The Eco-Dictator

Looking to compensate for a small Eco-Ego?

Well, you're in luck.  Lamborghini CEO, Stephan Winkelmann announced plans to launch its hybrid in 2015.  The price tag, $210,000.

The Lamborghini hybrid will utilize a small electric motor in slow moving urban traffic but will allow full use of either a 10 or 12 cylinder engine (yet to be decided) when in full flight.  According to Mr Winkelmann, Lamborghini isn’t interested in following Audi or Mercedes-Benz’s footsteps into the all-electric arena anytime soon. Doubtful to be a coincidence, Ferrari has set to release its hybrid model in 2015 as well.

 Read the full article here

Amtrak Redefines The Cattle Car

Amtrak has unveiled it's new biodiesel train with an interesting twist.  The train is fueled by 80% diesel, 20% biodiesel and is cut with beef byproducts is said to reduce carbon emissions by 10%.  Yes, it appears that the company has gone about redefining what the term "cattle car" means to American rail riders. The Heartland Flyer is being promoted by 50% discounts on co traveler fair discounts through May 26th to get people on board.

This is not Amtrak's first foray into sustainable transit, they've taken a number of efforts in the space to reduce their carbon footprint.  Their full list of efforts can be found on their Travel Green page.

It will be interesting to see how travelers respond.  In areas like Oklahoma and Texas which have a large cattle industry presence stand to gain but it will be interesting to see ho the rest of the country responds.  Personally, I'll find it interesting how the vegetarian greens respond many of which live green lifestyles.  I imagine that they'll experience somewhat of an internal struggle with two ideals; travel green or stick with their vegetarian/vegan viewpoints.

Let the internal struggle begin.

Read more about the program on popsci.com  article: Get On The Beef Train

Express Night Out | Fit | A Green Machine: Exercise Bikes Let Riders Generate Power

Express Night Out | Fit | A Green Machine: Exercise Bikes Let Riders Generate Power

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A week full of Earth Day Campaigns Starting With...

As we approach Earth Day 2010 there will undoubtedly be a number of interesting campaigns attempting to grab consumer attention and tug at their green strings.  Over the course of the next couple fo weeks I will be reporting on some of the ones in particular that have catch my eye.  

To kick things off, Mediapost recently released a story on the San Juan Batista, CA based company, Earthbound Farm Organic's Green Man Campaign. I decided to visit the site myself and take a look.

The campaign is based around a their Green Man character with the use of a video series and highlighting a free reusable bag giveaway, eco-donations, recipes from the the co-founder's cookbook Myra Goodwin and links to its Earthbound Farms Organic social media sites.

The video's are quirky and cover a number of topics.  Their Eco-donations are afforded by donating 25 cents from the purchase of specially marked goods.  Utilizing crowd-sourcing philanthropic tactics, consumers  can vote at www.ebfarm.com to decide whether American Forests, the Environmental Working Group, the Natural Resources Defense Council, or the Pesticide Action Network.  Check out the site at ebfarm.com 

Christie's Inaugural Green Auction

To celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day, Christie's NY will hosts its inaugural Green Auction. Utilizing carbon neutral  online and live elements, all proceeds from the auction will benefit four major green/sustainable causes including:  The Central Park Conservatory, Conservation International, Oceana & Natural Resources Defense Council.  

Check out more at the site below:

http://www.abidtosavetheearth.org/

7-UP Get's Smart & Goes Green

7UP is rewarding fans who make smart, green choices with its Go GREEN! Giveaway. By simply enjoying the ridiculously bubbly, lemon-lime flavor of 7UP, consumers could win one of 25 fuel-efficient smart for two vehicles.

Through June 30, fans can visit www.DrinkGreenWin.com to enter codes from 12 packs as well as 20 oz. and two-liter bottles for a chance to win one the most eye-catching cars on the road.

“To our fans, ‘green’ means a lot more than just the color of their 7UP can,” said Dave Falk, director of marketing for 7UP. “These are smart people who love crisp, clean refreshment and make green choices whenever possible. With our Go GREEN! Giveaway, 7UP is providing the chance to drive smarter in one of the most fuel-efficient cars in the country.”

