Well I was as shocked as anyone that a recent Ipsos survey put our humble BC retailer above North American green behemoth Whole Foods on the eco friendly scale. But that’s apparently what 1,177 adult British Columbians said, 19 times out of 20, when asked to name one retailer they thought best exemplifies an environmentally-friendly business – without a pre-determined list to choose from. (See the top 10 list below) London Drugs came in at #7, and was the only ‘general’ retailer on the list.

That certainly warmed our green hearts, as we have been working very hard to get the word out there on London Drugs’ recycling and green products with the What’s the Green Deal brand, featuring our industry-leading Bring Back the Pack and Styrofoam recycling programs. (Full disclosure, Green Briefs and Unicycle Creative is a strategic consultant for London Drugs – so neutrality is out the window here)

Hats off to all of the companies on the list – it’s a contest no one really loses. And thanks, BC. We’ll shoot for number one next time!

Top 10 Mentioned Environmentally-Friendly Retailers in BC

1. Mountain Equipment Co-op
2. Save-On-Foods
3. Starbucks
4. Thrifty Foods
5. The Body Shop
6. Real Canadian Superstore
7. London Drugs
8. Choices Market
9. Whole Foods
10. Safeway

That’s the essence of an article I wrote for SustainableBrands.com – creators of the annual Sustainable Brands Conference.

Read the whole article here…. (or be prepared for the consequences!)

“Good Afternoon, Mr. Mayor, Councilors, Citizens. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today.

My name is Lorne Craig. I am a Vancouver business owner and have been for over 20 years. I run Unicycle Creative, a strategic marketing agency focused on sustainable business. I also write the GreenBriefs.ca blog on sustainability.

In other words, I am a Green Capitalist.

Unicycle Creative is one of the 395,000 small businesses that run the engine of BC’s economy, providing some 57% of private sector jobs. And believe me, I’m pedaling as fast as I can. So today I wish to speak out in favour of adopting the Greenest City Action Plan. Because for small business, green is a growth industry.

Every day I work with great local green businesses. I am also fortunate to advise regional companies like London Drugs as they implement industry-leading recycling programs.

Today I would like to talk about the value of the Greenest City brand.

Last month I attended Sustainable Brands 2011 in Monterey California, North America’s largest green branding conference. There, I discovered that Vancouver is already on the radar as a green business hub. But I believe our opportunity is even greater. One by one, world-leading brands took to the conference stage with their sustainability plans and accomplishments. And these were not the corner hemp store type of companies. These were Nike. SCJohnson. Starbucks. Adidas. Unilever.

These forward-thinking companies know that the tides of public concern, demand and legislation are steadily turning toward a more sustainable future. They also see there is money to be made. That’s why, all across the globe, corporations are investing to embed green thinking and practices directly into their operations and business models. So I think it makes sense for the City of Vancouver to do the same.

To the critics of this plan who say it ignores traditional industry sectors, I say that ‘green’ is not a ‘sector’. It is a survival strategy that runs through all businesses and sectors. From more sustainable film production, to high technology companies that enable greater efficiency, to resource companies that must do their jobs in new ways.

Our cities are where we must import food, live with pollution, deal with waste and generally start to clean up the mess. This is a time for bold goals, and municipal governments are in an excellent position to set them.

Striving to become The Greenest City in the World, Vancouver will attract the best businesses, while providing a role model for municipalities on the world stage.

But the local small green businesses of Vancouver could use more. We need more networking opportunities, quicker local procurement policy development and more small business support.

All of this could be achieved by taking Vancouver’s Green Capital brand just a bit further. Unite local green businesses under a ‘Green Capitalist’ brand extension. Organize local business trade shows and events. Let our legions of Green Capitalists proudly declare their status in the City of Vancouver and beyond.

I look forward to seeing the Greenest Cities Action Plan being approved by Council, and to be part of it as a proud citizen and Green Capitalist.

Thank You.”

When I see some of the big-money idiocy that passes for brand advertising these days, (Yes, the ad you see above is real) I want to throw this smart little book at marketing heads left and right. That’s one of the reasons I bought a box of them. The other, I must admit, is that Unicycle Creative (the agency behind Green Briefs) is featured as one of the brand examples.
Branding Basics for Small Business has a lot of information packed into its pages, from classics like 10 Key Questions for building your strategy to sections that address today’s issues (“I know my brand strategy… it’s to build a Facebook page!”) And author Maria Ross’ Brand Building Blocks format makes it easy for busy businesspeople of all levels to visualize a process that has stumped more MBA’s than a Sudoku with a typo.
I was proud to have been interviewed for the ‘Choosing a Name’ section. It was a chance to remind the world that a name with a good story behind it is well worth the up-front investment. It’s one step that, done right, can help market your business forever.
If you want a free copy of Branding Basics for Small Business for yourself, leave a comment below and offer up your best brand advice. If you miss this little promo (quantities limited, etc etc) is easy to order a copy online at Norlights Press (one of the friendliest virtual booksellers I’ve met) and it’s a bargain at only $15.95.

