We’ve recently helped Artists Project Earth (www.apeuk.org) bring to market the latest edition of their highly successful Rhythms Del Mundo album, featuring the aforementioned artists.

The basic idea is APE’s founder – a chap called Kenny Young (he who wrote ‘Under the boardwalk’) – gets a load of big name artists to donate a track (a proper single usually, not some obscure b-side) which he then remixes into something pretty damn cool.

This isn’t the usual remix album however, the twist being that Kenny disappears to some far flung corner of the world to remix the tracks with musicians from that country.  The three previous Rhythms Del Mundo albums have been with Cuban musicians, this time he went to Mali to give the tracks an African flavour.  All profits from the album fund APE’s environmental awareness and famine relief projects.

For this latest album, we introduced APE to Pledge Music, a music crowd-funding initiative that enables music fans to be part of the album’s launch, as well as getting their hands on some exclusives (like getting your name in the album credits, for example).

The Pledge initiative went live last week … we’ve guided APE throughout this pre-launch phase … and you can be part of it at www.pledgemusic.com/rdm

It would, of course, be unfair to single out Apple as the only brand targeted by Greenpeace, for a start Amazon and Microsoft have also been targets. Consumers expect green credentials to take root at the heart of the brands and as a result brands have been acutely aware of the premium that consumers are willing to pay for an environmentally-friendly product. However, the issue stems from the fact that many companies lead belief-driven green campaigns, ensuring that they are operating as green as possible at every level. Conversely, many tap into all the benefits of appearing green without decreasing the damage they cause to the environment. All this may seem an easy way to attract customers but avoid the costs involved in curtailing environmentally destructive practices. A smokescreen that savvy consumers are likely to see through. Too many companies devote large sections of their websites to promoting environmental work, which merely consists of feeble measures such as excessive use of the colour green and pictures of trees. Offers provide in-depth coverage to the small amount of green activity they undertake, the more damaging behaviour isn’t mentioned to create an unrealistic picture.

The term ‘Greenwashing’ still rings true even if CSR has fallen down the pecking order of many organisations. BP and its ‘Beyond Petroleum’ campaign remains a pertinent reminder of the folly of pouring money into a green message while showing scant regard for the environment. Naturally, this hasn’t prevented BP becoming the official ‘sustainability partner’ of the London Olympic Games.

Most of the time people can see through this facade and the greater the hypocrisy, the more a company suffers. The London Olympics is coming under growing scrutiny and heading for a potentially embarrassing climb down after pitching itself as a sustainable Games but failing to truly deliver. And that’s not just because of the tie-up with BP. Another sponsor Dow Chemical will provide a £7m decorative wrap for the Olympic Games when the company’s history, albeit through mergers, is rooted in the 1984 gas disaster in Bhopal, India.

Meanwhile, the US department store Walmart is struggling to shake off criticism in a report released on Earth Day for its CO2 emissions, which is rooted in level of waste due to low quality goods and sheer size of its stores. This comes despite establishing supplier scorecards and improvements in recycling processes that draw up impressive figures but fall well short of its overall targets.

The effect any of this will have on Apple, Walmart and the London Olympics are yet to be seen but if history has taught us anything it’s that the consequences of insincerity and pretence are stark. It divests the perpetrator of trust, reputation and, inevitably, customers. Dishonesty drives away customers and since green commitment is an attribute many people hold in high esteem, it is met with significant disgust.

This behaviour is also potentially damaging to other companies who may not be environmentally friendly but have decided to enact a sincere change of belief. They will have to fight much harder against the perception that they are merely faking for profit. However, the worst consequence of that the term ‘green’ itself becomes synonymous with suspicion and distrust among consumers instead of inspiration and satisfaction.

A truly green brand will not limit their actions to only the most visible. An example of this kind of behind-the-scenes green activity is the policy in place at Expedia, in which they pay for employees’ public transport to reduce the number of car journeys getting to work. True green brands will be able to clearly support their claims with detailed evidence of relevant activity, rather than just relying on vague affirmations.

L’Oreal, a company which was singled out for impressive performance by Interbrand in the top 50 green companies 2011, provides a detailed ninety page sustainable development report on its website. This level of transparency would help protect any brand against accusations of environmentally harmful practices. Combining this with improved training and greater expertise would help brands to make more substantiated claims. Finally, brands should avoid the notion that shouting loudest underlines their credibility.

