Citizen Brand

A green tipping point

More evidence that green is good. A national survey released yesterday says consumers are willing to pay more at the cash register for environmentally-friendly products. The number - a whopping 76 percent.

The survey was conducted by an arm of the Opinion Research Corp. The data also reveals that when consumers put on their employee hat and go to work that 74 percent believe their companies should be taking action to lead eco-friendly initiatives.

A spokesperson for ORC said the findings "seem to debunk a common perception that people will go green as long as it doesn't cost them."

Does your cause program have a "tree seedling?"

I had the honor of being asked to do a column for PRWeek's edition this week. I thought I would share it here for people who aren't subscribers to the magazine. I would love to hear your thoughts on what I discuss.

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Will the economic downturn stem the rising tide of cause branding? We hear that question a lot these days. The answer is no. Cause branding, in fact, is growing as more and more companies realize the benefits that doing good can bring to their business. However, the downturn has caused more consumer skepticism about business in general. Although cause continues to grow, this skepticism could slow it down if cause programs are not authentic and transparent.

Every community in America has a critical universe of philanthropic families that provide financial support for the unique causes that form the social and cultural foundation of that community. In Kansas City for example, we have the Kaufmanns, the Helzbergs and the Halls among others. Each of these families is frequently called upon to provide their financial support and personal endorsement for our city’s most important causes. They do not make their decisions hastily. They give their support only after fully understanding what the specific impact of their donation will be.

While cause branding programs do not replace the work of the great philanthropists among us, there are important lessons to be learned from the careful approach they take before making decisions. Corporations involved in cause branding today and those contemplating it in the future should consider the same approach in developing and executing their programs. In particular, companies need to make sure their cause branding programs clearly and specifically communicate what the money being raised is going to accomplish.

It is critical today that each time a company asks a consumer to either purchase a product with proceeds going to a cause or make a straight donation to the cause, the consumer knows what their money will do. The more specific, the better it is for the company, the consumer and the success of the program. Now we know there is a slight difference in the amount of donation being made by our civic philanthropist and our consumer engaged by a cause branding program. But why should there be any difference in making the consumer feel as good about their donation as the philanthropist? That’s a trick question of course. There should be no difference.

Consider this partnership announced recently between Coca-Cola and Stater Bros. Supermarkets in southern California. The two companies, neither of which are a Barkley client, are combining efforts to plant up to 1 million tree seedlings in two California state parks. It is part of an overall effort by the California State Parks department called “Reforest California” to replant thousands of acres burned by wildfires in recent years.

The campaign runs through May at all 166 Stater Bros. stores. Money will flow from two sources. Customers will be asked at the checkout counter if they want to contribute and Coca-Cola will donate $1 for every $10 of purchases of its products sold at Stater Bros. stores. This is a simple and direct approach. Every customer knows their checkout donation or their purchase of Coke products will plant a tree in one of two state parks in their area.

Companies and nonprofits need to use this program as a guidepost. When you ask your customers to get engaged in your cause program, can you tell them exactly what their donation will do? If not, you need to stop and ask a simple question. What is our “tree seedling?”

 

Global warming is good for business

From Reuters, a brief review of a new book from Harvard Business Press which tells today's business leaders they had better remove their heads from the sand when it comes to global warming:

BOSTON (Reuters) - Chief executives can no longer brush off concerns about climate change but need to start figuring out how global warming -- and regulations intended to curtail it -- will affect their businesses.

So asserts "Climate Change: What's Your Business Strategy?" (Harvard Business Press, $18), a new book due out May 1.

"You can remain completely agnostic about the science of climate change but still recognize its importance as a business issue," write authors Andrew Hoffman and John Woody.

Their slim 97-page volume doesn't delve into the science of climate change, which suggests that, by burning fossil fuels and releasing greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide, humans are warming the earth, potentially setting the stage for enormous changes in weather patterns.

Rather, they presume that human responses to climate change -- primarily in the form of regulations that raise the cost of emissions -- will affect how businesses operate.

Smart CEOs will respond by developing a way to measure their company's "carbon footprint" -- the emissions caused by heating buildings and transporting goods, for instance -- finding ways to reduce it and then taking a role in lobbying to influence what new environmental regulations look like.

