ecohegemony

The Lost Art of Authenticating Real (update)

Well, the redesign I had planned for Ecohegemony has yet to happen.  I can't imagine you're too upset. I've been thinking a lot about the impending TEDxDirigo (http://tedxdirigo.com/) talk for a few reasons.  

1.  We're (SOAP's) on the cusp of launching (with some cool new partners) a public event series of our own.  It will be very un-TED, departing from the complacency and predictability I think the monologue format brings with it.

2. I'm starting to warm up to my talk and have been wrapped up in several arguments about "green marketing" as a concept and practice.  Most of these arguments are purely in my head.  Others are me mumbling to my computer while reading my blogroll.  Green marketing isn't dead (as Joel "Twitter Pun Champion" Makower claims.  But I think it might be dangerous.  My talk explores why.

Here's the talking points, kind of a talk discography of hits (or lily pad as Seth at #ValicoGroup calls them).

1. Blizzards
2. Greenpeace
3. Whale Nerds
4. Winking
5. Simulacrum
6. Porn
7. Don Draper
8. Gary Busey
9. Cows and Acrobats
10. Authenticity
11. Buy Local
12. Instagram
13. Aaron Sorkin
14. Total Recall
15. Cause Marketing
16. Hungry Ghosts
17. Rolex
18. 2 Tools:  Acknowledge and Math
19. 1:1
20. Leapfrog Strategy
21. Happiness
22. Profitability
23. So. Cal in the 70s
24. Sk8ers
25. Corporate Trust
26. Blizzards
27. Winks
28. Second base
29. Green Marketing    

In this format it looks schizophrenic.  I may well be.

 

an incomplete picture of the problem: the problem of priorities

Yes, this is an incomplete diagram.  And that's the point.  There is no complete picture anymore.  As soon as you see the whole, the whole has changed.  How do we solve social, environmental and economic problems (nationally and within a single company) when we can't see the entire picture.  We can pick one and focus on it, but that often compounds the problems associated with the others.  We are a culture who loves to prioritize and this must change.

 

click to enlarge:

 

Focusing is this complexity is something I love.  It's why SOAP's culture is focused on the intersection of: culture and sustainability.  It's complex.

Is Cause Marketing a noble distraction from CSR?

The last in my 3-part series for Environmental Leader on the noble distractions of csr came out yesterday.  I imagine this one might raise some hackles.  I imagine this because Cause Marketing is the strategy darling of the Capitalism with a Human Face crowd.  Simply, it is one of the best and most current marketing tools out there.  It is loved because it is effective and noble.  But it may not be the best CSR strategy.

And maybe it doesn't claim to be.  Maybe it's not supposed to be.  Maybe Cause Marketing is icing on the cake of CSR.  I'd be ok with that if it were true, but most of what I see as Cause Marketing are bolt on marketing programs (hence the name).  The winners of this years HALO awards will not likely fall into that category. And participants at this year's Cause Marketing Forum will disagree with me for sure.  And they will hold up examples of how wrong I am.  But I think it would be easier to find examples of Cause Marketing that are CSR veneers.  These veneers actually distract companies from activating Authentic CSR programs with (not for) their companies.

Read the fill articles here.

 

 

The problem of authenticity in CSR and marketing - or cocain, a-holes and csr

My business partner at ZMR Julianne nails this one as she remembers a Bill Cosby quip:

 "'Tell me, what is it about cocaine that makes it so wonderful,' and he said, Because it intensifies your personality.'  I said, 'Yes, but what if you're an asshole?'"

Here's the full post over at ZMR

 

3rd Party Certification - Another Noble Distraction of CSR

My second of three parts on strategies to develop authentic CSR came out on Environmental Leader yesterday.  Here's a link to the first on looking at Transparency.

Here's the lead-in:

This three part series is designed to inspire dialogue around the values of Authentic CSR. “Authentic” is not used as a precondition for “ethically better.” Rather, it is used as an internal strategic gauge/guide – i.e. what does successful CSR look like when driven by your company rather than some perceived public leaning or external standard.  I argue that there are noble distractions (such as 3^rd party certifications) of CSR, and that the distractions carry unnecessary costs and exposures that are detrimental to both corporate financial and sustainability goals.

