Formulating today for a sustainable tomorrow… Mid-Year Meeting focuses on industry response to environmental concerns. Chris Cathcart elaborated on changes being implemented in retail arenas and institutions all over the U.S. “For some of our industrial and institutional members, it’s sustainable procurement by hospitals, hotels and the next phase of LEED certification. For consumer products companies, it’s regulation by retailers,” he said. Cathcart also noted that the association is engaging with July 2014 SPRAY 85 retail organizations and pointed to the meeting’s nearly 50 speakers from a diverse group of retail, corporate, government and trade associations as testimony to the success of those efforts. “We have a reputation for nontraditional partnerships; it’s true for everything we do. We are an honest broker and we convey that to people on either side of the debate,” he said. According to Cathcart, the CSPA must stay in front of the issues, including sustainability, ingredient disclosure and waste disposal. “Now we are in the direct chain of commerce,” explained Cathcart. “We all want a wellinformed consumer.” General Session attendees were also enlightened by the keynote address from Trish Wheaton, Chief Marketing Officer of digital marketing firm Wunderman. She shared results of her organization’s soon-to-be released marketing research on consumers she called “Generation World.” Bona fide sustainability initiatives will be critical in building credibility with these socially conscious consumers who challenge traditional marketing stereotypes, Wheaton said. “They are ageless, borderless and digitized, and they have high expectations of brands to solve both social and environmental challenges,” she explained. Companies are operating in a time of the socially conscious consumer and, as a result, sustainability has become mainstream, she said. Much of this interest in sustainability is being driven by “Millennials”—young consumers who have high expectations of brands to solve social and environmental challenges. “Eighty-three percent of Millennials believe that they’ll make their mark on a global scale,” concluded Wheaton. “They know that they will change the world.” The Consumer Specialty Products Association (CSPA) 2014 Mid-Year Meeting was held May 6-9 in Chicago, IL. The theme was Formulating Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow. The meeting, which was the second stage of CSPA’s Centennial anniversary, celebrated the present; the 2013 Annual Meeting focused on the past and the 2014 Annual Meeting will look to the future. The General Session featured remarks from CSPA Chairman Paul Siracusa of Church & Dwight and an association update from CSPA President & CEO Chris Cathcart, who noted that the CSPA has added 14 new member companies so far in 2014. Siracusa focused on the challenges posed by rapid change in the marketplace and on the regulatory front. “The industry and CSPA has experienced 100 years of constant change,” observed Siracusa. “The Millennials are about instant gratification and have instant information on their cellphones.” Siracusa gave the example of Coca-Cola and Pepsi, who joined forces and pledged to eliminate brominated vegetable oil from their products after a Mississippi teenager circulated online petitions to put pressure on the soft drink giants to get rid of it, despite no real evidence that brominated vegetable oil was a danger to consumers. “Companies must care more about their brands’ reputation than a single ingredient,” said Siracusa. “The pace of change being driven by consumers who have instant access to information is dramatically changing our business. It has ushered in a new era of transparency and the question is: How will we respond?” While it celebrates the past and looks forward to the future, the CSPA continues to concentrate on the present and its challenges by working with other associations; state, federal and international government bodies; and non-government organizations to ensure that its members are well-represented and wellunderstood by these stakeholders. Cathcart Wheaton
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