I like the way this sizzling poster reframes the choice we face in a crisis.

It reminds me of the oft quoted (but incorrect according to some) adage that the Chinese character for Crisis is made of the characters for Danger and Opportunity. 

from flowers&fleurons on flickr (via Boing Boing I also like the second comment down but it's a bit rude).

A few Futerrans and I went to see Jonathan Porritt speak at the LSE last night, entitled ‘Climate Crunch: making the economics fit the science’. It was an excellent speech; Jonathan’s delivery was inclusive and conversational (no mean feat considering the theatre was packed to the gills with over 200 people) and contained the kind of facts that make your hair stand on end. I was also struck by how relevant the topics were to ‘Sizzle’.

Jonathan started off by talking about how he had been in the apocalypse business for so long that he felt more comfortable with that than talking about the great things that adapting to climate change could bring (more jobs, better social equality, lower taxes due to less money spent on dealing with social issues). He then moved onto the rising amount of climate change skepticism that has taken hold since the UEA Copenhagen scandal and made a very valid point: why are we bothering to argue about climate science? What's the point?

President Obama is in the process of trying to get a Climate Change Bill through Congress; how is he galvanizing support? Not by engaging with the climate change skeptics getting into the nitty gritty of draughtproofing, climate science and the albedo effect, that’s for sure. He’s selling it on the sizzle: green jobs, technological innovation and energy independence. Presenting his vision of a future that people can identify with and aspire to.

How much is 350ppm of Carbon Dioxide? When exactly will the glaciers melt? Is global warming happening? Who cares, when we know we will be ensuring job security, developing technology and reducing the chance of energy based conflict?

Brave new world or nitpicking? Science or utopia? Green jobs or glacial retreat rates? I know which one I will be paying more attention to….. Thanks Jonathan for putting it all into perspective.

Wuhoo! This is my first blog at Futerra. It will be short, sweet and to the point.

And I feel like talking about.... Pepsi and how Pepsi has set a $30bn revenue target for healthy brands. 

Check it out here

My point on this - It is amazing that a company can capitalize on the fact that people want to be healthier and the benefits of doing this can be worth $30bn.

...spotted this on Eco-Tube today courtesy of our mate Chris, a witty little viral from Canada spoofing the greenwashing of some of our more contentious industries. Enjoy!

Grist.org have a fantastic summary about where the environmental movement is heading next year, post-Copenhagen.

Most major groups have spent January reflecting on 2009 and planning for the coming twelve months - and there are real questions about where to focus, what strategy to push and what will succeed. 

May I make a suggestion that seems to be catching on - Sizzle. 

10 days to go until one of the most important times in any man's year. No, not just Italy vs. England in the 6 Nations, but Valentines Day.

Yes, the 14th of February is approaching. And as every taken man knows, we better get planning now. Obviously ideally (I mean if we were women) we would have planned everything a month ago. But sadly we are mere men, and so we will trawl TopTable and pleed with waiters until we've got that table - the table that's available at 5.30 or maybe even 10.30 but only if Sir can guarantee he'll be finished within the hour.

Then there's the flowers. The biggest rip-off of them all but also (arguably) the most crucial element of any Valentines Day. If you don't get your other half flowers on Valentine Day then your quite simply a bad human being. It's the law.

So this year, i'm softening the blow. I'm making the flowers i buy smell a little sweeter by getting them from FLOWE(RED), the new service from (RED)™ and Flamingo Flowers. All the profits from the flowers they sell go towards helping people with HIV. A far better and more worthy use of my hard earned cash.

P.S. if my girlfriend is reading this, i booked a table weeks ago...for the 13th (well i tried) 

This month's Green Mondays looked at whether Marketing + Sustainability = Innovation? Can marketing help drive sustainability by focusing on 'less is more' or is it doomed to perpetuate the commercial materialist bandwagon?

Both group’s felt there was big gaps between top-down Government intervention and bottom-up consumer demand for sustainable products and services that producers were failing to fill independently/voluntarily. It was only when outside pressure/competition was brought to bear e.g. The launch of Fair Trade in the coffee market that real change gathered pace.

