YouTube - Dream Academy - Life In A Northern Town: ""
For anyone from sunny Teeside, God what a dump Stockton was in the 70's
Tuesday, 10 July 2007
YouTube - Dexys Midnight Runners-Geno
YouTube - Dexys Midnight Runners-Geno
This is one of the best versions of Geno I have ever seen-
Nothing green about this blog, just great music
This is one of the best versions of Geno I have ever seen-
Nothing green about this blog, just great music
Wednesday, 4 July 2007
Who are today’s ethical consumers?
Back in the good old days of 2000 the Co-operative Bank and the New Economic Foundation, Mori and the Future Foundation commissioned a journalist and marketer to investigate “Who are ethical consumers” They came up with the finding that they called the 30:3 syndrome, that 30% of consumers professed to care about a company’s policy and reputation but yet ethical goods made up only 3% of the market.
They quickly realised that ethical consumers, that is consumers predominantly driven by ethical considerations made up a very small part of consumers who to some decree are influenced by ethics in some of their purchasing decisions.
Ethical consumers, which the authors dubbed “Global watchdogs” in fact made up 5% of the population, they were predominantly middle class and middle aged, social and environmental issues far exceeded brand image, indeed they could be dubbed Anti-Logo. They were southern England based, centred on London and felt powerful as consumers.
A second small segment (6%) the authors dubbed, the ‘Brand generation’, for this young, Midland/Northern group ethical was secondary to brand but could augment the power of a brand.
‘Conscientious consumers’, the largest section of ethically motivated consumers (18%), were driven by value and quality with ethics as one of the quality variables. Based in the Midland and South, outside of London, they were relatively upmarket and predominantly conservative in outlook.
49% they classified at ‘do what I can’, an older group of home owners spread throughout the country who had a weak but still existent ethical motivation
Last but not least were the remaining 22% who ’look after my own’, predominantly poorer/unemployed, Northern or Scottish, people who felt completely powerless as consumers.
So what has changed in the six years that have passed since this report?
Firstly it is worth looking at the market. The Ethical Purchasing Index as it was then called valued the ethical market at £13.429 billion, with Food sales at £1.288 billion and cosmetics and toiletries at £341.5 million, and ethical finance at £7.772 billion. In 2005 ethical consumerism report, the renamed EPI, valued the market at £29.268 billion. Food had shot up to £5.406 billion, cosmetics and toiletries, now renamed personal products, were £1.315 billion and ethical finance at £11.552 billion. The ethical sector has surpassed the over the counter cigarette and alcohol sales in the UK.
The Green and Ethical Consumers Report from Mintel published in January 2007 showed that a great deal had changed in the profile demographics. It is difficult to directly compare the two surveys as there methodology is different but there are common threads.
The ethical resistance element, classified by Mintel as ‘too busy to care’ remained constant at about 20%. However the ‘Greener-than-thou’ segment had risen to 16%, with a further 24% identified as ‘keen to be green’ and are conscious of green and ethical issues. 23% they identified as ‘confused but willing’ .
It is undoubtedly easier to make ethical purchases on 2007 than it has ever been, since the pioneering of Fairtrade products by the Co-operative retailer in 1992 the large retailers not only stock Fairtrade and organic foods and products but also have develop own brand versions of them. Most cosmetic companies now actively avoid animal testing. On the ethical finance side the robust performance of the funds combined with good press coverage have attracted both a wider angle of individual investors as well as deepening their relationship with local and national government pension fund managers.
The growing consumer concern about health issues concerned with pesticides and fungicides, as well as the perceived worries about the health implications of GM crops has motivated consumers for different reasons than traditional environmental concerns.
The growth trends in organic and fair-trade products looks set to continue according to research company IGD with 50 and 100% growth respectively by 2010 predicted.
The growing interest in investing in “technologies of the future” will continue to fuel ethical investment, though new funds are emerging such as the Schroders Climate Change Fund which fall outside of the ethical sector.
