Learn why the grand vision of your brand drives success

Lisa Gordon Yunus, Director of Brand at Waste Management discusses with Robin why it's important to understand the beliefs and purpose that drive your brands success.

Robin: Hello, and welcome to this edition of Brandonomics, an inside look at top brands and their marketing strategies. I’m Robin Tooms, Vice President of Strategy at Savage and I’m here today with Lisa Yunus, Director of Brand at Waste Management. So Lisa, welcome to the show.

Lisa: Thanks for having me.

Robin: Well we’re all familiar, of course, with Waste Management from the green trucks that we see roaming around the city, but we know that Waste Management does more than collect waste. So tell us: What is the real brand story behind the company?

Lisa: Sure, yes. Our green trucks certainly are iconic but it’s not everything that we do. Our grand vision is really about environmental performance, which is based on four key pillars. We’re champions of sustainable growth. We believe waste is a resource. We’re committed to a cycle of sustainability, and we see a future without waste. What that really means is that we extract value from the materials we collect; we help the output of one industry become the input of another industry to create a true life cycle of sustainability. So both the environment and business thrive.

Robin: Well I think that’s a grand vision and I love it, by the way. A future without waste. But tell us a little bit about how you’re putting this into practice today.

Lisa: Yep, so we have several interesting case studies that tie back to environment performance. We’re the nation’s largest residential recycler. We’ve recycled almost 13 million tons of materials last year. We have produced more renewable energy than the entire solar industry in the United States. In California, we actually use landfill gas to power our trucks that run on the road and we are a title sponsor of the Waste Management Phoenix Open, which in 2012 diverted over 97 percent of the materials we collected at the tournament.

Robin: Oh great. Well Lisa, thank you so much for sharing this brand’s story about Waste Management. I have certainly learned a lot today. Join us next week for another edition of Brandonomics, an inside look at top brands and their marketing strategies.

 

Waste Management, Inc. is North America’s leading provider of integrated environmental solutions. It partners with customers and communities to manage and reduce waste from collection to disposal while recovering valuable resources and creating clean, renewable energy. https://www.wm.com/

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Robin Tooms is a consultant for brand, marketing and communications strategies for B2B and service companies. Expertise includes corporate branding, investor communications, employee communications, social media, and marketing with emphasis on effective online marketing and use of technology.

Contact her at rtooms@savagebrands.com or reach her by phone at 713-522-1555.