Cause HairⓇ and Body Care

As many of our fans know, we're passionate about making great, organically-based beauty care products and using our profits to make a real difference.  In fact, we devote up to 50% of our profits to environmental restoration and protection. 

As we close our first full year making and selling product, we can now make another big announcement - our first charitable partnership.  We excited to share the news that we'll be working with SF Baykeeper as our primary Cause® brand partner in environmental protection and restoration. 

There are some great non-profit organizations that help to protect the SF Bay, but what we LOVE about SF Baykeeper is that they take on the toughest and steepest challenges in fighting to keep the bay clean.

Since 1989, Baykeeper has advocated for the health of San Francisco Bay. We use science and clean water laws to improve habitats and communities reliant on a thriving Bay ecosystem. Baykeeper.org

#Socent # Organic

Wanted to send a quick update to our fans and new consumers.  We very much appreciate the interest generated of late in our products and our mission, and look forward to serving you with great products and great impact in the future.  We're trying to keep up with demand from our Amazon listings as we speak!  Thank you.

Stop for a second and think about the products you buy and use all the time.  Where is it from?  Where was it made?  How is it packaged?  How are the ingredients sourced?

You can go down a long road of questioning, but you don't need to go far to get a sense of what's behind the brand you're using.  If it's like most packaged consumer products, you're probably not able to answer many of these questions.  If that's true, and you don't know much about your brand other than the advertising campaigns and flashy packaging you see, consider making a change.

It's not good enough to have nice packaging and beautifully produced advertising.  These are elements that develop the perception of a brand, and most of the time, these brands are only a bundle of perceptions.  It's not unlike watching a movie and seeing well-produced special effects.  

They're not reality, but you know that right?

So please give some thought to your everyday items and brands, and see where it takes you.  Practice mindful consumption.

These days, there are many more choices for brands to buy, so you're in luck if you want to make a change.  And that's why we're here - we're designed to make a difference.  We make great, organically-based shampoos, conditioners, and lotions, and we donate 50% of profits to environmental restoration and protection.  We source responsibly, and our brand's vision is to take action for the planet.

It's been an eventful month after completing our crowdfunding/presale campaign.  While we came up a little short of our $5,000 goal, I'm really happy for all the support we received and all the interest from people new to the brand. 

We're busy at work getting Cause products out to the masses.   First, we're working on setting up our Amazon accounts so we can start selling and getting fulfilled by Amazon.  We've got a week or so to go before getting this completed.   Second, we're working to apply to several local SF area farmer's markets to start selling in person.

We're really excited to move on to the next stage, and look forward to your help in growing our brand. 

Happy Monday to our followers and donors!

We had an incredible week with our pre-sale / crowd funding campaign, moving past the 50% mark.  It's clear that a lot of you share our values.  You should expect so much more from your everyday products.

The other great news?  All your product has shipped ahead of schedule!  For those who donated last week, you'll be getting product Tuesday or Wednesday.   

Thank you for your support, and please let us know your feedback on the product! 

Our pre-sale ends August 15.

Everything is connected.   What we consume and how we consume affects our health and the planet's health.   Whether it's the food we eat or the shampoo we use, we’re all realizing the importance of responsible and thoughtful consumption.

  We started Cause(™) Hair and Body Care because we saw something missing in the marketplace for personal care products, like shampoos, conditioners, lotions, etc.  We created a brand that offers high quality, organically-based products, because we believe that the quality of products we use in our hair and on our skin should be no different than the organic foods we buy at our favorite grocery stores.  And frankly, we think it’s an outrage that so many personal care products still contain suspicious chemicals.

  But we didn’t stop just at producing great products to clean and condition your hair and moisturize your skin.   In our view, it’s not enough just to make great products.  That’s why we’ve centered our company around an authentic mission to help the environment.  For every bottle we sell, 50% of its profits will be earmarked to support environmental conservation and protection.  

  As you may know, many brands use cause marketing as merely a tactic to grow sales, and if you read the fine print, you'll see that these campaigns are of limited duration, donation, and overall impact. We are different from those brands, as we’re not using a charity to help us support profits; we’re using our profits to help support charities.  

