The Green Marketing Manifesto and Co-opportunity (Jan 2010) thejohngrant@btinternet.com
Monday, 19 November 2007
Bright Green Start Ups
Am working on a report on green entrepreneurship. Would love to collect examples of exciting green start-ups. Comments please, obviously the results & research will be reported here down the line :J
Hello John, I thought you might be interested in a couple of projects I have been working on for a few months now.
Back in May I started an environmental news site, www.tenbees.co.uk, which covers UK centric news.
Just last week I launched a green price comparison site, www.greenercheaper.com, which takes advantage of the 2 largest e-commerce sites (apparently I'm not allowed to say who they are in press releases, but it's pretty obvious on the site). cheers Mark
Tenbees seems great at catching the most important/interesting stories, whereas the big green blogs are more of a babbling torrent at times. Is that your intention within the greenercheaper site too? I dont have enough of a handle on the scope of what's available on those two sites to know if you are editing choices for me, or just providing a handy comprehensive feed, like a cusomised search of those sites.
Have you considered combining the two in some way? i'd love to purchase in many of those areas but lack the knowledge and skills in ones which arent already familiar. There's been a huge boom (£2B) market last year in blogs & similar (eg Trade Doubler) which generate affiliate sales leads through relevant content.
Ayway just to say they both look great, well done for getting them up & out there & I would love to know more :J
I think you have pretty much grasped what they are about. My focus with Tenbees was to be informative for the person who's interested but doesn't know much. So I try to keep it as simple as possible, in terms of content and usability.
As for GreenerCheaper, I have some experience in the world of search, so use that experience to create targeted search requests, which are the links at the top.
If you do your own search in the box, no filtering currently takes place, but it will be one of the features that are planned.
Again with GreenerCheaper, the focus is on simplicity - it's too easy to stuff a site with whizz-bang and leave your visitors wondering what it's for or how it works.
There are in fact lots of great books that cover some of the more practical products, and they'll be going up this week. In TenBees I do have a bookshop.
Exciting potential startup news for Ohio, whose northern shore gets all that wind across Lake Erie! From The Cleveland Plain Dealer yesterday:
IBC Solar AG, Germany's oldest solar vendor, will build its U.S. headquarters in Cleveland - and hopes to produce solar equipment here... IBC employs about 150 people in Germany and 200 worldwide to assemble solar systems manufactured by suppliers. Advocates of renewable energy say IBC's headquarters could be the first step toward creating an industry employing thousands of people in Ohio... Founded in 1982, IBC Solar has designed and built 10,000 solar installations in Germany, other European countries and the Far East.
Sales for this year are projected at $700 million. The U.S. solar market is just beginning to develop, and IBC is eager to establish a presence here. Germany is the world leader in solar installations, though it has only about 70 percent of the sunlight Cleveland receives. A solar manufacturing industry in Ohio would create thousands of jobs, advocates say. http://www.cleveland.com/business/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/business-4/1195551468201250.xml&coll=2
People awaiting solar installation complain these days about delays caused by manufacture and importation from Germany. A company of this stature and experience in the States could kickstart solar here.
Maybe interview some VCs focusing on green tech (e.g. John Doerr) or cleantech (http://venturebeat.com/2007/11/21/firelake-capital-management-raising-100m-for-cleantech-investment/)
I was interested in your comment in the Guardian that maybe it's time for a specialist sustainablity creative agency. I'm a Creative Director of a small design company that makes product, designs strategies and even writes jokes for card/gift companies and retailers. (I've never really worked in advertising though once did some cartoons for Duffy)
I'm trying to take my company in a more sustainable direction and have worked on a few projects where I've been asked to look at 'green 'design.' I've found it very interesting,engaging but also as close to rocket science as you can get.So next week I'm going to a Schumacher College to do their 'ethical pioneers' course. There should be loads of people starting up green companies. Would you like me to keep you informed?
I'll keep you updated on my progress. And yes, it would be good to speak to others doing similar.In my industry, gifts/cards/stationery/bags there's not many takers.
I asked a maker of tote bags if their UK clients were asking them about accreditation/ethical values imbued in the product and he said:'No, Mr. Simon, you are the only person boring us on this issue."!!
my email is: simon@feltstudios.co.uk (sorry I came up as anon. I'm new to blogging)
To survive, I can't be a wholly sustainable company but I can work towards it
8 comments:
Hello John, I thought you might be interested in a couple of projects I have been working on for a few months now.