"I'm talking to those who think, well, the science isn't there and I'm going to continue to stall -- big mistake," said Hoffman, a professor of sustainable enterprise at the University of Michigan, in a telephone interview.

'THIS IS A BUSINESS ISSUE'

"Let's take all the environmental language out of it, let's take all the moral language out of it, the 'Do the right thing' language out of it, and simply say, brass tacks, if you're a business, this is a business issue," Hoffman said.

Climate change will also create opportunities, in the form of new demand for green products, which is attracting new investment, the authors note.

"In green building and alternative energy, there is money to be made," Hoffman said. "That's where (investors) are going and if you're not thinking about this, you're missing out on these capital flows."

The authors cite U.S. industrial heavyweights General Electric Co and DuPont Co as companies that took on climate change directly and found opportunities to both cut their costs and develop projects that appeal to businesses and people concerned about sustainability.

Those companies stand out in part because U.S. CEOs generally trail their European Union counterparts in engagement on this issue, Hoffman said.

"The EU has been under a carbon regime and so they're much more used to addressing this," Hoffman said. "But there's a cultural issue too ... There is, I think, within the general public within Europe a greater sense of the scientific evidence around climate change and the need to respond than there is in the United States."

Taking climate change seriously -- and taking steps to reduce a company's emissions and other environmental impacts -- also gives it a better chance of having influence on future national and international regulations on emissions.

"Regulation is coming. If you want a seat at the table to influence what that regulation should be, you've got to get on this now," Hoffman said. "It may even be too late."

Interwoven Threads

A Barkley alum has made good on his dream of starting his own company.  It's called Interwoven Threads and here is a very nice article about this unique t-shirt company in Present magazine.  Congrats to Andy Woolard for a job well done.

Another holiday gift idea from your personal shopper here at Citizen Brand.

Now this is what I call wind power

Now I know there are some people out there who don't want those big wind mill turbines dotting the landscape or even the ocean scape....but I wonder how they would feel about a giant "tethered tornado" in their backyard.  Thanks to triplepundit for the pointer.

Seems a guy named Louis Michaud has come up with an idea to create an "atmospheric vortex engine" that will actually create a tornado that he believes can create energy.

"This so-called atmospheric vortex engine will suck in hot air through a series of ducts at the base and channel it into an open roof arena. This would lead to the production of a tornado-like funnel of air that would provide the turbulent push to turn power-generating turbines."

"In order to generate electricity from this crazy machine the fans that create the vortex double as the power generators as well. Once the vortex is generated the twister will spin on its own without any additional or constant energy input needed claims Michaud. This self propelled full-grown tornado will suck in air through its base to continue spinning. This influx of air will turn the fans which will convert the mechanical energy into a claimed 100 megawatts of electricity."

Being a native Kansan and having lived through a tornado when I was 10 years old, this isn't such a crazy idea.  I have often thought during our summer thunderstorms that if we could just figure out how to harness the energy from them, we would solve a lot of problems. We will see if it can work next spring when Michaud tests a 12 foot model in Ontario. 

Brown and Green do go together

From Triple Pundit:

"What can Brown do for you?

It’s not just what United Parcel Service can do for you, but it’s also what they can do to trim operating costs and help the environment – all at the same time.

UPS announced this week that the Petaluma branch in Northern California will lease 42 Xebra electric vehicles to deliver smaller packages in congested areas where driving the Big Brown trucks aren’t so conducive to swift navigation through heavy traffic and, the bane of all urban drivers, finding a place to park (or double park, as the case may be).

The Xebra electric vehicle is manufactured by Santa Rosa-based Zap. In business since 1994, with customers in 75 countries, Zap has made over 100,000 electric and alternative vehicles, from scooters to their planned electric SUV.

And now UPS is one of those customers.

With a ground fleet of 94,542 vehicles moving 16 million packages around the world every day, and a barrel of oil hovering in the 90’s, actively pursuing alternatives to large fossil-fueled trucks is a matter of good business sense as well as environmental concern. 

UPS walks the talk with the largest private alternative fuel fleet in the industry.