There are upwards of 700  3^rd party certifications or ‘trustmarks’ designed to validate marketing, operational or materiality claims.  Consumers are asked to navigate this din of ecolabels.  In theory, trustmarks exist to make sustainable consumption more accessible, but they are so ubiquitous that they create a kind of white noise that end up cannibalizing their own intent.  This white noise is as prevalent for business as it is consumers.  For corporations, 3^rd party certifications offer external bars that may ultimately be distracting from businesses.

One way in to this discussion is to understand that the cultural condition that creates the necessity for these marks is actually the absence of two other conditions.

1.     Absolute trust

2.     A functioning panopticon

“Absolute trust” has not exactly been the hallmark of capitalism. From Robber Barron industrialists to ENRON, the narrative of capitalism is littered with abuse and obfuscation. How else to explain government intervention in CEO salaries, FTC Greenguides, the EPA, plummeting consumer trust and rising consumer expectations? And while ethical business is part of the new social entrepreneurialism, it may in fact be too high an expectation – a false footing – for the “rest of business.” 3^rd party certifications were created as a stand-in for corporate-consumer trust.

Classically, the panopticon is a type of prison building structure designed to allow an observer to watch all prisoners without the prisoner knowing if they are being watched or not.  In the panopticon, everyone assumes they are being watched so everyone behaves. More modernly, panopticon is a metaphor for technology – a deployed set of observational structures (updates, tweets, check-ins, links and predictive behaviors)…  Perhaps we are closer to a functioning panopticon than we think…

But for now, business has the tool of the ecolabel to work with as both measure and measurement of its commitments to CSR principles.  So how do these well-intended external standards become noble distractions to the business of business and sustainability?

Certifications like USDA Organic, FSC, Cruelty Free, FairTrade, Good Housekeeping, etc., exist for businesses to legitimize their claims. In this scenario, they become representations of a trust you do not enjoy.  But they are also marketing shortcuts – a quick identifier for the consumer that you have achieved some (any) standard.  But they are standards set outside of your organization. At best, they serve to benchmark your company against your competitors (have vs. have not).  At worst, they are distractions from core measurements set from within the company that could help the company achieve better-aligned sustainability goals.

Read the full article here.

One more to go for this series:  Cause Marketing

 

Part One: The noble distractions of csr: transparency.

My new article on the Noble Distractions of CSR came out today over at Environmental Leader.  It's the first in a three part series looking at transparency, third-party certifications and cause marketing.

Here's the lead-in:

In the environmental space, the practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is on an evolutionary arc, predominantly propelled by external forces: pulled by the lure of competitive benefits evidenced by leading practitioners (Stonyfield, Seventh Generation, Patagonia, etc., etc.); and pushed by watchdog, consumer, shareholder, and public expectations. More often than not the desire for CSR is not generated internally (that is, Authentically) – it is a reaction to a modern condition or event.

For the vast majority of businesses, CSR has become a noble distraction away from the business of business. The concept of CSR embodies the lofty promise to help increase profitability, improve brand loyalty, strengthen market position, and engage social / environmental concerns. In practice, however, it often appears as a patchwork of disassociated environmental programs or (heaven forbid!) marketing initiatives with righteous intentions beyond the corporate walls.

But these noble distractions have a price.

         [read more if you want to]

Learn more about these issues over at ZMR

 

 

SOAP's Sustainability Report Name Generator Goes Live

In SOAP's continued study of the language of sustainability, they took a hard look at CSR report titles.  Most of them are horrid and meaningless.  So to save time, they created a name generator.  There are over 1million variations.  Go nuts.  Play here:  http://bit.ly/csrsoap

indulging escapism and setting expecations

On a flight back from Salt Lake City last month,   I was working on a chapter I am writing for a new  anthology tentatively titled "How Not To Run a Start-Up" being edited by Julianne Zimmerman . I was tired and asked for a cup of coffee.  It should be known that I am NOT a coffee snob.  I will drink any hot, brown liquid. Seriously, my morning coffee right now is made with a filter and a funnel.

