Coming into this class I didn’t really know what to expect or what I would get out of it, just that I needed another elective and it sounded interesting.

My knowledge of sustainability marketing that I have gained in this class has definitely changed my perspective. I realize the impact that I can have as a consumer and also in the future in the business world. Consumers have far more of an impact than many people think. My view has definitely changed from being quite hesitant as to the impact I can have as an individual, both as a consumer and an individual working in the business world.

I consider a sustainable society to be one in which consumers are making informed decisions and considering more than just the price they are given. I can see true cost pricing being a reality in the future, but this would require educating all of our society as to why this is necessary and having consumers demand it. I realize that the best way for changes like this to happen is for consumers to demand it.

I enjoyed learning about the companies that are coming up with not only innovative products, services and business models but also attempting to change the way that consumers view the world around us. In this hopeful sustainable future perhaps these companies will begin to think of individuals as citizens first and then consumers.

Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard feels very strongly about operating his company by convincing customers to follow along with the mantra of reduce, repair, reuse, recycle and reimagine.

In this interview he did with GreenBiz he identifies the Elephant in the room as growth in regards to a sustainable future. Not one public company will voluntarily restrict growth to save the planet. In fact, he points out that the problem is us! We’ve gone from identifying ourselves as citizens to consumers. “We’re like an alcoholic in denial. Until you get rid of the denial – nothing will happen.”

It’s hard to question the intentions of Patagonia as not being truly sustainable, considering they run anti-consumption advertisements. On Black Friday in 2012 they ran a New York Times ad with a Patagonia jacket under the headline “Don’t buy this jacket”.

Chouinard wants customers to think of the fact that the environmental cost is always higher than the price. He challenges customers to think twice before they buy something. “Do you need it, or are you just bored?”

It makes perfect sense but I know that I’m guilty of buying things I don’t need on many occasions. Is there a way to change our perception so we can go back to identifying as citizens rather than consumers and truly thinking through our purchases before mindlessly consuming?

After a successful career in the corporate world Doug Burgoyne decided to give it all up to take a chance at building his own business with a mission of “minimizing the stress of moving on our customers and the Earth.”

Frogboxes are reusable moving boxes that can be used on average 400 times before being recycled compared to a cardboard box which can only be used twice. Frogbox delivers the boxes to the customers house and picks them up when you are done with them.

People thought Doug was crazy when he first set out with this idea but the business has been successful beyond what he could ever imagine. They have expanded across Canada and the US and earned two high-profile investors after being featured on Dragon’s Den. You can see the pitch here. 

Not only do they operate the business with the focus of having the least negative impact on the environment as possible, they also donate 1% of their revenues to frog habitat restoration. Their success is largely due to their heavy focus on making customer service a priority and attempting to make the moving process a more pleasant experience for their customers.

What if for every latte you bought or yoga class you attended you were also helping some one in Ghana get clean water or an education.

This is now a reality thanks to Karma Exchange created by Vancouverite Shannen O’Brian.

Karma Exchange was created to change the mindset of charity. Instead of encouraging people to change their lifestyle they want people to shop with heart. Companies contribute by agreeing to donate part of their proceeds to a Karma Exchange charity and consumers  contribute by choosing to purchase these products over  an alternative. Sometime they are also able to offer a deal the product as well as proceeds going to a charity. So really its a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Sites such as this are changing the mindset when it comes to not only charity but also purchasing decisions regarding the environmental, health and social practices of companies. Here are two more examples of sites that aim to inform and aid consumers in their sustainable purchasing decisions.

Good Guide is a tool available to consumers to help them make informed decisions about their products regarding environmental and social practices of companies as well as the health impacts of a certain product. Started by a team from UC Berkeley they believe that transparency is the key to more informed consumer purchases and aim to make this accessible through their website.

Ethical Deal is a site similar to Groupon or Living Social, however they only offer deals on companies that they consider sustainable. Their mission is to make green mainstream and they make sustainable choices more accessible to consumers through the discounts you can purchase on their site. They use 4 different categories to determine if a product can be featured on their site. These are: cares for the planet, respects animal rights, benefits the community, and promotes wellness

Is this shift towards transparency and social entrepreneurship the new way of doing business?

The city of Toronto’s proposed ban on plastic bag that was supposed to come into effect in January was put aside in November due to a number of legal issues.

Toronto would have been the first major Canadian city to ban plastic bags. This has been very effective around the world including a number of large American cities such as Los Angeles, Seattle and Portland.

Other places that have done this successfully include Rwanda, Bangladesh and Mexico City.

So what’s the deal Canada?

Apparently the Canadian Plastic Bags Association, cause yes that’s a thing, along with the Ontario Convenience Stores Association both decided to sue the city. Their reasoning was that the ban was “unlawlful” and passed in “bad faith”.

Yes plastic bags can now be recycled, however they very rarely are. Canadians use a total of 2.86 billion bags annually, amounting to around 200 per person.

There are also many issues to overcome with implementing a plastic bag ban such as the costs to retailers and consumers. Another big issue is finding alternatives for uses such as picking up after your dog or bringing your fish home from the store.

Clearly it has worked in the past and I think that many major Canadian cities should be looking to nearby cities in the US to see what factors are needed to make this succeed.

Unlike US cities, Metropolitan Vancouver municipalities have no jurisdiction to outright ban plastic bag. However, If Vancouver plans on being the greenest city by 2020 a ban on plastic bags has got to be in the works somewhere with the provincial government’s support. So they should definitely start talking to the Canadian Plastic Bags Association so they can avoid legal action and hurting anyone’s feelings.

“You just heard solar and assumed I’m some weird pickler guy.”

