“Water must be protected everywhere”

Blog Action Day is an annual event held every October 15 that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking a global discussion and driving collective action. This year’s topic is water.

I’m very proud to have compiled a few thoughtful pieces on this subject here in the past, including these: Read more

Uplift and Upload Now for Prizes from BET and Coca-Cola

BET Videos

In their latest collaboration with advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy, international creative design and production studio Brand New School and director Jonathan Notaro recently produced the stop-motion brand film above, which promotes the Uplift and Upload Contest sponsored by Coca-Cola for BET’s popular daily music video show, 106 & Park. Seize this chance to show how you’re creating and spreading happiness in your community by uploading a video of your good deed at www.bet.com/uplift — but please note, according to the official rules, entries must be received by 6pm ET on Friday, July 23 (even though the video states that July 21 is the entry deadline).

No moment of happiness is too big or too small for your chance to win the grand prize: $5,000 in spending cash, and an all-expense paid trip to New York, where you’ll present the “Wild Out Wednesday” Best in Show winner, alongside Rocsi and Terrence. Creating and spreading happiness is just an idea away.

Good luck!

Earth Day 2010 and beyond… onward and upward!

Huge thanks to Earth Day LA‘s Jim Stewart, Ph.D., for these insights for continuing to make positive impacts through our day-to-day activities… and to my inspirational buddy Kacy Palmieri, who has worked with Earth Day LA for the past several years, for passing along Jim’s sage advice. Read more

Moving forward: World Water Day 2010

In honor of World Water Day, it’s my pleasure to share this video that takes a hard look at the bottled water industry and proposes some simple and powerful alternative ideas that can greatly impact the Earth, our communities, and our pocketbooks. For more information, please visit http://storyofbottledwater.org. Read more

Positivity, on the subject of climate change

Blog Action Day is an annual event every October 15th that unites the world’s bloggers in writing about the same issue on the same day, with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. Nearly 10,000 people from 150 countries are participating in Blog Action Day 2009 and focusing on the theme of Climate Change. I have many friends and colleagues around the planet, and although I wish we could all agree on what’s important, I’ve come to realize the impossibility of that goal. Still, I do hope that everyone can agree that the current focus in our country on “Green Jobs” represents a lot of phenomenal opportunities that everyone has a chance to participate in. Read more

Kevin McMahon: Thanks for the Documentary

At some point over the past several weeks, my eyes were opened to the global water crisis, but I see now that I’m only beginning to get the full picture. Last week, I posted an entry on Irena Salina’s “FLOW,” and last night, my wife and I had another chance to see that amazing film thanks to it being repeated on the Sundance Channel. This morning, we found it there again and watched more of it with our 8-year-old daughter. After these viewings, I realized that there was a second powerful film I had recently seen (thanks again to Sundance Channel) on this subject: filmmaker Kevin McMahon’s “WATERLIFE.” Read more

Irena Salina: Thanks for the Documentary

Filmmaker Irena Salina has created an amazingly powerful documentary film entitled “FLOW: For the Love of Water,” which debuted at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and has since won the International Jury Prize at the Mumbai International Film Festival, as well as Best Documentary honors at both the Vail International Film Festival and the United Nations Association Film Festival. Within the past several weeks, I saw the film on the Sundance Channel, and I want to encourage as many people as possible to see it. If interested, you can order the film on DVD by visiting this link. Read more

Onward and upward, one step at a time…

I continue to be encouraged by MediaPost OnlineSPIN columnist Cory Treffiletti’s post entitled “Some More Positivity And Opportunity,” where he wrote,

“I think it’s about time that we start focusing on solutions and the positive trends in the marketplace rather than continuing to restate the obvious issues and challenges.”

Around the time when that column came out in early 2009, I received an email update from trend analyst Michael Tchong with the subject line of “Reinventing America,” featuring a lot of brilliant ideas for moving some incredibly smart initiatives forward. Michael wrote,

“Trendwatchers are more acutely aware of these issues than most, but they’re also more hopeful. They recognize that these challenges can be overcome through creativity, innovation and deft planning. To accomplish this, the groundwork has to be laid in 2009, it can be postponed no longer.”

These are some of the encouraging words that have inspired me to continue exploring bright, new solutions to the world’s problems.

By clicking on the image here, you’ll find the innovative website for the non-profit charity: water organization, which is doing its part to bring clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. You may also be interested in signing up for the new newsletter from Ode Magazine entitled “Now For the Good News,” a daily dose of positive news compiled from global sources by the editors of this engaging magazine for intelligent optimists.

The American dream….

In so many ways, today is just like every other day. Some people who have set out to achieve something will be successful, while others may be disappointed in their quests. Depending upon fate, we can probably expect those in either of those groups to find, soon enough, that their journeys continue… that another day will come when they’ll have another chance at victory. At the same time, there’s a good reason why, in 2008, so many people are still familiar with a phrase written more than 2,000 years ago by the Roman poet known as Horace: carpe diem… seize the day. To me, the American dream is about individuals being free — and having equal rights and opportunities to pursue their own ideals. On this historic day when Americans will choose their new president, I am contemplating the respective dreams of every being on our planet. Today is yours, and in the words of Fred Corbett, “…this very minute, you are heir to more accumulated wisdom, knowledge, and experience than man has ever before possessed. You could be a giant, if you knew and could apply this wisdom.” What can you dream and achieve today?