After all, it doesn’t take a big brown truck to deliver your next order from Amazon to your front door."

Green potato chips

One of my Barkley colleagues, Susan Shank, pointed me to a great story today about another brand figuring out that going green is not just the right thing to do, but is good for business.  In a New York Times story, we learn how Frito-Lay is going to totally convert one of its plants to become energy neutral.  Here is an excerpt from the Times.

"At Frito-Lay’s factory here, more than 500,000 pounds of potatoes arrive every day from New Mexico to be washed, sliced, fried, seasoned and portioned into bags of Lay’s and Ruffles chips. The process devours enormous amounts of energy, and creates vast amounts of wastewater, starch and potato peelings.

Now, Frito-Lay is embarking on an ambitious plan to change the way this factory operates, and in the process, create a new type of snack: the environmentally benign chip.

Its goal is to take the Casa Grande plant off the power grid, or nearly so, and run it almost entirely on renewable fuels and recycled water. Net zero, as the concept is called, has the backing of the highest levels of corporate executives at PepsiCo, the parent company of Frito-Lay.

There are benefits besides the potential energy savings. Like many other large corporations, PepsiCo is striving to establish its green credentials as consumers become more focused on climate change. There are marketing opportunities, too. The company, for example, intends to advertise that its popular SunChips snacks are made using solar energy.

“We don’t know what the complete payoff for net zero is going to be,” said Indra K. Nooyi, PepsiCo’s chairman and chief executive. “If this works even to 50 or 60 percent of its potential, that is fantastic, and it’s so much better than what we already have.”

Stop the presses!  A Chairman/CEO that has authorized a major change in business operations without knowing exactly what the payoff will be.  Pass the chips please!

Honda answers IBM

We didn't have to wait long to see which other global corporation would step up to help our planet.  Thanks to Jack Yan for telling us about Honda and the hydrogen car.

The sun shines on IBM

Every little bit helps and when the little bit comes from corporate giant IBM, maybe it will add up a bit faster.  Triple Pundit points us to a story about how the computer behemoth has come up with a way to easily take scrap material left over from the creation of microchips and re-purpose it so it can be used in solar energy panels.  IBM says the process can save money and help satisfy the solar industry's growing appetite for silicon.

Pundit tells us what this means:

"With silicon being the limiting factor for growth in the solar industry, this is a smart solution to help curb the scarce supply of silicon in the future. With the solar industry growing at an alarming 30-40 percent each year the demands for silicon are rising rapidly and the supply is on a short leash. This is why the solar industry is fixing its eye on reclaimed silicon materials sourced primarily from the semiconductor industry. IBM intends to implement the silicon reclamation technology by the second quarter of next year at its two U.S. chip plants."

Thanks IBM for the small step.  Who is next?

It's the Earth, stupid

With apologies to James Carville who helped Bill Clinton win an election in 1992 by making sure his candidate and the campaign stayed focused on the economy with a similar admonition.  Wouldn't it be refreshing if a candidate or candidates running for President in 2008 put the same emphasis on the environment.  Voters will always care about the economy - that is a given.  But it would seem that there is a growing consensus among the vox populi that we had better start paying attention to Mother Earth.  If this is true, the candidates will not be far behind.

Today is Blog Action Day.  More than 15,000 blogs are focusing attention on a single issue - the environment.  My two cents worth is that unless we do begin to take all actions large and small to impact the future of our planet in a positive way, nothing else will matter someday.  Most especially the economy.

 

Andrea is already in the mix today with a simple message from a young man who understands that each one of us can make a difference with our actions.  Another action bloggers can take is to join up with others of us over at Razoo.com and make a difference every day in ways both large and small.  Check it out.  And Alicia and Brady always know of good links when it comes to the environment (and of course fair trade.)  Alicia recommends The Accidental Environmentalist as a place to get good ideas and fresh thinking about taking care of our planet.

So tonight, make sure you turn the lights off when you leave a room; try to use a little less water in the house but make sure your flowers and trees have enough to drink; and, take one less trip in the car each week.  These seem like little things, but they are all doable.  It takes 21 days to form new habits.  Today is a good day to start some for all of us.