The Bainbridge Graduate Institute (BGI) graduated its fourth and largest class of MBA’s and Certificates in Sustainable Business, and Marty McDonald of egg was amongst the graduates. It was quite an emotional day, as this year’s graduating class of 30 MBAs in Sustainable Business and 31 Certificates in Sustainable Business and Sustainable Entrepreneurship & Intrapreneurship gathered at the Bell Harbor Conference Center in Seattle to fete their accomplishments and herald a new day for the next generation of business leaders for whom the construct of successful business venture is about more than just making money.

With “changing business for good” a key tenet of BGI’s philosophy, the class of 2007 chose David Bornstein, author of How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, as this year’s commencement speaker. The New York Times describes Bornstein’s book as “must reading” for “anyone who cares about building a more equitable and stable world.” It chronicles and analyzes the work of social innovators who are successfully addressing social problems at scale in several countries. Bornstein’s first book, The Price of a Dream: The Story of the Grameen Bank, was selected by the San Francisco Chronicle as one of the best books of 1996. The book traces the history of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Grameen Bank during its first 20 years, describing the global emergence of the now-famous anti-poverty strategy known as “micro-finance.”

Gifford Pinchot III, BGI’s fearless and visionary founder, was feeling like a free-range, grass-fed pig in methane-rich stool, when he exclaimed “It’s not every year that you receive a #1 ranking in Net Impact’s 2006 Student Guide to Graduate Business Programs, land your biggest class yet, launch a successful concentration in Outdoor Industry and a certificate program in downtown Seattle, are named One of the 20 Ideas That Changed the Way the World Does Business [by Social Venture Network] and have 3 students inducted into the Society of Royal Arts for figuring out new ways to bring food to market. It’s going to be tough to top this year. But we’ll figure out a way.”

We are pleased and energized to bring the ethic of BGI to our community and clients.

With a name like egg, you might have suspected there was a food orientation in our DNA. And it’s true. Not only do we take an enthusiastic interest in cooking and eating good food, we are also concerned with and keenly aware of the weightier issues surrounding our relationship with food and how it has evolved over the years to become what we consider a frightening state of affairs. With all-time high rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer, it is obvious that we need to address our plates, our diets, our communities, and our food production systems.

An inspiring example is being set by a nonprofit community kitchen called La Cocina, located in San Francisco’s Mission District. La Cocina, which is an example of a kitchen incubator, is part of a growing movement to launch small food businesses around the country. La Cocina provides commercial kitchen space, food industry training, and technical assistance to low-income women who operate informal food-related and catering businesses out of their homes. Many of the low-income entrepreneurs that use La Cocina were in desperate need of affordable professional kitchen space.

“We are a small business incubator,” says La Cocina Executive Director Valeria Perez-Ferreiro. “We offer the resources necessary to help women forge their own economic futures.”

Veronica Salazar, 32, owner of El Huarache Loco, makes traditional foods from Mexico City and was one of the first participants in La Cocina and is one of its bigger successes. Another brand that has been launched out of La Cocina is Jill Litwin’s Peas of Mind, an organic baby food line that has already landed in 80 stores around California.

To see such examples of the successful blending of social, environmental, and economic entrepreneurship that address some of our blended food and social ills is enough to make anyone smile. And a tummy, rumble.

We saw that Al Gore recently made the trip to the Cannes Advertising Festival where the industry annually fetes itself with accolades for its creativity. It’s great to see the ad industry becoming more aware of, and seemingly concerned about, some of the challenging environmental and social issues that we face today in increasing numbers.

It might seem odd that Gore would not only speak at the event, but would receive the rock star status that the ad folks gave him. The irony is not lost here that the man who we hold so high for his gutsy campaigning against global climate change from greenhouse gases, is celebrated by the very people (ourselves included) who it could be argued are quite complicit in driving the climate change train. This business is all about getting people to consume more, right? Not to mention the fact that by driving the desire for consumption, we are also therefore driving the production, transport, and sale of goods and services. That is a telling carbon footprint story.

Hamish McLennan, the chief executive of the large ad agency Young & Rubicam that arranged for Gore’s visit to Cannes said, “We have to change the way people consume and get people to think about it,….from a Y&R perspective, we wanted to take a leadership role on this.” This is great to hear, and we are hopeful that such a large ad player is seemingly concerned about its responsibilities towards climate change. With clients like Virgin and Land Rover, there seems to be the opportunity for some healthy conversations. Perhaps Y&R’s trademarked Energy Brand Process and proprietary BrandAsset Valuator will actually take into consideration the energy use of a brand instead of just its energy to drive consumption.

