Your company has been progressing nicely up the sustainability curve from compliance to cost savings. The next logical step is reputation and revenue generation, and it's here that many sustainability pros hit a roadblock.
Without a CEO mandate, business units usually have little incentive to deviate from what's been working in the past. Sustainability and CSR initiatives have safely been tucked away behind the scenes, dealing with internal and supply chain issues that reduce risk and cost to the business. Objections to customer-facing sustainability initiatives range from “Why put our neck out and risk greenwashing charges?” to “It's still a niche market” and “Why would we promote our values for commercial ends? We're doing this because it's right, not to make money from it.”
Perhaps they do see that sustainability is beginning to go mainstream, but it hasn't become a burning platform for action. And this is the big opportunity for sustainability pros. It's time for you to change the conversation.
As pointed out in a recent EthicalCorp article, “Corporate responsibility teams could do more to articulate a clear business strategy for their company that will grow sales…. Social and environmental issues are increasingly seen as new business opportunities, rather than risks to be managed. But translating this knowledge into practical business plans is easier said than done.”
You'll need to craft a compelling story and business case for taking sustainability to the next level within the organization. And that story must to be told using the language of numbers, making a clear connection between sustainability and topline revenue.
How you do that is the subject of a new series of articles that will cover:
Let's tackle the first one now. TAM, or total addressable market, is the sum of all of the potential sales that your company could make if it didn't have any competition. In the sustainability world, we need to identify your TASM, or total addressable sustainability market, to begin building the business case.
TASM is based on an understanding of how many buyers are motivated by sustainability-related attributes when they purchase or recommend a product. It's crucial to your strategy, and yet secondary data on this information is slim. LOHAS is a wellknown segmentation model originally designed for health & wellness, but it may or may not apply to your category. I would question whether the same segmentation model holds true across all categories including food, electronics, personal care and energy.
Without knowing exactly how many buyers in your market care enough to adjust their purchase and loyalty behavior, it will be hard to justify any customerfacing initiatives. Even if the market is small for your category, it may be growing at a rapid enough pace to make a dedicated effort worthwhile. Side note: don't believe what consumers tell you; TASM should be based on behavioral data, not a poll.
Step two is knowing what share of this market you currently own versus your competitors. Are you leading or lagging? If you increased share by one percentage point, what is the resulting revenue that you could use to fund additional projects? If you cede competitive advantage among this group to a competitor, what percent of your customer base is put at risk?
In the next issue, we'll discuss how to protect and grow your sustainability customer base.
To download the entire July Newsletter from Fruitful Strategy, click here
Jennifer is a strategist who's passionate about the role businesses can play in creating a better world. After almost 20 years in brand and customer experience strategy, she started Fruitful to help companies profitably align brand and business strategy with social impact. Jennifer has been recognized as a rapid and intuitive problem solver, a dynamic speaker and a get-it-done professional. She brings a global perspective, having managed strategy projects for businesses in the EU, Dubai and Southeast Asia. Consulting and corporate-side experience ranges from the Fortune 50 to smaller regional players across a range of industries including tech, hospitality and healthcare.
via | Sustainable life media
Only 14% of plastic water bottles are recycled, and Americans add 30 million PET water bottles to landfills every day! Aiming to provide an alternative to this alarming trend, Michigan-based Boxed Water Is Better is filling FSC-certified Tetra Pak boxes with Minnesota water and in doing so, giving us a new way to tote H20. But is boxed water truly the best option, or are there more ecologically-sound alternatives at hand?
While most plastic bottles are made from PET (Polyethylene terephthalate), a material that is contains recycled content, the PET manufacturing process creates more waste than paper and emits 3 times more carbon dioxide. What’s more, 2 pallets or 5% of a truckload of broken down water boxes would equal 5 truckloads of leftover plastic bottles, which makes the boxed water more efficient to transport.
Boxed Water is Better launched in on March 13, 2009 and is currently only available in Michigan. However, the company plans to expand, and as it grows — the company will donate 20% of profits to world water relief foundations and reforestation organizations.
