Monday 25 June 2007

Green Marketing Talk Tonight at the IPA

NB I'm told its 'a sellout event', although I hope that only refers to the tickets!

Details on IPA website

I will see if they can tape it though so I can let it loose as a podcast.

POSTSCRIPT; WELCOME TO ANY FROM THE IPA AUDIENCE, DO LEAVE ANY QUESTIONS IN THE COMMENTS & I'LL DO MY BEST TO ANSWER. For others who couldnt be there &/or are interested I got the speech taped, I am going to look at combining the audio with the powerpoint slides to create a kind of vodcast of sorts. May take me a few days...

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm Back in New York - so I missed hearing you speak! Can't wait to see the video/ppt extravaganza.

John Grant said...

welcome home hemal!

I have to record the audio file back in from an 80 minute minidisc etc. but hopefully this week :J

Anonymous said...

Hi John,

Thanks for the talk the other day - very stimulating! I hope you don't mind me sharing a couple of thoughts?

Don't you think that as more and more brands "talk" about their green credentials, ultimately this no longer becomes differentiating? We all thought (in the agencies) that "green briefs" from your client were hot stuff, a chance to do groundbreaking & differentiating work - this still may be the case, but it occurs to me that it has become EVEN more important to build a brand personality or to weave the green credentials into a tangible, defined and characterful offering when working on so-called "green briefs" from clients?

Otherwise, unless your product has utterly staggering green credentials or claims, you risk losing your communication, no matter how valid it may be, amongst the ocean of competing green claims floating out there?

All of which leads me to wonder if we'll not witness the rise of the following 'communication trends' -

1.) the 'feminisation' of advertising (by which I mean general use of 'softer' claims/propositions/brand personalities - the best car ads of the 80's were tagged 'The Ultimate Driving Machine', by contrast the best car ad this year was 'Full of Lovely Stuff' (an implicitly green claim in itself, especially given the Skoda 'cake' used in the film was then used for compost....)

2.) the death of 'international ad models' - you mentioned in your talk the Wedge card and the possibility of a return to localised forms of retail - this could be paralleled by a rejection by the consumer of international ad models in favour of more bespoke, niche, localised messaging (this has already manifested itself, to a degree, with the rise of content and consumer-centred advertising, as well as online)

Would be interested to hear your thoughts on the above?

JA

John Grant said...

yes agree, talking about green creds is no strategy
(its like talking about hygiene credentials in food)


however all the stuff in the grid/book is designed to go beyond that; setting new standards, collaborating with customers or launching innovations (broadly) all of which are founded on differentiation.

it's all ultimately a blend of innovation and establishing new lifestyles

both the moves you mention are important as a 'layer' of insight/tonality; but if they were all you leveraged are way too ambient to save the planet or propel a brand forward

(remember image advertising is a maintenance model; reinforce social norms and brand habits)

just my 2p
:J

Patrick said...

Dear John

Thank you for taking the time to create an enjoyable and very useful presentation. I know you are posting your full presentation on your blog in the next week or so but I would love to take a look at the 3x3 matrix that you showed. To be perfectly honest it would help me hugely with a meeting I have this Tuesday!

Thank you

Patrick

John Grant said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
John Grant said...

Patrick it's here, just follow the link to Flickr

http://greenormal.blogspot.com/2007/05/apg-presentation-slideshow.html

Patrick said...

Thanks John

Anonymous said...

John

You said you would make your presentation available online- where can I find it?!

Thanks

John Grant said...

I am still to unite the slides with an edited version of the speech. Do you want to email me at THEJOHNGRANT(AT)BTINTERNET(DOT)COM and i will send you the .ppt file?