  Of course, we know there is much more we can do to promote and exercise sustainability in an authentic, mission-focused way, but the biggest commitment we can make is to focus half of our proceeds towards protecting the planet.  This is merely our first step.

  We are excited to announce that our products are now available for ordering.   We’re starting with a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo, and we have several products available as campaign perks.

There are many ways a brand can make an impact on society, and entire stakeholder ecosystems benefit from the success of a brand.   If you take a closer look at the current state of cause marketing approaches by big brands, it becomes clear that brands have a huge unlocked potential to do good and win the hearts and minds of consumers at the same time.

In even the most mundane categories, like dish soap or detergent or trash bags, there exist brands that sell over $1 billion dollars per year.   If you look at the financial statements from the most prominent big consumer packaged goods companies, you’ll see that advertising, as a percentage of sales, is in the range of 5% to 13% (1).   So for a hypothetical big $1 billion dollar brand, this is potentially $50 million to $130 million dollars in marketing expenditures.  

These days, one of the core tools a brand can use to build its equity is to champion a great cause, donate a certain portion of profits to this cause, and benefit from the goodwill generated.  In 2014, it’s expected that cause sponsorships will generate $1.84 B, growing slightly from 2013 (2).  On the surface, cause marketing is a great, win-win for brands and for charitable organizations.   Charities win, as they have more revenues to support their missions.   Companies win, as consumers are excited, and more willing to purchase from a brand that supports a cause they are passionate about.  In fact, 91% of consumers are willing to switch brands of comparable quality and price if that brand supports a good cause (3).

Unfortunately, some consumers are convinced by the mere presence of a cause campaign.   In fact, many brands are only donating the bare minimum needed to convince consumers of their degree of charitability.   In some cases, consumers find out, and brands pay the price for a lack of transparency.  For example, the NFL received a lot of criticism when its accounting of breast cancer awareness merchandise revealed that only 11.25% of sales are donated to the American Cancer Society.  

In another example, though without public outcry, one well known soap brand says that it stands for helping the environment.  Though this perception is core to the brand’s success, it caps its donations at $1 million over an unspecified time period.  $1 million is nothing to sneeze at, but when you compare it to the total brand’s budget, it’s miniscule.  If a hypothetical brand sells $1 billion, and its cause marketing is capped at $1 million, it’s obvious that there’s an opportunity for this brand to more seriously make a difference.

There are many more examples which deserve critical review, but a common theme already exists.  To most brands, cause marketing is a tactic used to increase sales, and the impact made is a side benefit, not the goal.  This situation is problematic because brands can easily buy their way into improving public perceptions without authentically striving for an impact.  A few dollars to charity x, a nice logo on the package, and, like magic, your brand is now a global benefactor.  

There’s good news here, because the current state of cause marketing also presents a tremendous opportunity.  Brands have the potential to do so much good in the world by virtue of their large scale.  Imagine if your favorite brand removed a donation cap on its cause marketing and actually stood to make a difference?

It’s for this reason that we started Cause Hair and Body Care™.   We want to provide consumers with the best in organically-based shampoos, conditioners, and lotions, but we want to use our market power for good.  We are guided by the phrase “Healthy hair.  Healthy body. Healthy planet.” as it’s our ethos to provide great products that are good for you and the environment, in addition to using our business as a source for good.  This is why we’ve designed our business to have a 50% profit donation model from the outset.  For every dollar we bring in, half of it will go to environmental restoration and protection efforts in the San Francisco Bay estuary.   It’s clear that brands can and should strive to make a difference beyond dollar donations, and though we’re starting initially by having a profit donation model, our vision for good extends beyond our income statement.

(1) Analysis of 10-K Reports

(2) IEG Sponsorship Report via Cause Marketing Forum

Concerned consumers are now waking up to the reality of the chemicals  used to produce their clothing, food, and personal care products.   We've always known that there was some mystery in those hard to pronounce ingredients on the back of consumer good packaging.    Scientists now have ample evidence that many of the basic products we buy and consume everyday contain chemicals that could be bad for us and the environment.

So why are these chemicals there in the first place?   Products are manufactured with consumers as well as cost in mind.  To get the longest shelf life, or the best skin feel, the shiniest dish ware, or the best fragrance, really bright scientists from the biggest consumer companies have engineered chemicals to make the products we buy satisfy consumers and increase profitability.  In recent years, however, outside scientists have become critical of many chemicals in the products we consume, and in many cases, these same scientists are urging outright bans on certain substances.