While we’re all for more sustainable shipping materials and fsc-certified packaging, the concept of boxed water strikes us as a small step rather than a shift in paradigm - wouldn’t it be better to eliminate the packaging completely and tote around a reusable bottle instead? Boxed water may be better than plastic bottles, but the ecological integrity of packaging and shipping water great distances is a pretty hard pill to swallow.
via | inhabitat -- (3.ZERO first heard of Boxed Water through M. Lindsay)
| Growing A Green Corporation |
| This four-part series covers ... • Reading the Signs of Change • Assessing the Impacts of Environmental Pressure • Investing in Sustainability: Shades of Green • Building Your Green Team |
The following figure will help you place your business in a category of investment ranging from Level 1 to 4, or Shades of Green.
 |
While pursuing her graduate degree in environmental geography in 2006, Cheri Chastain took a job as the recycling assistant at Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico, Calif. It was a part-time gig to pay the bills, and she spent most of her time tracking data on the brewer’s recycling efforts to get a better handle on what it was diverting from landfills and how it could do better.
Chastain, however, had larger goals. Her enthusiasm, ideas, and business savvy won her a quick promotion to recycling coordinator. Within four months she was promoted again, to a full-time position as Sierra Nevada’s sustainability coordinator -- a job she custom designed for herself.
Chastain is one of a new breed of professionals who are turning their environmental passion and industry knowledge into lucrative career opportunities. In an economy where job losses are rampant, some reports predict up to two million new “green” jobs could be created as part of President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus plan.
And while many of those jobs may be of the blue-green variety -- more labor than management -- there will be many opportunities for college grads and mid-career professionals to make green career moves.
| Getting on the Ladder ... |
| • Launch recycling programs and other green initiatives in your own company to establish yourself as an expert on all things green. Then, if your company decides to create a green position in house, you will be top of mind for the job. • Calculate the bottom line results of your green projects or volunteer efforts before including them in your resume or job pitch. Hiring managers will be more impressed by your efforts if they can see the financial, as well as the environmental, impact. • Visit the websites of local green industry companies to search for job openings –- many companies don’t post positions at national job boards. • Join local green associations and participate in volunteer opportunities. Even if you don’t have a green industry job, these are great ways to expand your network, create some resume-worthy experience, and find out about new jobs before they go public. • Offer your volunteer services to nonprofit organizations. Don’t just sign up for general volunteer work, come up with specific ways you can support their efforts by using your unique skill set. This creates more substantive experience for your resume. |
At the beginning of 2009, Natural Marketing Institute (NMI) released its annual trends report for 2009. According to the authors the overarching theme for 2009 is what they call "Recalibration."
The report goes on to say that consumers are desiring "The Middle Way" or in other words, revising lifestyles to reflect "comfort, safety, sustainability and moderation." I've seen this first hand and am experiencing it myself. Here in California we're faced with drought along with the other national issues of economic turmoil, transportation, how and where we do business and our carbon foot print. All of these issues push us to conservation as well as a rethinking of our core values as people.
In the next few months I'm going to choose one of the 10 trends outlined in NMI's initial report and go into more depth and explore these trends effect marketing to customers and how we do business in general. But first let me just list the trends:
Big Changes Through Small Steps
According to NMI's research, consumers are beginning to make prolonged lifestyle changes but are making those changes incrementally. More people are shifting away from short-lived, New-Year's-Resolution type schemes and moving toward more tangible steps to improve their life, health and the health of their world.
Regardless of the reason, people are driving less to get to work, using alternatives to commuting by car. Whether it's for health or reducing fuel costs, people are walking, biking or taking transit to work. I've noticed more bike riders on the street on my commute by bike. Nationally, ridership on transit is up. And in some cases people are moving into or closer to city centers to take advantage of transit services not available in exurbs.
