One of the cool things about running the Water - Use It Wisely conservation campaign are all of the great notes and videos we receive from concerned Earthlings.  In fact, just last week someone sent us a video about the water conservation merits of taking a bath with a friend (A bit creepy to show here).

Today, we received this incredibly thoughtful letter from a fourth grader in Chesterfield, MI, and I just had to share it with you.

Dear Water Use It Wisely,

Water is getting wasted more and more each day. I want to help out and teach people how to conserve water. Please continue reading because your organization is very influential. I had an idea if you could send some workers from your organization to schools all around the world, and they could inform the students about water usage.

Did you know that every minute, 1,000,000,000 (0ne billion) tons of water falls to the earth from rainfall? We are lucky for rainfall water. It helps fill up our lakes. There is about 326,000,000,000,000,000,000 (326 quintillion) gallons of water on Earth. Yes, this is tons, but it is getting wasted. I want to keep this number BIG.

Everyone needs water - so why waste it? I think it is very irresponsible to let the water run when you are not home. The core democratic value, Common Good, supports my issue. This means that we can all work together as a community, country or even continent!

Water conservation is very important. We can use water with respect by making good choices. Take a shower instead of a bath, use an automatic dishwasher instead of hand washing. You can buy Earth-friendly window cleaner spray, so that the bacteria doesn’t get in our drinking water and make it dirty. If your washer isn’t full then don’t start it. With water being wasted every day, by the time we get to the 3000’s we are going to have to survive on milk and juice!!! Won’t that be boring?!?!? That means we have to give our dogs a bowl of juice instead of water with their food. I mean, c’mon, we’re talking real life here!!

Water wasting needs to come to a stop and without delay. Water Use It Wisely, PLEASE inform people about their water usage! It is a big role in my life. It would be really awesome if you take part in spreading the news about this! Thanks tons!!

An impatient fourth grader waiting for a reply,

Mya

We should all be so passionate and eloquent about our good green Earth.

(This post originally appeared yesterday on Park’s “A Brighter Shade of Green Marketing” Blog)

No matter where your political views lie, this is an intriguing campaign. These posters (produced by Big International, for GlobalCoalitionForPeace.org) the have what seems to be the perfect writing for the message they are try to portray, and incredibly clever but simple execution in art direction. Who would have thought that by simply wrapping a poster around a pole would be so interesting?

 Manny Ramirez got busted for steroids last week and I should have been a lot happier about it. My two favorite teams are the Angels and DBacks, each benefiting differently from Manny’s stupidity. But instead of relishing in the moment, I was annoyed because that long-haired moron and his decision to ignore the hard work of his peers reminds me of what’s going on in the Word of Mouth and Social Media space right now. 

This week alone I’ve either seen or received four separate announcements about new social media companies. I’m all for entrepreneurship, and at first glance it seems like this uptick in recognition is a good thing, until you look at the fact that most of these new “businesses” are full of people looking to capitalize on the latest “fad.” 

The real crime in what Manny Ramirez did is that he spit in the face of all of the hard work his peers put in to get where they are.  Same goes for these “social media practices.” Anyone can buy a domain and call themselves an expert, but what about those people out there dedicated to the practice of actually applying strategy to social media? And what of those people who understand it doesn’t begin and end with social media? That, instead, social media is simply one tactic in the complicated and inarguably effective Word of Mouth Marketing space. What about them?

What’s happening is, when you call yourself an expert and recommend a Facebook and Twitter page to an eager client, you’re doing a disservice to yourself, your client, and the industry. You might get a few followers and you might even generate some conversation, but eventually that conversation will stop and the results will prove that you took a shortcut.  Happens every time. Worse, the folks out there truly dedicated to doing it the right way are now competing with the “short cutters” and everyone’s work is suffering. Why come up with a comprehensive Word of Mouth plan when you can just slap up a Facebook page? 

We’re in an era of noise. Say enough crap as loudly as possible and eventually some of it will get through. Months ago I argued this point about Twitter. My point at that time was that the useful medium had turned into a marketing wasteland with “experts” all racing to post the latest links hoping to elevate their personal or organizational stature. While my position has hardly changed, I now have an even greater concern. The same practice of hasty thinking and disregard for peers that continues to haunt Twitter and led to “Man-Ram’s” downfall is quickly flowing into the Word of Mouth space. 

This might sound like sour grapes to some, and I’m sorry that you feel that way. In the face of today’s social media barrage, I think it’s more important than ever to fight for the integrity of Word of Mouth Marketing. But instead of calling people out or speculating about their intentions, I’ll do my best to practice Word of Mouth the best I can, never calling myself an expert and waiting for those around me to break down or fail the test.

Resolution Copper Mining (RCM) has recently launched a new outreach campaign to help educate the public on their copper mining project in Superior, Arizona. Park&Co was tasked with developing a creative platform that would be used in a new website, print ads, collateral materials and email marketing.

Now right off the bat, many people might think, “Man, how interesting could it be to talk about a mine?”

Well, let me tell you. In my experience, every client has an opportunity to have their communications be memorable, effective and very creative. They can set themselves apart from what may be considered the industry norm. RCM was just such a client and the campaign was a classic case study of working in a true partnership that elevated everyone’s game.

The campaign was based on the fundamentals -  solid primary consumer and industry research from Dr. Bruce Merrill, Ph.D., Cronkite-Eight Poll and Elliott D. Pollack & Company. Just as important was the open sharing of information and viewpoints from RCM executive staff, consultants like Policy Development Group and Park&Co. The end goal of educating people and building support for the mining project was the focal point of every planning session.  With such focused cooperation, when it came time to start developing the creative platform, there was a strong, definitive, strategic direction for the campaign. It’s amazing what the effect of having a clear objective can do for developing compelling creative executions.

The outreach efforts needed to highlight all the straightforward facts and figures of the mining project and also inspire a sense of local community with an emphasis on the potential of a better future for Arizona. Not an easy task in today’s world, especially on a modest marketing budget. So, we dove right in with big smiles on our faces. I mean, we’re supposed to solve problems and get results on for our clients, right! (I’m sure I read that in some ad book somewhere).

Well, I could go on and on about the final campaign executions and how excited the client is. But as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. So the best way to get a better taste of the campaign is to visit RCM’s new website securearizonasfuture.com. Once there, you might even be compelled to sign up to “Stay Informed” and get RCM updates as you discover the fascinating world of copper mining. We know that people are doing that now. Isn’t it great how you can track everything on the web.

Wow! Who would’ve thunk it. It’s cool to talk about a mine.

“How To Reduce Your Carbon & Hype Footprints” Presentation Is Now Available On SlideShare

Click on Mr. Praying Mantis to download my green marketing presentation from SlideShare

Are you trying to get the attention of the Millennial generation (ages 13 - 29)? If so, did you know that 76% of this powerful market feels that it’s important or very important for brands to get involved in the green movement, according to a recent study by Generate Insight? What about other consumer segments, like the LOHAS, Naturalites and Drifters? What are their sensibilities and tendencies toward greening their lifestyles and the companies and products that help them do it?

I just uploaded my iG.R.E.E.N. webinar presentation to SlideShare. You can download it to learn how to reduce your carbon & hype footprints for a greater engagement with these growing conusmer segments.