Rights & wrongs of green media messaging

Media Week recently asked me to project manage an online supplement on Green Media. During research for an article on brands joining the fight against climate change, I came across the television advertising campaign for the Volkswagen BlueMotion Polo.
Green media messages around cars are either confusing or misleading. Only last month, Renault was forced to withdraw a press ad showing leaves emerging from the exhaust pipe of its Twingo car.

The Advertising Standards Authority ruled that the company had "exaggerated the environmental benefits" of the vehicle. The regulator was also critical of the advertisement's use of the Renault logo Eco2, which refers to the manufacturer's campaign to help reduce carbon emissions.
The ad gives the impression that the Twingo is good for the environment and emits low emissions compared with other similar small cars. If you check out the Department for Transport's top ten low CO2 cars however, you won't find the Renault Twingo.

The car that tops the chart is the Volkswagen BlueMotion Polo. VW's agency Tribal DDB could have leveraged the bragging rights and few would have begrudged them. Instead, Tribal DDB produced two inspirational TV ads that ran for six weeks from last October. They should have run for longer. I don't recall having seen either of them but they're both excellent examples of how green communication strategies should be managed.

The first, features plastic bags growing in quantity as they float across the cityscape before the voiced message: “Driving a BlueMotion Polo instead of your normal small car for a year could reduce your carbon footprint as much as recycling over 25,000 plastic bags.”



The second is a drawing animation featuring the car on a journey across penciled landscapes. The message is: “A week spent driving a BlueMotion Polo instead of your normal small car could reduce your carbon footprint. In fact, it could reduce it as much as recycling 2,669 sheets of paper.”



In subsequent print ads, a BlueMotion Polo is dwarfed against a wall of recycled cans. The strap-line reads: “Driving a BlueMotion Polo for a year could prevent as much carbon pollution as recycling over 5,000 cans.”

By communicating environmental messages that the consumer can relate to, VW is not only pole position when it comes to low emission small cars. Its brand marketing is also leading by example.

Garfield credits Trigell for his BAFTA

9.45pm: Andrew Garfield wins the BAFTA for best actor. His lead role in Jonathan Trigell's Boy A was nothing less than awesome. I'm sure my pal Jon was blown away by the acceptance speech thank-you he received from a young actor with a formidable future as Britain's best.

The portrayal of Jack, a young man released back into society after spending his childhood years in institutions paying for a terrible crime he committed as a minor, coincided with Garfield's big screen debut. In November, Garfield's rising star burned bright with a lead role in Lions for Lambs. The film, produced by Tom Cruise is a high profile political drama that engages critically with issues surrounding America’s war on terror. Cruise appears alongside Meryl Streep in Lions for Lambs, which is directed by and co-stars screen legend Robert Redford, with whom Garfield shares virtually all of his scenes. It's a film of ideologies with a great script.

By the end of 2007, Garfield had established himself as Britain's best newcomer. By giving due credit to Jon at the BAFTAs, he has elevated more than just his own star status. He has also now placed Jon firmly in the literary spotlight.

Bacardi sets sail with the Armada for B-Live

On 19 April, at the Bayfront Park Amphitheatre in Miami, Groove Armada will kick-off its 'brand meets band' live marketing deal, signed with Bacardi.
The Bacardi B-Live 2008 world tour features dance music's demon double-act as its event curator. Six countries, six UK festivals and an entertainment property delivering brand messages to a wider audience.

Bacardi has long been recruiting brand advocates through an involvement in music. The spirit brand's B-Live initiative has staged live streamed dance music events in more than 25 countries during the past two years alone. But this time it's different. For one year, Groove Armada will release music via the Bacardi brand. Bacardi jumped in when the British dance music duo parted ways with Sony BMG's Jive Records label. It's believed to be the first contract of its kind.

Groove Armada's Tom Findlay told Radio 6 Music: "It gives us total creative control of what we do and we get a brand that has had a long association with music. It's a bit of a no-brainer really."
Andy Cato, the other half of Groove Armada, said: "After Groove Armada's 10th anniversary year of huge gigs, we were looking for ways to take things to another level. Working alongside Bacardi we have the chance to take the travelling show to new people and places and find innovative ways of getting our music out there."

Bestival at its best is coming to Billingsgate

Vauxhall has teamed up with Sunday Best and agency Jack Morton Worldwide to launch a consumer music experience.
The agency, famed for its Opening and Closing Olympic Ceremonies, is staging a London indoor festival on 3 May.
Bandstand is sponsored by Corsa and steered by Bestival organiser and record label Sunday Best. It will take place at Billingsgate and feature Grammy Award winner Mark Ronson.
Vauxhall Group Marketing Manager Richard Hughes said: “The event takes Corsa out of the traditional realms of communication for a car company and allows us to speak with potential buyers and to reward existing drivers. In Sunday Best, we have found a partner who shares our vision about doing something different, fun and totally unique.”
The festival will be themed around a magical park-like world of fauna, animals and characters. Themed rooms will include the Alice in Wonderland-inspired room and the Time Machine Disco. Other artistes lined-up include The Cuban Brothers and Rob da Bank.
Jack Morton Worldwide Managing Director Julian Pullan said: “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to unite and work with two such vital British brands. This event really speaks of the power of experiential marketing to create truly engaging, advocate-building experiences.”
Bandstand will appear at Liverpool’s Carling Academy on 10 May.

RecommendBox launches

I've always found it difficult to describe what my flatmate and good friend Scott Rutherford does day-to-day. He has the same problem. When people ask him, he stumbles over terms such as internet entrepreneur, code builder, ambitious web developer and CEO. Well, finally I'm proud to be able to announce what Scott does for a living.

On 31 March, he launched RecommendBox with co-founder Robert Loch.

The site allows friends to make recommendations and request recommendations in categories such as books, movies, places, clothing, music, restaurants, websites and services. The idea is that while review sites may exist, what people actually recommend to their private social network is different to what they would just review on a public site.

Scott and Rob believe recommendations and reviews are different - when you write a review you give your view on something to a wider audience. When you make a recommendation you are suggesting to an individual that they will like something. RecommendBox recommendations are presented by one party to the privacy of another user's personal home-page. This encourages honesty and makes this start-up unique.

From my experience with the site, when you receive a recommendation, it feels personal and has value. The fact that someone has hand-picked (or mouse-picked) you because they felt you'd benefit from the recommendation generates the emotion of receiving a gift. You instantly want to return the gesture - and that's what can turn this new site into a marketing and social success. Check it out and recommend it to a friend.

Prankster Paul & the dotcom April Fool

A warm round of applause for friend and digital impresario, Paul Walsh. The chair of the British Interactive Media Association alerted internet techies yesterday to the news that he'd sold his web certification company Segala. He broke the news on his Facebook update at 12.30am. During the morning, plaudits flooded in on Twitter and Facebook from envious entrepreneurs and well wishers. As I'm sure everyone now realises, it was all Irish blarney and an April Fool. Talking to Tech Crunch, Walsh said: "I did it as a laugh, I wanted to see what the power of my status update was. How influential it was."
Consider the age we live in where even an April Fool's Day prank has a digital application. The moral of the story? Don't trust everything you read on the internet and web techies are a gullible lot.