One group felt the issue was divided by the size and age of the company. For new businesses with sustainability at their core, innovation and marketing are naturally driven on a similar track. However older and more established companies trying to be sustainable faced much greater challenges. Some felt that communications should be driven by a sustainable core whilst others felt that it is communications which can create a conscious consumer and encourage business to change.

Both groups referred to M&S as an example of best practice. We felt if M&S was on ‘Plan A’ then everyone else was still very much on ‘Plan B’! It’s essential for sustainability to be on the KPIs of Brand Managers and Marketers if this is to change. From the M&S perspective maybe retailer powers can help to combat the confusion of ‘over-choice’ through choice-editing of unsustainable products off the shelves (An example of the effect of ‘over-choice’ was cited where on Direct Mail when customers were given a telephone number AND an email address to contact the overall response rate dropped!) However one group felt that M&S was not relevant as it occupied a separate space to many other retailers as it only sells own brand produce.

We also identified a ‘trust deficit’, that requires shared endeavour to overcome and partnership between consumers, retailers and producers e.g. Through collaboration, cross-comparable indicators, green labelling or benchmarking. Arguably consumers have MORE power than producers if P&G’s research is anything to go by whereby the biggest impact of a product is IN USE.

It was felt that if companies can agree on labelling together, they should be able to collectively co-ordinate the adoption of a set of minimum standards. Rather then leading the way, businesses are often on the back foot acting reactively and often only when they can spot legislation on the horizon.

The table felt that marketers often underestimate their customers. Traditional single directional marketing is changing and the table feel that opening an honest dialogue is the best way forward. If companies are honest about where they are and where they want to be then the consumer can make the journey with them. Is simply giving the customer the facts and then letting them choose the best option?

We also discussed the need for a clear benchmarking system so that consumers can make informed decisions and companies can measure themselves against competitors. It was felt that  the use of traditional marketing tools such as snobbery, envy and luxury could not be used and for sustainability issues, a more subtle tactics were needed.

‘I will if you will’ is a good mantra for this producer:consumer partnership on reducing impacts, and marketing cannot really work without innovation of a product. In this sense marketing has to change. It’s not simply for ‘selling’ but needs a ‘design-thinking’ approach in tackling how consumers live/behave to reduce overall impact.

Finally we believed that there is a huge opportunity for ‘challenger brands’ that could ‘eat the big fish’. The big brands have too much to lose, and perhaps we need a series of ‘Innocents’ to wrestle the market in a sustainable direction? The role of marketing ultimately is to meet the needs (not the wants) of the community profitably.

ACTIONS:

•    Transparency – be honest & truthful in claims & impacts
•    Rebrand sustainability (less denial more desire)
•    Selling less (design thinking approach challenging existing business models)
•    Addressing needs vs wants - this is imperative
•    Avoid greenwash – it’s pernicious and undermines green business case
•    Develop a clear benchmark for measuring progress and a set of minimum standards.
•    Promote the sustainable choice as the desirable option e.g. Sainsbury’s Seasonal produce drive
•    Communicate results back to the consumer

CHALLENGER BRANDS: (We'd love to see growing!)

•    M&S, Co-Op, Waitrose
•    Good Energy
•    StreetCar, Green Tomato cars, City Bikes, Eurostar
•    Method
•    Innocent, leon
•    Brixton £
•    Howies, Fire Hose, Terra Plana, Patagonia
•    Skanska

Today is Groundhog Day! No, not the day when Bill Murray is forced to constantly relive the same twenty four hours over and over again in Punxsutawney, eventually finding redemption and true happiness (via plumbing the depths of anger, depression and despair!)...but the old Anglo-Saxon/Germanic tradition of marking the mid point between winter and spring.

This was highlighted by a lovely piece by Tom Butler on the R4 Today programme this morning when he likened public attitudes to climate change to Groundhog Day. As the tradition of 'Punxsutawney Phil' goes, if he emerges from his burrow and sees his shadow on the ground the omens are for six more weeks of cold winter and he'll duck back underground, if he does not see his shadow spring will be early.