After all, just because something is easily heard doesn’t make it true.

www.nb-wonderbag.com

Ahead of the official UK launch of the wonderful wonderbag this Saturday (at the Grand Designs Show) the consumer site is now live.

wonderbags have sold like hot cakes on the back of recent coverage in The Times, Telegraph, Guardian, Daily Mail, Radio 4 and Mumsnet to name a few.  This site is designed to help sell even more, and to bring together the vibrant community of wonder people.

We’re very proud of this site, and all that wonderbag is and will be.  Truly a product for our times.

It’s also in today’s Times, but unless you’re a subscriber, you can’t read it online.

Oh, and you can buy one at www.nb-wonderbag.com

This strikes me as a poorly considered partnership, smacking of empty, short-term opportunism instead of genuine ‘belief-driven’ brand strategy. ‘Greenwash’ is another way of describing it.

Cycling is all the rage nowadays. We have British celebrity cyclists for the first time ever (take a bow Wiggins, Cavendish et al), bike sales are booming and urban bike culture is about is cool as can be.

I can understand many brands would want a piece of the action.

But a car company? Pur-leez!

One of the reasons cycling is on the up is because people are ditching four wheels for two, spurred by the ever increasing costs of car ownership. If you’re into cycling, surely the last thing you’d be thinking about is buying a brand spanking new car?

At the same time cycling accidents and fatalities have increased. Cyclists know that cars are dangerous things best avoided. Images (in Fiat’s advertising) of cyclists leaning up against a shiny new Punto, or in another ad chasing one, are verging on the irresponsible (British Cycling should know better).

If Fiat wish to be greener, focus instead on developing new technology to reduce carbon emissions and increase fuel efficiency. Its ‘500 Twin Air’ – the world’s most efficient petrol engine – is a superb example which helps people feel good about car ownership (and Fiat, by association).

And might British Cycling have been wiser to associate itself with someone that underlined the health-giving properties of cycling?

Partnerships can work, but the combination needs to be driven by a mutual desire, a shared belief. Fiat’s approach gets it nowhere. Potential customers will see through it and deserve better.

To many, Valentine’s Day is a day to express their love to another: chocolates, flowers and hand written cards are the norm. To others, it is seen as that dreaded day when stores find yet another way to suck money out of their customers’ wallets. So, as a well-respected brand, how do you make the most out of Valentine’s Day? On a day when brands should be appealing to emotions, a day that holds values in the highest regard, how many have actually based their promotions or adverts on beliefs, and who has just banked on increased revenues through major discounting and offer-led communications?

Even in these tough economic times, the majority of consumers don’t just want lower prices: they want authentic trust with brands, they want to believe in the brand’s own beliefs and values, and ultimately they want something back. Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to hit all these spots and appeal to the part of a consumer’s brain that registers a deeper emotion. The part that many marketers and advertisers believe is hit with hearts and flowers and lower prices to draw them in, when reality it takes something much deeper.

Around this event, marketing initiatives need to have a belief-based system – a way of providing value and a little extra to the customer – embedded within. Accessing and successfully using these beliefs can fuel the higher purpose that differentiates them from others in the minds of consumers, ultimately building brand loyalty. Valentine’s Day can be a great opportunity to reap the economic and social benefits this approach has to offer and they must reflect their consumers’ beliefs in their own strategies and go that extra mile.

However, research from our Value-Values tracker has shown that this Valentine’s Day, far more brands have opted for cut-price offers in a bid to generate quick sales, over activity that will build relationships and have a more lasting effect. Of over 200 Valentine’s-themed advertisements in national media in the week running up to Valentine’s Day, a huge 64 per cent of the adverts focused purely on price. These ranged from dine in for £20 offers to roses for £1.50 from Aldi and 7p cards from ASDA. Even Boots and its rival Superdrug battled it out on price alone and neither stood up to take ownership of the values-based messaging in that area.

21 per cent of the advertisements hedged their bets, containing both a value and values message. One such advert was from Waitrose on dining in for £20: an offer that at first glance feels like a solely price-based communication, but if you look deeper into its messaging: ‘Share our £20 intimate dinner for two this Valentine’s’ it is clear that the retailer is sharing its values – those based on relationships and quality time – with the consumer. The fact that Waitrose has seen a recent rise in profits may be a good indicator that this type of values-based activity does indeed work.