Personally, I am beginning with being thankful. Among my own dreams and ideals, going back about 14 years to a time when I was updating my company’s marketing plan, I identified the following mission: Implicit goals include the creation of original materials which fathom art through the improvement of existence and the preservation of the earth’s natural resources. I recall that this statement surprised my wife when she first saw it… she hadn’t been aware of the depth my environmental consciousness up to that point. However, over the years, this is a value that has come to represent some key aspects of our home life. Professionally, until now, my green ideals have only factored in in subtle ways… but that has changed recently. Over the past few weeks, the story of Shai Agassi and his remarkable “Better Place” vision for making electric cars a practical reality has been a great inspiration to my wife and me. I also have discovered Addis Creson, the Berkeley, California-based strategic brand design company that is integrally involved in shaping and executing Agassi’s plans. Addis Creson’s positioning tells the world that they are committed to working with companies with whom they can create positive change. As meaningful as that is to me on the surface, when I learned that their roster also includes Kashi, a unique food maker which has been inspiring my family for the past several years with their truly healthy products and the inviting, educational and just plain smart packaging they use to earn each purchase, I experienced something of an epiphany. My family was already emotionally connected to Kashi well before I ever learned about Better Place or Addis Creson, and having discovered the common connections, I am seizing this day to take the lessons to heart. Creating positive change is something I too can achieve, and today, I will. How about you?

Setting sights for higher success in 2008…

Big thanks to New York-based experiential marketing agency Renegade‘s CEO/president Drew Neisser for contributing the thoughtful “Top Ten: Marketing Ideas To Consider in 2008” piece to ChiefMarketer.com. Drew provides some great tips in his piece — here are my notes on his topical ideas for entrepreneurs planning new ways to maximize what may be the most viable new developments, inroads and innovations in the field of marketing.

. Customer Service: Drew concludes his list with a great point about ‘marketing as service.’ What could be a better focus for marketing initiatives than solving problems for your customers, or making it easier for them to do business with you?

. Experience Marketing: In my humble opinion, the Toyota family is leading the way in creating brand experiences which translate into customer engagement and loyalty — and marketplace success. One example from an amazing 2007 playbook includes the recent ExpreScion Alcatraz event cooked-up by my clients at ATTIK. What brand experience could drive all other facets of your 2008 marketing and communications?

. Virtual clubbing: Maximizing social networks from the large and ubiquitous to the small and tightly targeted currently rank among chief marketers’ highest priorities. How can you improve your business with the help of your v-friends?

. Gaming: There’s a fascinating story in Adweek today about how the U.S. Army has made its virtual reality warfare game into an interactive exhibit that’s helping to boost recruits — even now. Do consumers’ interests in gaming offer unique opportunities to engage, entertain and/or educate your target audiences?

. Going green: From the business perspective, corporate social responsibility seems largely to have migrated toward environmentalism. Forbes “Going Green” coverage and MSNBC’s “Going Green Special Report” reveal more specifics. How can a green strategy drive your success in the year to come?

. Mobile: With cell phone capabilities expanding and use steadily increasing, specific opportunities to successfully market over mobile phones are ripening. Should people be hearing or seeing your company on their cell phones in some strategic way(s) now?

. Outdoor Marketing 2.0: We’re familiar with billboards, but add-in RFID, motion sensors, GPS and other high-tech innovations, and we are well on our way to the worlds of “Blade Runner” and “Minority Report.” My clients at visual effects design company a52 contributed to a forward-looking outdoor Lexus campaign from Team One that Brandweek covered — and other out-of-home media like in-theater, in-gym, etc. video networks are also getting smarter. Any lucrative ideas for personalizing your large-scale messages, or using technology to make them more interactive?

. Search Engine Marketing: The trend Drew points up is the rise of behavioral targeting over contextual targeting for marketing via search engines. Might such a tweak offer you an advantage?

. Online video: Evidently a result of most computer users having broadband connections, our YouTube nation is fully wired for video, and offerings like Hulu.com, iTunes, Joost and LiveStation are making the online experience more TV-like every day. Not long ago, the prospect of a 500-channel cable universe made us light-headed, while today, many netizens have a good sense of where and how to tune into their favorite short- and long-form video content from literally thousands of “channel” choices. Online video is being seen — so maybe you can make your own and get it out there… or leap into your chosen role behind the scenes?

. Widgets: With the proliferation of websites, online communities and social networks, and with each trying to out-do the other to make it more sticky, engaging or useful, some software developers are creating stand-alone programs that push or pull specific data in delightful ways (if you’re not among the hundreds of millions using them already, check out Yahoo Widgets). What could you do with a widget that bundles some or all of these trends above and forms a new two-way information channel between yourself and your customers?