In the aftermath of a relative failure at Copenhagen, the coldest, hardest winter for a generation, procedural issues in the scientific review process and the rise of climate scepticism, it would be easy for us, like Phil to duck back underground, bury our heads in the sand and question the climate change agenda. Denial, as we have said many times before on this blog, is a very comfortable, attractive place to be as it abdicates us of the responsibility to change. However, this will just prolong the ultimate winter of our discontent. 

Far better to acknowledge the collective journey we are on, that the half-way point of an inevitable transition to a lower carbon economy is passing and the sensible thing to do is embrace this change and look forward to an early spring. Or am I just being a total hippy?!

Either way Happy Ground Hog Day!

Help us make 2010 the Year of Swishing and reduce fashion's carbon footprint

We’ve had some really exciting news here at Futerra; Swishing has been shortlisted in the Pepsi Refresh project and is in line for a $50,000 grant. 

Eco-fabulous clothes swapping parties have now swished their way across the globe. Thousands of ‘Swishettes’ have experienced the fun and frivolities of Swishing and walked away with new wardrobes since we launched Swishing. 

We’ve had fun, saved money and most importantly, prevented an estimated 447,000 pounds of clothes from being sent to landfill. 

Now, join us as we go one step further. We want to make it easy for you- the Swishers- to throw your own eco-chic soirees and do your bit to reduce the impacts of ‘fast fashion’.  

We’re developing our website www.swishing.com so that you can get advice on throwing your own party. You will be able to chat online to other swishers as well as find events near you and look at photos and clothes from past events. There will be easy to use listings pages, a Swish-O-Meter and links to a whole host of Swishing info. 

And this is where you come in, we need you to VOTE! If you have already voted, we need you to VOTE AGAIN!  

We believe we can put this money to really good use by encouraging women all over the world to wake us to fashions environmental impact, we also want to look fabulous whilst doing it.  

After all, treading lightly is done best wearing Christian Louboutin’s. 

You can now follow us on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook 

Happy Swishing

xx

On Saturday I went to see the penultimate day of the 'Earth - Art of a changing world' at the Royal Academy. I won't bang on about how great it was as the exhibition is finished now, but suffice to say Anthony Gormley's 'Amazonian Field' was as mesmerisingly brilliant as his other 'Field' works (there's something truly humbling about being stared at by so many tens of thousands of expectant pairs of eyes), Cornelia Parker's 'Heart of Darkness' was similarly compelling as were the Burtynsky photos, Keith Tyson's 'Nature Paintings' and Tracey Moffat's 'Doomed' was a white knuckle montage of disaster movie highlights that left us reeling.

However it was the accompanying exhibition downstairs that ultimately caught my attention. By designer Stuart Haygarth it was a breathtakingly beautiful series of chandeliers and lights made from recycled and recovered materials. A huge glitter-ball covered with shattered car wing mirrors, standard lamp stands made from colour co-ordinated plastic bottle tops and the like, and enormous twinkling chandeliers made from the old lenses of glasses. Stealing the show were a trio of almost hairy looking, organic lampshades made from literally thousands of 'arms' from old pairs of glasses. It was a stunning display that proved that recovered and recycled materials can be gorgeous. If I could afford one I'd buy one!

Osama bin Laden is a terrorist and a murderer. He must be wringing his hands with glee at the thought of all the havoc climate change could bring.

Yet today he condemned America’s impact on climate change. Why? Is this the man who has shown no concern for human life suddenly worried about sea level rises? Is he hoping to recruit neighborhood recyclers into his band of fanatics? Perhaps he’s worried about the polar bear.

No. His plan is larger and more terrifying than that. And it’s already working. Osama bin Laden is driving the wedge even deeper between climate cynics and climate activists. He has identified the perfect issue to reflame America’s culture wars and de-rail any climate bill. It’s a perfect strategy if you desire chaos and destruction.

The worst scenario would be if climate activists are tarred by association. He is using his hated status as a weapon against us.  If he succeeds in demonising climate action, then in the short term America could slow it’s transition to a clean energy economy. . Of course this would maintain the stranglehold of the oil-rich nations over the American economy. The money will keep flowing in bin Laden’s direction.