The styrofoam cup landed on my tray and I immediately looked around for any "green" messaging on the plane.  None.  It was USAir.  They were safe - no obvious lack of commitment or overlooked sustainability detail opportunity here to blog about.  Had they set my expectations higher with some signage, this blog post would be different.  But I expected nothing, so settled in to my chapter and coffee.

But then - THERE - on the cup in wispy, cloud-like font:  Cafe Mystique, Indulge Escape.

Now I can understand why JetBlue  would want to serve Dunkin Donuts.  It says  "we're one of you."  And I can see why United might like to increase its status by serving Starbucks.

But why align yourself with such a fanciful expectation doomed to disappoint?  This cup offers way more than it could ever deliver.  Ok, so I am on a plane and escaping to/from something/somewhere.  But really?  Air-travel escapism went out when we stopped getting dressed up to fly and could smoke on planes.  Planes are more office, than escape. 

Coke gets away with it.  Open Happiness.  But then they have 150 years of associations to manipulate my inner child into remembering the pop-fly I missed and then when my dad bought me a cola after the game to console me with (never happened, but I remember it).

Setting expectations is tricky business.  Best not to over or under shoot.  Get it right the first time.  Start a dialogue with your customers and find out where their expectations are - adjust accordingly.

At least one person on Twitter agrees with me

Radical Transparency - The Revolution we've been waiting for. Viva la transparencia:

If a watchdog group, a government, publication or a citizen upraising forces you to be transparent, you have already lost.  Any trust your advertising and actions earned is depleted.

QSRweb.com a publication for the Quick Serve Restaurant industry (sounds better than "Fast Food, eh?) had this headline to say about the TacoBell Beef Fiasco:  "TacoBell fights back with Transparency".  They miss the point - it's not fighting back, it's rolling over and taking it.  If you are forced to be transparent, it's too late.  If you get caught polluting, you pay a fine.  But that doesn't make the violation go away, it's just the price you pay.  For brands, the price is market share and reputation.

From the article on QSRweb:

"According to YouGov BrandIndex, which interviews 5,000 people daily from across the country, Taco Bell’s Index scores fell from 25.2 to 11.7 since the suit was filed Jan. 19. It is now below the sector’s average score of 12.2.:

Here's the other way to "do transparency" - from a manufacturer of outdoor gear describing their backpack:

“…the Chacabucco Pack embodies no environmental innovation. The nylon is virgin, its polyurethane coating is solvent-rather than water-based, and like all of our products and rainwear, it has DWR (durable water repellent) surface water-repellent that involves the use of PFOA [author’s note: perfluorooctanoic acid]. The pack is not recyclable”

This is copy from Patagonia's Footprint Chronicles web site. Hardly the kind of pro-environmental message we would expect from the environmental champion.  It is transparent.

These moments of radical transparency are coming.  They will change the game again.  I don't like to think TacoBell was being deceptive about their beef - they just didn't know people cared.  We all have operational blind spots.  Now is the time to start looking for them and fixing and disclosing them.

This is the revolution we have been waiting for.  That Green stuff was just a bump on the road to the uprising.

 

Super Bowl Balls, Authenticity, Invisible Certifications and Heirloom Brands.

Origionally posting at Authenticating Real.

Here's one for the sports fans working out extra hard this week so they can indulge this Super Bowl Sunday.  Part of the trickle down economics of the Super Bowl is the market is creates for fake swag.  From baseball hats to sweatshirts to rings and the balls themselves, off-market items feed some economy somewhere.

This year, the NFL is taking it more seriously, particularly the balls used in the game.  The footballs will be marked with invisible ink so that collectors will be able to identity them as authentic.

What's interesting:

1.  There is no use of an external body to authenticate the real-ness of the balls.  The brand itself is responsible. 

2.  It is an invisible mark.

We might argue that the truly authentic brand does not need any markings to prove itself.  But an invisible (to most) is an interesting approach, it serves to authenticate a transactional value, but only for "serious collectors."  The rest of us have to guess, or perhaps gamble.

Super Bowl balls are like any commodity at this point.  How do you increase the value of a commodity?  By increasing its authenticity you increase its value.  Things that are real (hand-made, artisan, human) are worth more.   Transactional moments with consumers can become brand heirlooms.

What happens when we make hand-made brands?