Blue Marble

Love The Ocean & Win A Trip!

Not a bad deal.  If you love the oceans, (and who doesn't?!), you have to check out Ocean Champions.  Ocean Champions is the only national bipartisan political voice for the oceans.  That's right.  They actually work to get pro-ocean political candidates elected and thereby secure healthy ocean policy.  As one of their supporters states, "Oceans are the only reason why we haven't all died from CO2 poisoning."  Makes you feel a little protective, huh?

As a part of OC's campaign to attract ocean enthusiast supporters, they are offering a contest where you and three other friends can win a trip to Zihuatanejo, Mexico.  Included in the trip is a VIP Tour of a very innovative new SUSTAINABLE resort and residential community, Playa Viva.

Okay, you got me.  They are, indeed, both Blue Marble clients.  So of course we shamelessly promote their effort.  After all, the oceans did put the blue in Blue Marble.  And, there is no denying that we love everyone who stands for the health of this beautiful planet.

Check it out and take your friends to Zihuatanejo, with you.  (There are some great surf spots there!!!).

Laptop Lunches

Yesterday I had the pleasure of interviewing President and Co-Founder, Amy Hemmert, of Laptop Lunches.  Laptop Lunches is a boutique business in my neighborhood that markets cool lunch / snack packs , a la bento box, worldwide.  Here's their positioning:

Laptop Lunches are American-style bento boxes designed to help families pack nutritious, envornment-friendly lunches for school, work and travel.  Our sustainable lunch containers-- which come with a book of healthy lunch ideas and lunchmaking recipes-- are reusable, recyclable and diswasher safe.  And all of our lunch boxes are lead-free.
 



 I love hearing about a company who gains a surprise audience following.  (With all the market strategizing I do, surprises are always refreshing).  At their inception, Laptop Lunches, planned to appeal to kids.  What happened was adults really liked what they saw.  I can understand this.  (I just purchased a Laptop Lunch).  Certainly mom's and dad's purchase Laptop Lunches for their young children.  Surprisingly, adults aiming to minimize waste like it, too.  What's missing?  Teens.  Why?  Because teens are a trendy / convenience based demograph?  Fickle, yet so critical.

When I asked Amy what she believe was the greatest challenge for families she replied, "Finding time.  Dealing with consumerism and materialism.  Getting off the screen-- whether it's tv, playstation, iPod, computer, -- whatever.  Just getting everyone off the screen and looking at each other and talking.  I'm really tired of multinational corporations dictating our values-- what we eat, think, feel, etc...".  (Right on!)

Interestingly, Amy viewed the internet as the "lifeblood" of her business.  "It's the most vital tool for our business.  It's the only way we have of connecting with our customers.  Engaging in a dialogue and informing them about our activities." 

When asked what she felt was most important about a company website, Amy replied,  "You've got to give the impression that there is a real person on the other side of that screen.  People really want the personal touch-- someone there who is responsive and committed to you."  The convenience of the internet with human service.

I also heard Amy weave the word 'trust' into our interview, quite a bit.  When asked how she cultivates her own personal sense of community, Amy responded by saying, "My neighborhood.  It's fun and trusting."  I felt this an interesting term to describe a community.  But, ever so relevant. 

How many companies do we trust?

LOHAS Leadership Summit

Panel discussion with Dominique Counsiel (President, Aveda) and Michael Crooke (Revolution Living).  GREAT stuff.

Dominique...to be a successful company, three things are needed:

• Leadership - Setting the direction and vision and mission (REAL vision and mission, not corporatespeak b.s.)
• Systems -- Creating repeatable processes to execute
• Partnerships -- Creating strong relationships with business partners

Aveda's mission:  "Our mission at Aveda is to care for the worlds we live in, form the products we make to the ways in which we give back to society.  At Aveda, we strive to set an example for environmental leadership and responsibility, not just in the worlds of beauty, but around the world."

• 91% of the Aveda professionals are aware of the Aveda mission.
• 56% of consumers are aware.

"We will change the world by changing ourselves first."

Dominique segued to Michael Crooke, Revolution Living CEO, tells his story of how he ended up at Patagonia, and then Revolution.  Crooke gave a tour of his "personal journey" in getting to Revolution Living.  Key point:  "This world is about mentors."

Q:  What have you each heard from your staff and your customers that has affected your work?

