Tag Archives: consulting
Green Spaces NY – An Incubator for Social Entrepreneurs and Green Business Opens In Tribeca
Posted on 11. Dec, 2009 by Justine Suh.
Green Spaces New York, space for social entrepreneurs and green business ventures, officially opened their new location in downtown Manhattan last week. Green Spaces is an incubator model that encourages like-minded entrepreneurs to pool resources and ideas to ensure success of their sustainable business ideas.
Green Spaces offers various amenities for your start-up needs. A rental ranges in price from $550 a month for a full-time private space to $35 per day for drop-ins sharing an open work area. Services include a conference room, an intern program, newsletter advertising and recommendations for companies that provide bookkeeping, accounting, marketing, graphic design, and technology and sustainability consulting assistance.
The Clubhouse Membership for EcoPreneurs is also offered. This membership includes access to networking events, film screenings, gallery openings, supper clubs, pop-up retail shops, happy hours, educational workshops, and entry pass to the national Green Spaces community.
Green Spaces is located in the ultra-hip Tribeca area and its vast 5,300-square-foot loft is truly Green as its name implies. It is refurbished with entirely vintage and reused furniture. The office uses 100% wind power energy. Green Spaces has low-power utilization through a passive heating and cooling system, and is implementing a composting system and partnership with Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).
As a welcome offer for its new community into their Manhattan space, Green Spaces is offering a FREE One Day pass for individuals interested in a green working space.
To schedule a tour, utilize your FREE One Day Pass, or for more information on membership levels, contact Emma Grady at emma@greenspacesny.com.
Photos: courtesy of Green Spaces NY
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Interview with Sharon Greene of RISC: Companies Need to Understand Positive Consumption
Posted on 03. Dec, 2009 by Justine Suh.
I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Sharon Greene, Managing Director of global trends and consumer behavior consultancy, RISC International. Unfortunately, she was unable to attend the conference due to pneumonia, from which she has now recovered. She was gracious enough to give a phone interview with revealing insights into what she would have shared at the OG09 ‘What’s Hot, What’s Not, What’s Next’ panel.
Based in Paris, France, Sharon and RISC have extensively researched views of European consumers in comparison to U.S. consumers on what they expect from companies and products in terms of “greenness”. She has many interesting examples to give with RISC data from ten countries across Europe, the emerging markets and the US to show that this is a growing trend in consumer wishes.
RISC has identified a new trend called Positive Consumption, which shows that consumers today have multifaceted needs when buying a product: health effects, ethics, social responsibility and corporate fairness in addition to green values (described after ASCENT figures below). Sharon also shared some of the revealing changes in consumer attitudes in RISC’s Annual Scan of Consumer Evolutions and New Trends (the ASCENT program).
ASCENT and Positive Consumption in the US:
The figures quoted below come from the ASCENT program which is an annual survey containing up to 500 questions which is administered to over 30,000 respondents around the world (5 European Markets – UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the US and the BRIC- Brazil, Russia, India, China). The questions asked covered areas such as life values (attitudes on family, work, friendship, money, community, religion and so forth) lifestyle behaviors, and attitude consumption behaviors and attitudes and a significant convergence technology sector which studies the increasing importance of technology as a vector of social change around the world.
- The desire to do something to help protect the environment has been on the increase in the US since 2004 when only 27% of the population agreed that they shared this desire today it is over 40%. Although the dynamic is positive, we can compare the same figure for Europe where the corresponding figure is over 56%
- The need to look at what products are made of and concern for the effect of products on health have been on the increase since 2002 and have risen from 56% to 70% over the period observed.
- The wish to contribute to society is equally in a very positive dynamic in the US, having increased from 41% in 2006 to 55% today.
- 56% of Americans say that they pay attention to the way they live in order to feel good, this has increased from 40% on 2004
- 47% of Americans agree that they purchase more and more organic food and 57% declare that they try to choose natural products.
RISC’s Positive Consumption Levels Excerpts:
Ecological Effects:
The ecological facet of Positive Consumption is characterized by an active concern for environmental issues. The French already display high levels of involvement on green issues, and this trend is increasing. Other European countries are following suit. Japan is also a major source of eco-innovations and paving the way for eco-behaviors. Americans, on the other hand, are currently less involved, but the trend is growing.
