I got an amazing insight into Julian mind when he answered a question from Chris by saying: “The question is – what sort of information is important to reform?”

Chris did a brilliant job interviewing him; i would have choked with admiration myself…asking him a very interesting question about his CORE VALUES. He says they came from his father and other men in his life, given this advice, “capable, generous men do not create victims, they nurture them.” I would add Women to that, and we have a wrap.

Other spectacular Talks and People to follow:

• My new-found friend, Chris Wild, time traveler and Retronaut: www.howtobearetronaut.com/
• Rachel Sussman photographing the oldest living things, like 3,000 year old lichen in Greenland and some creepy white fungus in Oregon.
• Jason Clay of World Wildlife Fund – who thinks the average European cat has a larger carbon footprint than the average African human; and who has successfully staged roundtable discussions to enact change with the SUPPLIERS of world food products. Like CarGill and the other 300-400 companies that control world food supply. Or is it really 30-40?
• I liked Johan Rockstrom, a sustainability expert and his model that looks at NINE different components of planetary health
• Sebastian Seung, MIT neuroscientist was outstanding at helping us all see how “we are our connectome” of MILLIONS of miles of connective tissue in our very own brains.
• Then there was the question of why we teach computational math at all, when we have computers, and the importance of eating BUGS for the human diet, followed by a meal of – guess what – during the break (and YES i did try it),  Annie Lennox from seven rows back, etc. etc.
• Lastly, I enjoyed the Hogwarts-lookalike Keble College, home to crew teams and the like.  Not so shabby, these dorms that we stayed in.

Check out this presentation from Jay Bolus, the VP of Technical Operations from MBDC.  Jay’s presentation provides a very good description of Cradle to Cradle Certification and the benefits for companies and consumers.

Hope you enjoy.

We brought together some crackerjack speakers, leading off with Jay Bolus, a chemist with 14 years at MBDC and our client, who opened with a stage-setting presentation on what Cradle to Cradle is all about, and how the certification process works. Speaking from the product side, we then had Kevin Owens, the Director Sustainability for Steelcase and Coalesse, Drummond Lawson, Greenkeeper at Method Home products, and CEO Jason Foster of RePlenish, who got everyone excited about his soon-to-launch concept of bottling.

It was great to hear how these guys are raising awareness by incorporating C2C into their manufacturing AND their marketing, and from the reactions of the people who packed the room to listen, I think there’ll be a lot of people leaving Monterey inspired to do the same.

UPDATE: Check out this great post by Sofia Ribeiro, which walks through the key takeaways from our panel.  Thanks, Sophia! You can read more of her posts on her blog.

The whole team was recognized by Governor Schwarzenegger and supported by leaders like Wendy Schmidt (wife of Google CEO Eric Schmidt) and YouTube founder Chad Hurley, along with Cradle to Cradle pioneers and supporters like Wal-Mart, SAP, Shaw Industries, Aveda, and Method, at a green-star-studded launch event at the Google campus.

If you have access to the Wall St. Journal online, I recommend reading Jim Carlton’s piece about the GPII and how it fits in with California’s regulations on toxic substances.

As a business advisory council member, we’ve been part of this transformation from the very beginning.  It is hard to believe that just six short months ago we were sitting around Jillian Manus’s dining room table hatching plans for this nonprofit organization with a small group of incredible people, including Warner Philips, Bridget Luther, Zem Joaquim, Adam Lowry, and Beth Rattner (now ED of the GPII).

Now, the GPII stands to empower others in helping develop products that do more good, rather than less bad.

The Green Products Innovation Institute, Inc. is focused on transforming the making and consumption of things into a regenerative force for the planet. GPII uses design, based on the laws of nature, to help industry create products that are safe for people and the environment. This rethinking of how we design, manufacture, use and reuse materials will spur a new era of research and innovation, simultaneously driving economic, ecological and social prosperity.

You can learn more about the GPII at the institute’s web site (cleverly designed by friend Yves Behar’s fuseproject), or YouTube channel.

Rubbing shoulders with Yves Behar and Bill McDonough. Two friends who are intent on designing our way to a better, healthier planet

Without these people, it just wouldn't be.

The Financial Times broke the story last night:

It is hardly the most orthodox route to business success. Having spent two decades building a company with a leading position in a highly promising global industry, Bill McDonough and Michael Braungart have decided to take a back seat – not by selling out but by donating the intellectual property behind their enterprise to a non-profit organisation.