Counseil:  I found out from one of our partners how to better track customer's needs.  He came up with a new system (in this case, for hair coloring).  He has figured out this new system, it's good for the customers, it's good for the earth, it's good for the bottom line.  As a leader:  I don't think it's our job to have ideas...there are plenty of ideas around us.  We need to listen more.  (ed. - BRAVO!)

We have a "no-email-on-Wednesday" policy.  When you email, you have a false sense of accomplishment.  It's only left brain.  Relationships are the foundation of business, you need to have creative ideas.  You need to go out and listen.  This is "electronic procrastination" -- you've answered 120 emails at the end of the day, you're exhausted and when you get home...you've actually accomplished nothing.

Crooke:  For me, there's a place in New York (Chattaqua?).  There are ditch diggers to dignitaries.  They have one thing in common ... they have bright eyes, and are all there to learn.  There are as many great ideas in this room, than anywhere, at any time.  It's listening.

Q:  What is one technology you've put in place that's really pushing the envelope?

Counseil:  We have a lipstick container.  It was time to redesign our lipstick design, and we decided to look into "refillable" lipsticks.  There was resistance...there are all these cliches that it needs to be heavy.  We actually went out, and talked to Aveda customers, and there was actually a strong desire for this.

Now of course, we needed to work with suppliers.  Our creative department worked with suppliers and created a beautiful case.  But then we had to find out how to make it.  We found a way to make the case with two recycled inputs, and challenged our suppliers to make it.  The results:  the sales went up 50%...and customers bought one case...but then bought SIX lipsticks to use in it.  We connected, and thought non-traditionally, and connected, and listened to what customers really want.

Crooke:  I think the most major thing that we've done with technology is how we market our brands.  Word Of Mouth Marketing is the only way to grow and nurture our brands in an authentic way.  You've got to have authenticity and transparency, and things like blogs are a big part of that.  We're using RSS feeds, and podcasting, and the demographic we're going after isn't a demographic...it's a psychographic...and those people want to connect to the company, and do it on their terms, and on their platform.  The more ways a customer can connect with the company, each new way has the potential to double the customer's lifetime value.  Because of blogs, because of podcasting, because of Word of Mouth, we'll connect.

tag: lohas

Steve Case Keynote At LOHAS

After leaving AOL, Steve Case founded Revolution LLC.  One of the Revolution companies is Revolution Living.

According to their backgrounder, Revolution Living

"...Invests in businesses that promote more balanced and sustainable lifestyles. Its holdings include Flexcar, a car-sharing service; Lime, a media company; Miraval: Life in Balance, a resort in Tucson; and a minority stake in Gaiam Inc., a distributor of yoga and pilates videos and equipment."

Key Quotes:

"You can't separate physical well-being from other aspects of wellness."

"Hypercars may be the wave of the future, but SUVs are still today's standard."

"I spent my first career trying to democratize information.  For my second career, I want to do the same for the tools and choices of a healthy lifestyle."

How to get there:
- Offer more LOHAS choices
- Make the choices more convenient and accessible
- Give people more control over their lives

"People are looking to achieve a sense of balance."

One highlight was Case's story..the idea of a "play pump," a merry-go-round that kids can plan on that is also a water pump.  That way, instead of hiking miles to the nearest water source, the parents can just say "Hey! 'Go out and play!  We need more water!'"  Great idea.

Case:  "Health care is really 'sick care.'  Health is something different, people do it voluntarily, and do it 100% out of their own pocket.  When you cross the line, and become 'sick,' you enter a whole different world of co-payments and PPOs and all that.  They are separate worlds now."

Great point..."it's not good enough to be eco-groovy.  You need to have a great product or service, and a great supply chain."

Case:  To the point above, it's very important that you need to meet certain criteria. LOHAS need to be good on core dimensions, as good as anything else.  Why didn't I have a hybrid car before last year?  Because they looked dorky and they weren't comfortable! 

"What is going to empower a new healthcare system is to give customers choices."

(One funny bit:  Audience Question:  "What's next for you, Steve?"  Case:  " Um, I kind of have my hands full at the moment, you know, taking on the healthcare industry and all."  (laughter))

"As we make this more of a mainstream phenomenon, we need to be welcoming.  Don't make people feel they need to 'qualify.'  We need to attract a more mainstream audience.  It's like fitness clubs...people need to feel like they can DO it!  They don't want to feel like an idiot."

