Programme Results · Cohort 1 · April – July 2026
Impact
Leaders
A 10-week live programme for senior marketing and sustainability professionals, turning impact into competitive advantage through world-class mentorship, real briefs, and a lasting peer cohort.
32
Delegates
15
Countries
13
Global Mentors
10
Sessions
Partners & Media
01The Cohort
Total Delegates
32
Who They Are
Senior marketing and sustainability professionals from global brands, agencies, and consultancies across Europe, the Americas, and beyond, with direct responsibility for sustainability strategy, brand, communications, or product.
15
Countries
represented
represented
10
Weeks of live
sessions
sessions
6
Self-organised
working groups
working groups
13+
World-class
mentors
mentors
Delegates came from global brands, agencies, and consultancies including Southern Glazer's, Sympraxis, and others, spanning food & beverage, FMCG, financial services, and professional services.
Live Client Brief · Session 7 → Final
One Real Brief.
Six Wildly
Different Answers.
Six Wildly
Different Answers.
Make Carlsberg's regenerative agriculture story matter to people who buy beer. Six groups. One brief. No single right answer. Only the honest ones.
What the groups pitched
Group 1A barley-straw jacket, 50 units to influencers, each with an NFC chip linking to the specific farm being restored.
Group 2An unprecedented coalition: Carlsberg, Heineken, and AB InBev pooling $2 billion by 2030, because no single brewer can fix the soil alone.
Group 3Digital soil tokens, making consumers the decision-makers on where the regeneration money goes.
Group 4A campaign built around the farmers who go unseen in every great beer.
Group 5A live charity football concept connecting fans directly to urban regeneration.
Group 6Carried the brief honestly: one delegate stood up and said they quit drinking ten months ago. Not every brief is easy.
02Programme Timeline
28 Apr
Session 01
Leading Between Worlds
Leadership, Empathy & Shared Value
Thomas Kolster
Impact Leaders
05 May
Session 02
Beyond Purpose Theatre
Purpose, Credibility & Measurement
Alessandro Manfredi
Ex-Dove / Unilever
12 May
Session 03
If People Don't Get It, Nothing Changes
Creative Excellence & Storytelling
John Schoolcraft
Ex-Oatly
19 May
Session 04
Trust Is Earned, Not Claimed
Partnerships, Proof & Reputation
Dave Hakkens
Precious Plastic
26 May
Session 05
Stop Acting as the Hero
Customer Empowerment & Behaviour Change
Diara Lô
Tony's Chocolonely
02 Jun
Session 06
Changing Behaviour Is the Job
Nudging, Movements & Lifestyle Shifts
Mathias Wikström
Doconomy
09 Jun
Session 07
What Really Matters: Killing the Noise
Materiality, Focus & Strategic Choice
Simon Boers-Hofmeyer
Carlsberg Group
16 Jun
Session 08
Build It or It Doesn't Count
Innovation, Product & Service Design
Kantar · Natura · Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Ozlem Senturk · Char Love · Andres Oliva Lozano
30 Jun
Session 09
Making Change Stick
Organisational Change & Implementation
Dirk Voeste
Volkswagen Group
07 Jul
Session 10
Choose Your Legacy
Integrated Leadership & Long-Term Impact
Virginie Helias · Marc Pritchard
P&G
03Speaker Takeaways
I'm always trying to make myself obsolete. Have an idea and give it to the world. Hopefully someone does it.
Dave Hakkens
Designer & Founder, Precious Plastic · Session 04
Sustainability needs marketing, and the other way around, to become a brand that stands out.
Diara Lô
Global Campaigns Manager, Tony's Chocolonely · Session 05
You are the superheroes the world is waiting for. You have those skill sets. Who else is going to do it?
Mathias Wikström
CEO, Doconomy · Session 06
Nationalism, localism: they are much more powerful things when it comes to engagement than CO2, which is literally hot air.
Simon Boers-Hofmeyer
Head of Sustainability, Carlsberg Group · Session 07
Culture is what people do when nobody's looking. And I actually think it eats everything for breakfast.
Char Love
Global Ambassador, Natura · Session 08
Performance without sustainability is just a matter of time. Sustainability without performance is a waste of time.
Virginie Helias
Former Chief Sustainability Officer, P&G · Session 10
04From the Cohort, on LinkedIn
CA
The businesses pulling ahead aren't treating sustainability as a reporting exercise or a communications campaign. They're embedding it into innovation, supply chain resilience and business strategy to build stronger brands and long-term competitive advantage. The conversation is moving from 'How do we become more sustainable?' to 'How do we use sustainability to build brands that are stronger, more resilient and more competitive?'
View on LinkedIn
GC
Sustainability isn't THE desired outcome, even if it's the outcome WE desire. It's part of how you achieve the desired outcome. Our job isn't to find the perfect message that wins everyone over in an instant. It's to keep building, through actions, a credible story around products, services and businesses.
View on LinkedIn
TH
We didn't just talk about theory; we tackled the messy, real-world trade-offs at the intersection of purpose and commercial reality. Whether pitching wild, boundary-pushing ideas or debating the tough ethical dilemmas of modern business, every single session forced us to ask one critical question: How do we make this matter?
View on LinkedIn
YC
Sustainability is a verb. Actions matter more than words. This was the first time in my career when I realized: sustainable choices can become a real business strategy, not just a "let's start this eco initiative" thing.
View on LinkedIn
RC
Figuring out how to actually do good through the work I do in advertising and marketing, not just talk about it. There's a line on the certificate that says it better than I could: "Certificates don't change the world. People do."
View on LinkedIn
05
Anonymous Programme Feedback
4.4/5
Average Programme Rating
4.4/5
Would Recommend to a Colleague
86%
Rated the programme
4 or 5 stars
4 or 5 stars
The combination of message, sustainability credibility, and commercial value is what makes sustainability marketing stand out — and achieve organisational buy-in. I also noticed that the programme arc took us from purpose all the way through to the nitty-gritty of governance and leadership. I thought this was intentional and thoughtfully designed.
Anonymous delegate · Programme feedback survey
I feel the value of this programme, including access to guest speakers and connections with cohort, is ~1.5x what I paid.
Anonymous delegate
The network and hearing the real life stories from the speakers. Loved their candid comments most.
Anonymous delegate
Access to change maker speakers with new and inspiring ideas.
Anonymous delegate
Motivation that others might be struggling with the same challenges, but we still continue to do our best.
Anonymous delegate
Virginie Helias: incredibly sharp, actionable insights from a longtime, marquee company CSO.
Anonymous delegate · On top mentor session
I also made some good friends during the program, which was another valuable benefit of taking part.
Anonymous delegate
Next Cohort
Cohort 2
Coming 2027
Coming 2027
Impact Leaders Cohort 1 closes in July 2026. We are planning Cohort 2 for 2027. If you are interested in joining as a partner, sponsor, or delegate, get in touch.
Contact
Anya
anya@thomaskolster.com