As we head into a long holiday weekend in the States, check out this new magazine called Lunch. Just when you thought maybe there were no new, refreshing magazine concepts left to launch, here comes Lunch. What is it?
"LUNCH is a magazine for the smart, savvy (post)consumer aged anything between 16-60 years old; LUNCH is more an attitude than an age. Value-conscious but increasingly aware of living a lifestyle paradox: responsible, trendsetting but also trend-driven. Wears Blackspot as well as Converse. Loves shopping, buys organic food and drinks Diet Coke, wears People Tree as well as H&M, weekends in the country, frets about global warming but flies EasyJet, wore a MakePovertyHistory band, loves festivals, breaks into a trot when approaching Selfridges. Has probably boycotted Nike, Nestlé et al, albeit temporarily. Loved No Logo and Supersize Me, reads Vogue and Closer.
Recognise anyone?"
Thanks to Audeamus for pointing this out to us.
Fast Company tells us that Goldman Sachs is taking a strong stand for the environment.
Arguably the world's most prestigious investment banking firm, Goldman recently adopted an environmental policy that calls for "world governments to tighten restrictions on greenhouse-gas emissions, commits to investing $1 billion in renewable energy, and proposes a Center for Environmental Markets, a research partnership that will explore how the free-market system can solve environmental problems."
This is the kind of leadership that companies need to emulate quickly. Green issues are only going to grow and the employees of the future want to work for companies that are truly trying to make a difference.
This move will only solidify Goldman's position as a global leader and puts them well on the road to becoming a real Citizen Brand.
One key attribute of a Citizen Brand is open communication with everyone inside or outside the organization. Southwest Airlines is one of my favorite brands and it is a company that has always been open in all of its communications.
Right now, for example, Southwest has been in the news regarding a potential change in their open seating policy. If you have never flown Southwest Airlines, then you may not know that there are no assigned seats. You board in three groups - A, B and C - and you take whatever seat you want when you get on the plane. It has become part of the Southwest culture and an important part of their ability to operate more efficiently than other airlines.
Not everyone likes it of course. In fact, some people will avoid flying Southwest just because there are no assigned seats. I personally like it. But the fact that there are customers who don't means Southwest has to listen.
So what do they do about it? Do they just suddenly change their policy and then try to spin some kind of announcement to make it sound good? No, they don't. Instead, the CEO of Southwest is discussing the issue on the Southwest blog. There has been no decision made, yet here is the CEO talking direct with customers about the issue and its pros and cons. Refreshing.
Too bad it seems refreshing instead of being the norm in business communications.
More on this at Andy's blog.
My desire to help our National Parks pales in comparison to Kurt's. His National Parks Traveler website is not only the best voice of advocacy for the budget cuts that are putting our Parks in peril, but it is a truly beautiful blog to read and his photographs are worth a look each and every day.
Since it is almost officially summer and time to hit the road and take in some of the beautiful vistas we have to offer, get revved up by going to Jesse's Life. He did the "Lost in America" thing, quit his job last year and has been on the road ever since traveling the country and seeing the sights. He visited one of my favorite places on earth earlier this year - Rocky Mountain National Park. Here is one of his pictures of the Park.
And here is a photo from one of my recent trips to Rocky Mountain. This is Long's Peak, a mountain I have yet to climb but have known many who have. It is an imposing edifice that is so massive. It is the centerpiece of the Park and is easily visible on clear days even from the eastern Plains of Colorado.
Budget cuts can't hurt Long's Peak. But they can hurt the ability of the Park Service to do the job they need to do to make the visitor experience the best it can be and to protect the Park for generations of visitors to come.
Read Kurt's and Jesse's blog and then consider writing something yourself about what our National Parks mean to you.
It's the age old economic argument - guns or butter.
Now, Samuel Loewenberg tell us in Salon that the hunger season has come early in Niger, yet another African country facing a pandemic of hunger. And the guns or butter debate has taken on a new dynamic. He points out that any aid directed toward fighting hunger tends to go to those countries torn by war as opposed to those who are at peace. Loewenberg writes:
"It is often worse for a starving child to live in a country at peace and with a stable government, because war-torn countries attract most of the funding, said Morris. (James Morris, who heads the World Food Programme) The hundreds of millions suffering from simple poverty are overlooked. Meanwhile, sites of horrendous conflict like Darfur, in Sudan, receive media attention, but usually only of the "it's horrible and there's nothing we can do about it" kind.
But in the case of peaceful Niger, and its neighbors in Western and Southern Africa, there is something that can be done -- and relatively cheaply, at that. In the seven countries in Southern Africa facing a hunger crisis, for instance, the WFP needs $637 million to feed Southern Africans for the next three years. So far it has only half that amount. The absence of that money is catastrophic: In Zambia, food distributions were halved in the week before Christmas.
To put these millions of dollars in perspective, the cost of the occupation in Iraq is more than $150 million a day. So five days of war, a work week, would feed more than 12 million people for three years."
Ironic isn't it? If you live in an African country, pick up a gun and start a skirmish, you are more likely to get food aid than if you don't pick up a gun. And if we put our guns down in Iraq for one week, we could make at least a dent in the hunger pandemic that is decimating an entire continent.
It's obvious that governments cannot solve this problem. Where are the corporations and nonprofits ready to partner to solve this most basic of causes in our world.
Our client, Lee Jeans, made a big announcement today regarding their signature cause branding program benefiting the fight against breast cancer, Lee National Denim Day.
Here are the details about Lee's new partnership with The Entertainment Industry Foundation.
The first ten years of Denim Day have been focused on education and awareness. The second decade of Denim Day will focused on funding specific research projects working to find a cure to breast cancer.
It will be exciting to see where the second decade of Lee National Denim Day leads all of us who have been on this ten year journey.
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