Ok, so then why aren't these companies making proactive changes to their suspicious formulations.  Two words: formulation inertia.  First, changing formulations is really expensive and time consuming, and these projects are unlikely to have a positive return on investment.   Formulation changes are seen as a risk mitigation tactic, with minimal upside potential.  And these changes are especially difficult if the change negatively impacts product performance.  Brands are largely focused on growth, not risk mitigation, and expensive projects with questionable payouts don't get funded.

Many executives lack the leadership capabilities to stomach making these types of decisions, as they don't pay out in the same way, say, green lighting a highly interesting new product development project.  It's no surprise - nobody gets promoted because of their vast experience in risk avoidance.   Unfortunately, most brands are unlikely to act on formulation changes without external pressures from governments or consumers.  This pressure can be government applied and mandated, as in the case of phosphate removal from dish detergents (story here).  It's more likely, however, that brands will be influenced by large scale consumer pressures.  

For a great, live example, look at the iconic Johnson & Johnson brand baby shampoo.   Over the last few years, consumers and scientists have become concerned that their formulations could be hazardous (story here).    The brand took a long time to implement change, but perhaps now is seeing consumer perceptions and perhaps commercial results change due to the negative publicity. 

Another formulation inertia example in action concerns the mighty microbead.  The word is out now that these small pieces of plastic get through our drains and into our lakes, streams, and oceans.  They're not an unsightly disturbance, like a plastic bag floating in your favorite lake, but insidiously absorb other pollutants, and then enter the food chain. (Store here). 

There are many more examples, but the point is clear.   You deserve the best and healthiest products out there.  

So, what can you, the concerned consumer, do about impacting formulation inertia?   My advice is to buy from authentically concerned brands who are transparent in their formulations and responsive to your needs.    If you really must have XYZ brand product, but you don't like what's on the label, call the brand's consumer affairs group, or mount a social media campaign for change.

It's a rainy weekend here in the SF Bay, but as many of you know, we need that rain here in California!   Here are some links of importance from this week and beyond. 

Big consumer packaged goods companies commit to sustainable palm oil.  Colgate and General Mills have made a public commitment to avoid use of palm oil from cleared tropical forests.  Great news, but we need more leadership from big brands and their sourcing groups.  Link via Yale Environment 360.  

Ocean ecosystems - a sad example of the tragedy of the commons.  Our oceans are in terrible danger, and much action is needed.   Like climate change, protection of our oceans needs to be one of the hallmark issues we strive to solve.   Link via theeconomist

An economic tipping point for renewables?  Citigroup has said that "the Age of Renewables" has begun.   Link here via @HLovins

Citi says the big decision makers within the US power industry are focused on securing low cost power, fuel diversity and stable cash flows, and this is drawing them increasingly to the “economics” of solar and wind, and how they compare with other technologies.

The House wants to kill the Antiquities Act.  It's clear that the legacy of TR, the second most important Republican president (after Lincoln), is of no  importance to today's GOP.  Via sierra club​.  

A QUICK UPDATE ON OUR LAUNCH.  We're gearing up for our launch!  Labels are almost finished, and our site's getting some great new content.   Meanwhile, here are some interesting articles on sustainability and more. www.causeconsumer.com 

HIDDEN DANGERS OF COSMETIC FORMULATIONS.  Cosmetic use exposes women to over 100 additional chemicals per day, and some of these have questionable safety profiles.   "Ultimately, consumer pressure will convince companies to do the right thing by eliminating toxic chemicals and transparently listing all their ingredients."  Link here via @GuardianSustBiz. 

FAMOUS PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY EXPLAINS ENVIRONMENTAL IGNORANCE.  Remember the marshmallow study?   If you don't recall it, researchers tested the ability for kids to delay gratification by letting them obtain 1 marshmallow immediately, or 2 if they waited.   It turns out that this study also explains why some fishing communities continue to practice unsustainable fishing, even while they fish stocks these communities depend on shrink.   Link here via theatlantic.