People are getting another hour of sleep and preparing meals at home to improve their health. Of course the trend of cooking at home is also driven by the economy. None the less the changes are real and are part of the over-all trend. Restaurants are showing a decline in revenue but grocery stores are picking up. More people are taking classes on how to cook or are going back to cooking at home rather than going out.
The trend of making long-term, incremental changes also ties in with some of the other trends cited in the NMI study and with the desire for more family time and the inclination to nest and nurture that we've been seeing over the past few years.
On the Market(ing) and Business Side: What You Need to Know
Think about educating your customers and create opportunities for consumers to take action. For instance, the content of packaging can speak to a customer as much as what is printed on it. Create packaging that is fully recyclable or compostable while informing your customer about the cost/material savings and the impact of using such packaging. The information on the package can send them to a web site to learn more about the what, why and how they're making a positive impact and how they can do more.
What is going on in the mainstream is what we've been seeing with the LOHAS (Life Styles of Health And Sustainability) market for awhile. Consumers are looking for sustainable, useful and practical products and services that reflect where they see their values right now. An authentic message is required here. Certainly marketers and advertising have used home-spun nostalgia in the past to sell products but those types of messages ring hollow in today's market. Using a softer voice to sell reflects the appeal of moderation with consumers right now.
via | Sustainable Life media __________
This column has been reprinted courtesy of JP Collins and Pylon Studios.
Pylon Studios is a creative agency located in downtown San Francisco providing graphic design and creative marketing services, and works with clients in the LOHAS, Green Building and Renewable Energy markets. Pylon Studios is certified by the San Francisco Department of the Environment as a green business and is part of the Green America Green Business Network.
To promote the new site, eBay has partnered with Hearst magazines for a "30 Days of Green" promotion featuring green lifestyle tips, which will run in all Hearst properties throughout the month of April. eBay's green team also has a page on Facebook.
eBay says its green team, which began in 2007 with 40 employees, has since swelled to more than 1,000 workers in 18 companies.
The online auction house launched a green e-commerce site last December.
via | sustainable life media
On the other hand, just half think their companies have integrated sustainability into business strategy and risk management. And less than half of respondents think their boards and management are committed to addressing sustainability issues.
Such results beg the question, "How much influence can - and should - corporate boards have on sustainability and governance issues?" The answer, apparently, depends on whom you talk to. Just over one-third of survey respondents favor full board oversight, while another 37% say oversight should reside in existing board committees. (The directors split on which: 24% for risk committees, 24% for governance committees, 22% for strategy committees, and 15% for audit committees.)
Yet the influence of corporate boards in this area is on the upswing, according to Eric Hespenheide of Deloitte's enterprise sustainability group, and the report's author. "Despite the current economic environment, the board's role is undoubtedly increasing," he says. "There is greater awareness of the business risks and opportunities associated with corporate responsibility, sustainability and climate change."
Deloitte has published a whitepaper including recommendations on getting the board more involved. Here, some tips:
Get consensus. Take the first step toward improving board performance by scheduling a retreat or creating a forum for the board to talk through sustainability issues. If disagreement arises, have a facilitated discussion that gets all the issues on the table and allows a consensus to emerge.
Emulate the strong. Companies with strong sustainability programs share certain characteristics:
Ask the right questions of management. Verify that management is acting decisively on sustainability by asking tough questions. Does your company have a "command center" to identify risks and opportunities associated with sustainability? Is this center supported with the right competencies - environmental engineering, legal, operational, marketing, controller, public relations and financing? Does your company have a roadmap for integrating sustainability into the operations of the business - with the appropriate governance structure in place?
Examine your footprint. Has the executive team determined the current environmental and social impact of your company - both good and bad? You can't measure forward progress if you don’t know where you are standing.
Find full text of the whitepaper, "The Responsible and Sustainable Board," here.
The sagging economy continues taking its toll on renewable energy spending, with solar and wind projects across the country shutting down or getting delayed as financiers reassess the benefits of investing in new energy technology as their bottom lines shrink. The lower price of oil isn't helping.
