greenormal

Nice Informative Film from FSC in Canada

2011-11-14T02:04:00.000-08:00

Who cares about the Forest? from Franke James on Vimeo.

(via Doug Creighton)

Yeo Valley's farming boyband (can't wait)

2011-10-05T02:52:00.000-07:00

In a follow up to their brilliant rapping farmers last year, Yeo Valley are releasing a pop song/new boy band of farmers during the ad breaks of X Factor this year starting this Saturday (8th Oct). Here's the lyrics so you can sing along.

The Churned ‘Forever’ Song Lyrics

I could have gone astray

Not listened to my heart

But every time I’m tempted

I go back to the start

There’s no harm in our pure and natural farming

We are as one with the countryside

CHORUS:

Yeo Valley

Naturally

We won’t change, no never

We’ll farm this way forever and ever

Yeo Valley

Family farming

Has been the driving factor

Ploughing to the future

Aboard a shiny tractor

So listen up people, take after me

Be a little funky, choose the West Country

CHORUS:
Yeo Valley

Naturally

We won’t change, no never

We’ll farm this way forever and ever

Yeo Valley

We’re not a passing fad

We don’t change by the seasons

We always respect nature

Just ask our happy friesians

In your eyes, I see our fate

We’ll live here forever, just off the A368

CHORUS:
Yeo Valley

Naturally

We won’t change, no never

We’ll farm this way forever and ever

Yeo Valley

Naturally

We won’t change, no never

We’ll farm this way forever and ever

It’s only natural

Never gonna change

Stay this way forever

An invitation from Al Gore

2011-09-13T14:26:00.000-07:00

Dear John (and his blog readers)

Tomorrow, people from around the world will join hands to create 24 Hours of Reality. I hope you'll join us. Together, we're going to focus the world's attention on the scope, scale and impact of the climate crisis.

24 Hours of Reality begins at 7 p.m. Central Time on Wednesday, September 14. Over the course of the day, there will be 24 presentations across 24 time zones in 13 languages. I'll be presenting in the final hour at 7 p.m. Eastern Time.

Use our simple tool to set a reminder so you don't miss it.

climaterealityproject.org/reminder

Together, we're going to take a stand against the "new normal." We're going to remove any doubt stirred up by deniers.

Together, we're going to catalyze urgency around an issue that impacts every one of us.

Find a presentation in your language or your part of the world and use our tool to schedule a reminder email. You'll receive 15 minutes before the event.

Make sure you're a part of this event. Make time. Tell your friends and followers you're participating and encourage them to join you. At the bottom of this email, you'll find some easy links to help you spread the word.

I'm truly excited for tomorrow and I hope you are, too.

Sincerely,

Al Gore
Founder and Chairman
The Climate Reality Project

A Very Nice Ad

2011-09-05T09:40:00.000-07:00

(Via Jane Allen at yammer.com)

Ethics 2.0 - This Time It's Personal

2011-08-18T06:40:00.000-07:00

from their press release:
Ethical Consumer magazine's new website lets shoppers produce their own personalised ethical shopping list: ethicalconsumer.com
The interactive buyers' guides allow web-users to change company ethiscores on the Ethical Consumer brand tables to reflect their own personal ethics. On-screen sliders allow shoppers to turn up the volume on a range of key ethical issues that they feel passionate about. The result is that for the first time shoppers can easily identify and support those companies whose ethics they agree with and avoid the companies whose ethics they don't.
[For a live example visit: www.ethicalconsumer.org/BuyersGuides/Computing/Laptopsandnetbooks.aspx ]

greenormal's view:
absolutely brilliant, well done - this has been in development since the BBC green partnership, it's a long anticipated step forward in ecological intelligence: from dumb average ethics to fitting my vallues ethics

Digital Demo(cracy)

2011-08-18T05:45:00.000-07:00

The recent UK riots highlighted the role of social media and the networks. Key features being the use of BBM (Blackberry messaging) to coordinate among rioters. And the use of Twitter to coordinate @riotcleanup. We also saw examples of citizen journalism: eg Leon Piers, 21 year old in Bristol – who covered riots by cycle & twitter "A guy on a bike & a group of friends, dotted around Bristol, bringing you only CONFIRMED riot news & Keeping you updated so you can stay safe!" And the role in amplifying the story and tracking both it and the public reaction realtime: #londonriots was the trending topic on Twitter one day and #riotcleanup the next.

