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.

 

campus speaking tour

Last week I stopped in Dave Weinberg's Desktop Cross Media Publishing and Design Class at the University of Southern Maine.  Great Lab in a new LEED building.  We talked a bit about the design process (and process design) and how design is a business tool to facilitate engagement. 

Next week, I'll be at Mara Einstein's Media class at NYU.  Mara's asked me to come talk about innovation and marketing strategy, so I'll be sharing some notes from More Than Promote at the recent Green Language Study completed by SOAP.

There are several events coming up this summer too: Good and Green, LOHAS Minneapolis, Sustainable Brands and LOHAS Boulder.  All great events.  More on those as they unfold.

 

The guitar TABS to sustainability: On TED graphics, empathy, collaboration and speaking.

When John Marshall Roberts asked me to do the graphics for his presentation at TEDchch I could not resist.  Combine John's message of "The Global Urgency of Everyday Empathy" with his dynamic stage presence and I was thrilled to be invited to contribute to the dialogue.

We started with the script of the talk.  John then selected the key moments to punctuate with graphics.  From there I selected images that I thought would clarify and communicate the right transitions and moments.

John and I are both musicians (well..I play Bass, so...John's a musician), but working together was not unlike figuring our the Tabs for a song.  The song was written, I was left to re-construct the notes visually.  This is how I see visual marketing.

John and I threaten to get a band together and start playing the conference circuit.  We need a band name.  BTW, I am limiting my speaking this year.  Last year had me on the road for 16 weeks talking about sustainability, communications and culture.  It's too much and there are too many  conferences.  For sure this year I will be at Good And Green(r) - The Green Marketing Conference, Green Stages (Milan, Italy) and LOHAS (Atlanta and Boulder). Others are still pending, but I am being more selective.

John and I are also flirting with a project to bring *Empathy, Authenticity and Strategy* into the board room.  Stay tuned on that.

Oh - What do you call the guy who hangs out with the band?  The Bass player.

Enjoy the video. 

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.

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.

 

 

@LOHASted and @theSOAPgroup speaking together at Outdoor Retailer Winter Market this week.

Ted Ning and I will be running a workshop at the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market in January.  Here's a quick marketing blurb on the presentation.

How to Grow Sales and Slow Global Warming With One Strategy:  Insights into the LOHAS marketplace and customer activation.

This isn’t a lecture or a talk.  It’s a workshop.  If you want to sit on your hands, it’s not for you.  But if you want to roll up your sleeves and get dirty while learning about a lucrative market and innovative strategy to tap into that market (and slow down global warming at the same time), then, by all means, show up.

Ted Ning (LOHAS) and John Rooks (The SOAP Group) will introduce markets and marketing concepts that will create Corporate, Civic and Cultural value for your brands.  You will crowd-engineer campaigns that will set you apart from your competition (they’re not in the room are they?).

Walk away with market insights and fresh ideas to activate your customers to be sustainable on behalf of your brand.

I'm looking forward to taking some runs with Ted and introducing the outdoor market to doing More Than Promote.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Speaking of Speaking...Failcon, Momentum, SRI in the Rockies....

The Fall speaking schedule is cranking up, here’s a run down of dates, locations and topics:

FAILCON
October 25, San Francisco, CA

(Off)Brand: Missing the Mark
Lara Pearson; Chief Sustainability Officer, Rimon Law Group
John Rooks; Founder, The SOAP Group
Brands signify the relationships people have with products and services, so designing and protecting that brand is important right from the start. When those relationships falter, brands suffer and can even die. What can we learn from failed brand management? By deconstructing failures, we can engineer at least some of the risk out of our business strategies. Join Trademark Attorney Lara Pearson (Rimon Law Group) and Cultural Marketing Strategist John Rooks (The SOAP Group), as they explore case studies of poor brand management and offer insights, strategies and tools on trademark protection and authentic marketing.

Discount Code: http://failcon2010.eventbrite.com/?discount=10Rooks

MOMENTUM
October 27, Augusta, ME

Doing Good to Do Well
The adage of ‘doing good to do well’ has never been more relevant. Learn how you can increase corporate, civic and cultural value for your organization.
MODERATOR: Kim Stiver, CD&M
John Rooks, The Soap Group
Darcy Pierce, Envoy
Carol Colson, Bangor Savings Bank


SRI IN THE ROCKIES
November, 20, San Antonio, TX

Social media and SRI

This marketing breakout session is designed to help financial advisors and planners deepen relationships with existing clients and earn new ones by embracing social media opportunities.  Featuring recognized experts in the art of social media and a financial advisory practitioner with useful experience to share, the session will offer practical concepts that audience members can put to work immediately to grow their businesses.

Brian Reich Managing Director, little m media

John Rooks Founder and President, The SOAP Group

Judy Seid CFP Founder and President, Blue Summit Wealth Management

Moderated by: Bob Helmuth Senior Vice President, Stakeholder Relations, Pax World Management LLC

A Better World By Design Conference, RISD, October 1-3

I am excited to have been asked to speak at RISD's A Better World By Design conference this fall.  I'll be on the Politics and Design panel.  This one will be great.

"The Politics in Design panel will explore the intersection between design and intention. What specific problems arise when you are building or designing in a either historically or presently politically charged area? It will examine the ways in which designers work in politically charged landscapes, address the political tensions of building, and collaborate with people in the political sector to create effective design that sends a strong message, or addresses a politically charged situation."

• Clive Dilnot, Parsons Design Studies
• Dr. M. A. Greenstein, The George Greenstein Institute
• Vaughn Tan, Harvard Business School
• John Rooks, The SOAP Group
• Moderated by Lawrence Vale, MIT Urban Studies and Planning

Heroic Non Profits

Alisa and I will be running a Heroic Brand works shop for the Maine Association of Non-Profits on August 10th. 

I love this workshop.  Once we reveal the patterns of the hero's journey, and start applying that to a brand, amazing things happen in terms of the way brands talk - it opens them up.  It engages employees, customers and stakeholders on a new level.

LOHAS in Images

Just a couple of shots from the presentations at LOHAS this year.  More at our Flickr account.

John and Alisa.