brand Innovators. “Thanks to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, Starbucks and the Starbucks Foundation hosted our premier Cause Marketing Summit at the Starbucks Reserve in the Empire State Building on National Day of Giving. We are super grateful to Sara Trilling, Executive Vice President and President of Starbucks North America, for participating and kicking off what was an epic day. The program featured large brand side marketers, like Unilever and the NFL, as well as celebrities. In addition to doing more with Starbucks and the Starbucks Foundation, we’re excited for other leading brands to host our quarterly Cause Marketing Summits across the country.”

Sway Calloway and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels were two of the celebrities who spoke on the program.

“The world opens up for brands when they get a deeper understanding that most human beings care about something beyond themselves, not ‘causes’ in a generic sense, THEIR cause and THEIR issue at a deeply personal level,” said Ed Martin, Senior Advisor, Visionary Private Equity Group and Co-Founder, 100billionmeals.org. “Meeting people in the places where they already spend significant attention, time, energy, heart, money and focus can open up profound opportunities to drive profitable growth for brands while helping to elevate causes that benefit everyone. Partnering and co-creating with people and communities of purpose and impact can be a force multiplier for every marketing dollar spent. The Brand Innovators Cause Marketing Summit is the world’s leading event for the Art and Science of Omniwin Co Creation – Win for Business and Win for a world that is scalable and sustainable. I’ve been creating ‘Omniwins’ for nearly four decades across many of the world’s leading platforms in corporate to UN to Nobel to WEF to so many others, but Brand Innovators is positioned to be the best I’ve ever seen to showcase brands doing good while doing well.”

Tim Ellis, EVP and Chief Marketing Officer, National Football League, spoke at the December event and highlighted the NFL’s My Cause My Cleats program, in which players identify causes they care about and champion. “We believe that it is important for us to identify the most needed resources and the areas of our country that require extra support, extra help,” said Ellis on the stage.

Mele Melero, Chief Growth Officer, Dove Masterbrand & Personal Care, Unilever, spoke about the Dove Real Beauty platform and how the brand is working to help keep girls in sports.

“Our mission is to make sure that beauty is a positive experience universally to all women and girls and we know through research that 70% of women dropped from sports, but we all acknowledge that staying in sports help girls to feel better and to feel more confident,” said Melero at the event.

Wendy Thomas, franchisee and face of the brand at Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers, spoke about the QSR’s cause The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption at the inaugural event.Thomas said that the brand is selling a Wendy’s Frosty Key Tag for $3 to support the non-profit. “We really are solving an issue in our country,” said Thomas. “These foster kids, they don’t deserve to be there. They don’t need to age out. They need our help.”

Gutman and Sternberg are proud to partner with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and delighted to work closely with BBBSA’s President & CEO, Artis Stevens, and Chief Marketing Officer, Adam Vasallo.  And, according to Vasallo, the sentiment is mutual. 

“At Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, we believe in the power of connection and we know Brand Innovators’ track record for convening innovative brand marketing leaders and fostering connections is unmatched,” said Vasallo.  It’s an honor for BBBSA to team up with Brand Innovators to launch their first-ever Cause Marketing Summit as a marketing industry platform that facilitates connections between leaders with shared values, amplifies the power of purpose-driven partnerships and creates a ripple effect of social impact. Thank you to our incredible partners at The Starbucks Foundation, Macy’s, the NFL, Clear Channel Outdoor, Ulta and BBBSA Game Changer Sway Calloway for joining BBBSA on stage to showcase how we’re teaming up to transform lives and communities through the power of youth mentorship. We are thrilled to continue our work with Brand Innovators on future Cause Marketing Summits in 2025.” 

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