In today’s volatile, competitive economy, just making a profit in the short term is all-consuming. Who would be audacious enough to also ask their marketing to “change the world”? The answer is Stonyfield Farm’s President and CE-Yo, Gary Hirshberg.

After presenting LSB Brandworks University 2008 participants with a litany of environmental disasters either here now or predicted soon, Hirshberg surprised his audience by declaring himself an optimist on the environment and a believer in the power of business to reverse past wrongs.

“Humans can make the decision to fix these things if we set our minds to it,” he said. “There are incredible trends impacting our brands, our companies and our consumers. The myth is that we can go on ignoring them. But behind every one of them is an opportunity.

“Only business can make this difference,” Hirshberg proclaimed. “Business is the most powerful force in the world. I don’t know what tomorrow may hold, but I know who holds tomorrow.”

“The best brands are truly the most authentic ones,” he said. “Brands that really set out to be solutions to environmental problems, water problems, energy problems, climate problems are going to have an inherent competitive advantage, especially in a world where oil is heading for $200 a barrel.”
Truly authentic brands will wind up on top as the links between the economy and our health become more obvious, he promised.

“As you embrace green practices – as you will – you have to understand that talking about it isn’t going to cut it because others are going to be talking about it. It has to be a 360-degree commitment,” he said. “Not just solving one problem by creating another. We have to allow ourselves some time to get this figured out, just not too much time.”

But doing right doesn’t have to come at the expense of doing well, Hirshberg insisted. “When we green our companies, the savings falls to the bottom line.”

For example, when Stonyfield Farm outgrew the local waste treatment plant, the company saved millions of dollars by installing a waste treatment plant that will produce energy, not consume it.

“We know the carbon footprint of shipping yogurt to San Diego,” he said. “It’s on a chart that fills the wall of a large room. We think of it as a roadmap that we can mine for profit.” Stonyfield Farms has ten employee teams looking at every aspect of the company and asking where to save money by cutting waste.

“This is not a branding strategy; this is a corporate strategy,” Hirschberg said. “But by being authentic, you create a powerful connection to your consumer.”

“Our customer goes to the store not to buy yogurt, but to buy Stonyfield. That loyalty comes about as the result of an emotional connection they have with us. We’re connected with hope.” The brand earns that loyalty not only through a superior product, but also by actions consistent with the brand, Hirshberg explained. “We give ten percent of profits to environmental causes. We support family farmers.”

“The environment is not what sells my product. The taste is what sells my product,” Hirshberg said. “But the idea that the consumer is checking her values in the parking lot is ridiculous.”

“I don’t believe green is the alternative anymore; green is what we have to do, because many things that used to make no (financial) sense at all, like solar, wind and geothermal energy, now are the only things that make sense compared to oil, coal and nuclear energy.”

Started in 1983 with only seven cows, Stonyfield Farm’s line of organic yogurts are now the world’s largest organic yogurt brand with $300 million in sales. Hirshberg has won numerous awards for corporate and environmental leadership, including Global Green USA’s “1999 Green Cross Millennium Award for Corporate Environmental Leadership.” He was named “Business Leader of the Year” by Business NH Magazine and “New Hampshire’s 1998 Small Business Person of the Year” by the U.S. Small Business Administration. He is the author of recently published “Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the World.”