"We're not there yet.  We need this view to be just the way things are.  There shouldn't be 'green investment'...it should just be 'investment.'  It's kind of like with the Internet...I knew we'd arrived when people stopped saying 'did you check your e-mail...they just say 'did you check your mail.'  It disappears, and just becomes part of the fabric."

tags: lohas, stevecase

LOHAS - Green Building

Jemilah over at the The Green Life has a nice wrapup of the Day 1 morning sessions at LOHAS.  The money quote:

"'Greenbuilding is real, it's tangible, and it's better in every way" said Sam Labudde, and he's right. Building green offers and improvement in health and welfare of people who live or work in the building, it's usually aesthetically pleasing, dramatically more environmentally responsible than conventional buildings, and it costs less.

Check out the rest of Jemilah's coverage here.

tag: lohas

Liveblogging LOHAS - Megatrends with Patricia Aburdene

Patricia Aburdene is the author of Megatrends 2010: The Rise of Conscious Capitalism.

According to Aburdene, "conscious capitalism" the predominant trend to watch in the coming years.  (In contrast to what she calls "unconscious capitalism" as defined as Friedman's statement "the social responsibility of business is to increase profits.")

Sprirituality is stronly on the rise (across all disciplines, not solely western "sprituality"...e.g. 40% increase in yoga practitioners since 2002).

Tells a story of Greg Merten, who was responsible for HP's inkjet business, who changed his outlook (and improved HP's fortunes) when he took a more holistic approach to business.

Another trend...the "values-driven consumer" -- when a customer's values align with a company's, the customer is more likely to engage with that organization (ding!).

Three ways to run a company to meet these trends correctly:

• Values --work harder to link the values you stand for with your product
• Standards -- Eductate the customer to differentiate between diluted standards, and the higher standards that you embrace.
  
• Authenticity -- Walk the talk.  The customer needs to know that the way that the business is run is aligned with the same values that show up in the marketing of the product.
  

Tells story about Google, etc., sponsoring meditation in order to combat stress in the workplace.

Tells story of American Express stockbrokers who have been trained in "forgiveness" significantly outperform their peers.

Social Responsible Investing -- After the accounting scandals, SRI funds increased 7%, where other funds dropped 4%.

Two great closing quotes:

"The information society is coming to a close.  The way that engineers will create breakthroughs in the future will be through 'human consciousness.'"

"Capitalism changes to meet the needs of people."

tags: lohas, sustainable, green

Liveblogging LOHAS - Mycology With Paul Stamets

Only caught a portion of Paul Stamets' talk, but...very interesting.

Stamets is a mycologist.  That's right, he's really into mushrooms.

Among other things, Stamets talked about an invention he came up with, called the "life box."  In a nutshell:  corrugated cardboard is a great medium for seeds.  His idea:  put seeds between the folds of corrugated cardboard boxes.  ANY kind of box.  Shoe boxes.  Computer boxes.  Refrigerator boxes.  When you go to the store, you could choose a product in a "normal" box, or in a "life box."  Maybe the product in a life box costs $1 more. 

But after you take the product out of it, you plant the box in your garden.  The box itself breaks down.  And in its place grows a garden.

Cool.

tags: lohas, sustainable, green

Liveblogging LOHAS - Marketing

Will be covering the LOHAS conference over the next couple of days.  First session:  "LOHAS Marketing"

Host: 
Mark Spellum, Editor in Chief, Plenty Magazine

Panelists:
Susan West Kurz, CEO, Dr. Hauschka Skin Care
Rick Ridgeway, VP Communications and Environmental Initiatives, Patagonia
Laura Coblentz - VP Marketing, Wild Oats
Peter David Pedersen - CEO, E-Squared

Spellum: "How to maintain your connection to the conscious consumer?"

"The conscious consumer" -- Difficult to market to...proactive...highly involved.

79% of americans consider corporate citizenship when deciding to buy a product.

key point:  AUTHENTICITY

Worries...wanting Plenty to be accepted by "activitists."  Pragmatic approach (30% post-consumer recycled, balanced is sustainably harvested).

How to communicate to the LOHAS Consumer...

Problems they discovered...looked a little TOO much like every other magazine.  Problem w/o multi-million dollar marketing budget.

50/50 gender balance on readers.

Things to remember:
- Can't satisfy everyone
- Upfront with who you are

Kurz: "Dr.Hauschka is transparent...it works from the inside-out."  Company is held in a trust ... can't be traded, can't be inherited.  Working in Turkey, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, beyond.  "We're not defined by the market...we're defined by who we are."

