My latest Social Campaign-the first in my new town

http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/139098

Your comments, ideas and such are warmly embraced.

Economic Recovery

Fishermen paddle off Kennedy Island in the remote Western Province of the Solomon IslandsPhoto: AFP

Can't help but notice all the shifts from ecological distress getting drowned out as usual to economic "recovery" hopes.

If we truly "recover" does this mean a "return" to indifference and head-down profit-raking?

Or can a new healthier economic climate built on greater global sensitivity come forward?

My other concern is how marketing (and our clients) will stop flirting with all things green but instead rear back to aspirational ascendency tactics. So far, I see little evidence of the recession's effects leading towards rethinking any old marketing values or suggesting radical cuts or true shifts. Most messaging seems more like hunkering down, hoisting the "sale" flags and waiting for the markets to rebound and no longer have to cut profits to stay alive.

This perhaps is the most worrying potential trend of all, that we aren't able to think beyond our pocket books when the economy shifts, no matter the carbon load in our atmosphere. So many people can't fathom the existence and plight of other people who live in areas of the planet where oceans, drinking water and food supplies are already at the brink.

And yes, I remain optimistic. I still offer solutions, answers and options to any who will consider them.

One Person Can Do Anything, Only Everybody Can Do Everything.

Inspired by my friend John Grant's new book, I had a thought.
What do you think of this?
Each of us can only change ourselves, one person can surely inspire others, but only large groups united in a common aim seem be able to make massive changes in communities, nations and more.
What is the nature of a positive herd instinct?
What makes us want to join something positive and deeper than a gadget or fashion item?
What is there about joining a tangible face-to-face group versus a virtual online community?
How many people does it take to make a deep impact on sustainability, diet, transportation or media and political movements? What moves them-the idea or a related social/fashion buzz?
What are the new ideas that will spark change and organization on a large scale? Famine? Economic collapse? A song? A natural disaster? A politician?
You? Me?

Really, what do you think?

A Quick 1-2-3 (to try to set some things aright)

1. Global Warming/Climate Change
It doesn't matter whether it's a natural cycle, or man-made or a combination of both.
It's happening and we had better deal with it as we're living through it and it's affecting more than our earth, but our wallets too. Take heed? Take action now. Reduce, reuse.

2. US Health Care Reform
Anything that keeps the US for-profit system in place will keep us far behind other countries in health. Plus, "socialized medicine" shouldn't be so scary when we already have socialized police, fire, roads, food inspection, schools, libraries and the military-just to name a few. HMOs and Pharma make money by keeping us sick, not by keeping us healthy. So check out HR 676 the real reform opportunity. Sorry Mr. President-- but you're not doing nearly enough. As long as Norway and France (and quite a few others) have systems that eclipse ours, we should demand more for our money. We should be #1, not #37.

3. Advertising and Marketing
Image is so dead, but creativity, entertainment, wit and fun are not. So social communities are not the answer-they are the current doorways to the answer. Content that is the highlight of someone's day is still the absolute need. Just don't stay stuck in the '90s with dreamy empty aspiration. Let third party folk, fans create the necessary enthusiasm -you just do what you say you do better than anyone else and get out of the way.

A "living" building....

Read all about it right here.

The Path Towards Sustainability and Success as Marketers: Part Four: A Great Example

A wonderful case study...
Nature's Path is a wonderful example of what appears to be a modest marketing budget spent well-using every inch of their product to tell a great simple story.
Check out their web site for another great example of content, facts and practically zero amounts of so-called "image."
Well done. I hope the folks at Nature's Path are seeing this. If not, I'll call soon.

They Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth

By Deborah Fleischer - Matter Network

Sustainable Brands 2009 got off and running Sunday evening with an opening night packed full of speakers and networking. The conference is focused on giving attendees "a new perspective on the many factors driving opportunity for those building more sustainable brands," according to KoAnn Vikoren Skryniarz, Founder/President of Sustainable Life Media, the producer of the event.

During the opening session, some of the key messages included:

1. Do or die: Companies who stick their heads in the sand and ignore sustainability will not survive. If you are following, rather than being a market leader, your brand value is at risk. Jez Frampton of Interbrand stressed that if you are not leading your industry, you will get left behind.