ARE WE ON THE VERGE OF HEALTHY AND SUSTAINABLE CONVENIENCE FOOD?  Consumers demand it, and companies are (1) starting to listen to consumers and (2) emerging from this huge demand.  Link here via @TriplePundit writer Bill Roth @earth2017. 

CAN TOMS SHOES TRANSLATE ITS 'ONE FOR ONE' BRAND STRATEGY INTO OTHER CATEGORIES?  Toms Shoes, known for the casual canvas shoes which are now ubiquitous, is taking another step in extending its brand.   Several months ago, Toms launched its marketplace initiative, highlighting brands  and products that focus on providing good products from companies making a social impact.   Toms is now entering the coffee category, which doesn't seem to be an immediate adjacency for the brand, but as Bloomberg BusinessWeek points out, the supply chain has a clear fit.  Link here.  

ANIMAL WELFARE AND ANTITRUST CONTINGENCIES RALLY AGAINST AMERICA'S MEAT INDUSTRY.  The Humane Society is hoping to accomplish these goals:  "Less cruelty. More husbandry. Fewer animals. More farmers to care for them."  But will the meat industry allow these transformations?   The answer is - probably not - but it will happen anyway with increase consumer awareness of what they put on their plates.  Link here via @GuardianSustBiz.

FOCUS ON PROVIDING VALUE AND YOU'LL FIND SUCCESS.  Sounds  a lot like servant leadership. Via bigthink  

It's been a few weeks since we last posted, as we've been busy trying out some new equipment and formulations for some potential new products.  A lot of you know we're gearing up for a launch very soon.  Please stay tuned!

Here are some great stories from the world of sustainability, environment, and socent:

The Sustainable Consumer Revolution is Coming.  This is something we've long believed, and has proven true each year as more and more consumers reject the status quo of unsustainable brands and consumption habits.   And this is largely why we are here as a brand.   Great essay from Patagonia's Yvon Chouinard in Orion Magazine.

We can use our power as consumers—and as citizens—to change society for the good instead of destroying our home planet.

San Francisco Bay's Weird Saltscapes.  You may have noticed these on Google Earth or flying over to land in SFO.   Much of the lower part of the SF Bay Estuary has been used for industrial salt production for years.  The good news is that we can work to reclaim the bay from this unsustainable practice over time.  Link here from @SafeSFBay.

Photo via Flickr Creative Commons user Tom Hiton.

100th Plastic Bag Ban Passed in California.  San Leandro joins Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Richmond, Oakland and Long Beach in banning plastic bags.   Link here via @Ecowatch.  

Timber Thieves Targeting California's Redwoods.  What an outrage.  Link here from @NYT Dot Earth.

The Public Health Costs of Tar Sands.  Like we needed more reasons to object to this project.   Link here via Compass. 

Many corporate CSR and cause marketing campaigns are just… MARKETING.   Thankfully, many consumers are catching on, and realizing that simply putting a ribbon of some color on their advertisement or box just isn't enough.   And frankly, this is one core reason why we started Cause Hair and Body Care - we wanted to buy products that authentically make a difference, and there just aren't many out there.   http://goo.gl/2EsnS4  Via @DonnaCBoehme. 

Microbeads are plastic, and they're horrible for the health of our waters.  Kudos to New York State for proposing a ban on microbeads.  Let's hope it becomes enacted and enforced.  http://goo.gl/dCq0ZP

Coal power plant chemical spills reveal a water crisis.   How many more rivers and towns need to be spoiled until we decide to act?  http://goo.gl/vkhN9a

Speaking of coal, mountain top mining is just appalling.  This "efficient" way of extracting coal is also efficient at destroying our landscapes.  http://goo.gl/NAwi8T

Millennial values bring hope for values based businesses.  US Millennials believe the #1 purpose of business is to improve society, as do many from around the globe (36% overall, ahead of profit at 35%).  From the 2013 Deloitte Millennial Innovation Survey (full results here http://goo.gl/0Hbjmt).  Via my favorite leadership author, Bill George @Bill_George

These 3 startups are offering solutions to food wastage.  Really simple and innovative ideas like these look to make a difference in the spoilage and wastage of so much food.   http://goo.gl/tgskbD

Spring in the Bay Area is almost here.   I spotted the first poppies of the season here in Walnut Creek.   Photo via Flickr Creative Commons photographer mikebaird.