When oil prices spiked last summer, investment in any renewable energy project seemed like a prudent, and even necessary decision. Within months, however, the cost of oil dropped, the economy tanked, and priorities shifted.
"Any time conventional energy prices drop, it impacts renewable energy spending," notes Ying Wu, senior analyst for Lux Research, a New York-based emerging technologies research firm. "Solar is more expensive now that fossil fuel prices have gone back down."
That spells doom for business owners and investors looking for short-term returns on their investments, but those taking a long view are more likely to see renewable energy as a worthwhile, especially with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 stimulus package offering billions in green power incentives which, in some cases, may offset up to 50 percent of some renewable energy installations.
Tight credit, however, remains an obstacle.
"For companies that have already made an investment in solar projects, such as Yahoo and Wal-Mart, they will probably continue to make solar part of their energy mix," says Wu. "But companies that were just beginning to look at investing in renewable energy are slowing down, and financing for unfunded projects is getting delayed."
Though several solar companies have announced major layoffs because of collapsed financing, Monique Hanis, spokesperson for the Washington, D.C.-based Solar Energy Industry Association, believes the stimulus package, signed by President Barack Obama three weeks ago, will help turn things around. The measure includes $16.8 billion for the Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), a nearly tenfold increase.
| Three Reasons Why Renewable Energy is Worth a Second Look |
| • New federal tax incentives make renewable energy projects more beneficial than ever. Analysts suggest you can offset up to half of the total cost of the project by taking advantage of these incentives. • Many states offer further tax incentives and grants to promote renewable energy growth. Speak to your local utility company to identify resources, partnerships and other opportunities to offset the cost of renewable projects. • Despite the fact that fossil fuel costs have dropped, pending climate change legislation and an uncertain economy could spell price volatility. Investing in renewable energy is an excellent way to hedge your costs. |
"We expect provisions in the bill to stimulate demand, open up financing and create jobs," she says. "We are hopeful that the renewable energy grants, removing a penalty for subsidized financing, and loan guarantees will help free up the credit and investment markets and that the manufacturing tax credit will scale up U.S. manufacturing, which will keep prices coming down."
Lux analyst Johanna Schmidtke agrees. "The final stimulus bill offered a range of incentives for renewable energy," she says, pointing out the $6 billion earmarked to support loan guarantees for renewable energy and electric transmission technologies. The funds are expected to guarantee more than $60 billion in loans.
"That should encourage greater investment from private sector companies who can benefit from these grants," she says. "It should generate a big uptick in renewable energy generation."
Even before the stimulus bill was signed, certain regions still showed enthusiasm for solar energy, Hanis said. In California, for example, the number of grant applications for business and residential solar projects hit record highs in the last five months of 2008. And while she expects that interest to wane in '09, she thinks it will be temporary and localized.
"You'll still see activity where there are federal and state incentives for solar," she says. Along with California, she expects progress to continue in Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Jersey, where government programs to support solar investment remain strong.
"I got a call from a manufacturing company in Pennsylvania just yesterday that is still moving forward with a solar water heating project," she says. "And they are very excited about it."
She notes that several major businesses are also showing strong public commitment to solar, despite the economy. For example:
-- Global retailer Wal-Mart announced in January that its Mexican unit installed 1,056 photovoltaic panels on the roof of the Bodega Aurrera Aguascalientes retail center in the city of Aguascalientes in central Mexico.
-- Kohl's, the specialty clothing retailer based in Menomonee Falls, Wis., is currently converting four of its nine stores in Oregon to solar power, and also has solar projects underway in California, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey and Wisconsin.
-- As part of achieving its pre-certified LEED Gold status for all new store construction, Office Depot will install photovoltaic solar arrays to offset 11 percent of the building's total annual energy costs, and will include active solar tracking skylights that provide light to than 75 percent of the store. These plans will be implemented on every new store construction project going forward.