David Cameron was said to be considering shutting social networks down to prevent their use by rioters. He should be aware that precisely this action by the Egyptian government was what turned a 20,000 activist protest into a 2 million public one (what would you do if the government pulled the plug on internet and phone?)

Also from Arab Spring we learned (as if it needed to be learned) that brands should not try to take the credit for ‘enabling’ such processes: as one Egyptian blogger put it "Never mind the years of activism, the protests, the decades of cumulated grievances, the terrible economic situation, the trampled political freedoms, the police brutality, the torture, etc. Nah - we just watched a Vodafone ad, and thought: 'Hey! We're powerful! Let's topple the president!'" (Mohamed El-Dahshan).

More broadly there has been a stream of successful challenges to corporate and government power, particularly around the theme of information, secrecy and privacy. Wikileaks successfully opened government in the way that was often promised but never delivered. The Newscorp phone hacking scandal lifted the lid on journalistic ethics and celebrity. And more importantly on corporate governance as the debate about who knew (and hence who should go to prison) continues. The Murdoch campaign was partly coordinated by Avaaz, which is a growing force in galvanizing and coordinating public pressure.

What many are starting to recognize though is that the role of social media has been limited mostly so far to digital demos; attacks on the status quo from the fringes, or solutions for when society is under extreme stress – like Ushahidi for mapping election violence or in disaster relief - rather than citizens getting involved in the everyday running of society. I heard recently that there is a UN project underway working with some leading global innovators in technology to look at developing positive applications for everyday democracy.

True digital democracy is still cut short by the “leave it to us” model. 1 in 7 American voters took active part in the Obama campaign, but once he got in it seemed to be back to business as usual (meetings with lobbyists behind closed doors) and an administration quickly bogged down in climate backtracking and healthcare reform. In the UK you can now at least table a proposal to be debated in the House of Commons if 100,000 sign your petition. Stimulated by the UK riots, 2 million did visit this site in the first two weeks and the first petition has achieved its goal, with 208,000 signing a proposal that “Convicted London Rioters should lose (social security) benefits”. Meanwhile in America a new scheme called Americans Elect looks set to offer voters the ability to nominate their own presidential candidate; it is accredited so far in 4 states, has passed the crucial 1.6 million signature test in California and the organisers say they expect to be accredited in all states by 2012.

One criticism of direct digital democracy is that few people can actually be bothered to get involved. So that you will get rule passed to those with time on their hands (as is often seen in online forums) regardless of their actual merits. But the evidence is that with the right scheme you can actually get mass participation. There were 76 million votes cast in the $20m community cause giveaway scheme Pepsi Refresh.

Another is that the ill-educated public will always make kneejerk choices and proposals of the “take away the benefits of convicted rioters” or “bring back hanging” variety. It is true that a thriving democracy relies on educated citizens. But having spent the last fifteen years exploring digital lifelong learning models I would suggest that if you give people a meaningful, compelling and relevant decision to make then (and only then) they will inform themselves perfectly well using search; just as they would around issues like a child’s health symptoms or a legal problem. For instance working with an ethical coffee company last year, one of my suggestions was to allow consumers to set their own price buying online; but to do so by moving sliders to decide how much money should go to farmers, community, development projects and so on; taking Fairtrade to the next level. Of course if having deeply researched a subject people still want to make choices which are unfair or illiberal, it is their society: the principle which Socrates literally died for.

The questions posed by digital media to democracy, are in many ways the same ones which they pose to all old world institutions, including companies and brands. As Nicolas Negroponte wrote in Being Digital in 1995, the media are not just restructuring how messages are distributed, but actually who is in control; moving from a passive audience to active participant or agent. We have adjusted our style of marketing accordingly; for instance modeling strategy on (computer) gaming. But we have hardly changed the democratic access to real decisions a company makes. So that so far it is only protests – by eBay users over a new feature, by a passenger whose guitar was broken by United Airlines, by green leaning Apple fans – which have brought any real response.

But we are starting to see companies embrace a truly participative way of operating, for instance in open innovation. It is most obvious in the case of digital brands where the users create the value – for instance the 15 million user logged venues in Foursquare. And there is just the distant possibility that in future every brand will be more mutualized and democratic. The customer as citizen. Might this not be the key to the value most desired and most distant in all modern marketing – loyalty?