Credit should be duly assigned to Y&R for helping Al Gore develop the “S.O.S.,” or “Save Our Selves” campaign for environmental awareness. Now let’s talk about how exactly we’re going to achieve that as an industry.

A new group called Climate Counts has launched a project that will allow consumers to check a company’s stand on climate change by its ranking on things like how they measure greenhouse gas emissions, their plans to reduce them, their support or opposition to regulation, and how fully they disclose those activities. In the age of the conscious consumer, this would seem a wise move. Research shows that increasingly, consumers are concerned about climate change, and concurrently, are aligning themselves and their purchase decisions with companies that are making a difference. One study indicates that consumers feel more empowered in the grocery line than the polling place. Essentially, they’re voting with their wallets.

While brands must always meet the Primary Brand Antes—things like cost, accessibility, reliability, performance, and quality—the secondary drivers, or the new brand equity drivers, will determine brand profitability and performance in the long run. These emotional and psychological drivers are based around the concepts of social responsibility and include things like wellness, environmental responsibility and community. These drivers will be the brand differentiation factor in the future as we increasingly confront issues surrounding personal, social, and environmental health. And the brands that authentically embrace, and successfully communicate them, will win over the consumer.
We are happy to see Climate Counts serve up yet another piece of the corporate social responsibility pie to consumers searching for accountability, and just hope they can market these indices well to consumers—this is where they will live or die. It will be critical for several things to happen concurrently. First, the index will have to be well marketed—with the confusing terrain of certification and standards, consumers will need to clearly see the benefit and meaning of yet another indicator. And companies will have to get on board to lend it credibility. Finally, these companies will have to figure out how to incorporate the new index into their brand communications without coming across as green washing. We were happy to read that they will be making the information available to consumers through wireless devices like cell phones to call up a company’s score while they are shopping. Just imagine driving down the modern American suburban jungle and scanning Climate Counts to determine which fast food joint delivers best on your desire for a big juicy bite of enlightened self-interest.

Back in the good old days, when patent medicines were bright and shiny, and Coca-Cola had that extra little kick, Coke was widely promoted to “cure all nervous afflictions — Sick Headache, Neuralgia, Hysteria, Melancholy, Etc….”

But times changed. Patent medicines lost their luster, caffeine replaced the coca leaf, and the former health-giving tonick was relegated to the ranks of “delicious and refreshing.” Nobody had any illusions about the nutritional benefits of Coke, and nobody cared. You drank Coke because it was sweet and bubbly. And, oh yes, there’s that brand thing.

Fast forward to 1982 and the advent of aspartame. Tastier than saccharine, though possibly just as detrimental to one’s health, it was the chemical that brought diet soda into the mainstream, with Diet Coke bounding ahead of Tab (also manufactured by Coca-Cola) almost immediately upon launch. Despite the fact that diet soda seems to make people actually gain weight, Diet Coke remains the third most popular soft drink in the US, edged out by only Coke and Pepsi. It’s been theorized that just drinking a beverage with the word “diet” makes people feel virtuous and likely to eat more. Therein lies the power of branding.

A century after the heyday of patent medicines, Coke has come full circle with the launch of Diet Coke Plus. And as experts on the conscious consumer, we find ourselves querying Coke’s latest play. As we know from egg’s research on the conscious consumer, and more specifically, the latest Hartman Report, the typical entry point into the “World of Sustainability”, which comprises 93% of the population, is through the body. It’s a long path from buying organic to driving a hybrid to installing a composting toilet, but the first step generally comes with the desire to protect one’s health from the toxic threats all around us. Will those vitamins and minerals incentivize the Diet Coke connoisseur to reach for the new can with the friendly blue stripe, the rainbow-colored letters, and the stylized leaves? Will people be able to handle the cognitive dissonance? Will Diet Coke Plus become a gateway beverage to healthier liquids? Since 80% of Americans are overweight, and 90% want to improve their health, Coke may be onto something rather, um, big.

It was a beautiful spring day at Alki Beach. It was low tide, and groups of schoolchildren walked undaunted into pools of water, knelt down and ran their fingers through the mud. It was a perfect day at the beach, a perfect day to warm our Seattle-pale complexions in the sun, a perfect day to launch the MudUp campaign to save the shorelines of Puget Sound.

