Today, I updated the Business & Marketing links in the right column to include some additional trend spotting sites that I think are important to note. 

With the changing landscape of marketing, keeping up with the global culture shifts can be overwhelming. Last week, I talked about “New Marketing” which focuses on cultural insights, sustainability, responsibility and innovation. Because of this trend, new types of design and marketing firms are popping up all over the globe.

One major player in this organization of thought is PSFK. Recently, the PSFK Conference was held in New York and Alan Chochinov from Core77 spoke about this issue.

Here is the video: The Dumbest Smartest Design Problem - (Why Shit Matters To Design)

Here are some other links added today:

Anomaly

“Blurring the borders between providing traditional marketing services and working as a business development partner” - Business Week 2007

Peep - Insights and Revelations

“A new research based company created especially for today’s and tomorrow’s marketeers and innovators utilizing proprietary methodology filtered through the lens of experienced socio-cultural researchers and consultants.” - peep

Spring Spotters

The world’s largest idea-spotting network.  

Some people have asked me why I write this blog and mostly it is because I want to develop better writing skills, but I also have an insatiable appetite for knowledge and that includes understanding people, cultures, art, etc. With this information, I try to make connections. The benefit of this appetite is that I have a good grasp of marketing and advertising, which helps me in design and business. See … full circle, right?

It is obvious from the subject of my posts and the website links I have listed, that I am becoming more passionate about sustainability and what it means to us as a nation and throughout the world … but also, what does it mean to marketing and business? How are all the connections being made?

Ultimately, the marketing climate is changing and there is a need for products that appeal to people’s want of sustainable products so they feel like they are doing good for the earth, but feeling good and actually doing good are two different things. As design, marketing, advertising and business people try to sell you something, they really have the power over the truth. Right now, the need to advertise and market your product as a sustainable one is growing at an alarming rate. As consumers, we still have to watch out for frauds and as marketers, we have to be sure that we are actually giving good information to consumers.

I have found two good articles on this subject that I wanted to share. The first one is from Laurie Lamson, a professional writer and filmmaker, who emailed me her article titled, Cutting-Edge Marketing for Cultural Creatives. This article addresses the push versus pull style of selling that we have been seeing more of lately.

The other article is a free download from a management consulting firm called ReCourses. The title of this article is “The Sad Fade of Branding, and When Sustainable Isn’t.” To read this article, you need to sign up with your email address, but there are many other valuable articles for creative businesses to learn from here. Link to free position papers.

A friend sent this ultra hip website link to me today … Feel More Human.

I love the idea of combining a blog with a shopping site featuring well designed products. The site offers some eco-friendly products for home (lighting, furniture, decor) and life (jewelry, bags, health and beauty). On the blog side, there are resources for green living and even a place to sell your stuff in the classified section. Feel More Human also donates 1% of sales to a network of 1,469 environmental organizations worldwide with a program called 1% For The Planet: Keeping the earth in business.

Jill Stalowicz, a founding partner, really hit the mark on this one. 

  

Ever wonder where your coffee comes from?

Crop to Cup Coffee Company allows you to see the farmers and know their story. Crop to Cup represents the farmer by providing technology and marketing services that will connect them to interested customers in the United States. The goal is to improve the quality and integrity of coffee served everywhere.

This is a good way to have full transparency in coffee farming and to make sure that the product is fairly traded. The great part of Crop to Cup is the availability for direct product feedback through reviews and ratings as well as message boards.

There are several coffee houses and markets in the New York and Chicago area where Crop to Cup coffee is sold or you can purchase your own online.

 

 

 I recently finished the book, The Chocolate Connoisseur by Chloé Doutre-Roussel. When Chloé was writing the book, she was the chocolate buyer for Fortnum & Mason, a very high-end department store in London. Known for her keen sense of smell, she is now an independent consultant who gives advice to clients on cacao cultivation, refinement techniques and the chocolate making process. There are several steps to get the cacao bean to taste like a fine piece of chocolate and Chloé is chocolate’s sweetheart at the moment.

I have always had a love for chocolate, so when I saw this book on the shelf, I was immediately interested. I had done some independent research on the chocolate making process and the different cacao bean regions, just so I could be an informed customer. Even as a young girl, I liked the semi-sweet baking chips over the milk chocolate bars any day. As my chocolate palette continues to broaden, so has my education on the subject. The Chocolate Connoisseur really gave me a broad overview of chocolate by distinguishing between the types of cacao bean varieties and their location, the laws regarding labeling for cacao content and how to really taste the deep flavors in chocolate bars. 

Some say that this book is self-serving or self-absorbed for Chloé, but I find her honest opinion very refreshing. She encourages you to listen to her advice, simply because she does have a lot experience to learn from, but she also makes sure that you are tasting with your own palette … making chocolate decisions based on your own set of guidelines or moods.

Since reading the book, I have set up several chocolate tastings for myself. Chloé says that tasting chocolate in the morning, before you have had anything else to eat and your palette is clean, is the best time. I have to agree with her. My recent morning tastings have brought out flavors and smells that you wouldn’t ordinarily sense after a meal. I guess I am now looking at chocolate as a fine wine or coffee instead of just dessert. 

I highly recommend this book if you are interested in chocolate. Although Chloé doesn’t cover the injustice that has taken place in the name of chocolate, I believe that this book is only one piece of education. You can never rely on one book to make up your whole opinion. I think that Chloé’s mission of creating better chocolate and bringing attention to the subject makes the chocolate industry more transparent … more accountable.

This is a good time to study up on chocolate as it makes its way to new frontiers in the gourmet food industry. I would predict that within the next 5 years, you will see more gourmet chocolate shops, restaurants and new chocolate bar varieties in the main stream. Everyone wants a piece of this emerging market. Chloé Doutre-Roussel is working to make sure that uninspired chocolate isn’t lurking in those beautiful packages and I appreciate her effort! 

On the right side of my blog, I have a section of “Serious about Chocolate” links. Some of these are from this book and some I have found on my own. I will continue to explore this subject and refine my list as I taste the chocolate and get more information.

In reference to the book, you can visit Chloé’s site or read extensive excerpts at Chocolate.org.

Photo credits- top left: chloechocolate.com, top right: Timmy Toucan, bottom left: cstrom and bottom right: misoponia.