Happy "big game" weekend.   Here's some important stories this week in sustainability, environment, and social entrepreneurship.

22 Cosmetic Companies Skirting CA Safe Cosmetics Law, Citing "Trade Secrets"  Some of these companies may have a legitimate claim to keeping trade secrets if they don't have patented formulas, but this seems more like legal departments seeking a loophole than trade secret protection. Story via ecowatchorg

Controlling Chemicals of Concern.  Whether by government enforcement or industry self-enforcement, brands and companies have a big opportunity stand at the forefront of healthy chemistry.   Those brands that linger in the shadows may be, rightfully or wrongfully, implicated for using questionable chemicals.   Information is power, and we consumers have a right to know what we're exposed to and whether or not it's a threat to our well being.  Story via greenbiz

The Annual Migration of Monarch Butterflies is Under Threat.  Much of the monarch's critical milkweed is being eradicated as farms expand and as farms continue use of Round Up.  Concerned citizens are encouraged to plant milkweed in geographies where the plant is endemic.  Via davidsuzuki  

(Photo via Flickr Creative Commons user mikebaird)

Will California's New Water Crisis Bring Water Desalination Innovation?  It's an area of advanced science which has yet to find a low cost, scalable technology.    Let's hope our current water crisis can help bring about advances in this area.  Opportunity is knocking.  Via @GuardianSustBiz

Better For You Brands Stealing Share Established Players.  Great case studies in the soda and beer industries about how small brands have upset the applecart.   I think we're seeing a tipping point in the options we have as consumers, and better for you brands with higher quality products have a great chance at disrupting many different consumer markets.    

Hey!  It’s Greg from Cause, and I have some more great links to share in this week’s column.

What can consumers do about the California drought?  It’s pretty  serious now, and we’re looking to see a dry and fire-filled summer.  We know that big agriculture uses a tremendous amount of California’s water, and there’s little that consumers can do to change this in the near term.  So what can consumers do to start conserving water?  There are some really great tips here.  Some are common sense and relatively painless.   Install water efficient appliances and fixtures.  Take shorter showers.   Reduce the amount of flushable water in your toilet cistern.  And rethink that grass lawn for those who live in desert areas!  

More Bay Area Towns Seeking to Ban Plastic Bags. A few towns in Sonoma County, CA are reviewing ban bills.   There’s been quite a tipping point in the Bay Area and 2014 looks like the year where we may finally accomplish a plastic bag ban.

The Harsh Realities of Chemical Safety Legislation.  Chemicals like those that have inundated the water table of the Elk River area in West Virginia are largely untested for human safety.  And unfortunately, our legislators are at odds with the best way to proceed with a sensible chemical safety policy.   More here from the NRDC.

Lululemon Continues It’s Fall From Grace.  I am having a hard time believing that a brand that had such a strong following could have such a precipitous fall from grace.   This article from Business Insider points to the following failures: quality control, competition, marketing disasters, inexperience, and lack of preparation.  The consumer comes first, no matter what, in my opinion, and I think they could have weathered competition and scaling issues if they had a more intense focus on their shoppers.  Instead, they let bad product proliferate and demeaned women who didn’t fit their body-type mold.  Their inauthenticity broke through, and it’s going to be really hard to get consumers back.    

Joycott Helps Raise Awareness of Socially Minded Small Businesses.  Creating awareness is a heady task for large and small businesses alike.   Joycott seeks to be the opposite of a boycott - a celebration of great small businesses that are looking to make a difference.   

Happy New Year.  Wishing all our fans the best in 2014.  Here are a few stories on sustainability, social entrepreneurship, and environmental innovation.

Wanted: Truly Innovative Sustainable Business Models - This was one of the top stories from the guardian sustainability desk, and though from September, brings to light some fundamental business questions about sustainability.  

"...the majority of innovations we see involve changes in companies' processes and/or products, not underlying business models."

This point below is really important.   We're going well incrementally, but there are many product and services ripe for revolutionary innovation that helps everyone. 

