brand punk

Great brands make you feel alive. But does this neccesarily mean that they are authentic? I love big ideas and small waves. I studied marketing and worked at a branding agency. Now I'm searching for 'the real' - not only in brands but elsewhere in life. var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-18097701-2']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();

[brandpunk-blog]

Certified B Corps are a new type of corporation which uses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. The declaration of the non-profit organisation envisions a new sector of the economy which harnesses the power of private enterprise to create public benefit. All B Corporations are purpose driven and create benefit for all their stakeholders, not only their shareholders.

The B Corp Certification is a third party certification and a company can get certified by passing the B Impact Assessment. Currently over 450 leading businesses have joined the community of Certified B Corporations, wanting to influence the market beyond the scope of their individual businesses.

[brandpunk-blog]

Holstee - Lifestyle design with a conscious

Holstee offers a place for mindful shoppers to find meaningful products. While encouraging people to think critically about their lives and the impacts of their decisions, the company states its goal in creating the greatest social impact while simultaneously causing the smallest environmental impact.  

Instead of a business plan the company was founded on a manifesto. This message was expressed through a short video clip and has so far been watched by more than 500.000 people around the globe. Not only a very clever idea but also a quite inspiring message.

[brandpunk-blog]

WeGreen - The transparency engine for sustainability

 WeGreen is a search engine that aims to create transparency around the topic of sustainability. It provides a "Sustainability Footprint" by rating ecological, social and transparency efforts of companies, brands and products.

Main objective of WeGreen is to establish a true dialogue between consumers and corporations. The website gives users the opportunity to rate the sustainability of companies and allows those companies to reply to those evaluations in return.

All you need to do is download the Barcoo App. With the app you can scan each product and it will provide you with the Sustainability Footprint right away. The only downside - it's only available in Germany at the moment. But I'm sure that will change soon...

[brandpunk-blog]

Sustainability trends 2012

Searching the web for sustainability trends in 2012 one topic repeatedly kept coming up - 'recommerce'. What is this new trend that several thought leaders talk about? 

According to trendwatching.com 'recommerce' allows consumers to 'trade in' goods to make the most of their past and future possessions. It ranges from selling old goods to others to 'trade in to trade up' where consumers trade in an old product and in return receive a discount on their next purchase. This concept has been widely used in the electronic industry around the world and is expected to spread quickly across other markets.

So who are the consumers interested in such a trend. Raphael Bemprad from Sustainable Brands identifies a new consumer group called 'Generation Why?' who is looking for brands that deliver total value - products that work well, cost less, last longer and do some good. He states that youthful, educated, wired and mostly female, this New Consumer is asking “why” they should care about brands; and, if they can’t find what they’re looking for, “why not” just create the solutions themselves? New Consumers are more practical and more purposeful, and they’re not willing to wait.

Outdoor brand Patagonia is already catering for such a consumer group with its Common Threads Initiative. The idea behind it is to 'reduce, repair, reuse, recycle and reimagine'. The company promises to make useful gear that lasts a long time, helps to repair broken products, teams up with Ebay to offer customers an online trading platform for their used gear and offers to take back worn out items. In return, the company asks its customers to pledge that they will cooperate in the initiative to achieve the vision of 'reimaging a world where we take only what nature can replace'.

This initiative is a very good example of the emerging trend of 'recommerce' and also shows how to build a strong relationship with its customers - another crucial trend for sustainable brands in 2012. Well done, Patagonia!

[brandpunk-blog]

Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

These are the words with which Steve Jobs finished his commencement speech at Stanford University in 2005. His speech included three stories from his life – about how you can only connect the dots backwards, how you need to keep searching for what you really love to do in life, and the fact that every day could be your last.

On Thursday October 6th 2011 Steve Jobs last day had come. And with his passing the future of his empire has become uncertain. Will Apple’s new head Tim Cook be able to fill Steve Jobs’ shoes?  Will the company be able to remain as successful and innovative without its undisputed leader?