The Green Awards Is NOW OPEN FOR ENTRIES

2011-06-23T14:33:00.000-07:00

Am very proud to be on the advisory panel for the Green Awards and herewith our press release:

Date 23rd June 2011 – The INTERNATIONAL GREEN AWARDS™, a global programme that recognises innovative and creative approaches to sustainability, is now searching the globe for the true sustainability heroes after establishing its first online global sustainability community and entry platform! This online community will help to connect game changers and innovators globally to share ideas and best practice.

The awards, now in their sixth year are firmly fixed on the sustainable business calendar and will be judged by some of the most influential environmental and sustainability experts internationally including the former presidential candidate for Brazil, Marina Silva, David de Rothschild, Environmentalist & Explorer and Sir Crispin Tickell, the former President of the Royal Geographical Society .

This year, the yet undisclosed Lifetime Achievement Award nominee will need to meet the high benchmark set by Sir David Attenborough CBE, who picked up the inaugural award last year. The coming months will also see the announcement of a list of nominees for the new Best Green Celebrity category, which will be open to a public vote through the new web portal.

Sustainable innovation around technology will be an important focus this year as businesses embark on the journey to a green revolution. It’s clearly evident that there’s an increasing appetite from business and industry for case studies demonstrating excellence and best practice in sustainability issues. And so the race is on to search the globe to unearth this year’s shining examples that will inspire our generation. In fact, this year’s awards are expected to be the biggest and most inspiring yet, with even more entries expected based on the increasing interest in sustainability as ‘being sustainable’ becomes a prerequisite to ‘business as usual’.

Sir Paul Judge, President of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and Steering Group Chair commented, “These awards bring together and generate awareness of outstanding ideas and achievements that can help our world become more sustainable by spreading good practice and allowing other organisations to benchmark their own environmental policies and practices.”

According to Ahmed Djoghlaf – Executive Secretary, UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), one of this year’s judges, “In the wake of the adoption of the 2020 Aichi Biodiversity targets which calls for the engagement of all stakeholders including the business community, it is an honour and a privilege to participate in the 2011 INTERNATIONAL GREEN AWARDS™. I am impressed with the positive impact the Award has in promoting and rewarding creativity and dedication. Through example, the Awards is shaping future messages of sustainability and therefore creating the leaders of the green businesses of tomorrow.

To enter and for more details visit www.greenawards.com

ENDS

Editors’ Notes:

INTERNATIONAL GREEN AWARDS

We inspire innovation for sustainability by recognising people and organisations whose ideas are creating positive change.

International Green Awards 2010 brought together more than 500 leaders from all sizes of companies, each with a similar goal— to learn how companies are adapting and innovating for sustainability.

Take your place in history now!

www.greenawards.com

Example Judges

Sir Crispin Tickell, Former President Royal Geographical Society, UK

Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity under the United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP)

David de Rothschild, Environmentalist & Explorer & ‘Plastiki’ Expedition Leader

Professor Jacqueline McGlade, Executive Director, European Environment Agency

Jane Davidson, Minister of the Environment, Welsh Assembly

Michelle Laug, Communications Officer, Green Cross International

Liu Jianqiang, Editor, China Dialogue

Marina Silva, Environmental Activist and Politician

Tim Smit, Founder, The Eden Project

Brendan May, UK Chairman, Rainforest Alliance

Aniol Esteban, Head of Environmental Economics, New Economics Foundation

Peter Paul van de Wijs, Managing Director, World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)

Malini Mehra FRSA, Centre For Social Markets, India

Prof. Dr. Claudia Kemfert, Head of the Department, Institute of Economic Research

Bonnie Nixon, Executive Director, Sustainability Consortium, USA

Baroness Barbara Young, Chancellor of Cranfield University.

