Tip of the Hat: Sprig Toys and Envirofit

All of us here at One Tribe Creative would like to send some congrats over to two of our clients who have received awards honoring their sustainable and socially-responsible practices.

First up, Fort Collins based start-up Sprig Toys, an eco-friendly toy company that utilizes recycled wood and reclaimed plastic to build their products, was presented with the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio 2009 Platinum Award and The National Parenting Center's 2009 Seal of Approval.

The Oppenheim Toy Portfolio was founded in 1989 as the only independent consumer review of children's media.

"Sprig vehicles deliver," announced Stephanie Oppenheim, of the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio, calling the toys "a new, truly green collection of vehicles that are just right for the preschool set."

On top of that, Sprig Toys will be featured in WIRED Magazine's store in New York City starting Nov. 21. If you find yourself in the big apple, get your little one a big Sprig rig.

Another client of ours, Envirofit, had their co-founder and vice president of operations, Tim Bauer, collect one of ten Rolex Awards for Enterprise for the company's work in developing countries.  

Bauer and Envirofit were selected out of 1,500 applicants in over 120 countries to receive the award which comes with a cool $100,000 check.  

Envirofit produces clean-burning indoor cooking ovens as well as two-stroke retrofit engines.

"On behalf of the entire team at Envirofit, I am honored to receive this award from Rolex," Bauer said in a statement. "Over 2.4 million people die each year from air pollution-attributed illnesses. Our plan is to use the Rolex Award to develop additional markets, thus increasing Envirofit's positive impact on lives and the environment to the greatest extent."

Congratulations!

Green Inventions of 2008

One Tribe Creative, Fort Collins CO - 

Time Magazine has released its Top 50 Inventions of 2008, and while there are your usual robots, invisibility cloaks, and pop-culture movements, over 20 percent of the inventions involve sustainability and the environment.  Here is a quick breakdown:

#7 - The Chevy Volt - Our normal car batteries are still too cavemanish to get us off gasoline completely, but the Chevy Volt's battery can provide up to 40 miles of driving a day.  Seeing as though 80% of Americans drive under 40 miles a day, it is a good start to a greener drive.

#11 -  Green Crude - Researchers at Arizona State University have been working on ridding carbon from petroleum by incorporating algae into the crude. These researchers might get Time Magazine credit, but I gotta give a shout out to Solix Biofuels and Blue Sun Biodiesel for working on this movement as well.

#25 - Thin Film Solar Panels - Currently most solar panels are baked up in batches.  Nanosolar, a San Diego based start-up has found a way to produce paper-thin solar panels that can be manufactured on a assembly-line-like printing press.  

#35 - Airborne Wind Power - Sky Windpower, yet another San Diego company on the list, is attempting to go top shelf into the Earth's atmosphere to harness the Superman-strength jet stream winds.  Sky Windpower has invented giant wind-turbine kites that can be placed into the troposphere to generate power.  Just watch out for those giant, commercial airplanes.

#37 - Smog-Eating Cement - While there is the phrase, "Smog is the reason for Los Angeles' beautiful sunsets," most people are against smog.  That is why Italian engineers have incorporated a photo-catalyzer (titanium dioxide for you Einstein types) into cement.  Using this cement in certain areas has yielded a 60 percent decrease in smog.

#41  - The Peraves Monotracer - This two-person vehicle might seem like it came straight-out of Minority Report or Doc Brown's lab, but this sustainable whip features wind-shield wipers, air conditioning and is energy-efficient: its BMW engine, goes from zero to 62 m.p.h. in 4.8 sec. (100 km/h), and gets about 65 m.p.g. (28 km/L).  

#46 - The Aptera Electric Car - George Jetson would be proud to roll up to Spacely's Sprockets in this ride.  All-electric (120 miles on a full charge) and quick (an acceleration of zero to 60 in under 10 seconds), the Apter Electric Car is a trailblazer on sustainable transportation.  

So what can we expect in 2009?  What do you want in 2009?  One Tribe Creative will continue to be on the lookout.

Social Responsibility and Sustainability: Who's walking the walk?

Step into any store, pick up a magazine, or surf the Internet, and bam! … eco-friendly advertising everywhere! “Green” is the most overused word in marketing today, associated with companies from petroleum to pet food. But are all of these companies socially responsible, committed to sustainable practices? Or are some just “greenwashing” their way to financial gains and goodwill?

It’s clear that an authentic, socially responsible company has a marketing edge. While the economy wavers, consumers are increasingly selective about where their money goes. They value sustainability — in fact, 67 percent of American consumers say that a company’s social responsibility is extremely influential in deciding to buy a product or service from that company (Fleishman-Hilliard/National Consumers League Study, 2007).

It’s also clear that stretching “green” truths is prevalent, causing consumers to be increasingly skeptical, not knowing whom they can trust to do the right thing. That’s why it’s critical that good organizations tell their stories right. If they don’t convincingly communicate their commitment to sustainability, they risk getting lost in the clamor of players vying for a piece of the “green” pie, or worse, being labeled a “greenwasher.”

Paul Jensen and One Tribe Creative believe social responsibility and sustainability are synonymous, with both built on a triple bottom line — environmental, social, and economic. “Advertising and marketing efforts should never exploit these ideals. There is a fine line between employing truly sustainable practices and falsely promoting environmental efforts to increase a fiscal bottom line,” Jensen says.

For those companies that have a real story to tell, One Tribe Creative stresses the importance of honesty, credibility and transparency in marketing and advertising. By telling the stories of its clients in this manner, One Tribe has helped them improve market share, turning global consumers into believers who actively support the companies’ products and services.

We have one planet and one chance. Let’s work together to write the story of a better world.