Steve Jobs has changed the world – hands down. He has created the mobile internet use and revolutionised the music industry. But in my eyes one of his greatest achievements is that he has sent out a message to the world - not only in his speech at Stanford but also with all of his products. “Stay young. Stay foolish”.  We all know the feeling that we experienced after the purchase of our first iPod or Mac. It brought back the little kid in us who wants to play and discover the new possibilities and take on challenges.

So what could be the key to further success and market leadership for Apple? It might just be as simple as trying to live up to the philosophy of its own creator...

(You can watch the entire Stanford Commencement Speech)

[brandpunk-blog]

How do you feel about taking five minutes of your time to calculate your ecological footprint?

The Global Footprint Network has developed a calculator that will show you how much land area it takes to support your individual lifestyle. The quiz determines your ecological footprint and draws out your biggest areas of resource consumption. Afterwards you can explore simple actions to change your footprint.

If everyone lived like me we'd need 1.8 Planet Earths to provide enough resources. Pretty devastating! I was also surprised that 48% of my footprint results from food consumption even though I'm trying to shop locally regularly. I suppose there is still plenty of room to improve my sustainable lifestyle.

How large do you think your ecological footprint is? Take the quiz here...

[brandpunk-blog]

Unlearn :: 

Where is our world going? Nowadays we can turn on our computer and embrace any lifestyle imaginable. Then we turn it off and return to our ordinary lives – just to continue doing what is expected of us. That sounds pretty harsh but for most people this is reality.

But what is actually expected of us? Marketing and communications departments have been cleverly dictating our lives for decades. They were also quick to conquer the world wide web so consumerism could live on - and with it the everlasting human desire for more.

A hundred years ago our ancestors would only buy something new if the old was broken and not repairable anymore. Today everyone has clothes in their cupboard that they have never worn. 

In my opinion we need to get back to the roots. We need to realise that less is more. And we need to observe the things that are going on in our immediate surroundings.

When have you last seen a sunrise?

We need to try to understand the environment that we are living in – not only in terms of nature but also in terms of business. Act locally and be conscious of our purchases. Not every purchase might be the cheapest but does it really need to be if we are consuming less? As I said before – less can be more.

So what would a marketing expert have to say about my thoughts? It would probably take him 60 seconds to convinces us that this is not how the world works.

But isn’t that exactly our dilemma? When do we finally realise that the majority of us is living above their expenses – chasing the (marketing) expectations that have been ingrained in our brains.  

There is only one way out. Let's get rid of all the bad seeds that have been planted in our heads – and unlearn!

[brandpunk-blog]

Let go. Let log.

Do I always have to blog about stuff that is related to the "topic" that I have chosen for my blog? Do I always have to talk about brands? Do I always need to do what is expected of me as a "marketer"?

I'm over doing things that I should do!

My friends from inbyronbaytoday.com came up with this cool sticker. One thing I really appreciate about them - they are both real.

[brandpunk-blog]

Bag it - Is your life too plastic?

This documentary follows "average guy" Jeb Berrier as he navigates through our plastic world. Jeb's journey starts with a simple question: Are plastic bags really necessary?

Jeb looks beyond plastic bags and discovers that virtually everything in modern society-from baby bottles, to sports equipment, to dental sealants, to personal care products-is made with plastic...

A quite shocking even so inspiring film with a message that can be summed up in three words - simplify your life!

[brandpunk-blog]

Fukushima - three months down the track

It has been three months that a devastating earthquake followed by a fatal tsunami hit the north-east coast of Japan's main island. The natural disaster cost approximately 30.000 lives and wiped out entire towns. The quake cut the external power supply of the nuclear power plant in Fukushima and the tsunami flooded its emergency diesel power generators, leading to the most disastrous nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

Three months later the holding company of the Fukushima plant in conjunction with the Japanese government still has not gained control of the situation. Many workers are risking their lives day in and day out trying to prevent the ultimate catastrophe - nuclear fusion. Inevitably the question arises why the plant was built in an area that was hit by a similar quake in 1933.

What I find a lot more important though - what are the lessons we can learn from the disaster?