"Incremental process and product innovations have certainly brought us cleaner, more efficient, more socially conscious products and services but as the report points out, "for the most part they've failed to grow beyond a premium-priced or green-lifestyle niche". The vast majority of consumers and companies remain unwilling to pay a premium for such advances. Alternatively, many novel or even radical new process or product innovations have fallen short of their potential because they were unable to compete within the constraints of an existing or traditional business model."

Save the Bay Innovates in Shoreline Protection - We've all seen the  "adopt a highway" signs, a program which lets organizations sponsor and shepherd a section of highway roadside, removing litter, planting flowers, removing graffiti, and trimming vegetation.   Now, Save the (SF) Bay is allowing organizations to do something similar with sections of the San Francisco Bay shoreline.  Great idea to help fund protection and get individuals involved with restoration efforts.

Walmart has announced that it’s going to drive out 10 suspect chemicals from household goods.   The largest retailer in the world follows in the footsteps of Target, who has also made a well publicized move to change the chemicals in our everyday products.   In related news, the FDA is calling into review common antibacterial soaps for fear of long term safety issues (endocrine disruption and bacterial resistance).

And though we see more and more news of questionable chemicals in our consumables, we’re not seeing leadership from the companies that make them.  In fact, both Target and Walmart’s initiatives will be done in relativesecret, with the public unable to know which chemicals and brands are at fault. 

Here’s a look at some of our favorite and impactful tweets and articles from the past week.    Have a safe and sustainable holiday everyone!

Retailers and Regulators Driving the Safe Chemicals Movement - not Manufacturers  - Walmart has announced that it's going to drive out 10 nasty chemicals from household goods.   The largest retailer in the world follows in the footsteps of Target, who has also made a well publicized move to change the chemicals in our everyday products.   In related news, the FDA is calling into review common antibacterial soaps for fear of long term safety issues (endocrine disruption and bacterial resistance).

And though we see more and more news of questionable chemicals in our consumables, we're not seeing leadership from the companies that make them.  In fact, both Target and Walmart's initiatives will be done in relative secret, with the public unable to know which chemicals and brands are at fault. 

It's easy to understand the reasons why this will be done in secret.  Retailers and manufacturers don't want to expose themselves to any liability.  Additionally, changing formulations is not easy and takes a lot of time and resources.   That said, this is a clear indication of the lack of leadership coming from many brands, and a key reason why our company was started in the first place. 

Microbeads Threatening the Great Lakes -  These beads are becoming vehicles for all kinds of nasty pollutants, all the way from the small fish to the big fish, and to us.   We've got to create awareness of products with these chemicals, stop using them, and ask brands to stop using them as well. 

Is modern consumerism a metastasis on the planet?  Very thought provoking piece by Pamela Haag at BigThink.  

"The vast majority of the garbage and pollution has one cause: our newfound unwillingness or inability to eat and drink in one place, more or less designated as a place to eat or drink—a restaurant, dining room, kitchen, or café."

I think she's partially right - the vast majority of garbage and pollution that we can see is from our unwillingness to consume at home.  There's obviously a lot more we cannot see, but her statement is still nonetheless important and directionally accurate.  And I don't know if it's an unwillingness to consume at home, but rather, a willingness to look the other way when we are consuming away from home.   Regardless, we all can do a lot better at reducing, reusing, and recycling.   We should also push all our municipalities to adopt composting if they haven't already. 

Quote of the Week - 

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." - Leonardo Da Vinci

This quote was tweeted by Doug Conant, Chariman of Avon Corp and the Kellogg Executive Leadership Institute.  

This quote spoke to us because it reflects our business and mission.   We're not designing a complex new gadget.  We want to take the everyday things you buy and consume and improve the positive impact (profit donation to environmental restoration and protection) and reduce negative impact (responsible ingredient sourcing).

Why Wetlands Matter - They matter to us for food and water, and matter to many plant and animal species. They're the most biologically diverse and sensitive ecosystems on the planet.   Let's make sure they're well protected! 

NRDC also posted some great tweets about wetland importance this week.  These are two of our favorites: 

"Wetlands are responsible for more ecosystem service per unit area than oceans or land." Joy Zedler @UWArboretum pic.twitter.com/lweZGcPM3K

How will our policies use the precautionary principle, and assume connections will exist? @EPAwater @DucksUnlimited pic.twitter.com/fYeTtqunGx