Search results matching tag 'eco'

Live to Create Workshops Teach New, Creative Consumerism

2292853 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:01:00 GMT

Normal 0 While the recession keeping a fierce grip on the nation, and with many people feeling fearful, or unable, to spend money on High Street goods this holiday season, this economic situation could bring opportunity to transform how we think about our role as consumers, and see some of us turn into creators.

Remember the punk rock DIY culture that emerged out of the 80s recession? Many people looked toward that time of economic hardship, as also being a time of great art with the likes of Vivienne Westwood showing how good fashion design could come from surprising places. What if people struggling in these economic hard times could harness that punk rock type of creative spirit and make something from what they have already, in the form of skills, clothes, film, books, music or just in day-to-day business life? This recession-led holiday season may be about the deconstruction of old consumer ways and the rebirth of a new creator class.

Coming up 28 November is an opportunity to find out how to tap into the power of creativity, and apply it to the consumer world, the workplace and life. The Live to Create workshops, a series of one-day sessions to help people unleash creativity, are hosted by Lucy Wills, who wears many professional hats as a successful vintage jewellery designer, performer, creativity consultant, teacher and climate activist. She’s teamed up with Erica Grigg, of Carbon Outreach, to teach others how to apply creativity, and help people flip from being consumers to creators.

Both women are fellows of the RSA and have hosted workshops at business conferences in the UK and USA. Both are also active in the climate change movement, with Wills performing as a mermaid at many rallies, and being a visual symbol of the activist events. The Live to Create workshops are geared toward professionals in all areas of business, who are seeking new approaches to applying creativity in the workplace and in personal life.

“We have to each become our own brand champions, and to decide for ourselves what we really need. Our current culture encourages us to define ourselves through what we eat, wear, watch and read. Even those in the creative industries suffer, fearful to step outside their areas of expertise or create for themselves as well as for their paying clients,” said Wills, who has worked in corporate environments as well as being a creative entrepreneur. “There are so many barriers in the way - both practical and social, however through our combined experiences and those from whom we have learnt we believe we have a process that enables you to break through - in just one day.”

Professionals who find themselves in a pressure-filled work environment will be given tools in these workshops to help them apply more creativity and problem solving to everyday issues. Exploring how to launch creative projects, without making the mistake of over-spending on budget, will also be addressed.

“We believe that creativity is the key to unlocking a truer sense of self and to bring deeper meaning and richness into all aspects of our lives,” said Wills.

Live to Create is a series of seven sessions, being held now, and into 2010, and has room for 14 participants. Book your space here.

My consultancy Hai Media Group is supporting the Live to Create workshop series, because we feel passionately that people need help to thrive creatively in the business world and in their personal lives.

Creating more, consuming less,

-Lisa

*Photo of Lucy Wills by photographer Retts Wood.

There’s natural and then there’s ‘natural’

209478 — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:05:00 GMT

In these eco-conscious times, the stakes just get higher and higher.

Even wine can be more natural than you think.

The so-called 'natural wine' phenomenon has its roots in France.

The big daddy of natural wine was a Beaujolais-based fourth-generation winemaker and chemist called Jules Chauvet, who died in 1989.

His exacting approach to winemaking and wine-tasting gave birth to the natural wine movement, which has gathered steam since his death.

Paris is the naturalists' epicentre and there are growing numbers of 'natural wine' bars in San Francisco, New York, Tokyo - and London.

The London phenomenon is largely thanks to one leading wine importer, Les Caves de Pyrene. As well as running tasting for the wine professionals, they also run the critically acclaimed wine bar Terroirs which is where most Londoners are likely to have encountered these ‘natural wines'.

But Terroirs is not alone; other wine bars with lists of 'natural wines' include Artisan & Vine, and Green & Blue.

The term 'natural wine' is a direct translation from the French vin naturel, but it seems to lose something in the journey across La Manche.

Douglas Wregg, a director of Les Caves de Pyrene and self-confessed wine naturalist, describes the process simply as, ‘from vineyard to bottle, there's nothing added in and nothing taken out’.

Ref:

http://www.timeout.com/london/connect/food+drink/blog/150/whats-the-big-stink-about-natural-winer

http://www.lescaves.co.uk/shop

http://www.terroirswinebar.com/wine.htm

Comet turns itself into "petrol station"

2228399 — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:18:00 GMT

Am loving this idea from Comet . . . they're offering free charging points for electric cars at their stores. Or at least they're planning to - starting with a pilot scheme at their Purley Way store (Croyden)

Check out the Register's coverage here: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/06/11/comet_e_power/

I love the idea from a business model perspective - essentially turning Comet into a 21st Century retail-driven petrol station. A great innovation for a chain that's having real trouble coping with the likes of Amazon.

