Matching Mouth to Money

Published February 14th, 2010 in Miscellaneous, green marketing, sustainability | No Comments »

The phrase “put your money where your mouth is”  has been coming up a lot here lately—in part due to our work with New Resource Bank, which lets sustainability-minded businesses, nonprofits, and individuals do just that, and in part due to our decision to join 1% for the Planet.

If you’re not familiar with it, 1% for the Planet is an alliance of businesses of all sizes that commit to give one percent of their yearly revenues to environmental nonprofits. And the organization holds members to it–you have to submit tax documents and proof of donations to maintain membership.

We’d been thinking of doing this since learning of 1% via a Fast Company interview with Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, who co-founded the organization with Craig Mathews, fisherman and owner of Blue Ribbon Flies. What finally kicked us into gear was hearing Hunter Lovins give her “The Business Case for Sustainability” speech at New Resource’s bimonthly speaker/networking event, re:think.

Lovins includes an apt quote from Interface chair Ray Anderson: “What’s the business case for destroying the planet?” But what really got to us was her parting question, “What are you doing?” Somehow, “helping sustainable businesses and environmental nonprofits” didn’t sound like enough. So here’s another chip on the table.

Try it—it feels good.

Betting on the Future

Published April 25th, 2009 in marketing | No Comments »

New Yorker financial columnist James Surowiecki tells the tale of two cereal companies’ approach to the Depression in his April 20 column (“Hanging Tough”): Post cut its ad budget, while Kellogg doubled its budget, moved into a new medium, and gave a major push to a new product (Rice Krispies). The result:

By 1933, even as the economy cratered, Kellogg’s profits had risen almost thirty per cent and it had become what it remains today: the industry’s dominant player. You’d think that everyone would want to emulate Kellogg’s success, but, when hard times hit, most companies end up behaving more like Post. They hunker down, cut spending, and wait for good times to return.

Examples like Kellogg and Post (and Surowiecki gives plenty more) are why we tell people that now is the time to market like hell—you’ll position yourself well for the upturn, and you’ll give yourself the best chance to capture those who are still spending. Of course it’s in our self-interest to say that, but we are following our own advice, and spending more than feels quite comfortable on marketing and new initiatives.

As Surowiecki points out, this can be scary. There’s a good reason so many organizations choose to batten down the hatches in a downturn: a gamble on the future isn’t always successful.

But as they say at the tables, you can’t win if you don’t play.