-- In the next redesign of its hybrid Prius automobile, automotive manufacturer Toyota plans to install solar panels on the vehicle's roof. The panels will power the air conditioning system and fuel its operation even when the main engine is turned off.
"There are definitely pockets of activity," she says of these and other initiatives. "But the larger projects will need additional funding to survive."
A Little Help from Uncle Sam
The new administration, along with the benefits included in the stimulus package, should boost all renewables industries, suggests Karlynn Cory, senior renewable energy analyst for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), a renewable energy research and development lab in Golden, Colo.
"It was definitely a step in the right direction, and a lot of issues around liquidity and the tax market got addressed," she says.
One of the most promising additions was the extension of production tax credit (PTC) to 2012 for wind, and to 2013 for all other renewables. The PTC provides a 1.9-cent per kilowatt-hour (kWh) benefit for the first 10 years of a renewable energy facility's operation.
The extension also allows utilities and businesses already paying the alternative minimum tax (AMT) to take advantage of that credit, which creates greater incentives to invest in renewable energy. In the past, those companies that took advantage of the AMT were not eligible.
By far the biggest trend in corporate energy efficiency is green IT, the survey finds. Nearly 60% of business leaders are looking to IT to transform how their companies manage energy use and other environmental performance issues. More than half (54%) say their companies are now much more likely to buy IT products that will help their sustainability efforts.
"This survey demonstrates that U.S. business leaders see technology as a viable tool for addressing cost and environmental concerns, especially as they try to maximize their IT investments," says Cisco SVP Laura Ipsen.
Nearly one in three survey respondents (29%) indicate that their corporate environmental strategies will be unaffected by the current economic downturn, saying green strategy is fundamental to business strategy.
via | sustainable life media
Incentives programs help too, the survey finds. Among companies that provide rewards to encourage green behaviors, 77% provide special employee recognition, 36% give prize incentives, and 14% offer a monetary reward.
“Many employers now recognize that green programs in the workplace can promote social responsibility among workers and help retain top talent,says Don Sanford, managing director of Buck’s communication practice. “But there is still much more that organizations can do. We expect to see future growth in green training programs, environmentally responsible investment options, and recruiting employees with green skills.
Four out of five companies use web- or videoconferencing to reduce business travel - making remote conferencing the top sustainability strategy cited by survey respondents. Other popular strategies include setting policies to conserve paper (76%) and implementing employee wellness programs (68%).
via | Sustainable Life Media
Identifying and implementing changes in environmental policies are not simple tasks. Yet pressures from customers, shareholders and competition show that progress is required. Part 2 of Brandi McManus' four-part series "Growing a Green Corporation: Meeting the Next Great Disruptive Challenge of the 21st Century" details how to assess such pressures and act on them.
Assessing the Business Impacts of Environmental Pressures
Identifying, planning and implementing changes in your environmental policies are not simple tasks. Yet, clear pressures from customers, shareholders and competition show that progress in this area is required. So what do you do? How do you measure success? An increasing number of international companies are considering measurement on a "triple" bottom line. This is the measurement of three key metrics -- organizational success, environmental success and economic success.
| Growing A Green Corporation |
| This four-part series covers ... • Reading the Signs of Change • Assessing the Impacts of Environmental Pressure • Investing in Sustainability: Shades of Green • Building Your Green Team |
 |
The economic reality that everyone is now facing is the necessary dismantling of a flawed system that allowed for the egregious over-valuation of houses, bundled mortgages, re-financed debt portfolios. Now is the time for us to build a new reality, one based upon a new ethos of good economics and the new politics of optimism - but this will require alternatives to current corporate structures. By Sandy Skees
I just finished reading a wonderful paper submitted by Susan Mac Cormac, a partner at Morrison | Foerster, titled "The Emergence of New Corporate Forms," submitted at the 2007 Summit on the Future of the Corporation. Her premise is that the rigid divisions between for-profit and non-profit will no longer work in the new economy because companies and organizations are waking up to need and benefit of combined prosperity/social missions endeavors.
I couldn't agree more.