2. Doing good: Owen Rogers of IDEO presented some key principles that make a brand sing, including passion, creating a point of view and expressing it honestly, integrating many voices and continuing to evolve. He proposed the idea that what sells and gets people's attention is the idea that if you buy a product, you are doing good and helping to make the world a better place.

3. Authenticity: A common thread was the reminder to walk the talk. If you are going to use sustainability as a product differentiator, be sure you have done all you can to be authentically green. This does not mean you have to be perfect. Consumers want honesty and transparency, not perfection. But with today's social media tools, it only takes a moment on Twitter for someone to accuse you of greenwashing.

4. Innovation: Sustainable brands are about evolution, innovation, movement and possibilities. The final speaker, Lauralee Alben of Alben Design, pushed the mainly corporate audience out of their comfort zone as she spoke about sea change moments-moments that have a deep, profound and lasting transformational impact on your brand. Perhaps it was the reception downstairs calling to folks, or her delivery and language (do they really use the word "sacred" now in the corporate world?), but the audience started to slowly dwindle during her presentation.

Sustainable brands influence behavior and choices, generate demand and increase brand value by integrating sustainability. They are about bringing people together, encouraging conversations and looking at issues in the broadest context possible. Speakers used a variety of companies to illustrate their points, ranging from Starbucks, IBM, Nokia, Patagonia and New Leaf Paper.

Soon.

Abject apologies for a gap in my video posting.
I planned on part IV of my current series, but an extended business trip to produce TV/radio has swallowed up much of my usual blogging time.
Look for Part IV next week my friends.
Until... go outside and save some energy.

The Path Towards Sustainability and Success as Marketers: Part Two: Look In The Mirror

In Part Two of this series, I go outside on a beautiful alpine spring day to talk about the need for an accurate, honest "snapshot"/analysis of your brand's systems, policies, networks, raw material usage and much more. I've done several such studies already and would be delighted to help you gain an important marketing edge by seeing what's really happening in your part of the world -right now.

If you don't do this work, I promise your prospects are finding out the truth on their own anyway.

In the next video, I'll talk about the need for consensus, cooperation-The Path To Interbeing.

The Path Towards Sustainability and Success as Marketers: Part One: How To Begin

In this first video, I'm talking about the way to begin to communicate as a 21st Century brand where progressive, sustainable initiatives can bring you more market success than ever in these days of change.

Just Get On With It, Get Out Of The Way, Let The Public In.

More videos every week ...or less, or more.
Comment, argue or contact me as you wish.

I'll share some new ideas and tactics from ongoing client and partner projects in the future as I can.

Resistance: A Way Forward

Every day it seems, I read someone's opinions (or even worse, I hear it in person) about their denial of climate change, about their rejection of humankind's effects on this beautiful earth, their refusal to make lifestyle changes for the planet, or in my field, even their resistance to changing the way they do marketing in this day of twittering, facebooking, digging and youtubing.

Usually, I quickly discover they don't read much, or watch only corporate-run TV. They don't travel much, talk to others who do, or read about the world far outside their own parcel of property.

Idea # 1: Isolation=resistance.

Next, sustainability progress needs to come (traditionally) in either a disaster/reaction phase, or as a fashion/sexy craze. A few mild attempts to make green initiatives Hollywood/sexy have fizzled in the masses, partly because of right-wing/giant corporation media messaging to kill progress that might threaten the old profit streams. Expertly, these messages make new ideas seem un-American, anti-patriotic, freedom-reducing, job/prosperity threatening.
Fascinating, as green industry jobs would potentially represent the biggest new job sector since the Industrial Age. The United States is falling behind the rest of the industrialized world in many ways, not as a population but on the federal/state level. Here in the USA, many ground-level, local initiatives are happening (I'm involved in a few), but the problem is that these small-scale operations require grants and subsidies because the changes are rather expensive to implement on such small scales.
True national commitment, from government or large-scale citizen or corporate demands seems to make these beneficial changes faster and create more jobs, benefits and financial positivism.
So, here in America, the sooner large corporations take bold, huge, public steps, with transparency and public/social involvement, the better for us all. P&G, are you reading this?

