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17 May 2006 1 Comments on this post: View all | Add a Comment Last winter I read Freakonomics which was an intriguing and eye opening read. Prior to this the depth of my knowledge of economics was stalled at a freshmen intro course that completely baffled me. Today it fascinates me. The line that really sticks out apparently is an old adage about what economics means beyond just numbers: morality is the way we'd like life to work and economics explains the way it does work out.Huh? My friend and biggest antagonist of my business strategy just made his way though a consumer level book about economics around the same time and he highly recommended I read it. Seems he was lead to believe the majority of consumers are driven by incentives, i.e. what's in it for me. Again, it is a phenomena that relies on the passivity of the consumer: give them a lower price or a better value and you've got a business. Thank you Wal-Mart for showing us how it's done. There's ostensible growth in corporate responsibility with amazing stories such as Wal-Mart claiming they will double the efficiency of their tractor-trailer fleet in the next several years. It's worth noting that this is pretty much impossible, but any business that can make a huge jar of pickles cost $1.97, they can do anything, right? What is driving this? Is Wal-Mart trying to do what is right or are there costs to be saved? Are they morally driven or incentive driven? It's not Tugboat's place to block these efforts. It is our place to figure out how they work and why. Our clients strive to match their pursuit of profit with their commitment to society and the environment. Rarely do they have to make a compromise in their mission because that's just not how they think. The fact that it serves as a competitive advantage is coincidental, not strategic. They are morally-based operations and it doesn't have to hinder their success or profitability. I know you'll never get a businessman to condone this, but there are successful business plans that do not include a focus on making a profit. Patagonia and Dogfish Head Brewing are two of my favorite examples of this. Their business plans revolve primarily around high quality product. They are not driven by economics. Obviously, economics drive some pretty strict parameters, but they figure out how to make a product and serve their mission and make the numbers work accordingly. So Wal-Mart is still and always will be driven by the almighty dollar. They are leveraging their green innovations as responsible business practices to appeal to consumers who don't dig very deep. It cannot possibly cancel out their legacy of destruction on local economies and society. When it comes to making better societies and cleaning up the planet, incentive based decision making doesn't do us much good. 30 April 2006 1 Comments on this post: View all | Add a Comment We had the chance to sit down for coffee with one of our heros Mac McCabe of O'Naturals this winter. While his ideals were most certainly intact, he left us wavering on our understanding of socially responsible business and the way its meaning today isn't what it was 20 years ago. Ever since I've been questioning my entire stance and Tugboat's reason for being. I kinda got to thinking that staking a claim on socially responsible marketing may not exactly be what I was working toward.Where it gets really complicated is that at times, big companies are being socially responsible because the majority of shoppers think so. Sometimes violent street gangs give money to orphanages, too. Most businesses will co-opt any idea if it means profits or competitive advantage or good PR. But their overall business model and their legacy of damage to society, culture and the environment eclipses these efforts in the minds of myself, my clients and most of their customers. Consider the productive and financially successful legacy of Jack Welch while at GE. Then look at GE's legacy of 86 Superfund sites in 28 states, and explain to me why he is such a highly lauded executive? And yet to the complacent mainstream consumer, GE is now environmentally responsible thanks to "ecomagination". I wonder how the people who have become terminally ill thanks to GE's negligence feel when they see those ads? I wonder how the folks involved with making those ads sleep at night? Anyway, I think the term "socially responsible marketing" falls short to describe what we do because anybody can do it. And it can be construed as altruistic, cause-related marketing or it can be reduced to greenwashing depending on the market. I don't have the ability to reserve this term for my clients. So instead we hammered out the taglines "responsible brand marketing", "a small entity moving big ideas", and "a marketing agency for the sustainable economy" as defined by folks like Coop America and LOHAS. I think the essence of my mission remains the same: our job is to ask more than just "will this increase sales and brand awareness?" It is also to ask "can we affect society in a positive way?" and "how can we do this with less environmental impact?" The only thing that really gives Tugboat meaning and ultimately defines our own brand is always asking "has the brand we're building been asking these questions from the beginning?" 26 April 2006 1 Comments on this post: View all | Add a Comment This weekend I had a chance to check out the New York Auto Show at the Javitz Center in NYC. Why does one who is working tirelessly to become a guru of sustainable business marketing do this? Well, in the interest of upholding my tenet of transparency I must confess that I'm a closet auto enthusiast. It was not the ridiculously impractical Italian sports cars that appeal to me. It was the up and coming sporty hatchbacks from Japan that impress me. Good on gas, holds a lot of gear, easy to park and fun to drive.Still there is much to be learned from the Auto industry in many ways. Whether we like it or not cars are everywhere and most of my clients have and need them. So why not do our best to understand what there is available and what steps are being taken to make them destroy the planet a little less quickly? Lexus has made huge strides in creating three unique cars with hybrid powertrains. They are, in theory, zero compromise driving experiences. (That is, if weight and complexity are unimportant to you.) A Lexus LS600 has the power of a V-12 with the efficiency of a V-8 (huh?). This is, in a way, "good". One must consider that if a flagship product has new technology that makes a better car that it will trickle down. And when it comes down to it, these cars do consume a little bit less gas. This barely lets them off the hook for much of anything in my book, but it's still interesting. And for the marketing nerd, there's the 300 different nameplates available and seeing what appeals to the consumer in each that any marketing jedi can learn from. Then there's the way each car maker chooses to make their individual splash. For most, it was flashy displays, signage and concept car turntables. Jeep blows the doors off all others with Camp Jeep. It was a giant tent off to the side of the Javitz Center occupying perhaps a couple acres of asphalt. They constructed and indoor off-road course complete with mud, trees, gravel and hills. They gave spectators rides in several Jeep models over the trail demonstrating all the virtues (albeit unnecessary) of a Jeep. You could not be in this space and misunderstand what Jeep was about. So thank you Jeep for showing us how it's done. Now, let us take that lesson and apply it to our own brands. What can I do for my clients to show their customers that they are unquestionably good at what they do? It's my job to constantly ask this question over and over. |
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