In the long term his little carbon bomb might do more. If he can delay America’s action on climate change then the change becomes more likely. Poor nations will suffer wilder weather and all the instability that causes. A world suffering climate chaos would provide rich pickings for fanatics like Osama. He has hit upon the perfect strategy. With one climate statement he can cause rifts across the world and bring the world a little closer to climate change. Today he must be a happy man.

What can we do? Firstly don’t be fooled. This nasty little speech came in the same day that America announced a 17% cut in carbon by 2020. This is the day that America has started to claw back it’s climate credibility in the eyes of other nations. This gives new leverage and influence to the USA, and the right to push other nations (including the oil-rich ones) to make similar cuts. It’s economics, not the environment, he’s worried about.  Bin Laden is worried about his long term funding.  The USA reported this week that wind power had increased by 39%, bin Laden is seeking to ensure that the US actually will remain reliant for oil. 

Osama isn’t an environmentalist and cares nothing about climate change (because that would mean caring about people). Already climate cynics are seizing upon his comments. I beg them – please don’t. Fight on the science or the legislation if you must, but by using these comments as a reason not to act you’re only helping him.

I also call on environmentalists, creation care advocates, transition towns and all those working to combat climate change: immediately and unequivocally condemn his comments. Don’t let yourself be aligned with a terrorist.

Remember. Whatever your feelings on climate change; don’t use his comments for your cause, because actually he will be using you. I would like to see America’s leading climate experts condemning and dismissing his comments, climate skeptics refusing to cash-in on the gift of ‘eco-bin Laden’ and us all striving, arguing or working together without pause or thought for his mind-games. None of us need Osama bin Laden on our side.

Perhaps our mutual disgust at a terrorist trying to appropriate the climate issue could bring us closer to agreement.

America – we trust and believe that you will do the right thing despite this man.

Anchoring is a widely used negotiating and influencing tactic. Here's a great example.

The iPad has had Apple enthusiasts and tech-heads drooling in anticipation. It's finally here (well there - the States) with a $499 price tag, way under the $1,000 speculated before the launch by analysts. 

For those gearing themselves up to buy it the $1,000 is steep, possibly off putting, but for $499 it feels like a bargain increasing the likelihood of purchase. This is called Anchoring. The higher price tag infers higher quality and sense of worth on the product. People's expectations are set by the big price tag. The surprise of the lower price tag affects them in a way that starting out at the $499 amount wouldn't.

It's a common tactic that, apparently Apple use a lot, as one ex-Senior Marketing Manager confirms:

"Often Apple has a need to let information out, unofficially. The company has been doing that for years, and it helps preserve Apple’s consistent, official reputation for never talking about unreleased products. I know, because when I was a Senior Marketing Manager at Apple, I was instructed to do some controlled leaks."

Last night the Futerra house at Number Four was transformed into a veritable synagogue of sizzle, as we officially launched the report. To say our lovely home was brimful of brilliant people, clients, mates, sustainability buddies, Futerrans old and new would be an understatement. It was standing room only and the conversation was buzzing...

Huge cheers to everyone who came along and made it such a special night, highlights included the 'dropping of the haggis' (not a traditional part of Burns' Night but which will now become a part of Futerran folklore), some of the more experimental choreography being practised in what is conventionally our board room and of course the 'Wall of Sizzle'.

Here we asked everyone 'What's Your Sizzle?' and encouraged them to write and draw their answers on a huge piece of paper. Here's a selection of some of my favourites...not all of which completely embody a positive vision of low carbon heaven!

What's Your Sizzle?

• 'Rob, I love him x' (The Romantic Sizzle)
• 'Namaste' (The Multicultural Sizzle)
• 'Bearded Ladies' (The Specialist/Niche/Fetishist Sizzle)
• 'Twenty First Century Suffragettes' (The Right-On Activist Sizzle)
• 'The Isles of Scilly - Simple & Perfect' (The Geographical Sizzle)
• 'Ed's Kilt' (The Sartorial Sizzle)
• 'Chris's Brazilian Ass' (The Inappropriate Sizzle)
• 'The Mountain Bongos...please save us' (The Surreal Sizzle)
• 'Great Head...(on beer which is water and carbon neutral)' (The Saucy Sizzle)

Audi has launched a social media campaign to support its third Super Bowl ad.