Sunrun is the top provider and installer of solar energy in North America. Their recent advertisement is entertaining and also touches on a lot of the stereotypes that consumers have about solar power as well as sustainability in general. These stereotypes are lessening as sustainability becomes more mainstream. Sunrun’s advertisement focuses on these “hippy” stereotypes that people relate to solar power.

Sunrun understands what consumers these days want from their sustainable products. This means that they require extra value from a sustainable product in order to pay a premium. The Sunrun advertisement mocks the stereotypes consumers still have of  people who had solar power when it was first created, yet attempts to convince consumers that because of new technology, solar power is not only affordable now but can actually save you money in the long run.

Solar power is not quite mainstream but it is definitely gaining popularity in certain areas, especially with companies such as Sunrun growing.

Check out the ad below.

Many companies are realizing that consumers care about sustainability these days. But as much as people want to feel good about their purchases and be “eco-friendly” they need to be able to justify a price premium before they buy a sustainable product.

I have always found that the most effective marketing campaigns are able to tell a story to the consumer. For companies trying to market their products as sustainable this can often come across as a negative story about the harm that is being done to the environment. As much as this may be true it’s not what I want to see or hear and it’s not what draws consumers to an advertisement.

By putting a positive spin on a story companies are able to show consumers exactly how their actions can positively impact the world around them. This empowers customers which totally justifies paying a little more for environmentally friend or recycled products.

Will.i.am and Coca Cola partnered up recently to create EKOCYCLE, a brand initiative that partners up with other companies to create products out of recycled materials and promote this as a feature of the product to consumers. The ad below and the concept itself empower customers and makes you feel good about purchasing these products. Who ever thought people would be willing to pay more for their headphones because they’re made of garbage?

My brother currently lives in Montreal and he was home in Vancouver over Christmas. During a conversation one day he mentioned that he gets a weekly delivery of fresh vegetables that are grown in a rooftop greenhouse in Montreal. It sounded pretty cool at the time but I hadn’t though about it again until now. I found a TED Talk given by the founder of Lufa Farms in Montreal which was the first rooftop commercial greenhouse in the world. The entire talk can be seen below.

1) Using no new land – the roof is unused space with a lot of potential.

2) Using water more responsibly – harvest rain water and recirculate nutrient-rich water with a closed loop system.

3) Use no pesticides, herbicides and fungicides – instead use insects such a ladybugs to attack the bad insects!

4) Good food – grow varieties you can’t get at the grocery store.

The greenhouse now feeds 2000 people everyday using only $15 of fuel a day with vegetables that have never been refrigerated.

Urban farming is getting more and more attention as a possible solution or part of the solution to feed our ever growing population with less land. There is huge potential for commercial rooftop greenhouses in cities around the world, however the difficulties arise in convincing consumers to eat seasonal food that can be grown in their climates. This involves increasing awareness among consumers so that they understand the benefit of paying a premium price for organic, locally grown food.

The 100 mile diet is a great way for consumers to get themselves thinking about the kinds of food that are the most sustainable for them to eat by supporting local farmers whether urban or traditional. A truly sustainable diet would consist of eating food produced in a short distance from where a consumer lives, which also means only eating food that is currently in season.

Urban farming is making this goal much more achievable but it is still extremely difficult to convince consumers to eat locally grown food when they can get their favourite tropical fruits at their local grocery store for a reasonable price. As a consumer who The focus needs to be on raising awareness among consumers and the benefits of eating organic, locally grown food.

The world of Youtube was created in February of 2005 and I personally have no idea what we did before it existed. Although it has been popular for quite a few years now, very few companies have really taken advantage of it. If a company can create a video advertising their product specifically for Youtube that consumers are attracted to they are essentially targeting the younger generation and avoiding the cost of advertising time on television by putting their video on Youtube for free. They can also use more explicit content than is allowed on television and the video can be any length they want. A technique that some companies have used for Youtube commercials is to not reveal that it is an advertising until the end of the video. This Sprite ad seems like a very shocking home video at first until the very end when you get a good laugh.

More and more companies are realizing the potential in this and creating commercials for Youtube that you can even interact with, as your computer is much more intimate than watching your television from the couch. A great example of this is this Skittle’s campaign that involves putting your finger on the computer screen which makes you feel connected to the ad as it plays. I especially like the tagline that you can now touch the rainbow which connects to their previous ads of tasting the rainbow.

I think there is a lot of value in these commercials especially the amount of creativity that can be put into them considering how much more intimate watching something on your computer is. I’m curious to see what will come out next. My computer screen definitely needs a good clean now after watching all of the Skittles ads.

UBC REC is a very well known organization on campus that I am proud to be a part of. REC has gained their reputation as an amazing student leadership experience through their strong presence around campus. An integral part of this organization is the student volunteers who organize events and leagues as well as run marketing campaigns around campus. Hiring season

for UBC REC is coming up and this has really made me realize the power of positive word of mouth as well as the promotion of an organization through social media. It also shows how if you combine multiple people with large networks on campus how the audience you are reaching can be larger than you ever imagined.

Another unique way that UBC REC attracts attention and entices people to become a part of the program is the red jackets and blue shirts that student staff sport around campus. Even if you have no idea what REC is about you have probably noticed the multitude of people wearing identical red jackets who are often in groups together, especially by the giant walls that come out this time of year.

One of the main reasons that I chose to join UBC REC was the sense of being part of something bigger than myself that all the REC staff I encountered appeared to have. Wearing their matching jackets around campus may be their REC pride but it is also an amazing marketing campaign that encourages people to apply, even if it’s just for the free jacket.