Vicki Buck, Entrepreneur and former Mayor Christchurch

Lance Hosey, President & CEO, GreenBlue USA

Professor Malcolm McIntosh, Asia Pacific Centre for Sustainable Enterprise, Griffith University, Queensland, AUSTRALIA

Julia Marton-Lefevre, Director General, IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)

2011 Categories

Best Green International Business Award (Large/Multi-national)

Best Green International Business Award (Medium)

Best Green Entrepreneur Award (Start-up)

Best Sustainable Investment Award ( BRONZE Partner Emerald Knight)

Best Green Energy Efficiency Initiative Award

Best Green 4R’s Award (Reduction, Reuse, Recycling, Recovery)

Best Green New Product Innovation

Best Green Service Innovation Award

Best Green Conservation and Biodiversity Award

Best Green Water Stewardship Award

Best Green Collaborative Initiative Award

Best Green Technology Award (BRONZE Partner Danwood)

Best Green Intelligent Buildings Award

Best Green Public Sector Award

Best Green Educational Awareness and Sustainability Award

Best Green Not for Profit Organisation Award

Best Green Employee Engagement Award

Best Green Cross Platform Digital Media Solution Award

Best Green Advertising & PR Award

Best Green Audio-Visual Award

International Green Awards Grand Prix

Lifetime Achievement Award

Best International Green Awards Celebrity

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/greenawards

Visit our LinkedIn Profile: http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/global-green-awards-2010/24/832/490

Watch our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/Globalgreenawards

See our Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=16852154577

Join our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/GreenAwards2010

Wood You Buy It?

2011-06-14T10:30:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago I read a very moving book about deforestation by an accidental activist (it started with his holiday in Cambodia) - My Journey With a Remarkable Tree by Ken Finn. About how these beautiful ancient spirit trees were via illegal logging and export finding their way into garden furniture sold in the UK.

I'd stored away the thought that I should do something to somehow pass the message on - and now I have the chance.

There's a new WWF campaign all about "putting more pressure on suppliers to show evidence of where their wood goods originate. As consumers, an easy first step is to demand that shops sell responsibly-sourced FSC-certified wood products. We need the government to push businesses in the right direction too." Here's the campaign video

And you can learn more about how to get involved at wwf.org.uk

A Nation of Green Shoppers?

2011-04-04T03:06:00.000-07:00

Interesting report published in March from the CBI on the role of green consumerism in delivering a low carbon society.

cbi website

The crux of it seems to be that energy efficiency is well established as a motivation, whereas green concerns remain marginal. The report suggests stronger links are made between the two.

Others (eg Tom Crompton) have argued that we need to tackle people's values - and that energy efficiency in particular leads to little or no real carbon saving, due to indirect rebound effects.

But there is no arguing with the basic lack of consideration of environment as a criteria in major purchases - as shown by this data:

It's also something of a relief to return to the "people don't care enough" lament - after those (2007-09) years when myself and many others would push the opposite view that 70-80% were very concerned about climate change and were taking action. When you recognise the problem - that it's marginal - you are bolder in thinking of ways to tackle it?

New article for Sublime magazine (draft - comments?)

2011-03-10T03:01:00.000-08:00

The Naked Truth

Imagine by some future quirk of human evolution, telepathy is a reality. But there is a twist. Rather than hearing others’ thoughts in proximity (as if they were auditory, and hence limited by the same physics), we would filter out very large parts of what everyone else was thinking, and only hear others’ thoughts (from anywhere in the world) if they were about us.

You’d think it would be the death of indiscretion? But quite the opposite. Because of course, if you think about it, I just described one of the many stubbornly strange features of social media. Let me explain or elaborate, through some typical examples:

- - yesterday I sent a Tweet, asking if anyone else had the experience of making an important business pitch from a train toilet (because it’s the only place where you can both be discreet, and hear the call)? At the time it struck me simply as an amusing new variant on the idea of the “elevator pitch”. But then today my business partner asked me about this. Because my Tweet was in the name of my start-up, and we have Google Alerts. Lucky I suppose at least that i didn't name the client!

- - a few weeks ago, I read a Tweet by a respected author, asking if anyone else thought the main idea of a (well known, current and successful) book by another respected author, was insubstantial and transient? Yes it’s very standard bitching. He probably didn’t even mean it as personally as it sounded. But my very first thought was – oh my god - that thanks to Alerts/Tweetdeck/PR monitoring she would have undoubtedly read his comment too.

- - some years ago, when blogging was at a similar stage, I wrote a light hearted post complaining about the demise of the seriously mad 1970s self-help scene (Est, rebirthing and similar) dwindling, in my view, to the half hearted, lifestyle pap that was “Psychologies” magazine. And of course the very first comment was from the editor of Psychologies, herself: wondering if I had read it, or was qualified to cast such aspersions? (Fair point).

