ecohegemony

Thank you.

Just a quick note to all of you who have taken the More Than Promote Pledge and purchased the book.  many of you have reached out to tell me about your own campaigns that are anchored in the concept.

 

Joe Sibilia and John Rooks talk Zombie Consumerism (in honor of Black Friday)

In March, I spent 4 days at the Manfort at The Gasoline Alley Foundation and CSRWire.  They let me sit in the ManFort for those days and finish writing More Than Promote.  One night, Joe Sibia and I sat down and talked about Zombie Consumerism.  Here's a link to the article/lens that sparked the conversation.  Below is the conversation itself.

Picking up dog poop as promotion. The scatology of More Than Promote.

First, the Poop part:

So there is this German kid's game called Kackel Dackel.  In it, you roll dice to determine how far the 'food' (playdough bits) advance down a plastic dog's noisy digestive track. The goal is to collect neon-yellow 'poops'.

Now the More Than Promote part:

The company hosted a giveaway at a park, but you had to go pick up a doggy poo to claim a free prize.

See the commercial for Kackel Dackel below.

Thanks to BoingBoing for pointing this out.

Foreward progress by dismantling the past.

I'm guilty of this by the way.

Edelmen's new research report - the Good Purpose Study - is an example of the speed of change in the marketing space.  The report argues that the halo effect of the worst of cause marketing is gone ('bout time).  That companies need to engage deeper than putting a pink ribbon on a product.  It claims consumers care more (I'm not convined, btw).

Carol Cone has jumped in to agree that "Cause Marketing (as we know it) is dead."  It's the "as we know it" that this post is about.

This is a new strategy of dismantling a concept and rebuilding it so that it can be owned or reclaimed. 

This is how we do things now.  In More Than Promote, I do the same thing.  I rip apart sustainability and marketing and build a new thing out of the pieces.  It's part of the process of progress, I think.

On one hand this makes progress happen faster.  That's good.  On the other, it might derail perfectly viable sustainability strategies for the sake of corporate marketing. We are seeing the same thing with "green marketing." It is rapidly, and incorrectly, being equated with greenwashing in general. Jacquie Ottman has writen about this more elequantly than I can in here call for industry self-regulation.

Here's the story in USAToday.

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Oh, and here's an excerpt from the findings:

Survey respondents listed these top five companies when asked to name what "brand or brands come to mind as placing as much or more importance on supporting a good cause as they place on profits":

1. Pepsi
2. Newman's Own
3. Nike
4. Coca Cola
5. Tide

Only one earned their way on this list I imagine.  The rest bought their way on.

More Than Promote - back in stock

Just got word that More Than Promote is back in stock.  Just in time too.  I'll be doing a book signing with The Twig Bookstore at the SRI in the Rockies conference in San Antonio, Tx in a couple weeks.

 

 

More Than Promote - SOLD OUT

Thanks so much to all of you who jumped in early to buy a copy of More Than Promote.

It's humbling.  But we're back on press with a second run that should be shipping in a couple of weeks.  If you have a pending order, my appologies, we will get them out as quickly as possible.  

And thanks for the over 100 people who have taken the pledge.  We need to find a way to activate this community.  Send me some suggestions to: jrooks at thesoapgroup dot com.

Thanks again,

John.

 

cultural capitalism and russian bears

There's so much about Slavoy Zizek to love and an equal amount to second-guess.  In More Than Promote I used Zizek a bit.  I used a lot of cultural theorists, but I may have relied on Zizek more than some others because he is current.  I tried to use more Stanley Fish, but he was edited out.

Zizek is current because he is controversial.  He says crazy Marxsist things and rides around on a unicycle like a circus bear (I made that part up, but it was part of dream I had).  But mostly, I think he is right.  Maybe not as softly articulate as we may like, but he's right on a lot of things.

This lecture from 2009 is circulating and it's one of my favorites.  It explores why we need to design business not around "relief" (sending shoes to the shoeless), but around solving problems.  In the coming months, SOAP will be launching platform we hope will reconstruct (as opposed to re-tell) capitalism.

More Than Promote - The Book

The new book is available starting today at www.morethanpromote.com.  I'm wicked excited about it.  Here's a snappy of the cover.

Let me know your thoughts if you pick it up.  Thanks.

Oh, and I'm out in Boulder talking at LOHAS with biz partner Alisa this week and the book is for sale in the LOHAS Bookstore.

LOHAS, June 22-24 - Boulder, CO

Heading back to LOHAS again this year and couldn't be more excited.  This year's talk is:

The Death of Phatic Promotion: The Hidden Cultural Potential of Marketing

 "Most promotion (LOHAS or otherwise) serves a purely phatic purpose, acting - at best - as a social lubricant for business. Rooks and Conroy will present new strategies to architect promotion that has Corporate, Civic and Cultural Value."

I'll have the new book out and on sale at the LOHAS book store, and I'm looking forward to seeing old friends.

On-line sales start on June 22 at www.morethanpromote.com

More Than Promote - the community, the book, the change

Here's a quick More Than Promote update.  Thanks to all of you who are getting engaged in this!

Community:

The community on More Than Promote is growing.  People from all over are "signing" the pledge. Marketers from  Fortune 500 strategists to independent designers are making a public commitment to sustainability via marketing.

Book:

The Book is in typesetting this week and it is looking really good.

Thanks to Jacquelyn Ottman and Glenn Croston for their advanced reviews of the book.

“John Rooks' “More Than Promote” represents a totally fresh take on marketing. One with the potential to elevate marketing, marketers, and sustainable marketing in one fell swoop.”
_Jacquelyn Ottman, founder and president, J. Ottman Consulting and Author, The New Rules of Green Marketing

 

"More Than Promote is not just about green marketing - John Rooks' book dares us to do more.  It’s about getting in the game and making a difference.  It’s about making our lives and our work sustainable, honest, and real for each other and our planet, then telling our friends.  Just read it and see for yourself.  And go from marketing the change to being the change."

_Glenn Croston, author of "75 Green Businesses" and "Starting Green", founder of StartingUpGreen.com

The Change:

Check out this Open Letter to B Corp. Marketers on Be The Change, the B Corp. Blog