An example given, of the new Minnesota Socially Responsible Corporation, describes legislation that allows companies to create a corporate structure that integrates "financial success and social responsibility." This bill, introduced in 2007, is another indication that many disciplines and industries, including legal, taxes, corporate designations like B Corporation, and sustainable brands, are all participating in a new reality that is more than a fad, a trend.
Companies - whether early stage or established - that adopt a sustainability focus and match economic prosperity/shareholder value with social responsibility and environmental nurturing will be at the forefront of the new Good Economy.
A sustainability focus helps companies give customers better products that can lead to a better life. When all of us are stretched thin and trying to absorb the reality of our failing systems, the time is right for companies to join the effort by acknowledging their responsibility and opportunity.
What business wouldn't want to create a more profitable and innovative enterprise, all while building stronger relationships with customers, employees, communities and even shareholders?
That's the Good Economy we can all nurture, grow and celebrate.
__________
Sandy Skees is a senior international public relations/marketing strategist, providing counsel and program development for communications that affect people, planet and profits through stakeholder relationship management.
This article was originally posted on Sandy's blog, Communications4Good.
via | SLM
Blue Thinking is the antidote to Green.
It doesn’t go away and it’s not a project with a budget. It is the next generation of thinking emerging from the heart of brands embracing sustainability as business strategy and a driver for innovation. It’s not a green consumer story or marketing idea, not a single product innovation, not one change in the supply chain (but instead many), and nor is it a disconnected concept that should be applied to business because climate change has come upon us. Instead, it is transformational innovation.
The phrase "Blue innovation" instead of "Green" was coined by Bob Isherwood, ex Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide Creative Director, who presented at the Sustainable Brands International (SBi) conference in Miami in December. His call is to translate the burden of environmental accountability into a "blue ocean of opportunity" and to make sustainability "irresistible" to people.
In these times of crunched economies and broken industries that have widely exposed the limits to growth and short term planning, there seems to be some debate over how the last couple of years’ obsession with the greening of business and brands will fair up. Anxieties and assumptions that "sustainability" is going to be put on the backburner until a better time further expose the disconnected way we think: like "green" or "sustainability" is a project or a thing that can switched on or off, on-demand.
The new wave of sustainability – Blue not Green – is strategic and opportunity driven. It is a business response to a changing economic landscape (borrowed wealth and externalized social costs are unsustainable) and to world context (planetary resources which fuel the engine of growth are under threat and commodities are increasing in price). It is also a backlash against environmental inertia and negativity; instead it celebrates inspiration and the power of brands to “ignite the power of emotion” (in Isherwood’s words) to drive innovation.
Blue Thinking doesn’t stop just because budgets are getting tight. In fact the opposite: Blue is being embedded in long-term strategic planning, and now more than ever in these transformational times.
Many of the world’s leading consumer brand Blue Thinkers were present at the SBi summit, where I too was presenting some Blue thoughts from OZOlab.
The Blue Thinkers all share a particular quality: they have been moved emotionally as well as rationally by the context of our planet, to transform their business and drive innovation. Ray Anderson is a great example; he speaks passionately about the emotional shift that ignited the business transformation at Interface (the world’s largest manufacturer of modular carpet) – starting with himself and moving throughout his business to include a powerful response from engineers modeling the machines that produce his materials. Ray talked of “humans overwhelming gratitude to nature” as a driver for innovation.
His story is widely quoted and his company still remains the world’s leading example of sustainability applied as a strategy and fueled by human response to environmental issues. Ray Anderson described Blue Thinking as "Authentic Sustainability." He touched on the efficiency benefits of the transformation innovation his company has been undergoing for 13 years, like 93% efficiencies at the pump in the manufacturing process, and dematerialization – removing materials from his materials-based business. He also touched on systems innovation: driving innovation upstream with DuPont materials.