Idea #2: New Mindset: Green is Patriotic, Profitable and Possible


Lastly, for now, this thought.
The social sites seem to be the ripest for gaining traction for making environmental causes popular. Like everyone else, I tend to look for things I'm already interested in, so I find the eco sites, boards, FB groups and such with little difficulty.
So, invite your not-so eco , less than climate-change-aware friends to a site that gently (or not so gently) tells the story, like http://www.storyofstuff.com or, as I did recently to send friends to carrotmob that most brilliant new idea of all.
Keep doing what you do, make the change, click-by-click.
But do it today, please. I just have.

Idea #3: Doing Something Now Is Easy, And, Best Of All, You're Already Doing It.

Cheers.

Advertising No Longer Works On Me (So I'm Working On Advertising)

as published on www.talentzoo.com:

Advertising Doesn't Work On Me Anymore
(So I'm Working On Advertising)

Aspirational, image-based advertising (what most of you are doing these days no matter the media) is dead, buried, rotted and is now fine maggot dust.
Why?
Because it was and always is a mere mask between the truth of a product or service experience and all of us.
I say us, because when we think we're "we" and they're "them" we are forever lost.

Agencies and marketers have always created and are still creating myths, masks and diversions, from licentious cigarette advertising to windswept autumnal roads in car ads, on and on and on.

So here are the sea changes I've noted and I think are most worth talking about and debating.

With thanks to John Grant for inspiring some of these statements and who always seems to be in lock-step or just ahead of me.

1) We are all performers now, there are no more audience members. From legion youtube uploaders to enthusiastic amazon reviewers, we are all active participants. Brands, take note. Agencies, get going. And keep reading. Fast forward ten years and guess what "ownership" of music, video and media files will mean.

2) Climate change. Like holocaust deniers, I just ignore naysayers about the changes in this planet and the need to do something-yesterday. We are faced with two choices, switch or cut. Switch products, habits, processes and behaviors. Or cut spending, travel, packaging, usage, output, energy, etc. This affects us, by not printing out e-mails, unplugging the computers each night and doing more iChat video conferencing than domestic flights as three easy examples. Marketers and agencies can be more responsible in ad creation and publishing, in the making and production of every tactic. We don't need "green" branding festivals where the amount of promotional material creates a landfill the size of a stadium in the name of capturing e-mail addresses. Use the web, make fewer but more powerful ideas and save so much waste.

3) Brands are no longer in control of their brands. Put my previous points together like this. On one hand, it is easier than ever to "look behind the label" and discover what a company is really all about-to expose greenwashing, outright lies or poor user experience and performance. And this discovery becomes instant publicity via twitter, digg, facebook and blogs. So as an example, http://www.skittles.com/ has realized most of my present points and chosen to let go of its control and surrender to user generated content but limit its liability via a serious release form on the home page. I think this is smart, because surrendering to the public can lead to increased trust and likability. In the near future, agencies will need internal or partnered legal online property and content managers to manage and direct this issue. For instance, at what point is a submitted online video a violation of copyright and trademarks, a liability for dangerous insinuations or activity; or a valuable free advertising tactic from the other side of the brand fence? See http://www.carrotmob.org for further radical inspiration.

4) Successful brands are simply companies that do what they say they do. And are seen doing it by enthusiasts. Cases in point: What is the brand image of EBay? It has none, it is simply a site for enthusiasts to buy and sell. No slogan or commercial can enhance the experience of an auction, a cunningly executed winning bid or the feeling of the biggest garage sale on the planet. And Amazon (though its name is surely most literal) is simply where book, music and other product enthusiasts contribute passionate reviews for free and buying takes place in this enthusiast's Xanadu, surrounded by ratings, reviews, suggestions and a community of experts on whatever you want to buy. Amazon simply makes it happen elegantly, reliably, cleanly as a friend. What's key is the actual experience, not an aspirational mask of image.

