It's official. We've gone too far.
Like many new media darlings, QR Codes have proven to be incredibly useful but shamelessly overused.
Case in point: this photographer's promotional collateral that just arrived in Erika's mailbox.
Hmmm... who would have thought we'd see the day when Bret Michaels' junk became junk mail?
Earlier this month, the 13th Floor hosted a meeting of two minds: academic and industry. You could say it was the final "exam" of this semester's greenteam@MCAD initiative, our ongoing collaboration with the Minneapolis College of Art & Design, merging education and sustainability through giving students real-world assignments to work on. We always like having MCAD in the house, and this time they really brought it down.
Back in January, the students began breaking the ice on a beautiful – and challenging – brand: the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). Founded in 1915, WILPF is an international NGO working towards peace through promoting political, economic & social justice for all. The organization was founded upon the complex relationship between gender equality and peace, around which the students were tasked with developing a creative campaign to connect with a new, young, modern generation of WILPF members.
Throughout the semester, the students honed their ability to think creatively in a sustainability mindset, learned how to pitch, refine, collaborate, put their egos aside, and self-select leaders.
And it all culminated with their learning how to present to an esteemed panel of industry movers & shakers here in New York, including: Steve Hayden (Vice Chairman, Ogilvy Worldwide), Charles Rosen (President, Amalgamated Advertising), Sharon Chang (Founder & Creative Director, YOXI), Emilie Cowan (Sustainability Consultant, Ecofabulous and Opportunity Green), Manuel Toscano (Creative Director, Zago), and Green Team alum Sarah Sandman (Professor, CUNY).
It was a night of questions and answers, challenges and solutions, veteran experience and young talent. It reminded us that we never stop learning. And all us, whether consciously or not, are teachers.
Yker Moreno, a talented motion graphic artist and former Green Teamer, was recently interviewed by the Venezuelan equivalent of Time Out. His genuine modesty about his own work inspired him to channel a more self-satisfied character that exists only within his imagination. See how hilarious it is when he becomes another version of himself:
http://djspinbalon.com/switch_small_web.mov
Recently we were inspired by William Ury's TED Talk about world conflicts and the difficult, often seemingly impossible, negotiations between humans, nations, businesses, etc. Ury referenced an old Middle Eastern story that has stuck in our hearts and our minds:
Years ago in the Middle East... After the death of their father, 3 brothers inherited 17 camels. The first brother got half of them, the second got a third of them, and the third got a ninth of them. But because 17 cannot be divided by 2, nor by 3, nor by 9, the brothers started to fight. In desperation, they decided to consult a wise old woman. She told them that she could not help them; the only thing she could do was to give them her only camel. Now the brothers had 18 camels. They proceeded to divide them accordingly. The first brother got his (1/2 of 18) = 9 camels. The second brother got his (1/3 of 18) = 6 camels. And the third brother got his (1/9 of 18) = 2 camels. But when they added them up (9 + 6 + 2) they realized they had only used 17; they had one camel left. And so, they gave it back to the wise old woman.
We are truly living in an era of solutions. In everything we do here at Green Team, we're aiming to find that 18th camel. We hope you will too.
Yesterday morning, Jimmie and Lauren ran the Scotland 10k (6.2 miles). Not only did they finish it, they broke new personal records. Jimmie completed his first ever road race and beat Lauren by about 10 minutes; Lauren shaved about 5 minutes off her time from last year. They felt proud... they felt like real runners.
Overheard at the finish line:
Jimmie: "Bagels, bagels... where are the bagels?"
Lauren: "That bagpiper at the 5th mile marker had really nice legs."
Today, the runners are reportedly not that sore, and are thinking about challenging GT alum Jeff and current GT employee Jess to a relay run-off.
Jimmie's quest for world appearance domination appears to be gaining hold.
Ok, so who's the guy on the left? It's Tom Wilson, the owner of one of our media group partners; he came in to meet with some clients who are in town from Scotland.
Regardless of how adorably (and unintentionally) twinsy these guys are, did you know that human DNA is 99.9% the same across all races, ethnicities, etc? Yup, the same. Just one more reason to feel connected to that interesting looking chap sitting next to you on the airplane.
Ever wonder what would happen if we inserted Jimmie into a reeeaaaaallllly long pipe that spat him out on exactly the other side of the Earth?
Apparently he would look something like... Rowan, Creative Director of Green Team Australia (below left). Which is to say that he would look something like... himself (below right).
Seriously, these two must have been separated at birth.
Their brains are aligned as well; Rowan jumped in and helped us finalize the functionality and flow of our new website, which will make its debut soon. Don't worry – there'll be no flash, thanks to Steve Jobs.
Or so it would appear.
As you may know by now, when Del Monte first launched their individually-wrapped bananas they were pushing an environmentally-focused message, as summed up in this statement from their managing director on March 1st:
"Del Monte’s new CRT packaging is designed to provide significant carbon footprint savings by reducing the frequency of deliveries and the amount of waste going to landfill. The packaging is also recyclable. It is a great product and consumer feedback shows a marked taste benefit too."
Now, after reading our last post and/or getting similar advice, Del Monte seems to have shifted their communications strategy to focus on the social benefit, positioning this banana as a healthy weapon in the war against obesity. That comes through loud and clear in their VP of Marketing's March 15th statement to Forbes:
"Everyone knows that there is an obesity epidemic and healthy eating could be an important step forward to address the health and economic consequences on society... The primary purpose of the CRT banana technology is to extend the shelf life of the product without using any artificial preservatives or other chemicals or gasses but rather by regulating the product’s natural respiration rate. By achieving this, bananas can now be sold in venues, such as convenience stores, cafeterias and school vending machines, offering consumers a fresh and healthy alternative to the typical snacks linked to the growing obesity epidemic in many western societies."
Is the product 100% "correct" in terms of sustainability? Doubtful. But have they now gotten the message right? We think so.
