Eco Optimism

New Blog Almost Ready: Biz@Level 6

With summer coming to a close, I'm almost ready to pick up again on the blog front.  As you know, this space has been fairly quiet, but in the next 2 weeks or so, my new blog will be up and running: Biz@Level 6.  Before getting into the new name, there will be a few other things to know:

- The blog will have a new URL.  Eco-Optimism.org will redirect, but no longer be the actual site

- Using Wordpress (sorry Typepad!), we'll change the typical chronological format to a magazine style layout.  Not only will this be more pleasing to the eye, it helps the more important posts have a longer life by showing them as featured stories.

- The green subject matter of Eco-Optimism will be included in the new blog, but as a subset of a more expanded view of business.  Which leads me to...

Biz@Level 6 (or business at level six) will be commentary and insight on conducting business today, with a particular emphasis on marketing and communications.  

The concept of Level 6 comes from the notion put forth by psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg that the highest stage of moral reason (Level 6) is when "individuals adhere to a small number of abstract, universal principles that transcend specific, concrete rules.  They answer to an inner conscience and may break rules that violate their own ethical principles."

It is my belief that consumers and buyers (B2B), slowly but surely, are on their own journey of moral reasoning that is driven by the convergence of today's three megatrends: Economic Disruption, The Green Movement, and Distrust of Institution.

The result is purchasing decisions that transcend traditional drivers of price, quality, supply, etc., and begin to weigh in on a more complex set of decisions, many of which are defined by the causal affect the purchase itself will have on the environment, other human beings and myriad other factors.  

This is not to say business is changing from profit generation to some sort of quasi not-profit existence. Not at all.  The truth is that even the most altruistic motives must still make good business sense.  And that, my friends, is the whole issue of Level 6: how to generate a profit while taking in account the all the new complexities of purchase decisions, communication, operations and transparency.

We'll be ready right after Labor Day.  Until then, enjoy the last few weeks of summer!

Paid Tweets? Don't Bother.

The concept of using a 3rd party service to Tweet "releases" to media has been brought to the forefront with the recent launch of Muck Rack.  

Read about the service and our recommendations on our agency post.

WSJ Bashes GOP for BS'ing America: Money quotes must now be on the money.

Today's Wall Street Journal article, "How Dysfunction Helps the GOP" is a must read for all communications professionals. In it, columnist Thomas Frank writes:

Where the conservative mythologists show their hand is when they use their own monumental screw-ups, committed during conservatism's long years in charge of the government, to prove that government in general is a futile proceeding, and that Democratic health-care plans, in particular, can't possibly succeed.

As a professional communicator, I've been both impressed and outraged with the oversimplified, inane soundbyte-driven campaigns run by the GOP over the years. In fact, when media training on the art of the money quote, I often use the example of George H. Bush's, "Read my lips: No new taxes." Beautiful, really.  Who cares if it were true: this is Washington, after all.

The GOP has been great at presenting top-line arguments for complex issues to sway voters with severe ADD for years, truth and nuance be damned. Not to say the the Dems are more truthful, they just aren't very good at the art of money quotes.

But my point is not to bash the GOP, but to point out the fact that this sort of BS messaging isn't cutting it anymore for anyone, anywhere. That includes all of us in the business of business.  For years, when these sort of half-true spins were pointed out in the press, the GOP fluffed it off as an attack by the "liberal media."  Guys, this is the WALL STREET JOURNAL. Time to rethink your strategy.

Since the economy has blown up, the expectation of transparency and authenticity from government and corporations alike is at an all-time high...and likely to stay that way.  If the GOP doesn't adopt a more nuanced approach, they will be in danger of becoming completely out of touch.  Being the party of bashers won't serve them well as the economy improves.  Instead, it will confirm that they had little to do with the progress and everything to do with the collapse.  And that is simply not true. 

Surely, Americans are SICK of the hot air in Washington. Al Franken was voted in to the senate, for crying out loud.  This CAN'T be the answer for change.  In the end, we need both parties to bring the level of discourse and debate to a much more productive level or the whole lot of them on both sides of the aisle will be out on their butts.  

Let's hope they get the message or more Franken-type calls for help are sure to ensue. Chris Rock 2012, anyone?

Who Needs Oil When You Have Sand?

Check out the world's largest solar array planned for the Sahara Desert. About 20 German companies are looking into scattering panels throughout the region, eventually creating enough energy to power Europe. 

Granted the $555 billion price tag is a bit daunting, but we spent more than that on the TARP bailout. GO EASY, I'm not saying we shouldn't have done TARP, I'm merely making the point that if we really want it, we could change things in the USA pretty quickly.

But why is it that it seems that this type of big thinking only comes from Europe? And when we try to give tax breaks and other incentives for companies to make bold moves, the left complains that we're favoring Big Business or the right claims Obama is a socialist?

In the words of Hyman Roth in Godfather II, we need a "true partnership" between business and government (of course he was talking about pre-Castro Cuba partnering with the Mafia). Other countries are wooing clean energy business, innovation, manufacturing...the whole 9.  And we can't even get a wind farm built off the shore of Cape Cod.

Wake up people.  The sun is shining, but getting closer to setting.

Air Cars: 100 mpg and 96 mph

By next year, hybrids could go the way of the 8-track tape: a relic of fast-moving technology.  2010 could see the first wave of "air cars", or more specifically, "compressed air cars." They could take you over 800 miles on a single fill-up, at speeds of up to 96 mph. They should refuel in less than 3 minutes, and at speeds over 35 mph emit about half the CO2 of a Toyota Prius.

Instead of me telling you about it, read Gas 2.0.  These look promising.

