Impact Interview: Briana Quindazzi
Name: Briana Quindazzi
Role/Function: Head Of Strategy, BBMG
What She’s Currently Working On:
I lead the strategy team at BBMG, a brand, and social innovation agency. The insights and brand strategy projects that I lead cover everything from reproductive rights with Planned Parenthood to the circular economy with The North Face to access to education with Cengage.
Recently I co-authored an article in Fast Company, How to Build a Regenerative Brand. The perspective we share in this piece is a culmination of our team’s work, research, and expanding expertise about how brands can fuel business growth while driving positive social and environmental impact. The crux of our perspective is that Regenerative Brands are a necessary evolution of “sustainable” and “resilient” brands. Sustainability and resilience are fine qualities, but they mean a continuation of the status quo and an ability to survive. Regenerative Brands seek to create value for all beings for all time by being aware, additive, and alive.
Just this year, I’ve had the chance to bring this type of thinking to clients like Target, Live Nation, and Clinique. Each of these brands is on a journey to elevate their role in society, recognizing our fundamental connection and interdependence. The partnership I lead between BBMG and Target has grown over the past couple of years as their leadership team has put an increasing focus on building a healthier environment, a more equitable world, and strengthening the communities they serve. In partnership with the Target team, I help bring together the voice and needs of their guests with their brand equities and the deepest world needs.
What’s motivating and ever inspiring about all of the work I lead at BBMG is that sustainability and social impact in business is a constantly evolving and dynamic challenge. It’s about embracing a growth mindset and working hand-in-hand with brand leaders committed to creating change together, one step at a time.
1. What was the “aha” moment that sparked your interest in social impact?
During college, I spent a year in France, first studying for six months and then working full-time at a design studio in Paris. My French was good enough to get me the job, but they really just hired me to translate their website into English. This was fine by me because it gave me a chance to soak up so much inspiration, creativity, and appreciation for design in a culture where it is such a core component of everyday life. I also had the chance to do research into sustainable design and how these concepts were beginning to gain momentum across interior, product and packaging design. And thank goodness, because I always knew I wouldn’t be motivated by the bottom line alone. From that day forward, I was committed to building a career that would drive sustainable design and business forward, in one way or another.
2. How did you break into the social impact space?
As I approached graduation from Northeastern University up in Boston, I was committed to finding a role in the sustainability and social impact space. I sent out “cold” emails with a cover letter and resume to pretty much every firm I could find in the city with this focus area. Lucky enough, I got a call back from Fresh Pond Capital, a small investment advisory firm that helps clients integrate their values with their investments. I jumped at the opportunity to support their team in any way possible -- from researching company and industry sustainability commitments to executing proxy voting for their clients in line with the company values to developing quarterly investor communication about the portfolio’s progress on fueling social and environmental impact. My time at Fresh Pond Capital opened my eyes to sustainability beyond environmentalism - how businesses could harness their resources, scale, and expertise to fuel change in so many different ways.
3. What most excites you about the social impact space right now?
Two things: The first is seeing how the expectations of the next generation of consumers and employees are driving rapid change across industries. BBMG just finished a global survey with GlobeScan which found that people under 30 are looking for brand leadership: 81% believe brands are an essential part of the solution for the challenges facing humanity today. And they want brands to create change with them, not just for them: 85% want to share ideas and experiences with brands to develop better solutions.
Secondly, I’m excited to see the conversation of sustainability and social impact move beyond PR and marketing to fundamental business strategy, policy, and systems change. I helped launch Imperative 21, a business-led network of coalitions driving economic system change and building a future where our society, our leaders, and our policies work for all of us and for the long term. By joining forces across six organizations, the founding partners of Imperative 21 represent 72,000+ businesses across 80 countries and 150 industries, 18+ million employees, $6.6 trillion in revenues, $15 trillion in assets under management, and hundreds of millions of people eager to make their voice heard. The massive and growing momentum for economic system change is inspiring and exciting. We have a lot of work to do, but I’m proud to be part of the progress.
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