Though am not sure they've fully thought the concept through, as given the amount of space in the present range of electric cars, the only thing someone's going to be able take home in the back of their car is a toaster!

Futurism, QR codes, ethical knickers and iFood – it’s a changing world out there.

322703 — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 03:24:00 GMT

On Feb 20th it’s the 100th anniversary of the launch of Futurism (founded by the Italian Filippo Tommaso Marinetti) a movement that looked to the future and embraced new ideas, technology and challenged the old ‘museum’ way of thinking. Look forward not back was the gist of it.

Don’t be afraid of the future and accept change. Ok, they did a have a few negative thoughts – war is good. However, their ideals are something we could well all benefit from in the ad industry at the moment. Instead of moaning about recession, living in the past and defending change, lets embrace it. It’s maybe ironic that a new model agency is launching on Feb 20th with a very new way of working. I’m sure Campaign will be covering it in a week’s time – there’s bugger all positive or exciting news about. at the moment

QR CODES TO CHANGE THE FACE OF ADVERTISING So what’s a QR code? If you don’t know (and don’t worry most Brits or sales assistants in phone shops don’t) ask any Japanese kid with a mobile. Simply put, it’s a sort of bar code (a matrix code) that a mobile phone can read. It’s square in appearance and looks like lots of pixels. So what? you may say but in Japan there are everywhere and have become the new love of all marketing directors. QR stands for ‘quick response’, when a phone scans the graphic it can decode it as text or take you direct to a web page. Forget phone numbers or urls, this is modern technology at work.

The downside is there look worse than telephone numbers on ads (art directors will hate them as much as packaging designers hate bar codes). They really will change the face of ads – mutilate may be a better word as they will sit on ads in a very nasty way. But as an additional marketing technique they’ll add to effectiveness.

What is surprising is that something so linear in thinking has been picked up by creatives and played with. Several artists have used them, Sergio Kano has made a series of images up from over 500 of them, each QR code represents a well known brand slogan. The French street artist ‘Space Invader’ has been placing tiles around the world for years, each one based on the space invaders game. Now he’s converted his mosaic style to QR codes. If you spot one of his tiles then scan it into your phone and it’ll give a message like ‘have a nice day’.

KINICKERS TO ETHICS More than pretty knickers have made an impressive commercial to highlight their new range of ethical pants. This is one step on from Pants for Poverty who got several hundred people to parade around St Pancras station in knickers only (one of which was a female creative director of an ad agency – I’ll mention no names to save embarrassment). The ethical knickers campaign uses a sexy catwalk commercial (directed by Verity White, ex BBC) to highlight the unethical aspects of most underwear. The commercial is excellent – take a look. Did you know that the cotton industry spends $2bn on pesticides – and uses more than any other industry? Or that sweat shop workers get less than a penny per kicker? Or that for every kg of cotton produced they use 20,000 litres of water? Makes you think.

iFOOD I recently suggested to one publication to set a brief to see if 3 agencies could turn a piece or marketing around to get people to pay for it. Lets be honest, if you put a price tag on most advertising would anyone (besides the client) pay for it? This opens up a new idea – what if we aimed to create marketing communications that people did pay for? Stuff they really wanted? Like the Gorilla or Sony balls ads. Like that 24 mailer or that NIKE brochure that sold on ebay for a $60. Well it seems some smart chaps at Kraft foods in the States have achieved just that. They are getting Americans to pay to get ads with food planning tools. It’s become a big hit on the iPhone and now other brands are looking to smart phone applications as the next generation of technology driven marketing.

ECO-VALENTINES DAY This Valentines Day you’ll have a dilemma, should you buy nice red rose from Holland or ethical ones? Which is more ethical, low carbon footprint ones or Fairtrade ones? Maybe you should just opt for chocolates. Again, should you pick the organic or Fairtrade? How about a gift instead - well you’ll have lots of ethical dilemma choices there too. The eco-ethical movement have started to hi-jack Valentines Day as an ethical expression of love – if you love someone then you’ll only buy an ethical gift. It’s a fair point but if you are finding it all too much you can always take the left wing green anti-capitalism view – Valentines Day is a capitalist attempt to generate extra consumerism – so buy nothing.

ETHICAL MARKETING & THE NEW CONSUMER If my regular readers are wondering why I’ve been off blog for a while it’s because I’ve been finishing off my book for the publisher’s Wileys. Ethical Marketing & the New Consumer, which can be found on Amazon (you can pre-order at half price). When it launches it’ll be one of the first multi-platform launches of a book with a website and smart phone applications. Watch this space for more updates.

