NMI Releases LOhAS Index

HARLEYSVILLE, Pa.—The Natural Marketing Institute (NMI) developed The LOHAS Index™, a ranking of 50 of the most environmentally and socially responsible companies, selected from the Russell 3000® index of the 3,000 largest publicly-traded U.S. companies, based on both consumer perspective and investment analyst ratings. The top 10 companies, which are both acting sustainably and communicating their sustainability efforts effectively, are: Microsoft Corp., Whole Foods Market Inc., Kellogg Co., McDonald’s Co., Home Depot Inc., Walt Disney Co., United Parcel Service, Coca-Cola Co., Starbucks Co., and PepsiCo Inc.

“More than ever, consumers are eager to learn about a company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices,” said Steve French, managing partner at NMI (www.nmisolutions.com). “We were astonished at the size of the disconnect between those companies that operationally rated well with the analysts but received low scores based on consumers’ perceptions. Organizations need to provide more effective messaging to communicate CSR programs to consumers—focusing on the benefits of CSR—which have been proven to provide higher levels of return on investment in the form of brand loyalty, purchase intent and decreased price sensitivity.”