Has solar energy’s time finally come? The field has grown exponentially in recent years. As brand consultants in the green world, we’ve certainly seen amazing growth take place. Even President Obama is a believer, having just approved $200 M of funds to solar research to help expand the industry.
I recently came across an amusing illustration of branding gone wrong. It’s a parody on how Microsoft might have created the ipod package. If you can look past the clear mac bias (they are pretty good at branding after all), it’s a great example of what NOT to do in both design and brand thinking.
A recent survey (The Financial Times, Sept 18, 2009) shows that low carbon products and services are now generating more revenue than the global aerospace and defense sectors. “Climate sector” industries include renewable energy, nuclear energy, energy management, waste and water companies. The global revenue for these industries was $534 billion in 2008, a 75% increase. It seems that, despite the global recession, green is growing.
A new twitter is born. It’s not really a new and improved version. Nor is it the next best thing. It’s pretty much the same thing but different. It was created for those who like to delve more deeply into their thoughts. Those who find twitter to be too restrictive. On woofer, you’re required to have a minimum of 1,400 characters in your post. (Twitter limits you to a very brief 140.)
Just read an interesting article in Advertising Age that had my attention. Thought I’d share it and see what you all think.
According to the April 20th issue of Advertising Age, sustainable product sales have risen even amidst the economic downturn. “Green Marketing”, it says “is turning out to be surprisingly recession-proof.” Consumers are still buying sustainable goods despite their higher cost and the increase in usage and competition is driving the cost of green goods down. The result? Organic food is up 5% over last year. Natural-food store sales are up 10%. Water filtration systems are up 22%. Introduction of new green products is on the rise.
Twitter seems to be everywhere these days. At times, it’s a veritable bird frenzy. So we’ve been thinking about how, and if, it might be used to support a company’s branding.
BMW wins Coolest Brand, Best Performance Brand and Best Exterior Brand Design, 2009.
The economic stresses businesses are facing right now make it seem like the whole world is upside down, that running a business now is different than before. And everyone's fear is, do we have the skill set to be able to see it through?
