At this year’s POC Conference on 6 November, we marked Products of Change’s second Member Awards, inaugurated at last year’s Conference, through which we continue to celebrate the individuals and companies exemplifying the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
The award trophies were created by Waterhaul, which recovers and recycles marine plastic and waste fishing gear and turns it into new products, such as sunglasses. These awards were crafted from discarded PPE and recycled wood, and perfectly embodied the ethos that their recipients have demonstrated.
The first award is aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals. This award recognises one of our inaugural POC members, a fearless leader driving change across the industry, influencing companies both large and small. This went to Anita Majhu from BBC Studios.
The second award highlights the significant impact that an agency can have on a partner’s business, particularly at the intersection of industries. Aligning with Sustainable Development Goal 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production, this award goes to Lisa Foster and Andrew Hajithemistou and the team at The Marketing Store (tms).
Lisa Foster, global sustainability product lead, tms, commented, “Andrew Hajithemistou and I were truly humbled to be called up to receive the Responsible Consumption and Production award for tms, recognising our impact across our client portfolio, notably for the work we undertake across the full spectrum of activity for McDonald’s Happy Meal campaigns.
“The engagement and opportunities POC foster through the network has been of huge value to our own sustainability journey; we can’t thank the team and advisors at POC enough for the accolade, and for the inspiration to connect and collaborate with fellow members in the months and years ahead.”
POC’s third award of the night went to a brand that is continuing to push the boundaries of sustainable collaboration within the industry. This award aligns with Sustainable Development Goal 13 – Climate Action. We were so pleased to award this to Maxine Lister and her team at the Natural History Museum.
On receiving the award, Maxine Lister said, “The team at the Natural History Museum are thrilled to have won a Sustainability Award at the Products of Change conference, we are incredibly proud of our licensees and collaborators who work with us on our sustainability journey and to be awarded this by our peers.
“Congratulations to the whole team at POC for an incredible conference this year – the work you do and the people you bring together is so inspiring.”
The fourth and final award of the day celebrates the winners’ dedication to partnerships, collaboration and leadership within the children’s publishing space. Therefore, our final award, aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 9 – Industry Innovation and Infrastructure, is presented to Members of the Children’s Magazine Forum from Seymour Distribution, Immediate Media, Redan Publishing, Story House Egmont, Kennedy Publishing, DC Thomson and Frontline.
Steph Cooper, Immediate Media, commented, “To have won this prize means absolutely everything, it’s totally fantastic and completely unexpected. Throughout this whole journey so far we are constantly thinking about next steps. We talk about the third horizon – we’ve got a long way to go but we know the steps we need to take to get there.”
Duncan Shearer, Seymour, added, “It’s been six years of hard work and collaboration and ideas generation. The force of the category coming together has been absolutely amazing.
“The audit process we are working on with Good Play Guide will really take things to the next level, the materiality assessment that we’re doing with all the materials that we are using, and the constant measurement against the 2022 benchmark will continue to push things along.”