It’s all a bit like the scene from the Woody Allen movie, “Annie Hall”: where Marshall McLuhan - playing himself - is brought into an argument between Allen and someone who had been pontificating loudly about McLuhan’s work (in the queue outside a cinema). “If only life were like this” comments Allen as McLuhan won the argument for him. Although the line from this scene that sticks with you more is probably “Oh, for a sock full of horse manure”.

Being confronted by who you detract is some kind of defining dilemma of social media. “On the internet no-one knows you are a dog.” They used to say. Whereas now, in web 2.0 it's more that: "anyone instantly knows if you call them a dog"?

I suppose it is a matter of habits catching up with a new quirk of social communication? Either we will be more honest, or more guarded, who knows?

But what about the generalised effects of sharing private thoughts so publically? Is it changing the nature of our discourse, our culture? Making us more emotionally explicit. There are theories that Facebook is making the English less reserved, and making men less prone to hiding their feelings. Research into social media like Facebook shows that being single will incline people to reveal significantly greater quantities of personal information. Other research into the phenomenon of couples who met online shows it is a media almost perfectly adapted to the process of falling in love (because it accentuates positive projections - like "we are so alike" - while providing fewer of the bubble bursting cues and clues we get on meeting in reality). Russell Davies complained about this to me once - that his global team meetings on (the then new) Second Life were always haunted by the suspicion of flirting. Is that it? Are we inadvertently using "love letters" as a medium for other purposes? Russell will no doubt pop up to comment!

It may be just me. But when I sat down to write “an article” some years ago, I’d never have dreamed of using the word “I”. Let alone revealing personal details. Now I write as I blog. As a form of thinking aloud. And I assume you - the reader - are used to being addressed in this way. So that our communications are more personal, one to one. Am I right? Is our discourse becoming more intimate? In the online edition, perhaps you too can comment and let me know?

Back at Marshall McLuhan, I rather doubt that the medium is the message. I tend to think that the media are only partly instrumental – expressing (rather than ever entirely causing) some broader trend, some pattern or reconfiguration. That the Romans made the roads more than the roads made the Romans. (The proposition that sticks in my mind from his famous book being that “the radio made Hitler” – as if economic depression, radical right politics, scapegoating mechanisms writ large and other factors played no role).

I would hazard a guess that we have been drawn to the precise modern forms of social media – including this "directed telepathy" and their general broadcasting of our inmost thoughts – by some cultural tide. It might the radical loneliness of competitive individualism (where everyone is a pseudo pop star and hence no one feels that they have any real friends)? It might be that we are evolving into Rifkin’s “Empathic Civilisation” (which I discussed in a previous column)? It might be something more enigmatic. A re-emerging small world consciousness that’s reviving something like a palpable sense of "Fate"?

I suspect that personally - cultural trends aside - it’s also simply good to blurt every now and then. Even if occasionally embarrassing, or humiliating, for ourselves, or others. There’s something healthy and wholesome and right about speaking the truth. Not the factual truth. Nor the kind of truth that is deployed in “feedback” to curb or manipulate another. But the sort of objective, emotional truth – often, a shock of self recognition – that you find occasionally in movies, and poetry and glances in the mirror.

I have no idea why I would tell you all this. I'm just thinking aloud. But then again, isn’t that my point?

Interview on Green Marketing

2011-02-11T04:41:00.000-08:00

To celebrate the launch of the CIM (Chartered Institute of Marketing) "The Marketing Century" book next friday (which I wrote the chapter on sustainability and marketing in) here is a video interview with yours truly from my friends at Wiley.

More on the Marketing Century book at the Cim site here

Green Book - a worthy winner

2011-01-25T04:54:00.000-08:00

(via my friends at Grayling)

Open Planet Ideas from Open Planet Ideas on Vimeo.

After three months of concepting, collaboration and evaluation, Sony and WWF have today announced that the GreenBook concept by Paul Frigout has been selected as the final concept to be taken through to realisation from the innovative community platform, Open Planet Ideas.

Reinventing community activism to attract the Facebook generation, ‘GreenBook’ is a cross platform software application. Geo-location and social gaming techniques are used to create a new method of informal, 'flash mob' volunteering, where friends locate each other and congregate to work together on short tasks. Individuals can post their needs and offer their services, as well as make donations, sign e-petitions, get information, win rewards for participation and share their stories.
The decision was made after the expert panel investigated the shortlisted three entries, consulting with the creators and considering technical feasibility and potential for impact. Other shortlisted concepts included The Identifying & Recording Wildlife concept by Juliet Wilson and the Network of Real-time Wireless Micro Weather Stations for Microclimate Monitoring by Regis Zimmer.