The fashion industry is a potential huge growth area with many companies now looking to launch more ethically sourced and produced products for an more discerning consumer base.
The cosmetic industry is already well along the natural and organic product route, either through acquisition, L’Oreal of Body Shop, or repositioning in a sector which overall is stagnant.
Recent reports from TNS Worldpanel show that the growth in organic food is likely to slow down, this is caused not by a lack of demand but by bottle necks in supply. The report shows that organic food rose 9.3% in the year up to the 23rd March, a fine figure to be sure but long short of the 17% in the previous 12 months. Quoted in the Observer Patrick Holden head of the Soil Association said, 'I'm not normally apocalyptic, but the organic food industry is facing big problems that need to be sorted out as a matter of urgency.' Increasingly demand is being met by imports as the British farming industry slowly increases its organic output, organic meat production has been especially hard hit in its attempts to expand due to the shortage in organic animal feeds. The present debate on food miles, and the Soil Association consultation on air freight may add future pressure on those companies forced to look abroad for secure supply chains.
Another key issue as recently reported is the supply chain practices of the major retailers. Sainsbury’s has just de-listed both Prince of Wales organic carrots and Patrick Holden’s because they do not meet their rigorous standards after being subjected to the long distance haulage that their distribution systems demands.
Fairtrade on the other hand does not suffer the ethical qualms of the organic sector with regards to transport, for them the development benefits of Fairtrade and the low carbon emissions of the producers far out weigh the issue of long distance travel, even air freight. The majority of Fairtrade suppliers only sell a small part of their crop through the system with the majority being bought through more traditional buying means. There is a huge margin for growth here, both in sourcing more existing lines and widening the product range covered by Fairtrade certification.
Overall the ethical sector has been a huge success story in the last six years supply chain problems, while difficult in the short term, are a result of the sectors growth and will in the medium term lead to a growth in suppliers attracted to the sector. It is crucial that both certifying associations, retailers and government action continue to support high standards to maintain high consumer confidence rather than lower standards to meet short term supply problems.
They quickly realised that ethical consumers, that is consumers predominantly driven by ethical considerations made up a very small part of consumers who to some decree are influenced by ethics in some of their purchasing decisions.
Ethical consumers, which the authors dubbed “Global watchdogs” in fact made up 5% of the population, they were predominantly middle class and middle aged, social and environmental issues far exceeded brand image, indeed they could be dubbed Anti-Logo. They were southern England based, centred on London and felt powerful as consumers.
A second small segment (6%) the authors dubbed, the ‘Brand generation’, for this young, Midland/Northern group ethical was secondary to brand but could augment the power of a brand.
‘Conscientious consumers’, the largest section of ethically motivated consumers (18%), were driven by value and quality with ethics as one of the quality variables. Based in the Midland and South, outside of London, they were relatively upmarket and predominantly conservative in outlook.
49% they classified at ‘do what I can’, an older group of home owners spread throughout the country who had a weak but still existent ethical motivation
Last but not least were the remaining 22% who ’look after my own’, predominantly poorer/unemployed, Northern or Scottish, people who felt completely powerless as consumers.
So what has changed in the six years that have passed since this report?
Firstly it is worth looking at the market. The Ethical Purchasing Index as it was then called valued the ethical market at £13.429 billion, with Food sales at £1.288 billion and cosmetics and toiletries at £341.5 million, and ethical finance at £7.772 billion. In 2005 ethical consumerism report, the renamed EPI, valued the market at £29.268 billion. Food had shot up to £5.406 billion, cosmetics and toiletries, now renamed personal products, were £1.315 billion and ethical finance at £11.552 billion. The ethical sector has surpassed the over the counter cigarette and alcohol sales in the UK.
The Green and Ethical Consumers Report from Mintel published in January 2007 showed that a great deal had changed in the profile demographics. It is difficult to directly compare the two surveys as there methodology is different but there are common threads.