Health Effects:
The health dimension reflects concerns for the effects that products can have on our health. According to RISC, Europeans and the Japanese consumers are ahead on this trend, while US consumers are catching up, and awareness is rising in BRIC countries. For instance, 82% of Europeans (84% in Italy) consider healthy eating to be the best medicine.
Ethics:
The ethical aspects of consumption involve preference for ethical businesses, and a declared feeling of guilt associated with buying from unethical companies. Ethical concerns are strong and growing in most countries, with the notable exceptions of Russia and China. With the current economic crisis, companies might be tempted to overlook ethical standards. This would be a mistake however, since the crisis has also shown the limits of what consumers perceive as “immoral” forms of capitalism. This goes some way into explaining why, although consensus is building around the necessity to enforce ethical rules, consumers aren’t ready to bear the costs of fair trade an responsible production: in the U.S., since 2005 the willingness to pay 10% more for fair trade products has dropped from 62% to 52%. It has also dropped in Europe, as well. Underlining this decrease is an increasing belief that ethical behavior by producer/manufacturer should be a standard and not an excuse to make the consumer pay more.
Feel Good:
The feel good side to Positive Consumption is characterized by an aspiration towards enhancing individual well-being. US consumers are particularly involved in active forms of self-care, a trend which is also growing in European countries and particularly in France, where for instance the Wii Fit has been topping the sales of video games since its release in April 2008. More passive forms of self-care such as spas, massages and relaxation are preferred in Japan and the BRIC countries.
Further, Sharon discussed how relevant this Positive Consumption is in the current economic crisis. This is a moment of truth for businesses, she says. Success will be granted to those who adapt rapidly, otherwise they risk disappearing from “the storm”. Positive Consumption is the new reality. Businesses must understand how to translate these aspirations into a concrete offer and create value for the customer if they want to use this understanding for growth and innovation – as well as changing the world for the better.
RISC advises multinational companies such as Nokia, Philips, L’Oreal, Lacoste, Yves Rocher, and Proctor and Gamble on how to better communicate with the positive consumer. Sharon is a regular participant at many global green events and regularly contributes to major media outlets such as Marketing Week and the BBC.
To find out more information about RISC and their research, visit http://www.risc-int.com/.
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Interview with Opportunity Green 2009 Speaker, Freya Williams, co-founder of Ogilvy Earth
Posted on 20. Nov, 2009 by OppGreen Insights.
Freya Williams is the Planning Director of OgilvyEarth, Ogilvy’s Sustainability Consultancy. OgilvyEarth is also responsible for the strategy and executions of the Hopenhagen campaign, a pro-bono project designed to raise public awareness of the upcoming Cop15 Conference.
OG: So you started The Greenery (now called OgilvyEarth) while at Ogilvy. How did you get buy-in to do that?
Freya: While I was on maternity leave I spent some time thinking about what I really wanted to do. I saw a business opportunity to help our clients in a more focused way around sustainability. I also wanted to bring my personal values to work. Management was actually very supportive, and put me in touch with my partner, Seth Farbman. Then the new global CEO reached out to us, so we had a lot of support from the top. It was a grassroots initiative with a lot of top-down support.
OG: There seems to be almost a trend in advertising companies opening sustainability consulting practices, as Ogilvy has done through your influence, and Saatchi has done by acquiring Act Now (now Saatchi S). How deep into your clients’ operations and supply chain strategies do you go?
Freya: We begin by working to understand what the client has already done, what they need to do more of. What’s different with us from Saatchi S is that our expertise lies in communications, while Adam Werbach (CEO of Saatchi S) is a sustainability expert. So we’ve created a global advisory panel who advise us on sustainability issues. We work with the client to figure out what the client needs to do, but most of our clients have internal experts who know much more about supply chain or sustainability as it pertains to their company. We’re very clear with our clients that we won’t be helping them greenwash, we help them expose what they’re actually doing around sustainability.
Thus, we mainly focus on helping the client figure out how to communicate what they’re already doing, figure out what else they could be doing, and what their core message should be. Most companies are dong something around sustainability, and quite often many things, but they don’t know how to even begin communicating what they’re doing.
