Bill Morrissey VP Environmental Sustainability, Clorox Corporation The first surprise for me here is how many brands Clorox owns: STP, Armor All, BRITA, Glad bags, Hidden Valley Dressings, (on their brand heirarchy chart, Hidden Valley was sandwiched in between Kingsford Charcoal and Scoop Away Cat litter. Yum.), and one example of a recent brand absorption that […]

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Julie Fasone Holder, Senior VP, Chief Marketing, Sales and Reputation Officer The Dow Chemical Company Fasone Holder was here, primarily to introduce the Human Elements Campaign recently launched by DOW. This is an ad creative guy’s wet dream. A concept so clear and compelling, so extendable and logical, yet emotional that it’s a wonder nobody […]

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The energy of the conference is appreciably higher today, as this is technically the first day of the conference. (Yesterday was ‘pre-conference’ events). In the big room, Jacqui Ottman (one of Unicycle Creative’s earliest associates and inspirations) started as the keynote speaker and MC. Her straightforward tenets and no-nonsense delivery come from 20+ years in a market […]

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On my way back from the Sustainable Brands 08 opening night shmooze I decided to seek a warming evening beverage to nurse me through my homework for the night. A drive-through Starbucks loomed on the horizon, so I rode up to the speaker. The zit-faced voice coming through the black grill was promising at first. […]

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The stampede for the Taste of California shmooze fest at the Hyatt’s TUSCA Restaurant was perhaps more restrained than other conferences, but otherwise was pretty indistinguishable. On the patio looking out to the golf course, propane heaters blazed, keeping the 65-degree weather mercifully at bay for the Sustainable Brands 08 attendees. A small thing, perhaps… […]

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We entered the huge, well-appointed ballroom for the plenary speeches. A glowing centre stage fit for a TV talk show, with five overstuffed chairs was flanked by video screens. The lighting was dramatic, the sound and pacing polished. The crowd eager to get to the 7pm cocktails. But there was both inspiration and optimism in […]

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Monday June 2, Session 1: Desirability & Sustainability: The opportunity for brand and design Steve Bishop, IDEO – Design firm based in Palo Alto – 8 offices, 500 people www.ideo.com Green Briefs readers who wanted to send me to this event: 27.3% (first place in category)   This session started off right away with a brainstorming […]

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Thanks to everyone who answered the survey on what I should see and blog about from Sustainable Brands 08. Here are the winners. (Stay tuned to see if I actually listen!) Monday June 2: Morning: Desirability and Sustainability: the Opportunity for Brand and Design – 26.1% Afternoon: Measuring Your Social Footprint – 13.1% Tuesday June 3: […]

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Sunday June 1, 2008 6:00am – Mouth tastes like reclaimed greywater. Amtrak coffee changes this taste, but does not substantially improve it. 8:00 AM – Breakfast of high-fat French toast with high-corn-fructose syrup and nitrate-preservative-drenched sausage patties may help. I wolf this down as we rumble by the abandoned asbestos-laden rusting battleship hulks and refineries […]

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10:30 AM – migrate to the observation car. More glass, more views. Ranger Clint from the National Park Trails & Rails program  commentates on the natural and cultural sites as we chug past Puget Sound. This is a nice touch – a rolling play-by-play to the widescreen panorama. A bald eagle lifts off and paces the train […]

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