Green Marketing Newsflash: Don't B.S. Consumers

Greenwashing has become so common, it's almost already jumped the shark. Companies trying to market their way into the green heart of the American consumer are finding the the BS filter is at an all-time high. Most people are SICK of bogus claims from large organizations.  We've seen too much, from the sex scandals to Ponzi schemes to going to war on a flimsy premise (we should have just said we were going into Iraq to overthrow an idiot and stabilize our long-term interests in the region...but that's a topic for another blog).

In this space, we've been preaching the importance of REAL value: the basic "so what" that your company and products bring to the table. Just because green and social responsibility is all the rage doesn't mean you need to shoehorn it into your message or mission. True, you should have a long-term plan to get inline with the evolving climate around environmental and social responsibility, but putting a bow-tie on a pig in the meantime sure ain't the answer.

A new study shows that:

• 31 percent of consumers say their first impression of a business touting its social engagement efforts is "just about the marketing." 
• Another 16 percent say they feel these efforts take a company away from its primary business focus. That means that almost half of consumers are skeptical of companies that are focusing on social issues, especially in cases where those efforts are inconsistent with an organization's primary business mission.

At the same time, and despite their skepticism, consumers believe that businesses have a responsibility to engage on social issues. In the words of the study's author: 

• "86 percent of consumers feel it is possible for and incumbent upon a profitable business to address social issues. But consumers are specific about that engagement. They want social engagement to be done in the context of a company's business strategy and mission."

So the message: focus on deliver the best product you can, communicate its value clearly and consistently, and only blend in cause-related messages when its completely germane to your mission and the sensibilities of your target group.  Then and only then will you message build goodwill.

And if you do have some serious good to talk about, don't be shy.  Be real, be humble, but don't be afraid to be loud. The American consumer may be getting smarter, but they sure haven't improved their attention span.

Come up with a way to do THAT, and then you'll really have a mission worth talking about.

Back for Now, and Pulling for Wind Energy

The blogger is back...for now.  Still traditionally powered, but I'll get to wind power in a moment. 

Quick update: Working with my interactive agency, Overdrive Interactive, it seems that as we change over this blog to my agency's site (among other things in a project for my agency Cercone Brown & Co.), I don't have to stop writing.  They can import all this content into the next version of Eco-Optimism automatically. And because they are moving this week to a new 10,000 ft. space, let's just say I need to wait to get my move complete!

So without getting too much into that, thought I'd point out an encouraging sign for wind power in Massachusetts: The Boston Globe (still open for business!) today reports that the National Guard is hoping/planning to construct 17 wind turbines on their Cape Cod base.  The result would be 34 megawatts of power...just about enough to make the base self-powered.

But here's the thing...to me it just underscores the need to move ahead on the Cape Wind project that would build 130 turbines in Nantucket Sound. That's nearly enough to power all of the Cape and the Islands, making this pristine part of coastal Massachusetts independent of existing power sources.  And if this happens, could it be too long before we see more offshore wind farms?  Seems a logical move these days.

We'll keep an eye on it as the project moves forward.

Blog update: moving to a new platform

Folks:

Sorry this blog has been so quiet lately. I'm in the process of moving content to a new blog platform (changing from Typepad to Wordpress).  This will allow this space to become more like an online magazine where some content can stay up as a separate page for longer periods, as well as accommodate podcasts and downloads.

One reason for the change is that I plan to begin adding interviews with eco-economy leaders. People who are making it happen at companies that you know and admire, and maybe a few that you've not yet heard from. The format will be a hybrid of reporting and Q&A...and if I get very ambitious, a podcast.

This will be a running series that will help readers see how peers are solving many of the same issues they face.  Real companies, real time.  My plan is to compile this information along with other research and insight into a book.

So please sit tight and I'll let you know when I'm back up and running.  And in the meantime, if you read this but have not signed up for the feed, take a minute to do so.  This way I'll be sure to be able to let you know when and where things are back to normal.

Social Web Prediction for the Next 5 Years: "Wing of Bat and Tail of Newt"

Forrester Research (the same people that brought us the Bubble in the 90s), today unveils its Five Eras of the Social Web.  Like most prognosticators, Forrester "expects the groundswell to continue."  Thanks, I thought it was just a passing fad.

Still, if I allow myself to stop being snarky, this is a good look at how the social media world is developing.  Suffice to say, any company still on the sideline needs to jump into the game.  HOWEVER, if you read the trend, it's not necessarily about how organizations interact with their target, but how they can become part of the interaction between individuals.  This is a very, very important distinction.

Take a look at the predicted The Five Eras of the Social Web: 

    1) Era of Social Relationships: People connect to others and share (ended in 2007)

    2) Era of Social Functionality: Social networks become like operating system (matures 2012)

    3) Era of Social Colonization: Every experience can now be social (matures 2011)

    4) Era of Social Context: Personalized and accurate content (matures 2012) 

    5) Era of Social Commerce: Communities define future products and services (matures 2013)

Beer Break: Life Worth Living

This post has nothing to do with the economy or the environment (the 2 Eco's that give this space it's Eco-Optimism name).  It does, however, have to do with beer, which is a bit of a trump suit in my opinion. When beer is involved, do we really need an excuse?

In all seriousness, this blog is also about great marketing techniques, so every once in a while we can loosen up and appreciate some great work.  And NO it's not from my agency, Cercone Brown & Co. (shameless plug).  It's fittingly from McCann's Dublin office for Heineken.  

If you've ever had a close encounter with The Other Side, this spot will resonate. Cheers!

http://attitude.adforum.com/top5/2009/04/20/heineken-one-green-bottle-mccann-erickson-dublin/