Lee Scott and the route of transformational innovation he put Wal-Mart on were ignited by the company’s original mission to support less privileged communities and do good. This has been translated into a program that enables emotional engagement in innovation all the way through to shop-floor employees: the Personal Sustainability Project (PSP) established by Adam Werbach (whose company is now a Saatchi & Saatchi-owned business). Wal-Mart is using Blue Thinking to drive innovation through 12 value networks within the business: Greenhouse Gas, Sustainable Buildings, Alternative Fuels, Logistics, Waste, Packaging, China, Forest & Paper, Food, Agriculture and Seafood, Textiles, Jewelry, Electronics and Chemical Intensive Products.
The U.K. brand Marks & Spencer’s Blue Thinking was ignited by a small management team group who embraced environmental issues because they were exposed to global realities through their work with WWF in the U.K. This small team very quickly put together “Plan A, because there’s no Plan B” and presented this powerful message to the world. Plan A is a business strategy that is building a company ready for a sustainable future. It’s a visible and demanding strategic plan; and it has put the not so long ago failing British institutional brand back on the map. The brand and its visible plan is engaging its stakeholders, including customers, in the transformational process. One year in, their "100 Point Plan" to transform the business and supply chain is in full force (they are at about point 20).
Another common and important attribute of emergent Blue Thinking is its strong connection to brand strategy. "Blue Thinkers" dig deep into the heart of the organization, their current role and position in the world, and their core competency and human capital, to strategically shape and define their intent and role in a sustainable world and align it with the core of their brand. It’s a brand strategy exercise with a transformational output and action plan, not just a brand engagement manifesto.
IBM’s recent communication and intent around “Smarter Planet” is an example here. IBM has identified its need to focus on global systems and infrastructure innovation to support sustainable transformation. Why? Because IBM is the leading infrastructure and systems innovator; it has the depth of research and knowledge across multiple industries to tackle some of the toughest world problems. Citing “… you don’t have to look far to see, for example, that only 30% of the potential electricity that is available at the energy source actually reaches the doorstep of the consumer. Or, that significant amounts of traffic congestion are caused by people circling, looking for empty parking spaces, wasting fuel” – John Kennedy, VP of Integrated Marketing Communications, highlights examples where IBM can clearly improve systems. IBM have looked at the world with a systematic lens, looked at the heart of their business, and married the two with strategic purpose. IBM’s purpose is now to make global infrastructure smarter within the frame of our planetary, social and economic challenges. Now could not be a more relevant time to be tackling systems-level challenges.
Understanding consumers, markets, leaders, and corporations, all of us are at the very beginning of economic and social transformation to a sustainable world. Blue Thinkers know they need to engage and bring their stakeholders with them in the process – their employees, customers and the communities they touch. IBM has started to "talk" or communicate to their corporate customers but also individuals, states, governments, NGOs, through what they are describing as “Op-Ed” advertising – or educational advertising. Traditionally IBM only spoke to large enterprises. Today their purpose is to get all stakeholders seeing the systems challenges (and then presumable engaging IBM in the change and infrastructure).
Most brands are at the beginning of a long journey. All understand that Blue Thinking in this broken down economy is significant because business is forced to reflect on current practices and re-engineer to fit with market change. It’s a platform for intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs - change agents within supertanker companies driving change from within the organization and grass root innovators.
Listen to SLM's audio interview with Tamara here.
__________
Tamara Giltsoff is managing director of OZOlab, an innovation lab and business incubator that aims to identify, create, and market new sustainable businesses with mass consumer appeal.
This article has been reprinted courtesy of PSFK, a trends and innovation company that publishes daily, provides consultancy and hosts events.
To use:
The top is torn off to access the liquid. To reseal, the removed component peels apart to expose a sanitary plug-fit side, and the remaining part gets tethered to the finger loop to eliminate litter.
"We have undertaken this program without the support of a manufacturing and/or materials supplier partner," Brandimage writes on its website. "We intend to find the 360 Paper Water Bottle a branded home.
The company says "some of the world's largest brands" have already expressed interest in its invention.