Mr McDonough, a US architect, and Mr Braungart, a German chemist, head McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry, an environmental consultancy based in Charlottesville, Virginia, which measures the “environmental footprint” of a product’s supply chain. Their process is based on an exceptionally rigorous set of criteria and is allied to a set of procedures for creating new chemicals that they call a “cradle-to-cradle” system.

Until now, their methods have been a closely guarded secret. But they hope today’s launch of the Green Products Innovation Institute in San Francisco will be a mechanism to create hundreds of other businesses around the world using their method. The idea is to spread the philosophy much faster – and wider – than if the original entrepreneurs kept control of their ideas.

Registered FT readers can read the rest of the piece here.

I was in awe this week at Lightfair 2010. With record attendance, it was the largest Lightfair ever. And some of the biggest news came from Blue Practice client Lemnis Lighting. Lemnis announced a whole suite of Pharox consumer LED bulbs aimed at making it simple for consumers to swap out all the most common inefficient incandescents and mercury-ladden CFLs in their homes, with retrofit bulbs that will burn for 25 years and use on average 85% less energy. Warner Philips is a born spokesman (being the great-grandson of the founder of lighting giant Philips Electronics, one might say lighting is in his blood) so it was a delight to see him connecting with lighting enthusiasts and journalists eager to discuss how Lemnis has been able to sell 2.5 Million LEDs in 2009, be named to Fast Company’s Top 10 Consumer Products list for 2010 and participate with the Clinton Climate Initiative, all while revolutionizing lighting products with much warmer colors of light (the Pharox Flame series) and one of the brightest bulbs on the market (the Pharox 500).

CNET’s Martin LaMonica,  Earth2Tech’s Katie Fehrenbacher and Greentech Media’s Michael Kanellos had some great things to say about the new Pharox bulbs.

Lemnis Lighting continues to inspire me with their commitment to educating consumers about LEDs and looking for creative ways to distribute their product around the globe to places in the world most in need of lighting. Check out their new website for Pharox products at http://www.thepharox.com and get on the pre-order list for a 500!

In order to maintain fair company valuations, it is crucial to have well-executed investor relations. Blue Practice’s financial communication strategies maximize and manage communications related to initial public offerings, mergers-and-acquisitions, financial performance, business prospects and management initiatives – and help to build and maintain shareholder value.

Blue Practice has engaged with senior communications expert Portia Switzer to run the new department. Most recently, as Vice President of Investor Relations at International Rectifier, a $1 billion leader in advanced power management technology in Los Angeles, California, Portia was acting company spokesperson during a multi-year financial restatement & SEC investigation, hostile bid, heated proxy battle, and was the direct liaison between board members, the new management team, and the financial community. She has been an active NIRI (National Investor Relations Institute) member since 1995.

“As Cleantech and sustainable companies mature and think about their next step in mapping out an investor relations program, we can now provide a full spectrum of services to give our clients the support needed to succeed in the public markets,” said Switzer.

Blue Practice’s IR offering makes available the following services:

• Audience analysis and message development
• Disclosure counsel
• Targeting new analysts and institutional shareholders, arranging investor roadshow meetings
• Developing investor presentations
• Quarterly support for publicly traded clients, including press releases, quarterly conference call scripting and Q&A development
• Business and Financial News flow management, including spokesperson training
• M&A Communication Strategies
• Shareholder Activist Communications
• Crisis management
• Communication support for Board of Directors
• IPO’s, Buy-outs, Private Equity and Venture Investments counsel

About Blue Practice:

Sustainable product and clean technology companies deserve clear, informed communications from industry insiders who speak their language.  Blue Practice is a boutique marketing and public relations group solely dedicated to these companies and organizations. Consisting of a collection of senior-level creative and strategic communications specialists, we use our collective expertise toward supporting tomorrow’s transformative technologies and products. More information is available at www.bluepractice.com.

SPUR  (San Francisco Planning and Urban Research) is a San Francisco gem. I became involved with SPUR’s newly formed Young Urbanist group aimed at the under 40 age group several years ago while still at EDAW, a global planning firm because I was fascinated by the influence the group was able to have on local public policy. The Young Urbanist series of events are held after work in SPUR’s SOMA urbalism museum and always draw a great crowd of smart, inquisitive citizens.

Last week I had the privilege of inviting CEO Jason Kibbey of Blue Practice client PACT to participate in a Young Urbanist event focused on “doing good through economic activism” as part of a panel discussion.