Other participating soft drink brands include Cherry 7UP, Sunkist Orange Soda, Canada Dry Ginger Ale, A&W Root Beer, Welch’s Grape, Welch’s Strawberry.

Green Mountain Coffee & Ashoka Changemakers Use Crowd Sourcing Competition For $50K in Funding

Another great example of a crowd sourcing competition for ideas to help benefit your community.  Green Mountain Coffee & Ashoka Changemakers.  Opportunities to win $50,000 worth of funding a prizes for great ideas.  Go to the below link to find out more.

http://www.changemakers.com/en-us/revelation?utm_source=ard&utm_medium=forum&utm_campaign=revelation

Retailer Rewards for "Positive Green Actions" Brought To You By RecycleBank

As marketing strategists, we are constantly tasked with uncovering insights into consumers in an effort to better understand what inspires, drives and often more importantly deters them from taking actions.  

Each generation has their own unique characteristics and behaviors when it comes to adopting sustainable lifestyle behaviors.  Boomers are a little more skeptical while Gen-Y seek understanding on how each action plays a role in the larger cause.  Regardless of generation there is one unifying payoff that consumers seek with, value.   For environmentally conscious consumers, no longer can we just appeal to their eco-ego's.  It's essential that the quality benefits and lifetime value of a product are communicated.

Enter incentives for green actions.  I stumbled across a site today that's doing a pretty good job in this space.  Recycle Bank (http://www.recyclebank.com) is U.N award winning company that offers merchandise points redeemable at retailers such as Bed Bath & Beyond, CVS & TrueValue for "Positive Green Actions." It's worth taking a look and may prove to be an effort worth adopting by retailers to show their efforts in reducing the companies carbon footprint.  

I'm a recent registrant so I will undoubtedly follow this post up with a critique of the experience.  Let's keep in mind here that many companies with recycling programs are doing so in order to open up a market themselves in the refurbished goods space. 

Natural & Environmentally Friendly Chewing Gum

 

The other day I came across an interesting British company called Peppersmith Chewing Gum.  The company positions themselves as an all-natural chewing gum  trying to change the perception of gum from that of a wasteful product to a sustainable alternative.  We all know the term natural at the moment can be pretty ambiguous especially when looking at the CPG industry but I was impressed and surprised by some of the information I found about gum and their efforts in the natural and environmental sustainability space. 

According to the company, U.S. adults consume an average of 182 pieces of gum per year.  In addition they claim that only 25% of the volume of a piece of gum remains after chewing meaning the remaining 75% ends up in our bodies making natural ingredients so important.  

Check out their website to learn more about their practices including sustainable peppermint harvesting and gum sourcing.

http://www.peppersmith.co.uk/

  

 

Perdue, the 90-year old U.S. poultry firm is one of seven companies featured in the new Discovery Channel program "The Green Room."  The 13 episode series highlights innovative ways the private sector is meeting environmental challenges. Perdue was the first company to put it's name on the commodity chicken advertised it and essentially turned the commodity product into a brand name

The premier episode aired on Saturday Feb 13th.  The segment includes interviews with Jim Perdue, Chairmen/CEO of Perdue Farms Inc. and one of their independent poultry producers, Terri Wolf-King.  The segment focused on Perdue's first-in-the nation poultry litter processing plant as well as its unique agreement with the EPA to help farmers keep waterways clean.  The litter recycling plant converts poultry litter into organic fertilizer that are then sold to wholesalers.  

These days, companies are going above and beyond to prove that sustainability and ecology is a top priority in order to keep in line with consumer demands for companies to  environmentally responsibile especially in the area of safe and sustainable food manufacturing.  Typical of most large corporations playing in this space,  is often tied heavily with reducing operating costs or in this case with Perdue, opening up another revenue stream.  

Let's not forget that Perdue was one of the companies highly criticized in the film FOOD Inc. for among other things, penalizing small Maryland chicken farmer Carole Morison for not making company-mandated upgrades to her chicken house which would leave the chickens in complete darkness.  That said, its a solid effort to get the ball rolling for other manufacturers to adopt similar practices to reduce their impact on the environment
 .  The question is, will the company find it profitable enough to keep the program going or is this similar to that of a retailer testing a green concept store to get some good press.