Yes, after over a month of viral teasing, it was finally time for the big reveal. And so, we can officially say that The Nature Conservancy, the Trust for Public Land, and People For Puget Sound have formed an historic alliance to protect and restore Puget Sound’s shorelines. It’s an enormous multi-year initiative with ambitious goals for the next three years and beyond, and we’re thrilled to be helping out these three non-profit groups with MudUp, a public engagement campaign that reaches out to people in the spirit of fun, community involvement, and the joy of getting muddy for a good cause.
Governor Chris Gregoire had officially declared this day MudUp day for Puget Sound, and the assembled crowds were abuzz with enthusiasm as a most unusual press conference was held. Jeff Compton of The Nature Conservancy spoke eloquently on behalf of the Mud Monster; Allison Rone, (Harvard Law student and Miss Emerald City 2007), spoke of her plans to MudUp this summer; and Bill Ruckelshaus, EPA legend and recently appointed chair of the Puget Sound Partnership, roused the crowds with a call to action. As the band Big Dirt launched into the campaign theme song, Ruckelshaus cut a fat strand of beach grass with large garden shears, and the crowds — all clad in rubber boots — began to cheer.

Festivities continued on the beach and inside the bathhouse. The crowd sipped Swamp Monster drinks, nibbled on Mud Morsel truffles, and watched demonstrations of all the different sorts of restoration activities — muddy and not so muddy — that people can find at MudUp.org.

After months of down-and-dirty preparations, it was exhilarating to finally launch this campaign. And yet, the hard work has only just begun. We invite all Puget Sound residents and wannabes to join us in our modern day take on a Guthrie classic:

THIS SOUND IS YOUR SOUND

Chorus:
This Sound is your Sound, this Sound is my Sound
From Golden Gardens, to the San Juan Islands
From Olympic forest, to the Narrows’ waters
This Sound was made for you and me

I’ve roamed and rambled and I’ve followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of our parks and beaches
And all around me a voice was calling
This Sound was made for you and me

Repeat Chorus

The sun came shining as I was strolling
The sailboats sailing and the rain clouds rolling
As the fog was lifting, a voice came chanting
This Sound was made for you and me

Repeat Chorus

As I was walking a ribbon of tideway
I saw above me an endless skyway
I saw below me a golden blue sea
This Sound was made for you and me

egg was happy to be recognized at the recent 2007 Seattle Show, which highlights the best creative work being done on the planet, er,… Seattle. The awards book says that a Google search on “creative award shows” brings up 51 million hits, and while there may not be quite that many shows out there, the emergence of award shows in the industry has definitely skyrocketed and become a veritable business model — as well as a somewhat diluted platform.

The Seattle Show was founded by Tracy Wong, Fred Hammerquist, and Larry Asher in 1999, and Marty McDonald was amongst the original group of creative directors to sit down and organize the first show. Back then, it was still mostly all about the traditional form in its purest sense: the print ad and the TV spot. Today, the Seattle Show has evolved ahead of the pack, realizing that consumers’ media habits have changed more quickly than their blackberry preferences. The Show prides itself now on new media and integrated creative campaigns.

We were most pleased of all to see our business development book make it into the Show. For us, this piece represents our view on problem solving—which is to turn things inside out and upside down. Inspired by such transformative thinking as Bill McDonough’s book Cradle to Cradle, closed loop design, designed for the environment (DfE), designed for disassembly (DfD), and take-back programs like Patagonia’s Common Threads, we created a mailing box for our agency credentials book, that is reversible and can be sent back to us and disassembled if the recipient has no need or desire to keep it. (It’s only happened once, thankfully.)

The Seattle Show judges recognize a smart idea when they see one, if we do say so ourselves.

A little show at the Cooper Hewitt in New York has the potential for big change.

Orienting design to help overcome some of the simplest problems in the world’s less developed areas seems like such a no-brainer, that we ask ourselves again and again, what prevented us from getting here much sooner, and what’s stopping us from pushing this even further, faster?
It’s titled, Design For The Other 90%, and it brings to mind the disparity that occurs when the world’s best designers apply their skills for the benefit of the world’s wealthiest 10% - for things like a thinner PDA, a better wine opener, and a self-opening tent. (For a brilliant commentary on postmodern design in the form of design itself, see Less is the New More.) Now, all of these are cool and notable design achievements, and will no doubt make our lives easier, but it seems like by applying just an infinitesimal amount of our energy towards these other life modulating issues, we could have tremendous scalable impact on a meaningful and fundamental quality-of-life level.

At the exhibit, you’ll see fundamental problems in under-developed parts of the world—like collecting water, pumping water, or even drinking water–overcome with the simplest design solutions. It’s the kind of show that quenches our thirst for the inspirational.