Meaningful Impact

The Meaningful Impact podcast features inspiring stories about purpose-driven leaders who overcome enormous challenges to achieve a triple win: a win for a philanthropic cause, a win for their companies, and a win for their project teams. In the narrative style of 'This American Life' and '99% Invisible', Meaningful Impact episodes reveal surprising, behind-the-scenes stories about the development of award-winning advertising, cause marketing campaigns, and corporate responsibility initiatives. Episode transcripts and related materials can be found at https://meaningfulimpact.com/episodes/

Episodes

Sustainability's Next Frontier: Upcycling Poop

September 12, 2025 • 27 mins

Sedron Technologies is creating waste-treatment plants which convert toilet sewage and cow manure into carbon-negative electricity, safe fertilizers, and sanitized water for irrigation. Benefits include: sustainable electricity produced at lower cost than convention methods, improved agriculture crop yields, healthier farm workers, safer rural communities, lower-cost organic food, and cl...

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How CSR Reduces Risk

August 26, 2025 • 25 mins

Professor Wayne Visser reveals how environmental sustainability and social responsibility can reduce a company’s risk of financial loss. To evaluate which reputation risks have the most potential to damage a company, this episode describes how to conduct a Stakeholder Materiality Assessment as input for a Risk Register. Professor Visser then explains how to align a company's corporate r...

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Making the Business Case for CSR

July 31, 2025 • 38 mins

This special Master Class edition of Meaningful Impact features CSR pro Tiffany Payne, who shares candidly how to make the business case for CSR, using Comcast's Project UP as the real-world example. Tiffany reveals how to position social impact initiatives as ‘mission-aligned investments with a long-term strategic return’, which can yield: expansion into previously under-served markets...

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Social Impact Storytelling

May 13, 2025 • 35 mins

On this episode, you’ll learn Social Impact Storytelling do’s and don’ts from Professor Jacqueline Babb (Northwestern University) and Fortune 500 consultant J T. Ramsay. The master class begins by demonstrating how to create a narrative that inspires consumers to be a co-hero of the story — by supporting a brand’s corporate citizenship efforts. Then Babb and Ramsay provide practical advi...

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Closing America's Smile Gap

March 25, 2025 • 27 mins

Closing America's Smile Gap is a 10-year initiative by Procter & Gamble to improve the oral health of 20 million American children. This episode of Meaningful Impact provides insights about the cause marketing strategy and tactics which support that initiative. The review highlight's P&G's use of 'Buy-One Give-One' offers. Yet, as it turns out, there's an even bigger lesson to b...

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True Name by Mastercard

December 27, 2024 • 27 mins

This episode tells the fascinating, behind-the-scenes story of the launch of True Name by Mastercard. made possible by the courage and unrelenting commitment of Lucas Crigler, the visionary, and Cheryl Guerin, the internal champion at Mastercard. Background: Lucas Crigler, a transgender man, was outed at a New York deli by the female birth name printed on his credit card, which no long...

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The Bud Light Boycott

November 13, 2024 • 31 mins

The boycott of Bud Light was intended to punish Anheuser-Busch for its support of the transgender community AND to discourage other companies from using their marketing budgets to convey transgender acceptance. This episode of Meaningful Impact is the first of a two-part series which is both a cautionary tale and a much-needed reminder that it’s still possible for purpose-driven compani...

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Inspiration Booster Shot: Motives

June 23, 2024 • 8 mins

This mini episode offers a booster shot of inspiration with two short stories about motives. The first story is a re-telling of Arthur Gordon's 'The Turn of the Tide' where he follows a doctor's unorthodox instructions to re-examine his motives. The second short story shares the perspective of a retired nurse near the end of her life. From her literal deathbed in hospice care, she reflec...

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Chillboards

March 3, 2024 • 41 mins

The ad agency for Coors Light proposed a million-dollar campaign to promote the beer by painting billboards on the flat rooftops of apartment buildings. No one would be able to see the billboards from the ground. Can you imagine any circumstance where you would have approved that campaign? Coors Light did. Find out why on this episode of Meaningful Impact. ...

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Barbie with Down Syndrome

January 10, 2024 • 41 mins

Mattel has further evolved Barbie from its original, unrealistic body shape into a broadly diverse product line. But Barbie wasn't always so inclusive. To fully appreciate just how far Barbie has come, this episode will explore how and why Mattel embraced corporate responsibility to offer diverse Barbie dolls -- which now account for half of Barbie sales. ...

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Coca-Cola: I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing

December 20, 2023 • 65 mins

This pilot episode tells the epic, behind-the-scenes story of Coca-Cola's 'Hilltop' ad, one of the earliest cause marketing commercials. Better known as "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing," follow the Coke ad's development, from a scribble on a cafe napkin, to an unrelatable radio jingle and a catastrophic film shoot, before becoming a global sensation. ...

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Meaningful Impact

Episodes

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.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;} How CSR Reduces Risk

Making the Business Case for CSR

Social Impact Storytelling

Closing America's Smile Gap

True Name by Mastercard

The Bud Light Boycott

Inspiration Booster Shot: Motives

Chillboards

Barbie with Down Syndrome

Coca-Cola: I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing

Popular Podcasts

Sustainability's Next Frontier: Upcycling Poop

How CSR Reduces Risk