Greenwashing. It has Nothing to do with Dry Cleaning.

posted on April 30, 2008

Get On Your Feet

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Eat Your Vegetables

To give you a feel for just how mainstream this green brand is, we met people from established natural brands at Kitchen, a conference for sustainable brands, who had never even heard of them. It's a design brand, not a green brand. But now that they're established - and the whole world is "going green" – what is helping fuel their growth and maintain loyalty is the fact that their products are non-toxic. It's important to note that it's still not what they're leading with.

Kind of like when you sneak vegetables in chocolate cake.

According to Schuler, Method believes that green "shouldn't be something you stress out about, but should be easy and something you adopt over time." Their focus is pretty darn simple: good for the planet, good for people and good for the surface.

And I'll be damned. They actually listen to their customers. Through product safaris, pop-up stores and a rich advocacy program they learn from their customers what their needs are. It's what fueled development of its new toilet bowl cleaner and new baby and kid body wash and shampoo.

Method may stand for "People against dirty," but they could write a book on going green.

- Jen Maxwell-Muir

posted on April 29, 2008

The Story of Social Marketing

In school, I could spend hours perusing the blogs and sites of my peers, "poking" and "friending," scanning picture albums and making comments on things I liked and didn't like. I was invested in social networking. I was a networking fiend, although I couldn't or wouldn't have wanted to articulate that to you back then. Maybe I thought, in some way, these arguably wasted hours made social networking mine - it made me the expert. Social networking, after all, was something for only me and my friends, only me and my profile page, only me and my thoughts. Erik came to Kitchen to tell us otherwise.

The beauty and catch-22 of social networking is that it is a very personal experience which ultimately builds and feeds community. This creates a marketing chasm of sorts, an incredibly intimate connection opportunity for companies to embrace. Rob Walker said that consumers make purchases according to their personal stories. In other words, a product or service they buy is consciously or subconsciously a depiction, rationalization, or explanation of who they are as a person. If personal stories are what we want to tap into as marketers, we've got to start integrating our corporate "personal" story with those of our consumers. If a company commits to the contribution of their story, if they commit to listening and interacting with these networking people and their communities, the company is no longer a corporate intruder but a trusted community member. Social networkers are then inherently aligned with the company and its values, or at least more inclined to invite the company into their personal space - whether it be putting a product in their home or telling someone else about the company's service. Consumers' personal stories become intertwined with the company's message and the word-of-mouth / word-of-keyboard brand awareness - it becomes organic.

Erik continued to rattle off some statistics, one of which said that consumers are more likely to buy a product their friend told them about, as opposed to a corporation. So should Wal-Mart create a Facebook profile and start "friending" people? Probably not. It's disingenuous. It's not authentic. And the new generations of cynical consumers and social networkers can smell a fraud a mile away. They should, however, jump into the dialogue, in whatever way is genuine to their brand.

Social networking expands beyond my former student-life procrastination tool. It is not just something my friends and I are participating in, it-s something my dad is about to log onto (how embarrassing). It's something my boss is looking at. It's something that the marketing team of the coolest potato chip maker ever is excited about.

What I learned is that social networking is still mine, but it's everyone else's too. And if marketers want me, as a consumer, to hear their story, they've got to start listening to, and participating in, my story too.

(not)The End

- Jessica

posted on April 25, 2008

Sustainability is in the Mix: Lessons from the Paint Can

Kitchen Conference speaker, Viginia Young, co-founder of Yolo Colorhouse, deems Yolo paint the "organic milk of green building" as it's the gateway for the consumer into the green building industry. And what a colorful gateway it is. Whether Yolo consumers are interior designers or homeowners, the company reaches their audience through a simple and beautiful aesthetic and approachable product.

Yolo's products and practices would appeal to any consumer, no matter what shade of green they may be - the company offers zeroVOC paint, soy based inks, 100% post consumer paper, bio-diesel and rail shipping, among other things. However, creative and sustainable solutions is not their leading message - providing exceptional paints that meet their customers' needs has always been their first priority. Being a consumer of Yolo means you get an amazing product that just happens to be sustainable.

In my opinion, Yolo is a great example of sustainability being a product of function. In a market saturated with messages of sustainability and green practices, we should look to Yolo as an example of what's next: a company whose design is inherently green and sustainability is at the core of it all.

- Molly

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The Buzz on Natural Standards

Burt's has set out to create a solution with a third-party certifier, the Natural Products Association, that will create a natural certification for all natural body care products. Every product looking to be certified, must follow guidelines of having at least 95% natural and unprocessed ingredients, a standard that Burt's has lived by since day one. Although Burt's has been leading the natural industry for some time, John pointed out that it's not about beating the competition or calling out their shortcomings, it's about raising the standard for consumers, educating consumers and working towards The Greater Good - which will ultimately benefit consumers.

