First of July

Winter has been gusting and swirling through our idyllic city. I’ve been meaning to write more often, and haven’t. Then today, I received my monthly briefing from Trend Watching, and the ‘innovation avalanche’ is quite inspiring. Some of the trends indicate that a ‘What if’ from yesterday may be possible.

Here are examples of autonomy, greater self-governance blooming in the world:

Scottish Tennent’s Lager has launched Tennent’s Mutual, a new music venture that will ultimately result in a live music festival later this year in which fans select artists, debate locations for gigs and call the shots on ticket prices. To kick off the effort, Tennent’s created a start-up fund of GBP 150,000. Fans are given founder member status and the right to vote on the who-what-why-where of all decisions made and how the start-up money is invested. Ticket income, meanwhile, will be ploughed back into the central fund, which will be used to bankroll other live events.

The Point takes the notion of the tipping point—that point at which group action will produce a clear result and inevitable change—and applies it to organizing group efforts. Those who join a campaign pledge to take specific action—to boycott a company, for example, or donate funds toward a cause—but no one actually acts until the campaign reaches its preset tipping point, or number of pledged participants. When that point is reached, however, the action is triggered and participants make their donations, attend an event or boycott as planned.

Be inspired as often as you can, it’s soul food.

Till soon, W

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advertising the spend

Yesterday I received my monthly email from trendwatching.com and here are some of the highlights:

“When applying this ever-wider embrace to green products and services, the shift looks somewhat like this: we’ve gone from ECO-UGLY (ugly, over-priced, low-performance, unsavoury yet eco-friendly versions of the ‘real thing’) to ECO-CHIC (eco-friendly stuff that actually looks as nice and cool as the less sustainable originals) to now ECO-ICONIC:

ECO-ICONIC | “Eco-friendly goods and services sporting bold, iconic markers and design, helping their eco-conscious owners show off their eco-credentials to their peers.

As a person in business I can appreciate the subtleties of marketing. I even go so far on my company’s website to state: “Shopping online is the new retail theatre; from auctions to cyber stores. We ask, “Is your business ready for the new economics of the retail trade?”

If our collective consciousness is evolving, and as an optimist I believe it is, then, why continue to promote consumerism? Isn’t “being green” and “sustainable” just a different mask to sell you more of what you may already have and don’t need? Or, are there companies truly abiding by eco principles from production to packaging to profit?

More from the trendwatching briefing:

Per the above definition, ECO-ICONIC is not about all green products, it’s about those products that through their distinct appearance or stories actually show that they’re green, or at least invoke some curiosity from onlookers, and thus help their owners/users attract recognition from their peers. How ‘new’ is this? Well, just take a look around: a surprisingly high number of green products and services imagined and designed in a distant past when green was seen as a compromise, still try to hide their sustainable superiority by looking as much like ‘normal’, ‘non-green’ products as possible.

Now, ECO-ICONIC works both in the world of traditional status symbols (build a green brand/product, advertise the hell out of it and make it recognizable by the masses, which in turn makes it easy for buyers to get respect from strangers) and as part of the STATUS STORIES phenomenon, which involves providing buyers of little known/niche eco-brands with conversation starters and story details to get a status fix from their peers.

Here’s another what if, mio mondo.

What if status symbols stopped being important to us? Are they more than associative icons of purpose and meaning that just make us a bit needy? These burning questions fire in my head because I know we can survive quite nicely thank you, without these distracted standards. I’m just as guilty, brand consciousness, owner of an iPod & an iPod Nano, one is my house stereo and the other is my virtual world when walking around the city or riding the bus. I don’t like traffic noise, discordance. Sensitive ears. When I lived in Madrid and in NYC, I used to go to sleep with my walkman (it was the 80’s) to drown out the sirens and horns.

Getting off the track – so

Perhaps we need to look at what we own and determine what is truly necessary. Personally, I think the collective, current eco-nomics of our time, especially over the next three to five years is to learn how to live without debt. While I was at the bank yesterday, restructuring my mortgage, I read their “Economics Brief,” their assessment globally and how it’s affecting New Zealand. There was a very interesting point made about China’s economy which is reportedly expected to slow from 11% growth to about 9.4%, give or take a decimal point. The outlook for the OECD pales ashamedly in comparison.

Ladies and gentlemen, China is a nation of savers. Their masses are not in debt to centralised banking, MasterCard and finance companies. New Zealand has one of the poorest savings rates in the world, and I am just as guilty. I overspent on my house two years ago; however, it was based on knowing the property would increase in value. And it has and will continue to do so. Thankfully I can live here through this rough patch or rent it out. There isn’t much land in Wellington and since you can get to the St. James Theatre in a 15-minute walk, or Te Papa, our national museum along the waterfront in about 20, it’s a prime location. If the house sells in the next couple of months, someone else will make a larger profit in another 2 or 5 years, and that’s okay. That’s good. This is part of the cycle of money in a society.

Now back to China because I find this fascinating insofar as their citizens’ discipline to save. We have something to learn from them.

Maybe we need to let the Chinese teach us how to save. Clearly their discipline is commendable.

The environmental concern is also about China’s increased economic growth, which will mean more money to spend on consumables. And believe you me; the global corporate wizards are doing their utmost to effectively market to an audience of 1.3 billion sets of eyes and ears. I would also like to export some of New Zealand’s goodies to them. I’d like to imagine this happening without screaming status symbols, quality to last so we don’t need to buy new shoes every 3 months.

That’s just it. Do we need so much stuff? My friend Philea spoke about this months ago, as we discussed paring down. Why do we need more than two sets of sheets at any one given time? Do we, as women need 46 pairs of shoes? (of course my polyphrenic companion Carrie Bradshaw would be in an uproar 😉 Aren’t we able to live with less? About that time, trendwatching had mentioned the up and coming fashion of disposable clothing. This new wave attracting mostly those 25 and under. I haven’t followed it up nor heard much more about it. Hopefully that inane concept faltered and evaporated without leaving too much in the landfills.

Marketing your business because you provide a quality product or service and have good intentions is buried beneath icons and symbols and branding. Isn’t it possible for commerce to perpetuate without excessiveness? For trade and the “cycle of money” to exist without all the masks and distractions?

Later in the briefing, it states:

“…many consumers are deeply skeptical about large corporations claiming to go green, as very few companies are seen as honest to begin with. However, as stated before, a large enough eco-conscious audience now exists to make it worthwhile for brands to join the ECO-ICONIC fray. Just seek out the eco-minded middle classes around the world and you will be off to a good start. For the next 12 months, at least 😉

Not so sure if tongue in cheek, or a wink about the next 12 months is fully appropriate. Yet, this is a valid point. The global middle class is the engine of the cycle of money; they move things forward or stall the system.

To ask, can we make things work without indebtedness? Any economists, bankers, laymen, corporate wizard, anyone thinking who wishes to comment, please do so. Educate us. When we think more consciously, we’ll choose more wisely.

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