Marketing with Meaning: A Conversation with Emily Cichy @ Stanley 1913
Moving from over a decade at one of the world’s most iconic brands (The Walt Disney Company) to one of the world’s fastest-growing (Stanley 1913) created a unique challenge for Emily Cichy: would it be possible to decouple a company’s environmental footprint from its business growth?
As Vice President of Sustainability and Social Impact at Stanley 1913, Emily has been working to do just that. Through a combination of industry-leading investments in recycled materials, innovative Take Back programs, and the launch of a global philanthropic program that invests in dynamic leaders and inventive sustainability solutions, Emily's work ensures that sustainability and purpose are at the heart of Stanley 1913's brand, products, and culture.
With a deep belief in the power of brands to drive sustainability and a sharp focus on building authentic, substantiated, humble, and bold consumer-driven narratives, in this Marketing with Meaning interview Emily shares her thoughts about the ways brands can intentionally use purpose-driven campaigns to navigate risk, the value of flexibility to leverage the latest trend or address real-time events, and the importance of books in reinforcing empathy and curiosity.
1. What’s one shift you’re seeing right now that’s redefining how brands connect with people, for better or worse?
Brands as community builders. For consumers, it’s no longer just about buying a product – it’s about joining a conversation and a shared sense of values with the brands they love. Ten years ago, a water bottle was just that: a vessel to carry water. Now it’s a status essential that conveys identity and originality for the user. This shift has turned hydration into a form of cultural participation – for users focused on style, wellness, self-expression, sustainability.
2. Is cultural relevance more about a brand staying true to its own voice and values, or aligning with its audience’s? Where do brands most often get that balance wrong?
Cultural relevance means staying true to your brand’s voice and values while meeting the moment. Audiences and their interests inevitably grow and change; when developed and executed well, a brand’s voice and values will carry it through the cultural changes at hand.
Consumer insights help find the balance between relevance and consistency – your community will keep you honest. Listen to them!
3. Can you share a campaign or story that’s really stuck with you, something that’s shaped how you lead or think about your work?
I often reflect on notable campaigns wherein the brands involved took what appeared to be major risks in the marketplace, but in fact, these campaigns were so intentionally purpose-driven that they weren’t really risks at all. They were values-driven, credible, and courageous – think Nike “Just Do It” with Colin Kaepernick.
More recently, our team admired the E.L.F. Beauty “Change the Board Game” campaign which added a dose of humor – an incredible tool for resonating with audiences and garnering attention to message.
4. How can brands talk about purpose or sustainability in ways that feel real, not performative?
Do the work. Brands need real commitments and results to build credibility.
Prioritize. Identify the most meaningful things your brand is doing and focus on those. Don’t try to communicate everything.
Show the Receipts. Brands must demonstrate decisions that put people, planet, purpose first, and be accountable to results.
5. Please share something you learned about your audience in the last year that completely surprised you or caused you to change your strategy?
As a marketplace, there still seems to be widespread belief that opting for sustainable products means compromise – on performance, on style, on price. At Stanley 1913, this is not the case. But we have a role to play in shaping consumer perceptions and expectations on sustainability.
This year we launched a Take Back program where we offer consumers the chance to return their well-loved products to ensure they are properly handled. Our email marketing around this program had some of the highest performing metrics – open rates and click throughs – that we’ve seen, and it was largely editorial sustainability messaging about circularity, not marketing a hot product or glitzy partnership. This opened many eyes to what is possible when we weave purpose organically into how we engage consumers.
6. What skill do you wish you’d developed 10 years ago that would have accelerated your career or made you a more effective communicator?
Personally, I’m working on purpose-led agility, meaning getting faster and more responsive to things that are happening around the brand. It’s easy to follow a pre-set calendar, but much harder to hold space for the world immediately in front of us. I’m working on how we can pivot from our long-term plans to address real-time events… not as an opportunist, but as a brand and a professional with a clear sense of purpose.
7. When you’re not thinking about marketing or communications, what inspires your creativity or keeps you grounded?
I love to read. Books, specifically. Books give us the time and space to sit with a distinct character, a different lived experience, a new culture, another time or place. For me, reading reinforces both empathy and curiosity – two critical characteristics for purpose, sustainability, and marketing.