Waking up at 5:30, I have to wonder if driving a carbon-spewing vehicle across an international border to sit in a room full of strangers watching someone speak about the power of remote digital connections… isn’t just a little ironic.

Regardless, I’m here at the Social Media Conference Northwest, to navigate the constantly-evolving thicket of Twitters, bloggers and Facebook Friends. Is it a green communications technology? Perhaps, compared to some. But more importantly, its a way of engaging people that no marketer, green or otherwise, can afford to ignore. I’ve had some experience in the field (hey, you’re reading this, aren’t you?) but I wanted a better idea of where it’s all going – to get more sustainable results for myself, my clients and you, dear Green Briefs readers.

As is my way with conference recaps, I’ll do my best to cover the speakers I saw, (apologies for the length, but it was GOOD STUFF!) and offer my own 2-bits at the end.

The Opener: Weak Publishing – by Matthew Dunn, ‘Chief Explainer’ at Say it Visually!

It’s good to start a conference with the Big Picture. Dunn began by describing his roots in a Colorado town so small the local newspaper is still to this day set with hot lead type. He also showed how ‘six degrees of separation’ theory collapses large groups down into close and accessible connections – person to person communication that is ‘weak’ in broadcast terms, but wide where it counts – reaching the right people.

So how does this help marketers? Check this stat: By 2011, the data captured and stored in the world will be equivalent to 300 Gigabytes for every human on the planet. And Google can only go so far. So we look at web sites from friends. We ask trusted associates for references on companies, information and resources. Social media provides short-cuts for information (read: your marketing message) to get to people.

Breakout Session 1: Online Video as Part of your Social Media Strategy – Aaron Booker, Varvid Digital Video Production.

Varvid started by doing videos for the ‘Value-Added Reseller’ community and has been live webcasting since 2002. So they’ve been there. They now also offer event-based social media solutions, corporate video projects and custom Internet video portals. Booker chose to use the classic YouTube video Welcome to the Revolution to introduce his presentation. Not a hangin’ crime, but I was surprised Varvid did not have their own version of a stats-based sales piece. The best quote from this stat-vid: Social media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the web. More relevantly, under reasons to use video on your site, YouTube is now the #2 search engine behind Google, so video boosts your search engine rankings. But not all video is created equal. What NOT to post, according to Booker: boring corporate profiles, messages from the CEO, commercials, or ‘viral video’ – (These, according to Booker, are a stroke of lightning, not a strategy) What does work: How-to video. Case studies. Video press releases. Client testimonials. Event video. (Cameras, lights, interviewers make events look exciting, and everyone wants to get their mug on film – as you see above)

Business Strategy for the Interconnected Age – James Burnes, Project Brilliant

This dude was psyched, waking up the crowd like the coffee we couldn’t have. And in no quiet terms, he told us he would be talking business strategy, not tactics. In a 20-minute presentation that stoked my marketing strategic fires, Burnes gave a branding 101 class that made it obvious Social Media deserves as much attention in the boardroom as any other communications channel:

• What are your goals?
• Who are your targets?
• How will you deal with angry customers and support your loyal fans? (The two most important groups in social media)
• What do your customers want?
• Where do they go online?
• Who is our talent? (Hint: it starts with the executive team)
• What are our core milestones and events (trade shows, sales push, etc – plan around these events)
• How will mobile accessibility to social media affect you? And finally:
• Do you need your own social platform/community? (group on facebook, etc)

Burnes then offered some real-world examples of strategies, each condensed into a tight sentence. I challenge you to get yours this tight:

• “Give prospective customers more exposure to what it’s like to do business with us.”
• “Move excess inventory through special offers and deals”
• “How do we drive referrals by making it easier to spread the word on the web?”
• “Recruit the best talent by showcasing our staff’s work and the lifestyle we live.”
• “Deliver easy ways for customers and prospects to share their product ideas.”

Burnes also drove home the need for a budget. His solution for where to get that money? Eliminate print brochures. Classic web-guy statement, but nobody in this crowd was disagreeing.

“Social Media Monitoring as a “Free” Focus Group – Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Buzz” Clay McDaniel, Spring Creek Group

Many decision-makers ignore Social Media as a “Land of the Malcontents”, populated only by whiners and geeks. But if you know where to look, there is all sorts of research information online, for free or close to it. All companies with a website are ‘Global’ – and you have access to information like never before.  Including, the entire deck for this presentation, offered online by the Spring Creek Group right here.