Barbara Kingsolver once wrote in the National Geographic that “we have been slow to give up on the myth of Earth’s generosity. Rather grandly, we have overdrawn our accounts.” For Japan, and every single one of us, this is a wakeup call to re-group and think about something new – something more sustainable.

[brandpunk-blog]

Saatchi True Blue - Choosing your D.O.T.

Saatchi & Saatchi believe that sustainability is driven from consumers-up, not companies down, and the heart of True Blue is to inspire people to make the best choices for themselves and for the planet.

The agency encourages each person to choose one thing to pursue regularly. It can be anything from cycling to work or doing laundry with cold water. They call this DOT - Do One Thing. One person's DOT may stand alone, but connect a billion DOTs together and a movement of change will happen.

[brandpunk-blog]

So what exactly is corporate sustainability?

Professor Schaltegger from Luneburg University in Germany clarifies that corporate sustainability contains three elements that need to be closely linked- the competency to solve problems, the assimilation of its values and accurate market orientation.

In a nutshell, it means that an organisation invests more into the environment and high social standards than it is required to. Schaltegger points out that only true sustainability effort will lead to additional value for the social and environmental surroundings of an organisation - and have the potential to result in positive operational outcomes in the long run.

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"Corporate sustainability is like teenage sex. Everybody talks about it. Nobody does it very much. And when they do they don't do it very much."

Joel Makower

[brandpunk-blog]

Create change ::

Over the past two months quite a few things have changed in my life. I have successfully finished my degree and afterwards taken some time off to travel to Europe. The break has given me time and distance to reflect on the past and provided me with the opportunity to re-discover what is really important to me in the future - personally and career-wise. 

My interest of discovering the "real" in brands still remains the same but has further evolved into a greater passion for sustainability. Having studied business, I understand that the number one priority of every organisation is to maintain its financial sustainability. Nevertheless, business owners and operators also share a responsibility for their people, the community they operate in and the overall environment.

During the past 18 months, I had the opportunity to gain experience in strategic planning and marketing research at a small branding and design agency. The mentoring of the strategic director and my work on large brands such as McDonald’s and Woolworths has provided me with great insights and an invaluable learning experience.

Now I feel the need to move on and search for opportunities where I can truly create change...

[brandpunk-blog]

Biodegradable footwear ::

The Dutch company OAT won the second prize at the Green Fashion Awards during the Amsterdam International Fashion Week for its new innovation - a fully biodegradable shoe that can simply be buried when its owner does not want to use it anymore. That's right, you can throw them on the compost and watch them decay in between banana peels and egg shells.

The project forced the team at OTA to basically reinvent the wheel. New materials needed to be sourced and processes developed to not only make the shoe look good, but also for it to leave no mark on the environment when thrown out. After its success at the Amsterdam Fashion Week, the company is currently preparing to roll-out of the finished product.

It will be interesting to observe how consumers in the highly competitive fashion industry will react to the shoe. What if the company doesn't get the looks right and the shoe is not stylish enough? Will people still buy the shoe purely because of its great eco-credentials? I guess it will all come down to the brands authenticity...

[brandpunk-blog]

Excitement builds brands ::

McKinsey suggestes in their recent report that marketers should focus on creating customer excitement rather than maintaining satisfaction. According to the study, satisfaction is useful for retaining consumers already loyal to a product or service while  excitement is needed to attract new customers or encourage shoppers to pay a premium.

The study defines consumer excitement as "the feeling of experiencing something unexpectedly positive". Therefore, companies need to spice up their game and "surprise, thrill, and captivate" their customers. 

A Leading example was Fiat in 2007. The launch campaign of the Fiat 500 model ignited a great wave of customer excitement, allowing the company to charge 30% more for their model than any other competitor in the same category.

The best thing about brand excitement? It also works for smaller brands...

[brandpunk-blog]

Brand experience

Don't you love Friday afternoon when you find yourself wondering to the fridge in order to get out a cool beer. You take your first large sip, place it next to your computer and all of a sudden the world seems to be so much better...

When I just closely observed the ice cold Extra Dry bottle sitting next to me, I came across yet another example of clever creative branding - delivering me a brand experience at its finest! Simple ideas will always be the best... Cheers!