Paul Frigout, also known as ‘Siniuc’ in the digital world, will now have the once in a lifetime chance to realise his concept working with Sony Europe’s R&D and design teams, WWF experts and members of the IDEO creative team.

Morgan David, head of Sony’s Broadcast & Professional Research Labs and member of the Open Planet Ideas expert panel, said: “We chose this idea because of its huge potential to bring people together and motivate participation. We believe GreenBook will breathe new life into the age old concept of volunteering through the application of cutting edge social technology. “

Jean-Paul Jeanrenaud, Corporate Relations Director at WWF International said: “We feel this is an exciting concept that will enable people to come together to support and give their time and energy to their local area and address some of the key environmental challenges that we are facing today.”

The intention is to develop and pilot the software with third parties and release it as a ‘white label’ application for any organisation to use. Initial feedback from volunteering organisations has already been very positive. For example volunteering charity TimeBank, welcomed the ‘Greenbank’ concept.

CEO of TimeBank Helen Walker, said: “At TimeBank we are committed to exploring ways of engaging new audiences in volunteering. This concept takes advantage of the increasing use of smart phones and the techniques used in social gaming to engage with a new generation of volunteers. This use of cutting edge, social networking technology could be a powerful tool to enable volunteering to become part of the fabric of everyday life, anywhere in the world.”
Open Planet Ideas received over 400 innovative concepts from budding designers across the world, all hoping their idea would be selected by the project’s panel of experts, as ‘the most innovative new way to use existing technology to help preserve our planet’s natural resources’.

For further information, please visit openplanetideas.com

Yours truly at PSFK London

2010-11-15T13:04:00.000-08:00

... where I returned to a long running theme of mine (I used to call this "the campaign for real innovation")

Spread the Word - get your Green Awards entries in

2010-10-13T15:09:00.000-07:00

10/10/10 - the world's biggest party (350.org)

2010-10-05T03:54:00.000-07:00

This just through from our friends at 350.org

"The world is throwing a party this Sunday, and we wanted to make sure you got the invitation.

This summer, a series of unprecedented natural disasters including floods, fires, landslides, droughts and record heat showed the world that our global warming future is already a scary reality.

This weekend, on 10/10/10, hundreds of thousands of people from 176 nations will participate in a global work party to demonstrate an alternative path to their leaders. These people are tired of watching catastrophes unfold while politicians fail to act to curb rising carbon emissions. They also want to have some fun.

So instead of sitting on the sidelines waiting for politicians to do something, you can use this day to join with others to work on creative climate solutions in your own community.

In the U.S., friends in New Mexico will install a solar panel at a local homeless shelter, Atlanta parishioners will weatherize their church, and Californians will hold bike repair workshops. Internationally, Pakistanis will rally together in the flood-ravaged village of Booni, youth in Kabul will begin to replant their deforested nation, and the President of Maldives will install solar panels on his official residence.

All told, more than 5900 events are scheduled across the world, making it the largest day of practical climate action the planet has ever seen.

Grassroots organizers, led by 350.org, don't pretend they can save the world from global warming by planting trees for a day. Instead, 10/10/10 is about sending a powerful message that the world is ready to combat climate change, and that leaders need to get to work to make that happen.

It's not too late to sign-up for an event on Sunday or to organize one in your town. Get involved by signing 350.org's pledge to participate, check out some cool events and ideas, and leave a comment to tell us your plans for 10/10/10.

P&G Announces new sustainability vision

2010-09-28T03:25:00.000-07:00

In its new "sustainability vision," P&G has set a goal, to be achieved by 2020, including:
• Replacing 25 percent of petroleum-derived raw materials with sustainably sourced, renewable materials;
• Reducing packaging by 20 percent per consumer use;
• Powering company operations with 30 percent renewable energy; and
• Reducing waste from manufacturing to less than 0.5 percent

Read all about it at Greenbiz

NB Does anyone have the detailed data and/or expertise to compare this with Unilever's ten year sustainability vision which says they aim to double the size of the company while reducing its environmental impact compared to today's absolute level?