Begin by listening to what’s being said about you. Google Alerts is a good place to start. This service sends you an email every time Google finds a page containing keywords that you specify (like your company name). You can also place alerts for peoples’ names, your competition’s company, key issues etc etc. Other tools like Technorati help filter some of the billions of sites for you, and Twitter has its own set of tools (Twittersearch, Twendz) to monitor trends and keywords. For more robust, customizable solutions, check out Scoutlabs or Radian6. If you just want to jump right in yourself, here’s your 1-2-3:

1. Set up your Google Alerts
2. Spend 1 month determining where your customers, competitors others are posting most about you, themselves, their market
3. Pick top 2 key social media channels for you: Monthly deep-dives using one or more of the right tools.

Then look for those “a-ha” moments regarding your brand. That may be a trend in discussions, a surprise customer service issue or an opportunity to fill a need you never knew existed. But if you never listen, you’ll never know.

Blogging, Tweeting & Revenues. But really, who has the time? by Anne-Marie Faiola – CEO Brambleberry – AKA The Soap Queen

This was one presentation I had to see. How one small retailer grew her business with grass-roots social media and still mans the Twitter, blog and Facebook helm every day. Anne-Marie Faiola sells materials for handmade craft soaps, (molds, colorants, soap) online through a company she started when she was 20. In her words, “People bought my products just because I was helpful and friendly. People buy from people they like.”

Faiola budgets her social media time thus: Twitter: 30min/day Composing 15-20 tweets a day, jumping into conversations etc.  Facebook – 10 min a day. Blogs, one every single day – 60min. YouTube – (4 episodes of Soap Queen TV) 8hrs to film once a month on a weekend – (60hr project for the entire team)

Faiola then went beyond strategy to specifics. She uses Tweetdeck – to create lists of her followers so she can track them by category. Hootsuite helps her schedule her twitter updates so they appear regularly throughout the day. For blog writing, she recommends creating an editorial calendar and keeping a buffer of completed blogs.

Her YouTube Channel, SoapQueen TV has its own interesting story – the tale of another nail in the print advertising coffin. In 2006, Faiola had a $48,000 print advertising budget. With one stroke of the pen, she decided to use that money to set up her own in-shop mini TV studio. Including a local camera crew and editing services, each episode now only costs an average of $1000.

At first, her board rejected the idea of a Social Media plan. Now, using Google Analytics, Faiola tracks tangible sales directly from her online social media activities. In one example, she tracked $16,000 to a Twitter sales campaign. At the same time, year over year sales are up 29%. Cleaning up, one might say.

How to use social media to promote your brand – Brad Nelson, Starbucks

Seeing Brad, It’s like the ‘I’m a Mac’ guy got up on stage to present. His comfortable, casual delivery is perfect for Social Media. This is the guy you want talking to millions of customers every day. He began with some caveats. If your product sucks, social media is not going to fix it. If you are not willing to be transparent and open, social media is not for you. If there was one main message he preached it was to LISTEN. All media is social. All companies are media companies. Goodbye Ad Wars. Hello Conversation.  Add value to the conversation, and if there’s a fire, respond to where the fire is.

Nelson had an interesting comparison to the social media world of just a few years ago. If 2009 was the year of status updates, 2010 is the year of the check-in. When you check in with Twitter, YouTube, your Facebook page, that’s where your real world and your digital world connect. So what’s next for Starbucks?

• Location – smartphones, Foursquare, and other technology that knows where you are adds layers to social media experience
• What’s a 1-800 number? Anyone under 25 will probably not call it.
• Social media is how you discover content. Facebook helps people discover content, through links from trusted friends.
• Social Media will help us even more to decide what to buy.
• Organizing – Elections, Tweetups

Nelson’s parting (espresso) shot: Start now to build credibility in the Social Media world. One day you’ll need it.

The Green Briefs 2-Bits: More than ever I believe Social Media will be a relevant channel going forward. Social Media NW is affordable, accessible and has something for small or large businesses. Will people tire of Tweeting? Undoubtedly. Will some defriend Facebook and revert to growing organic carrots and playing guitar all day long? I hope so. But more conversations and better content will make our new connections with each other more and more important to business. Heck, I remember a time when business cards didn’t have a web site address. So leave a comment. Tell me what you think – after all, that’s what this social media thing is all about, right?

Whoops, gotta go. It’s time to feed my Tweeter.

That was the main message I picked up in today’s hour-long webinar with ‘Green to Gold’ author Andrew Winston. The presentation was hosted by the ‘Board of Change’, an up-and-coming organization of green entrepreneurs and sustainable types based in Vancouver.

Winston remotely presented a powerpoint show which, while plagued with a few technical difficulties at the outset, was well worth the time spent eating (no doubt toxic) mini cinnamon buns while waiting.