Both the ad and the social media work introduce the Green Police, an enforcement team created to protect and conserve the environment. They produce "Public Service Announcements" designed to advise consumers on ways that they can make better choices to protect the environment. They also have an interactive quiz where you get to guess what type of bag is best to use, what the right bin is to put your food waste in etc etc.

I have three thoughts on it - 

It's boring. I think it's trying to be funny, but it isn't. It's got all the humour of a suburban, middle-aged accountant with a passion for ornithology telling you a 10 minute joke about birds in monotone. 

It's lazy. It's literally just telling people what they should be doing on the environment. I hope they don't really think this approach will work. They don't tell people to buy an Audi, they work hard at making them want to buy an Audi. So why be so lazy on the environment? If green really that important, the same thinking and creativity that goes into shifting cars should be brought to bear on it.

It won't work. If it's trying to change behaviour, positioning actions as something that needs enforcement makes the implicit assumption that - people need to be forced to do these green behaviours and that they aren't being done. Neither of these points is going to lead to an increase in green behaviours, especially if you consider the weight of evidence around 'herd' behaviour. If it's trying to associate Audi as a responsible, green brand, it won't because it's boring and lazy.

If you want to waste a few minutes, have a look at the film here.

If I lived in New Zealand, I'd know a couple of people I'd put forward for an illustrious prize - New Zealand's Hottest Home Baker.

Futerrans are known for attempting the odd loaf here, and a cake there, perhaps we should host another bake-off?

When doing some research, I came across this: the Plane Stupid polar bear advert has been posted up on an American video hosting site with some interesting advertising placement:

http://www.iviewtube.com/videos/107724/plane-stupid-polar-bear-ad

It seems that Google Ads has surmised that looking at this advert is likely to make people want to get on a chartered flight, or a helicopter. Not perhaps, the outcome Plane Stupid were looking for.

Following my previous comments on the brilliance of video-conferencing compared to real-world flesh-pressing, on my Guardian blog, our buddies at dothegreenthing have just launched their latest video clip which stars Fay Ripley having a rather strange meeting...enjoy!

Anyone who has regularly braved Manchester’s curry mile or most of central London on a bicycle must have surely daydreamed to themselves whilst stuck at a traffic light or under a bus’s wheel

“Wouldn’t it be great if there was a flyover just for bikes that meant I could cycle over all of this traffic?”

Then you snap back into reality as a guff of exhaust forces it way up your nose and you start thinking logically again

“Oh, well the cost and scale of such a large undertaking would be mind boggling wouldn’t it? Yes it would yes, and you need to keep a clear mind here because your coming up to these lights now…

These lights are taking ages…

 Wouldn’t it be good if HP and Hellmann’s joined forces and made a mayonnaise and HP sauce mix? It would save on buying a jar of mayo as well as a bottle of…etc etc”

Well I came across this idea from Bulgarian designer Martin Angelov called ‘Kolelinia’ which won the international architectural competition “Line of Site” and it has me daydreaming about aerial pushbikes non-stop.

Angelov’s design proposes a high wire above busy urban sprawl; these contain a metal trough in which your bicycle’s wheels sit allowing you to glide over the traffic below.

It is still at the concept stage and he has recently delivered a speech promoting it at TEDxBG (no one in the office speaks Bulgarian but they are adding subtitles soon) but as a prototype it is a design that is sizzling.

To some the idea of being perched over Oxford Street on a bicycle may seem a million miles away (and terrifying) but it is one that gives us a positive vision of the future. It has great potential to encourage new ways of interacting with our urban space and transport modes as well as getting more people on their bikes. 

As I've said in previous posts, sustainability is full of great stories. There really is no excuse for telling the same old predictable tales in your comms.

Do people want to hear new ways of talking about sustainability? Too right they do. Avatar has just become the biggest grossing story of all time, surpassing Titanic with$1.288bn and counting. So get out there and make your story heard.