The Brand Activism Podcast Christian Budtz

Suvi Reinikkala, Marketing Director, led the global launch of Koskenkorva Vodka 'Climate Action' - the World's first vodka made entirely with regeneratively farmed barley. Suvi shares the fascinating story of how a small Finnish village is fighting the climate crisis by making vodka. 


Host: Christian Budtz


Short cuts: 
04:15  The cultural connection between Finland and vodka
06:00  The story of Koskenkorva Vodka
12:00  The 'Drink Sustainably' brand platform 
17:30  Unpacking the impact of regenerative farming 
21:30  How to make sustainability entertaining
24:30  From brand idea to real business transformation
30:45  Tracking impact
33:00  The path to commercial sustainability
36:00  The future role for marketing, innovation and brands 

Lauren Bartley, Sustainability and CSR Director at the Danish B Corp fashion brand GANNI, shares her insights into how being scrappy can make a smaller brand punch above its weight in the quest to change a global industry for the better. Lauren also discusses transparency, circularity and the power of fashion to change culture. 

Host: Christian Budtz  

Short cuts:  
02:25  Lauren's journey in fashion 
08:30  The state of the fashion industry 
15:00  How GANNI is working with circularity
18:30  The dialogue with the GANNI community 
24:00  Lauren's take on sustainable consumption 
27:30  GANNI's new strategy
30:00  From carbon off-setting to carbon in-setting
35:00  GANNI's opportunity as a smaller player
40:45  Why Lauren feels optimistic working in fashion 

Johan Pihl, Co-founder of Doconomy, shares the inspiring story behind the Swedish climate tech, which was named one of The World's Most Innovative Companies of 2022 by Fast Company. Johan talks about creativity, the deep urge to change the world and why testing ideas that aren't allowed is critical to tackle the climate crisis. 


Host: Christian Budtz



Short cuts:
02:30  Johan's view on creativity, advertising and innovation
06:45  The story of how Doconomy started 
12:00  Johan explains the award-winning tool "The 2030 Calculator" 
17:25  The big idea behind the DO Black project with MasterCard 
22:00  How Doconomy is making sense of data 
31:00  Johan's philosophy on radical innovation 
39:00  Advice for advertising creatives

Mark Curtis, co-founder of design agency Fjord, now Head of Innovation and Thought Leadership at Accenture Song, explains why brands must design better human experiences to enable the real behaviour change needed to combat the environmental crisis. 
Host: Christian Budtz


Short-cuts:
03:00 The story of why Mark co-founded Fjord /
08:40 The three catalysts for innovation /
12:30 Designing sustainable experiences / 
18:20 Circularity as a business model / 
24:30 Mark's key take-aways from COP26 and The World Economic Forum /
30:40 Rethinking the concept of growth / 

Thomas Lingard, Global Sustainability Director at Unilever, provides a unique insight into how global companies can drive positive change. Thomas also talks about the power of brands, repairing capitalism, and the need for big hairy audacious goals in messy transformations.
Host: Christian Budtz


Short cuts:
05:00 Unilever's Sustainable Living Plan / 
10:00 How Dove & Hellmann's put purpose at the core / 
13:00 Thomas' learnings from working with sustainability /
17:00 Unilever's new sustainability strategy /
23:00 The role of global brands in driving change / 
32:00 Repairing capitalism /
36:00 How to think about sustainable growth / 
40:00 Thomas sharing his experience from the COP26 / 
45:00 How to drive a change agenda within large organizations /

Jasmin Hume, CEO & Founder at food tech startup Shiru, is on a mission to change our global food system. Working at the intersection of tech, science, biology and creativity, Jasmin shares her fascinating vision of how we can fight the environmental crisis by redesigning foods.
Host: Christian Budtz


Short-cuts: 
3:00 Jasmin's journey into food tech / 
6:00 The idea behind Jasmin's startup, Shiru / 
10:00 What's wrong with our food system today / 
15:00 Jasmin talks about climate change / 
17:30 Why ingredients are so important / 
21:00 How Shiru's technology is different / 
25:00 Creating a step change for large food companies / 
27:00 The importance of brand building / 
30:30 The power of purpose / 
34:30 How to find the right investors / 
41:00 Barriers facing food tech /
43:30 Jasmin's advice for entrepreneurs /