Jaosn spoke about the consumer power that comes from knowing where the product you’re purchasing came from, who made it, and how it got to you. PACT underwear is produced within a 100-mile supply chain in Turkey, and the company has gotten attention for their innovative compostable packaging, so much so that much larger companies have expressed interest in duplicating their bags, information Jason is thrilled to share. Reducing waste in the production, packaging and shipping processes — no matter how innovative — is not treated like a competitive edge or industry secret by PACT.

In addition to Jason’s talk, Brent Schulkin from Carrotmob shared his company’s platform that allows businesses to bid against one another to pledge socially responsible reform within their operations, with the winner reaping the rewards of the wallet-wielding mob of shoppers. Daniel Kaufman talked about how the One Percent Foundation is bringing philanthropy back to the masses through what is, effectively, a very large, organized and democratic giving circle that optimizes the power of small donations in order to help organizations achieve bigger results.

The mix of organizations and approaches brought to light some new ways in which consumers can harness and collectivize our purchasing power to produce positive changes in the marketplace.

Shopping has always been a social experience, but as the concept of crowd-sourcing capitalism evolves, so too expands the social element of the experience. We can connect our values to our dollars and participate in something larger than ourselves by merely purchasing every day essentials. It’s not about buying more, it’s buying better.

I love infomercials.  Really.  Whether Billy Mays is hawking the iTie or Kaboom cleaner, Ron Popeil is “setting and forgetting” his Showtime Rotiserie or Chop-O-Matic, I love watching pitchmen in action, hearing the marketing spiel that rolls off the tongue and compels otherwise couch loafs to order strange, cheap and useless products.  Truly marketing magic.

But wait, there’s more!

What I really hate is the recent trend among television program outfits and production studios to try to sucker companies into committing big dollars to pay-for-play TV advertorials – infomercials in disguise.

Here’s the scenario: you’re called on by a producer promising to get your company featured on CNN, Discovery, and dozens of other nationwide channels – and after being led on for a few days – maybe even signing a contract – you’re told you’re to pay the low, low price of… tens of thousands of dollars in production fees.

Paid-for advertising disguised as a real news program is tacky, but acceptable enough – advertorials are here to stay, and at least we can always turn the channel.  What’s more annoying to me is that with some advertorial production outfits, well-intentioned, yet naïve, companies are getting bamboozled as well.

After getting once more approached by these outfits, I thought I’d blog my issues in the hopes it might spare even one person their valuable money and time.

It usually goes like this: you get a message about the opportunity to appear on a national cable TV program – maybe it’s hosted by some b-tier celebrity newsperson. This usually comes as a surprise, as you may not have had much media attention before, save maybe a hit in a trade magazine, and are certainly not part of the mainstream news cycle.  They pass you off to an assistant producer, who insists on you getting your CEO on the phone to discuss this amazing editorial opportunity.  Maybe the production outfit is working directly with a cable TV channel.  But maybe it’s an independent producer with what seems to be a valid production company site. With your CEO in tow, you dedicate hours on the phone with these people, only to end up learning that, oh yes, there is a $27,000 production fee for the 5-minute clip.

Ouch, that’s embarrassing.  And likely, a big waste of your time.

Save yourself the embarrassment.  Know what to look for when a production company comes calling, and get them to clarify upon contact whether it’s an editorial or advertorial.

Here are some quick tips:

1.    When fielding a call from a cable TV or production studio, ask up front whether this is a paid-for opportunity.  We’ve had this experience with some HGTV television programs.  If you’re not in the market, tell them you have no budget for paid advertising.
2.    Many of the production companies that come calling aren’t part of the network.  In fact, they’re shells for the same parent production organization – located in Deerfield Beach, Florida.  Honestly, my radar goes off whenever I see a 954 area code.

Also beware of the following production company names:

a.    Encore Media Group Inc
b.    Encore Television Group Inc.
c.    Fortune Media Group Inc.
d.    Galatians 5:22 Inc.
e.    Health Outreach Society, Inc.
f.    International Appraisal Group Inc.
g.    New Line Media Solutions Inc.
h.    Platinum Production Group, Inc.
i.    Platinum Television Group, Inc.

These outfits have gone after nonprofits before too.  Apparently the fact that they are called “non profits” isn’t enough for them to look elsewhere for their trumped up production fees.

Lastly, I highly recommend you check out this report about how these outfits work.  There are some entertaining stories in here as well.

Being named one of the top environmental PR shops is a great accomplishment for a young agency as ourselves – we’re very pleased that as a four year-old boutique we’ve earned a national ranking by providing specialized services to our cleantech and sustainable clients.  We hope to continue the trend in years to come!