Is Facebook the new age model business?

322703 — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 01:45:00 GMT

Is social need replacing greed? Given Mark Zuckerberg’s recent comments it seems it is. Mark has stunned City folk and ‘greedmunsters’ across the world with his reply to the question “how and when will Facebook make money?” He isn’t really interested in making money, he openly admits money isn’t high on his agenda, as long as he has enough to get by. What drives him is a personal ethos to connect people.

The idea that the man behind one of the most successful ideas of the last decade isn’t driven by money is a good thing. It shows that greed isn’t always a driving factor. His supporters would probably put his success down to this very factor. Mark wants to build a great social site. His motivation is to bring people together – so far he’s got 110 million and growing. Half of the internet population of Chile are on Facebook. Spanish sites are exploding across Latin America. Sites are springing up across the globe, in part to it’s clever design, local people can set up their own language version.

Teenagers are abandoning emails (due to too much spam) and only using Facebook to talk to their friends. In the UK over 12 million (1/5 of the population) are on Facebook. Facebook is the best thing since…well there isn’t anything to compare it to. At just 24, Mark is one of the youngest CEO’s in the world and powerful with it. If he decided to get a God complex he could use Facebook against anyone with devastating effect.

That’s the power of social networking. Thank God he doesn’t. Mark likes to keep it simple (using an open platform means others do a lot of the work). And simple means being focused on people and values not shareholder value. Mark is probably one of the most eco-ethical leaders about. The basis of any great business is putting its ethos and values first. Without compromise. That’s what creates reputation and makes it a success. Look at Innocent, Body Shop or Green & Black. Then of course, inevitably, it gets bought. The ethos is replaced with different values –make more money, feed the shareholders – and it evaporates. Everything is about cost not quality or values. Craik Jones being an example.

As soon as any business loses its ethos it loses its focus and success. There’s two great business quotes that come to mind, “cutting costs is not the same as making money” and “If you set out to do something well you’ll make money. If you just set out to make money, nothing great will happen.” Brands in trouble (or Blands – brands who have lost their core identity) should get back to their ethos, not spend fortunes on ad campaigns or worse still, rebranding agencies. Nice graphics isn’t the solution.

Abbey was nicknamed ’Shabby National’ because of its poor staff. Millions of pounds later it had a new logo (even if it was a crap one), a new ad campaign and even a new retail environment. But the people were the same. The public wasn’t fooled. The reputation remained the same because it hadn’t really changed. Ethos is what drives us all. It encompasses our values, our emotions and our purpose. It defines WHAT we do, it’s the WHY we do it. It dictates our behavour. And that’s where so many brands fail. When they lose their ethos they start to behave badly and soon get a bad reputation and the customers flies away. If your only value is make a quick buck you son start to exploit people.

You don’t care what damage you do. “People? Planet? Screw them just give me the profit.” The current recession has stimulated much debate about ethics and money. The triple bottom line is people, planet and profit, but most shareholders just want the one. One politician commented on Radio 4 recently, “the problem in the City started when people got so seduced by bonuses they left their morals at home”. “Greed is good” was Thatcher’s slogan. Now it’s a damnation. “”Need is good” is the new slogan.

The need to look after people and the planet. We are about to enter an era where ‘greed’ is fast becoming an anti-social word and ‘profit’ just means profiteering. Now we ask not HOW much did you make but HOW did you make it? At what cost? All of us are asking what price are we going to pay for the reckless City types who gambled billions, expecting to profit in good times and expect us to pick up the tab in bad.

Making money was seen as successful, but not anymore. Success in the future will be about values and ethos. Winning over 110 million people to an idea is success at the highest level. How much Facebook makes in money terms is irrelevant, it’s just a number. What difference it makes in the world is worth far more. Those brands that like to brag about their profits, especially the daily sum they make, will be well advised to stay silent.

They may think it’s a measure of success but profit is not a measure the public respects anymore. Brand reputation is built on WHAT you do, WHAT positive difference you make. Not WHAT you make. I for one would give Mark Zuckerberg my vote for man of the decade. Not because he has created an amazing socially empowering idea but because he has stayed true to his values and not been corrupted by money.

Somehow, we all know that he’ll be still around when all those City kids have vanished, and long term he’ll do well. It doesn’t matter if he ends up as rich as Bill Gates, you can only spend so much in a lifetime. His real riches are the people he connects. The difference he’s already made in the world – many social campaigns have started on Facebook like ColaLife. As the Beatles said, money can’t buy you love. It also doesn’t pay to have it as your only value. Does money make the world go around? No it doesn’t, people do.