OG: That sounds exactly like what Kellie McElhaney taught us in her Strategic CSR class, and in her bookJust Good Business. She explained that the most successful CSR initiatives are ones which naturally fit with a company’s core business.
Freya: Exactly, in the framework we use with our clients, one of the more critical components is synergy. The company’s sustainability initiatives should be very consistent with what the brand already stands for.
OG: Ogilvy’s White Paper, 2009: A Pivotal Year and the Dawn of the Age of Sustainability, states: “…the deepening crisis is bringing thought-leaders and consumers alike to the realization that the financial model we’ve been working with is unsustainable.” Do your CPG clients see this as an opportunity to redefine success, or are they trying to apply sustainability to the old model of “growth=success”?
Freya: It varies- some clients are shifting to service based models, but most are trying to make what they’re currently doing much more sustainable. A really good example is our client Siemens, as they are finding huge opportunities for leadership in transition to a sustainable economy, particularly in serving their manufacturing customers.
OG: I discovered just how far ahead of the competition Siemens is when I consulted one of their competitors. The firm was trying to figure out how to communicate to their customers that their products are also environmentally responsible. I was very impressed with how well Siemens is communicating their leadership in sustainable manufacturing technology.
OG: Some might say that Advertising is one of the most powerful forces in the world today. Do you think that adequate change can be affected through communication, particularly to consumers? Or would changes in business operations be more likely to impact the future of the planet?
Freya: It has to be all of the above, we can’t just do one or the other. We’re too far into this and need to work on all fronts- government regulation, business leadership, as well as marketing to drive consumer demand. As culture makers, marketers have a real opportunity to drive forward change. Hopenhagen is trying to change the dialogue to make it more relevant to people, to make climate change about people, prosperity, and hope. The apocalyptic messages of the past have not been helpful, they disempower people, creating a sense of apathy. So we’re trying to make this more about hope and opportunity. We’re also trying to bring it home to people. This isn’t just about the polar bears, or some strangers in a strange land, we want everyone to feel connected to the Copenhagen Resolution.
OG: What sort of metrics do you use to measure impact of a campaign like Hopenhagen? The same as brand perception for other clients? How would Ogilvy measure success internally for this campaign?
Freya: That’s a difficult question because of course we only have a limited amount of control over the outcome of the talks. We’re measuring our success by measuring word of mouth buzz, online mentions, signatures on the Hopenhagenwebsite, press mentions, etc. If we feel it’s raised the dialogue, and made people feel a part of the event, then we’ve done well.
OG: Given that it sometimes seems the climate change deniers are louder than those who embrace innovation and change, do you feel you need to expand the Hopenhagen message beyond the internet, onto prime time TV, for example?
Freya: Because this is a pro bono project, we need to rely on free media. Our PR team is trying to get it into more mainstream publications. Some things are in the pipeline that I can’t talk about now, but will mention in my presentation at the conference.
We won’t go hard against climate change deniers, they represent about 1/3rd of the population that are too hard to convert. Instead we focus on activating the ones who are already receptive, and are willing to learn how they can help.
OG: Thanks so much for your time Freya! I am really looking forward to your presentation at the conference.
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Fridolin Beisert: Problem Framing and Pattern Breaking in Sustainable Design
Posted on 27. Aug, 2009 by Brent Remby.
Fridolin Beisert (website) is an Associate Professor at Art Center College of Design, and a consult for corporations and executive education institutions on design thinking. Together with another professor, Fridolin developed “Design for Sustainability,” a ground-breaking class at the Art Center where students redesign products to reduce their environmental impact. The class was featured in the Los Angeles Times, and students have already won awards for their concepts. Fridolin talks to Opportunity Green about creative problem solving, trends in sustainability and what country is the greenest.
OG: What brought you to the design space?
FB: I think as a child I was always creating art, building furniture, fixing things that were broken, dissecting objects, etc. My father is a doctor and my mother a children’s book illustrator and painter – that might explain this mix of habits. When it came time to choose a career path I originally thought that I should study art maybe, but then I missed all of the application deadlines (this was in Germany in the 90′s). Through coincidence my cousin knew of a design student that went to Art Center and encouraged me to speak with him because that school was enrolling three times a year. “Design”, I thought, “what is that?” Turns out it is exactly what I wanted to do all my life: creative problem solving and producing tangible solutions that have value. I ended up going to California to study product and entertainment design at Art Center. After graduation I started a design consultancy called Red Thread together with some friends of mine and we were working on just about any design projects imaginable.