Back in May I started an environmental news site, www.tenbees.co.uk, which covers UK centric news.
Just last week I launched a green price comparison site, www.greenercheaper.com, which takes advantage of the 2 largest e-commerce sites (apparently I'm not allowed to say who they are in press releases, but it's pretty obvious on the site).
cheers
Mark
Tenbees seems great at catching the most important/interesting stories, whereas the big green blogs are more of a babbling torrent at times. Is that your intention within the greenercheaper site too? I dont have enough of a handle on the scope of what's available on those two sites to know if you are editing choices for me, or just providing a handy comprehensive feed, like a cusomised search of those sites.
Have you considered combining the two in some way? i'd love to purchase in many of those areas but lack the knowledge and skills in ones which arent already familiar. There's been a huge boom (£2B) market last year in blogs & similar (eg Trade Doubler) which generate affiliate sales leads through relevant content.
Ayway just to say they both look great, well done for getting them up & out there & I would love to know more :J
I think you have pretty much grasped what they are about. My focus with Tenbees was to be informative for the person who's interested but doesn't know much. So I try to keep it as simple as possible, in terms of content and usability.
As for GreenerCheaper, I have some experience in the world of search, so use that experience to create targeted search requests, which are the links at the top.
If you do your own search in the box, no filtering currently takes place, but it will be one of the features that are planned.
Again with GreenerCheaper, the focus is on simplicity - it's too easy to stuff a site with whizz-bang and leave your visitors wondering what it's for or how it works.
There are in fact lots of great books that cover some of the more practical products, and they'll be going up this week. In TenBees I do have a bookshop.
Exciting potential startup news for Ohio, whose northern shore gets all that wind across Lake Erie! From The Cleveland Plain Dealer yesterday:
IBC Solar AG, Germany's oldest solar vendor, will build its U.S. headquarters in Cleveland - and hopes to produce solar equipment here...
IBC employs about 150 people in Germany and 200 worldwide to assemble solar systems manufactured by suppliers. Advocates of renewable energy say IBC's headquarters could be the first step toward creating an industry employing thousands of people in Ohio...
Founded in 1982, IBC Solar has designed and built 10,000 solar installations in Germany, other European countries and the Far East.
Sales for this year are projected at $700 million. The U.S. solar market is just beginning to develop, and IBC is eager to establish a presence here.
Germany is the world leader in solar installations, though it has only about 70 percent of the sunlight Cleveland receives. A solar manufacturing industry in Ohio would create thousands of jobs, advocates say.
http://www.cleveland.com/business/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/business-4/1195551468201250.xml&coll=2
People awaiting solar installation complain these days about delays caused by manufacture and importation from Germany. A company of this stature and experience in the States could kickstart solar here.
Hi John,
Maybe interview some VCs focusing on green tech (e.g. John Doerr) or cleantech (http://venturebeat.com/2007/11/21/firelake-capital-management-raising-100m-for-cleantech-investment/)
Hello John
I was interested in your comment in the Guardian
that maybe it's time for a specialist sustainablity creative agency. I'm a Creative Director of a small design company that makes product, designs strategies and even writes jokes for card/gift companies and retailers. (I've never really worked in advertising though once did some cartoons for Duffy)
I'm trying to take my company in a more sustainable direction and have worked on a few projects where I've been asked to look at 'green 'design.' I've found it very interesting,engaging but also as close to rocket science as you can get.So next week I'm going to a Schumacher College to do
their 'ethical pioneers' course. There should be loads of people starting up green companies. Would you like me to keep you informed?
Simon
hi simon that sounds brilliant, i know some people who have taken this road already & maybe should be hooking you up with them too
thanks to everyone for input & do keep it coming
:J
Thanks John.
I'll keep you updated on my progress. And yes, it would be good to speak to others doing similar.In my
industry, gifts/cards/stationery/bags there's not many takers.
I asked a maker of tote bags if their UK clients were asking them about accreditation/ethical values imbued in the product and he said:'No, Mr. Simon, you are the only person boring us on this issue."!!
my email is: simon@feltstudios.co.uk
(sorry I came up as anon. I'm new to blogging)
To survive, I can't be a wholly sustainable company but I can work towards it
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