Although unsurprising, it is a little disappointing that just 15 per cent of the advertisements were found to centre on brand values that evoke a more emotional response from consumers. A great example of a brand doing this well is M&S which, despite spreading its advertising over both value and values-based messaging, succeeded in getting its values across. One of its many adverts centred on its Fairtrade roses, reminding people that if they order online before 6pm on 13th February, the roses will be delivered free of charge on Valentine’s day. A clever creative that is a clear call to action to order online (especially with the added extra of a QR code) shows its values and evokes emotions in others. This is via the beliefs in the products themselves through their Fairtrade label, the emotive language, the lack of discounting in the advert and the clear customer service messages in the free and fast delivery.

It’s a shame that not all brands have succeeded in their Valentine’s Day messaging as M&S, Waitrose, Pandora and John Lewis have, to name but a few. However, as the price wars continue and brands realise that they need that little more to differentiate themselves from their rivals, hopefully this will change.

Nobody could fail to notice that the pre-Christmas sales started earlier than ever this year, and in fact our research has shown that two out of three shops in December had sales.  And while Boxing Day sales were still at a high, the popularity for the January sales has been tailing off since New Year’s Day: the number of shoppers fell by 25.3 per cent compared with last year.

In fact, what has traditionally been seen as the post-Christmas customer reward has this year shortened for the first time, with half of people in the UK abandoning the sales just a few weeks into the month.  A recent report has shown that almost two thirds of UK consumers feel that sales have lost their seasonal impact as a result of regular discounting by retailers, and our recent study has found that more than 1 in 5 believes nothing will encourage them to shop this month.

As a result of this, many retailers have brought forward the end of their official January 2012 sales periods:  Monsoon and Accessorize finished their sales over two weeks earlier than the previous year, ending on Friday 13th January, while House of Fraser cut its sales short by five days and Play.com by three days.

The recession is not the only factor affecting people’s mood to shop. We are now in a world where there is unbalanced emphasis on the monetary value of products rather than consumers’ values. The disenchantment for the January sales goes to show that consumers have reached tipping point: they are bored of the continuous price wars between retailers and are now looking beyond just discounts to brands and retailers that have a purpose – in other words, value over values.

We are not saying that the ‘sale’ is obsolete, but retailers need to do more than grapple with quick-win promotions. This is a call for retailers to buck this trend next year and lay out their values and beliefs for all to see.  Only then will they be able to build new and long-term relationships with consumers, in a world where good value is now a pre-requisite.

So Sevenly (www.sevenly.org), a newcomer in the crowded space, may appear to be riding the coattails of other ideas and businesses that have come before it. But several alterations to the clothes-for-good business model make Sevenly stand out. Every week, the company posts a new T-shirt and hoodie design to its site: Each seven-day flash sale benefits a different charity. Every $22 t-shirt sold offers $7 to the charity of the week, 30 percent of the revenue.

Just seven months after launching, the Fullerton, California-based company has already sold nearly 27,000 T-shirts and raised about $200,000 for charity.

“Sevenly is a connector,” says Ryan Wood, the company’s director of public awareness and partnerships. “What our customers appreciate most is that we connect them with charities and causes they wouldn’t otherwise know about. A T-shirt is simply the vehicle for what we hope is a lifetime connection and passion for a charity and cause.” Wood says Sevenly first selects important causes to fund, then finds a specific charity that seems to be operating most effectively in each cause’s space.

This week, proceeds will fund research and advocacy group Autism Speaks—in the past, Sevenly’s given to everyone from the Breast Cancer Foundation to the anti-slavery organization Somamly Mam Foundation.

Lean, who is thought to be the world’s longest serving environment specialist journalist, recognised the importance of the Wonderbag in reducing global warming unlike using a paraffin stove. ‘Burning the fuel in inefficient stoves produces toxic smoke that kills more than two million people – mainly women and children – a year, and emits carbon dioxide and black carbon, the two main causes of global warming’. Calculations suggest that each Wonderbag will prevent the emission of half a ton of carbon dioxide a year if used three times a week. Using a Wonderbag also leads to big reductions in cooking times for rice, stew and root vegetables by placing them in the bag to finish off.

Professor Jacqueline McGlade, executive director of the European Environment Agency, described the Wonderbag as “the most exciting development I have come across during the entire Durban conference”. She’s not alone in her thoughts, Unilever who have already offered a free bag to South Africans who bought three boxes of its curry powder – and got more than double the expected uptake, want to expand the scheme worldwide.

Wonderbag, working with {united} are launching the product in the UK to allow people in this country to benefit from all it has to offer.

To see the full article on the Daily Telegraph’s website, follow this link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/8946254/Durban-climate-conference-the-bag-ladies-with-a-vision.html#.TuNblkEcBJQ.mailto