Sustain at the RCA - feed your mind with fresh ideas

2010-09-25T04:00:00.000-07:00

Stunning exhibition of degree show work with sustainability themes is on at the Royal College of Arts (I got a sneak peak this Thursday as I was one of the awards judges). This piece by Noemie Goudal is one of my personal favourites.

Reuse (not Refuse)

2010-07-16T03:48:00.000-07:00

Launch of a new scheme to encourage Reuse of perfectly good white goods and furniture in London yesterday outside City Hall by a famous dizzy blond and Joanna Lumley - looks like a great scheme anyway

details here

Mix Your Own Environmental Masters

2010-06-25T04:59:00.000-07:00

(via Naomi Martin...)

Bournemouth University have this year launched a range of innovative Masters Degree Short Courses in the Environmental Science field, allowing students to study part time, and choose their units of study. This new range of short courses has been developed to specifically target recent graduates or those working in Environmental or Ecological fields and looking for additional development within their industry. The courses, each specialising in a different field, offer students a contemporary style of learning, including fieldwork where appropriate, to allow students to develop or apply their knowledge in a real setting to provide a robust platform on which to build their skills. The course areas on offer, include; Aquatic Invasive Species, Field Skills, GIS for Environmental Managers, Introduction to Statistics in R, Marine Planning. Each short course requires the person to attend the university for 3-4 days, where there will be a mix of theory and practical sessions. There is pre and post course work and students can take an optional academic assessment to gain 20 academic credits at postgraduate level. Based on the completion of three short courses, the students would gain a recognised Postgraduate qualification. For more information on the short courses visit www.bournemouth.ac.uk/environmental

(For the sake of balance I have to point out that the Environmental Policy MSc at imperial and Bath MSc now moved to Ashridge are also of course excellent, as is the Forum for the Future programme :)

The Truth About Social Media (New Article for Mediacat)

2010-06-23T15:49:00.001-07:00

The Truth About Social Media

For the last 4 or 5 years I’ve been getting questions from clients about social media – how to get involved, whether to get involved?

Let me say at the outset that I am a big fan of brands engaging in social media (and all new media) in the right way for the right reasons. I’ve been involved in pioneering internet businesses and digital marketing campaigns and (like sustainability) I simply think it’s the way the world is going. So I am not one of those people telling their clients that Twitter is a fad (and that it's "much safer to stay with TV advertising" therefore). Did you know by the way that David Ogilvy once predicted that all the fuss about TV advertising would blow over and clients would return to print advertising, with all it’s evident strengths in putting a hard selling proposition to the audience? I digress – but anyway I just want to say I'm a fan - I am not being a ‘David Ogilvy’ here.

However I do tell clients that – if they are going to approach it in a conventional way – they have absolutely no place or role within social media. A ‘conventional’ approach would mean things like ‘how do we get messages about our brand out in social media’. If that’s your mindset then stick to your television commercials and your junk mail and (as the saying goes) ‘leave well alone’.

To explain why I say this; consider how misleading the word ‘media’ is within the term social media. It isn’t a broadcast channel, a stadium, a mass medium of any sort. It is a criss-crossing network of individuals chatting to each other, sharing photos from the weekend, interesting stuff they have found, their opinions on the World Cup… In other words social media are a lot like a telephone network. Would you as a brand interrupt my telephone conversation with a friend or relative? No, of course not. So why would it be okay for you to butt in when we chat online?

But it isn’t exactly one-to-one and private. That was just to dramatise my point. Others can overhear these conversations. It’s more like two of us chatting on the bus. And that makes for a good basic guide to how brands and companies (or factually their employees or agencies) should behave. If you would break into a conversation on a bus under the same circumstances, then it is okay to do so in social media too.

An example. One of your customers is complaining to a friend about the TERRIBLE service they got from your company. Should you interrupt? You will be tempted to as basically there could be a LOT more people listening than on a bus. But the answer is: only if you are willing to sort out the problem this person has. If you are personally shocked that they should have such a bad experience, and your motive is to put it right then sure – jump in, given them your business card and say so. I’ve seen that happen and it stops the conversation – because the customer is now happy.