OG: What has been your favorite project thus far in your career?
FB: I am very passionate about my work and always give 110%, so I would have to say that my favorite project is usually the one I am currently working on. I try to avoid working on anything that is not fun or does not provide a creative challenge to me because those projects consume too much energy.
OG: Who is your biggest inspiration?
FB: There are many great designers that I look up to, but ultimately the main inspirations for me are my mom and dad. Unfortunately, I do not get see them that often because they live in Germany, but we talk a lot over the phone. My mom tells me about all the paintings that she is doing and my dad (now retired) is creating sculptures and furniture designs. It is amazing to see what a creative energy these two have – absolutely inspiring!
OG: How did you get involved with Opportunity Green?
FB: I went to the Opportunity Green Conference in 2008 and was completely blown away. I have been to a lot of conferences about design and also sustainability and most of them feel incredibly academic and antiquated. Opportunity Green on the other hand showed how businesses can be both green and profitable at the same time. There were no doomsday presentations about just how bad the environment is, but rather lectures were filled with success stories and fresh thinking – straight to the point. Later that year we decided to collaborate with Art Center and Opportunity Green. As I mentioned earlier, I like working on projects that provide creative challenges and that have great people involved.
OG: As a teacher of creative problem solving, in your opinion, what is the most urgent problem that we face, and can you lend us some tips on how to start creatively thinking about a solution?
FB: This answer could easily fill up multiple chapters of a book, as I am currently working on just that: publishing some of the remarkable results that have come out of one of the classes that I teach which deals with creative strategies. The most urgent problem that we face? That of course depends entirely on the viewpoint of who is asking and the context. Generally speaking, I teach individuals on how to ask the right questions as a starting point to generate innovative solutions. I call this “Problem Framing” and “Pattern Breaking”, and I will give a small workshop on this topic at the conference.
OG: What are some of the sustainable trends that you see forming as the next generation grows up?
FB: It is about efficiency; the next generation does not want to waste a lot of time or resources. As consumers, they are much better educated and equipped to understand green-washing vs. honest approaches towards sustainable lifestyles. They will seek products that do not harm the environment and contain no toxic materials. They will value the concept of local manufacture and they will be very aware of their own ecological footprint at all stages of their lives. I think they will profoundly change the industrial landscape as we know it.
OG: Are their any specific outdated design thinking methodologies that are being used today, and is there a better solution currently available?
FB: Just about any article about design starts by mentioning that the design field is rapidly changing. In our industry, “change” is the only “constant.” Thus a lot of methodologies that deal with creating designs for the sake of generating profits or selling to the consumer products that they do not really need will become obsolete in the future. In our sustainability class my co-teacher Heidrun Mumper-Drumm has coined the term “comprehensive design,” which uses a lifecycle analysis and impact matrix to generate new designs that feature form+function+sustainability. My job is to help the students create viable business plans and marketing strategies to make sure these products are finding the right consumers.
OG: Your speaker bio mentioned that you have worked with various entertainment companies; which, if any, sector of the entertainment industry do you think could be more sustainable?
FB: In this industry, sustainability should begin with reduced waste: less energy, less garbage, less travel and instead closed-loop thinking. Off the top of my head I would say that the film industry has probably the largest room for improvement. Within that are many individual sectors, and I think probably the commercial industry needs a heavy dose of sustainable thinking. Because of time and budget pressures there are usually no considerations made for the environment – not to mention that most of the commercials just try to sell us more goods.
OG: In your travels around the world, which country do you see positioned to be the greenest?
FB: Germany has a long standing history in developing green technologies and they are incredibly efficient. Japan on the other hand is very resourceful and they are experts at recycling. However, I notice strongly that the best discussions about the future of sustainability are almost always in California. When talking to companies in Europe or Asia they are very well aware of “traditional” sustainable thinking such as recycling and energy consumption, but they are often unaware of what it means to do a complete Lifecycle Analysis of a product, service or process. When I explain to them what we do in our class, they are often amazed and confess that they are unaware of the full sustainable picture of their company.
