CEREPLAST
BEFORE
AFTER
Vice President of Marketing + Communications · 2010–2013
As Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Cereplast, Nicole Robertson led brand, communications, and public-facing strategy for a NASDAQ-listed bioplastics pioneer helping shape the future of sustainable materials. She oversaw the company’s corporate rebrand, created the Make Your Mark global design campaign, and translated complex B2B materials innovation into a compelling story about design, sustainability, and the future of plastics. Her work helped generate 1.6B+ media impressions and major visibility across business, design, science, and environmental media.
MEDIA + COMMUNICATIONS
Nicole served as the on-camera spokesperson for Cereplast’s products, innovation, and events, appearing on Good Morning America, Bloomberg energyNOW!, NY1, and CNN Headline News (HLN). Her media work helped build a communications platform that generated 1.6B media impressions, with coverage spanning Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, the Los Angeles Times, the LA Business Journal, CNN, CNBC, and bioplastics MAGAZINE.
The Make Your Mark campaign earned Cereplast the cover of bioplastics MAGAZINE, cementing the company’s position as a thought leader in sustainable materials and circular design. Nicole also represented Cereplast on the international trade show circuit, including NPE, Materialica, and K Show in Düsseldorf, three of the most significant platforms in the global plastics and sustainable materials industry, building relationships with manufacturers, policymakers, and sustainability advocates worldwide.
MAKE YOUR MARK
Make Your Mark was a global campaign Nicole conceptualized and led to create the first universal symbol for bioplastics, modeled on the legacy of the recycling symbol created by Gary Anderson in 1970. The contest was open to designers across the United States, with public voting open internationally. To drive submissions, Nicole led outreach to 864 design schools across the country, including RISD, Art Center College of Design, Parsons, FIT, and Carnegie Mellon.
The judges panel reflected the campaign’s ambition: industrial designer Karim Rashid, graphic designer Rod Dyer, fashion designer Rebecca Minkoff, Herman Miller VP of Architecture and Design John Newland, product designer Eric Pfeiffer, bioplastics MAGAZINE publisher Dr. Michael Thielen, and Gary Anderson himself, the original designer of the recycling symbol.
The results were extraordinary. The campaign attracted more than 2,100 design submissions from across the country, with over 1,500 qualifying entries, 4.4M public votes, and 511M media impressions. The winning symbol was unveiled at a zero-waste celebration at Herman Miller’s LEED Platinum showroom in Los Angeles, drawing 400 attendees including top finalists, judges, local politicians, green industry influencers, and a representative from Senator Fran Pavely’s office, who presented special certificates to the top three finalists. The city of El Segundo declared April 21, 2011 “Cereplast Bioplastics Day.”
The campaign earned Cereplast the cover of bioplastics MAGAZINE and cemented the company’s position as a thought leader in sustainable materials and circular design.
RHOMBINS
Cereplast materials were already in consumers’ hands — in disposable bags, cutlery, and packaging — but the brand was invisible. No one thinks about who made their plastic fork. Nicole identified an opportunity to change that by creating a product where the material was the story, bringing Cereplast directly into consumers’ awareness through intentional design.
She spearheaded a three-way collaboration between Cereplast, award-winning industrial design firm Pfeiffer Lab, and US manufacturer AMAC to create Rhombins, a modular desk organizer made from plant-based Cereplast bioplastics. Introduced at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York, Rhombins was picked up by the MOMA Store, DeCordova Museum, Oakland Museum of California, and a range of high-end design retailers across North America. Coverage followed in Dwell, Herman Miller Blog, Core77, and Natural Home and Garden.
RINGING THE BELL AT NASDAQ
Cereplast traded on the NASDAQ under the ticker CERP. Nicole joined the team at the NASDAQ MarketSite in Times Square for the bell ringing ceremony, marking a significant milestone for the company and for sustainable materials as a publicly traded category.