But if you simply want to counteract or somehow “answer” the criticisms, forget it. You tell them that it’s not usually a problem, imply that it’s their fault and so on, you will make things ten times worse. And bystanders will conclude that you are a powerless corporate idiot, who is incapable of fixing this person’s problem, who instead will trot out any meaningless phrases to try to make it sound okay… I’ve seen that happen too. And when it happens repeatedly both the individual and the company develop a bad reputation – with others on the bus (or forum) chipping in that ‘this always happens’.

Another common situation is the whole question of talking to people about your brand. Once again it’s all about imagining the situation on the bus. You are sat there in your office worker clothes with a bunch of (let’s say) teenagers, or parents bringing their young children from school. How are you going to break into their conversation? Obviously you are going to make a complete fool of yourself so forget it. For instance very few digital agency “virals” ever take off in a big way, because they just aren’t as funny or relevant (to teens) as the ones made by teens themselves.

What if you get someone who does fit the profile to do the talking for you? There are successes of this sort. For instance LEGO reached out to Adult Fans of LEGO (AFOLs) to recruit “Ambassadors”, a hit programme. However you do need to tread carefully. Some “guerrilla” marketing outfits in the USA hire actors to go into social situations to talk about their new product or brand. Literally they will hire actors to stand in bars shouting orders for that new drink, and chatting to people around them – or hire (using incentives) teenagers to talk to friends about new products. P&G owns one of these buzz networks (Tremor) and has had some success they claim in getting teenage boys to talk dandruff as part of the sell for Head & Shoulders shampoo. My problem with this approach is it is unethical, even for marketing - and a CRISIS waiting to happen. If it’s authentic and not manipulative (like the LEGO example) then fine. But tread carefully.

The other thing that works ok in social media for old style marketers is called brand utility. This is the equivalent (on the bus) to handing out sweets or goodies. The movie “300” gave away big storage space for photos to users of MySpace (back in the days where storage was limited). It happened to come pre-loaded with images from the movie “300”. Lots of the grateful recipients thought the movie looked cool too. So they checked it out. And a hit was born. Nothing too wrong with that you could argue, and it has become one of the mainstays of digital agencies’ marketing strategy toolkit.

My own view? All of this is a tragedy. It’s like discovering a whole new continent, full of lush resources and possibilities… and building a McDonalds on the beach. The real potential of social media in my view is its plasticity – it’s potential for building whole new forms of media, which happen to be authored by a brand. Just as Disney make movies, cruises, theme parks… Disney can also make great social media experiences (for instance a family treasure hunt might be a nice idea – or a programme of free online piano lessons to celebrate a music themed movie?)

Ah yes you will say but we aren’t Disney we make furniture, or electronics, or jeans, or even headache tablets. But round any product there is always something humanly fascinating. Even headache tablets are part of a broader field of topics which magazines pour words about (exam stress, period pain, ageing…). Find the fascination in the market and engage people in a new way. Be a media owner, not a media buyer. That’s my advice. It’s not the easiest way – but I believe it’s the only way to really belong.

Save the Beach

2010-06-09T12:30:00.000-07:00

Corona have created a ‘Save the Beach’ campaign which aims to promote the preservation of European beaches. They’ve been working with German action artist HA Schult, and have created a pop-up hotel in the centre of Rome made entirely from rubbish collected from European beaches. The first guest at the hotel was Helena Christensen. HA Schult is world famous for his work ‘Trash Men’, in which thousands of life-sized human figures were made entirely of non-organic waste. These sculptures have “lined up” in emblematic places such as the Great Wall of China, the Egyptian Pyramids, and Moscow’s Red Square.

(another) Ethical Fast Food Joint

2010-04-16T07:13:00.001-07:00

I think Max in Sweden were actually the first to carbon footprint their menu AND they got 20% of their customers to switch to more climate friendly options. But Otarian looks lovely too (and great name/concept). Via (and full story at) ecorazzi

'Corporate Ethics' - Bananas!

2010-04-06T09:29:00.000-07:00

Film gets a first screening at the ICA this Friday
http://www.ica.org.uk/?lid=24240#booktickets

Well worth reminding ourselves from time to time how the other half of our supermarket convenient global supply chain live and what is done in the name of our demands for cheaper & cheaper produce?

Welcome to the Commons

2010-03-31T02:26:00.001-07:00

Please tweet, blog, embed and generally spread the word! :J

Thought for the day

2010-03-18T05:06:00.000-07:00

(via Martin at Eden project)