The road to consumer acceptance might be a long one, however. Wal-Mart, for example, got a big thumbs-down from shoppers on its resource-efficient milk jugs last year. Kellogg is holding off on switching to compact cereal boxes pending successful testing in limited markets.
Via | Sustainable Life Media
What makes a bonfire brand? The answer is quite simple: It’s about inspiring folks in an authentic manner to join your conversation and become your evangelists.
Marty Neumeier said it best in his wonderful book Zag: The days of telling everyone you’re a great lover is over. From now on, it’s all about others telling your story for you.
So how exactly do you, the marketing professional, actually accomplish that? In fact, it's a lot like dating:
Stop talking about yourself so much. As the old Chinese proverb suggests, "the unspoken word is heard a thousand times louder than the spoken word." So stop planning marketing and PR campaigns around every little green thing you do. It’s a waste of cash and in many instances, it can create a level of distrust and negative questions around your brand. SC Johnson telling me how green they are by creating their own green label, for example - it falls on deaf ears. You want me to connect? Have someone I respect tell me that you’re a great lover. Doing the right thing should be enough reward unto itself (forgive my altruistic ideals) and if/when others discover your goodness and share your story, well...that’s called gold.
Get in the game with social media. Your brand is officially in the hands of those you serve. So cut your marketing budget in half and invest in great human capital and better product. Yes, your marketing team will freak out and call bullshit, but once the numbness subsides, the great teams, will find energy and abundance in the necessity of thinking anew.
Choose authentic lovers. Partner with those that can tell your story. For example, look at all of the brands that benefited by having distribution with Whole Foods Market. The perception was/is that Whole Foods is the "house of goodness," and so your mere presence suggested you were legit. In many ways, Whole Foods helped shape and define the resonance and authenticity of so many brands (including Seventh Generation). Another example would be B Corporation, fascinating new initiative that seeks to keep conversations objective via a set of comprehensive and transparent social and environmental standards.
Consider your sources. The less we listen to corporations telling us how green they are, the more likely greenwashing will diminish. That said, we should place emphasis on those we trust versus those that pitch. Paying others to tell your story is not recommended. Case in point: Sierra Club endorsing Clorox’s Green Works product line would have been cool, but discovering that Sierra Club was a paid consultant, not so cool. It created all sorts of red flags and produced more questions than confirmation for the authenticity and intentions of both Sierra Club and Clorox. The moral of the story - authenticity cannot be bought.
Ditch your carefully laid plans. Ad agencies better reinvent themselves fast - real fast. Brands need to build bonfires, not media plans and fancy ads.
Be flexible. The Chief Marketing Officer role needs to evolve or it will die. As I have said before, I am not sure what marketing means, but resonance and relevance is vital. That said the tired CMO job description should shift to something far more meaningful. Can I suggest Chief Trimtab, Gardener or Conversationista?
Less is more. "Do-nothing branding" will emerge as a new trend. In other words, we will see bonfire brands grow without any traditional marketing strategies. I kid you not. One of the best things the team did at Seventh Generation was create a product catalog that mirrored a coffee table book. It brought the brand and product to life in a way that previously did not exist. It became a catalyst for discussion at the ground level. So the key for all of us going forward is to really sit and think about what will optimize resonance and relevance without any preconceptions as to what drives a brand. The cool thing is that it is a unique design question for everyone and thus, everyone can create and design on their own accord.
Natural selection. Brand Darwinism will ring true - we will see the collapse of hundreds, if not thousands, of brands based on natural selection. A logo and an idea are not enough any more (thank God!). That said, many brands will find it tough because they lack the authenticity and acumen to grow a bonfire brand. History and tradition are meaningless. It’s all about what you are doing going forward. The good news? A whole new breed of brand will emerge with stronger principles and a greater respect for authenticity.
__________
Duke Stump has worked as a brand builder for more than 20 years, most recently for Seventh Generation and Nike. He is now principal and chief architect of the NorthStar Manifesto, a brand-consulting studio.