- Molly

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Martin Luther King Jr. and Ronald Regan in the Marketplace

"There are two types of businesses," proclaimed Rob Walker, The New York Times "Consumed" columnist, and author of the soon-to-be released Buying In.

There are "I Have a Dream" companies and "It's Morning in America" companies. Rob received nods and sighs of approval for his insightful and cleaver observation in the opening keynote speech of this year's Kitchen Conference.

Even without Walker's articulate explanation of his witty business descriptors we understand the reference to Martin Luther King Jr.'s celebrated and history-altering speech as well as Ronald Reagan's political TV ad that painted a calm and optimistic picture of America's economy. Rob went on to explain "I Have a Dream" companies cause change while "It's Morning In America" companies react to change. Walker asserts that successful companies tend to operate on the philosophy of Martin Luther King Jr., instigating the trends and innovation in the market, while Reagan's figurative followers are actually anti-progress, blissfully accepting the norm and merely reacting to change.

To me this is a lovely image: the Martin Luther Kings of the world overcoming the Reagans with innovation and vision. I pause and look around at the multitude of "I Have a Dream" companies I'm surrounded by at Kitchen. Most of them are thriving. Rob is right, they're succeeding and growing and continuing to push the envelope, instigating the ripples of environmental and social change we see sprouting throughout the marketplace.

I look around again, and wonder just how many of these companies have been purchased by "It's Morning in America" companies as they frantically try to keep up. Clorox's partial acquisition of Burt's Bees immediately comes to mind, although it's far from the only example. And it's true in Burt's situation, as with many others that there are potential positive results of such an arrangement, including: the ethics and methods of the smaller "I Have a Dream" company can be shared with the larger parent company while the larger company is able to provide the resources to see the smaller company's innovative dreams and visions to fruition, the list goes on.

So, maybe it's not so bad to have a dream, first thing in the morning in America, if that dreams stays with us all day.

- Molly

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Keen STANDS Tall in our Kitchen

As a relatively new Maxwellite and anxious and wide-eyed attendee to the Kitchen conference, I was just getting into the swing of things when Bobbie Parisi and Linda Tom from Keen Footwear took the stage. For those living in a shoe box, Keen launched an incredible consumer engagement campaign called "STAND" this last year, which has been lauded with accolades throughout the advertising industry, as well as by their hordes of loyal consumers. With lofty but achievable goals; including the increase of brand awareness and the reaching of a younger target market, Keen utilized STAND to encourage new ways of thinking about the company’s values of sustainability and play in nature.

So what did STAND consist of? Oh, only a nationwide campus tour and student ambassador fleet, an online contest for artists and athletes' a film festival' including Keen's own documentary shown across the country, famous judges and thousands of dollars worth of prize money. They accomplished all of this and continue to tour the states today showing their movie and spreading the Keen word for less than some spend on a flip flop product launch.

The Keen STAND Secret

Bobbie and Linda shared a few of STAND's secrets to success. It really just came down to smart choices. They diversified their efforts but stayed consistent and passionate with their message:

• They engaged multiple partners and continued work with them throughout the brainstorming, planning, development and implementation process.
• They used their advertising dollars wisely, exploring new print ad avenues, magazines that targeted consumers they were not only familiar with, but also still reaching for, and they took advantage of value-ad online advertising.
• They studied, understood and maintained dialogue with their target market of young people. Keen first utilized social marketing tools like Facebook and provided eager college students with swag to share with friends as they promoted the Keen brand among their peers. They also allowed their student ambassadors to adapt the campaign according to their school culture and resources. And they listened. Young consumers want to be heard, not preached to and that's what STAND was all about.
• They stayed malleable. For example, when New York colleges were apprehensive to allow a corporate presence on campus, Keen rented a space in Soho and invited "green" artists to show their work as they shared their STAND documentary.

What surprised me and others in Bobbie and Linda's session was not the response the STAND campaign received. As we would hear throughout the presentation, this plan was intricate, well executed and supported on a variety of advertising levels and by a variety of partners. What was surprising was how well Keen utilized their financial budget and the exponential amount of impact that came from that investment. It was not only impressive, but incredibly inspiring to see that smaller-sized, growing companies with authentic values are capable of spreading their name, their product, and their business heart to millions of people across the country.

I may sound a bit sappy. You're probably saying "these are shoes and this was just another marketing campaign," but Keen's innovation was the highlight of my first day at this year's Kitchen Conference and their passion for connecting people and our natural world is something I am more than willing to STAND on.

- Jessica

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Score Zero for Safeway

posted on April 15, 2008