Winston began by forecasting the global environmental solutions market at a whopping $2 Trillion by 2020 (Source: HSBC) He then quoted some prominent capitalists who said we’re basically losing that race to China and India. Green, he stated, has moved from being about polar bears to being about solar panels.

Besides the usual quick efficiency type of green upgrades that pay for themselves right away (example: one hotel chain that spent $400,000 to replace lighbulbs and reaped $1.2 Million in energy savings the first year) Winston gave the advantage to companies that move quickly to voluntary transparency and sustainability standards.

My favourite quote: “If your competitors have stronger standards than your government, that’s the new standard you have to meet.”

So what is to be done? Winston’s prescription is as follows:

Get Lean, Get Smart, Get Creative. Ask the toughest quations of yourself. How would your company work in a $500-a-barrel oil market? Could you operate if your key product (e.g. plastic bags) were banned?

Beyond that, Winston says, ask the ‘heretical’ questions. Can a shipping company stop turning left? (Yes) Can cement be made in a way that captures carbon instead of emitting it? (Yes, again) What happens if a trucking company decides to actually go slower? The answer, in the case of shipping giant Con-way, was a 3-million-gallon fuel savings from recalibrating trucks to drive at 62 MPH instead of 65.

All in all, it was a great energy boost from the bigs, if a little short on the kind of initiatives Canadian mom & pop small cap firms might implement.

But at least the world seems to be moving in the right direction.

Thanks, Andrew Winston. I needed that. Tomorrow, I attend the Walmart Green Business Summit.

BTW, Winston’s new book is called Green Recovery. Probably worth a read if you like this sort of thing.

The study used two distinct measurements to gauge actual and perceived leadership in addressing climate change. To measure actual brand sustainability they used Climate Count’s newly released 2010 corporate climate scores. To measure consumer brand perception, Angus Reid Public Opinion conducted an online survey of 2,032 American adults.

Some surprising results: Kellog’s has a perceived climate leadership score of 82. Their actual – just 42. Compare with Stonyfield Farm whose score is almost directly the inverse, with a perceived leadership of only 44 and an actual score of 81. Ouch.

For more details, why not just go download the report yourself. It’s free. And well worth reading if corporate sustainability and public perception are important in your world.

Now I wonder what would happen if Change and Angus Reid applied that methodology to INDIVIDUALS…. hmmmm.

Annie Longsworth, Managing Director, Cohn & Wolfe
Russ Meyer, Landor Associates
Jay Leveton, Penn, Schoen & Berland

This presentation was largely statistical, so here are the numbers. Research geeks, enjoy:

The study was done in the US and U.K. with 3000 adults
2007: 3600+ new green products
45,000+ green/sustainable articles

Economic concerns are growing again – In the US 77% are most concerned about the Economy, vs 17% who are more concerned about the Environment.

Global warming has dropped to third place behind carbon emissions and energy.
Most pressing oil issue is around the price at 47%, with the effect on environment only the most important for 14% of respondents.
As economy worsens, 36% of people turn to government as being responsible and to drive solutions.

Top 10 US Green Brands:
Whole Foods
Burts Bees
Trader Joes
Toms of Maine
Toyota, 7^th Generation (tie)
GE/Honda (tie)
Aveda
Method

Amtrak came in at #1 in the travel category (taking over from Southwest Airlines)
Consumers have come to understand carbon footprint.

People want to spend more on green shopping choices:
2007 – 44% down to 38% for 2008
35% want to spend the same

Traditional Values continue to drive purchase intent:
Honest trustworthy
Quality
Safe, Natural
Works to cut pollution/ waste
Cares about community
Last on the list – ‘has a green vision for the future’

95% think companies use too much packaging
45% want more recycled materials in packaging
38% want less packaging altogether

Familiarity with key terms
Recyclable 98%
Organic 93%
Natural 93%
Eco Friendly 89%
83% of people don’t know what “Greenwashing” means

Internet is the #1 source for green product information, across all incomes and demographics.

Apologies if I have mangled any of the stats. Dammit, Jim, I’m a Unicyclist, not a researcher!

One in a series of articles on Lorne’s Sustainable Journey to the Sustainable Brands 08 Conference in Monterey CA. Click here for the full list of sessions, or here for the ‘Fear & Loathing’ road trip journals.

From the deep green RAW NUTZ (Righteous And Willing Nature Unspoiling Total Zealots) to the fuzzy MOSS (Masses Of Sustainable Starters) and even the SCUM (Stubborn Comatose Undereducated Mainstream) all have their own hot-buttons for creative and messaging.

I took a look at some famous, not-so-famous and even infamous campaigns to see what might appeal to whom, and why. It’s all here in my handy whitepaper. If you’d like a copy, please email me and I’ll send one off. No matter what kind of green marketing consumer you are.