So, what is the way forward?
Creativity, innovation and beauty, same as ever. But from this day, innovate and create something worthwhile inside your clients and let the public in. Don't launch a sustainability scheme and ruin it by saying you're wonderful. Let NGOs and other groups discover the fact and let them sell or dissuade. Don't drop acid and create a Gatorade Holy G campaign to get people to accept high fructose corn syrup. Innovate the packaging towards sustainable, reusable solutions and sponsor elementary school athletics– save a sports program that's suffering due to tax revenue decreases, promote community and togetherness after a workout-support dropping the ear buds for real buds and a swig of the G as your muscles recover. Support keeping your car, mobile handset and computer longer and reward recyclers. Create messages of togetherness, social interaction vs isolation, promote cooperatives and neighborhood micro associations online. Be the brand (whatever it is) that unites people for a common good, not crowbarring a social site around your latest brand slogan.

Become and stay mobile, agile, global. Throw out the rules, connect to your birthright of creative passion. Forget that you're a marketing manager, creative director or intern. Remember you're a human being that has bills to pay, air to breathe, food to eat, a body to keep healthy and a mirror to look in. Then your work has a chance at being relevant and enormously effective in this day and age.

That's enough for now. If some of you follow my advice, then the effort is greatly beneficial. But no matter what, there is much to be done. I'm going back to it right now. More always on my blog. I feel the traction and momentum, do you?

This blog's google newsfeed makes its own sauce!

PG going greener and greener?

If one forgets all that P&G has done for decades, this is wonderful and most appreciated.

May I help?

P&G (NYSE:PG) first outlined its sustainability goals in 2007. The newly revised goals include:

• Develop and market at least $50 billion in innovative and sustainable products, up from a goal of $20 billion.

• Reduce carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption, water usage and disposed waste by 20 percent, leading to a 50 percent reduction over the last 10 years.

• Increase use of rail transportation from 10 percent now to 30 percent by 2015.

• Increase the number of children benefiting from P&G's Safe Drinking Water Program to 300 million, up from the original goal of 250 million.

“P&G’s commitment to sustainability is strategic. It is how our company conducts business,”

said CEO A.G. Lafley in a news release. “By increasing sustainability

goals, we demonstrate our ongoing commitment to innovate continuously to improve results.”

Darkness-the new sexy?

Darkness was so beautiful Saturday night for the global earth hour turn-off action.
The town got so quiet, the sky lit up with the silvery blue stars, footsteps were soft and I could sense the world listening. It may not have saved so much energy, but I sense many were more thoughtful afterwards.
Can we embrace some level of natural darkness in our lives rather than always lighting up the night as an enemy?
A beautiful beginning nonetheless.
What did you do? Any plans for expanding or continuing the idea?

Another inspiring green video

The easier it seems to make changes to old habits and make cuts to unhealthy practices the better.
The less obstacles, objections you create, the better.
I'm making this a salient point to all my clients these days.
There's a place for doom and gloom (see post below) but happy, easy always works better.
Let's be better.

Getting Green Done: Hard Truths from the Front Lines of the Sustainability Revolution

Aspen SkiCo's Auden Schendler has written an entertaining, yet very hard-hitting manifesto on why corporations and everyone needs to go sustainable–yesterday.
Well done. Most excellent.
Research and buy it here, in hardcover or the Google Kindle version.

But if you're like me and still enjoy paper in your hands, have your closest book store order it as part of their next bulk shipment, walk or bike to the store and carry it home without a bag. I do this. So can you.

Why is this not on the front page of every newspaper, magazine and web site?

I'll make this very simple.


A car that runs on air.
Just cool air comes out of the tailpipe.
It actually cleans the outside air as it runs.
It can go fast.
It comes in several models.
It runs a long time.
It's safe.
It's not crazy expensive.
It can change EVERYTHING.
It's coming soon...

zeropollutionmotors

why oh why oh why?

I'm working on getting this "out there" right now.

Want to make sustainability fun hip and cool?

Then one need look no further than this classic example.
Spread this send this act on this, today please.

Change your mind about electric cars with one little click.

General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, VW, Honda, Nissan, BMW, et al..are you watching this?

The developer's last line sums up EXACTLY what I want to have happen in people's minds about ALL things green.

http://www.opb.org/programs/ofg/videos/view/56-Electric-Drag-Racing