"Caring, committed...now in the top two spas in the world, and 400+ smaller spas."

Then the "luxury" market came to them.

"Authenticity is the ultimate luxury."

Shifting from "outer-imposed" beauty to that which is driven from the inside-out.

Food
Product
Meditation
...lots of different ways to find Dr.Hauschka

"The best way to market is to define who you are."

Our business is about human relationships...commitment *and* profitability at every level.

Ridgeway: Starts with story of the founders of Patagonia...surfing, rock climbing, etc.

"Not too many people need pitons and carabiners...but they all have to wear clothes!"

Rivermouth story...development wanted to go in

Operational principles:
- To lead and examine life...

**when given a personality test, companies are social deviants and pathological liars**

- clean up your act...examined ops, and found most polluting, and made them have less impact

- do your penance..."1% for the planet," have granted over $25MM

- support civil democracy...three ways to make change...federal gov't, local gov't, civil democracy.  the third is the most important.  $25MM has been given to the grassroot

- use our business to inspire change in other businesses...in other words, influence others.  over 300 companies now in 1%

"we love to acknowledge our competitors when they do the right thing."

what do we do to be a leader?  first company to recycle some lines, true cradle-to-cradle.  want to have 100% recycled, and made from 100% recycled content by 2010.

Coblenz:

"Building a brand that is meaningful to consumers."

Unfortunately chose to fall to the powerpoint crutch.  Next...

Pedersen:

More Powerpoint.

LOHAS in Japan is huge.
40% recognition of the concept of LOHAS in Japan in the general population.

Actual conversation started at 3:00pm...over one hour in...

Advice to entrepreneurs..."commoditization is happening with organic.  walmart is going to be the largest organic retailer on planet earth."

patagonia:  "our job is accomplished if walmart commits to organic cotton...we've inspired other businesses."

--

 

Overall, had some unmet expectations from this session...the "panel" discussion was a series of five "tell about our company" monologues.  Overall, left a little flat...five monologues, ran over time, had time for ONE question from the audience.  Humph.  Got the hook 15minutes after time ran over.

That said, the two lines that popped out, from Susan Kurz, "Authenticity is the ultimate luxury" and the one from Rick Ridgeway, "when given a personality test, companies are social deviants and pathological liars" require some further thought.

tags: lohas, sustainable, green

Adina CEO Greg Steltenpohl

Today I had the pleasure of interviewing Greg Steltenpohl, CEO of Adina www.adinaworld.com .  (You have to sip some Bissap.  Yummola!)  You may remember Greg from that little juice company, Odwalla,-- where he served as CEO and Chair.  I interviewed him as part of the Blue Marble 'Heart of a Sustainable CEO' Insight Series.  We plan to launch the CEO Series at the LOHAS 10 Conference (www.lohas.com). 

Talk about humble.  When asked:  "What important skill do you most rely on as a sustainable CEO?"  Greg paused, hesitated-  (I swear, I could hear him grimmace), and replied: "I don't want to be positioned as a 'Sustainable CEO'.  I'm the CEO of a company that has sustainable values.  Those values need custodial guardianship and championing.  That's pretty much all I do."  Yeah... right.  Mix in running a start up of 15 employees and closing Series B financing while launching a bionutruient enhanced juice cooler-- (huh?)--  Not your everyday beverage. 

I've been interviewing leading CEO's in the LOHAS space for the past week.  There was a tone of 'groundedness' in Greg that I rarely hear in CEO's--- in any space.  You'd think the whole Odwalla / Coca Cola experience would have created a road weary thing in him.  Or, that salesy/frantic voice you hear in the CEO of any startup.  Not at all.  He's as exuberantly attached to doing good as the hibiscus blossoms found in Bissap.  I really like it when grown up CEO's stay in the game of growing businesses.  What an advantage that expeirence will be for Adina.

Q:  What are the top 3 values you instill in your organization?
Greg:  "I don't like to think of myself as instilling anything.  I think that's the old model.  My interest is more in contributing to a sustainably-minded culture.  A Company that takes the notion of 'fair trade' beyond coffee.  I want to be a part of mainstreaming 'Fair Trade'.  And, I believe a beverage company can do this."

The question for me is:  How long can a company sustain their 'sustainable values' as they grow?  Will there be a successful (in terms of sustainable value retention) acquisition of Adina? How long can they preserve their original values? 

I'll keep watching Adina to find out.