The ethical resistance element, classified by Mintel as ‘too busy to care’ remained constant at about 20%. However the ‘Greener-than-thou’ segment had risen to 16%, with a further 24% identified as ‘keen to be green’ and are conscious of green and ethical issues. 23% they identified as ‘confused but willing’ .
It is undoubtedly easier to make ethical purchases on 2007 than it has ever been, since the pioneering of Fairtrade products by the Co-operative retailer in 1992 the large retailers not only stock Fairtrade and organic foods and products but also have develop own brand versions of them. Most cosmetic companies now actively avoid animal testing. On the ethical finance side the robust performance of the funds combined with good press coverage have attracted both a wider angle of individual investors as well as deepening their relationship with local and national government pension fund managers.
The growing consumer concern about health issues concerned with pesticides and fungicides, as well as the perceived worries about the health implications of GM crops has motivated consumers for different reasons than traditional environmental concerns.
The growth trends in organic and fair-trade products looks set to continue according to research company IGD with 50 and 100% growth respectively by 2010 predicted.
The growing interest in investing in “technologies of the future” will continue to fuel ethical investment, though new funds are emerging such as the Schroders Climate Change Fund which fall outside of the ethical sector.
The fashion industry is a potential huge growth area with many companies now looking to launch more ethically sourced and produced products for an more discerning consumer base.
The cosmetic industry is already well along the natural and organic product route, either through acquisition, L’Oreal of Body Shop, or repositioning in a sector which overall is stagnant.
Recent reports from TNS Worldpanel show that the growth in organic food is likely to slow down, this is caused not by a lack of demand but by bottle necks in supply. The report shows that organic food rose 9.3% in the year up to the 23rd March, a fine figure to be sure but long short of the 17% in the previous 12 months. Quoted in the Observer Patrick Holden head of the Soil Association said, 'I'm not normally apocalyptic, but the organic food industry is facing big problems that need to be sorted out as a matter of urgency.' Increasingly demand is being met by imports as the British farming industry slowly increases its organic output, organic meat production has been especially hard hit in its attempts to expand due to the shortage in organic animal feeds. The present debate on food miles, and the Soil Association consultation on air freight may add future pressure on those companies forced to look abroad for secure supply chains.
Another key issue as recently reported is the supply chain practices of the major retailers. Sainsbury’s has just de-listed both Prince of Wales organic carrots and Patrick Holden’s because they do not meet their rigorous standards after being subjected to the long distance haulage that their distribution systems demands.
Fairtrade on the other hand does not suffer the ethical qualms of the organic sector with regards to transport, for them the development benefits of Fairtrade and the low carbon emissions of the producers far out weigh the issue of long distance travel, even air freight. The majority of Fairtrade suppliers only sell a small part of their crop through the system with the majority being bought through more traditional buying means. There is a huge margin for growth here, both in sourcing more existing lines and widening the product range covered by Fairtrade certification.
Overall the ethical sector has been a huge success story in the last six years supply chain problems, while difficult in the short term, are a result of the sectors growth and will in the medium term lead to a growth in suppliers attracted to the sector. It is crucial that both certifying associations, retailers and government action continue to support high standards to maintain high consumer confidence rather than lower standards to meet short term supply problems.
Wednesday, 20 June 2007
Ethical Companies and PR
Most companies don’t but it doesn’t stop them putting out PR, or hoping for PR.
And it is not impossible to get good PR even if you have no training, or contacts- its just, well more difficult, and takes longer.
The key question when doing PR is what is new about this, what does it change, who benefits, who is threatened?
So many PR releases I get are company X announced that it is changing to green energy, or company Y opens a new shop in backend of backofbeyondsville.
The point of when you are trying to write article to answer a cynical reader’s question- so what?
If the company that is slapping a solar panel on the roof is Natural Choices Media then it means a great deal to me as an individual but frankly not a fig to the rest of the world, if it happens to be the every office of the Green Party, well its hardly unexpected, the Conservative Party offices would raise a wry smirk and get onto the news as a greenwash story- however if the change is so big, say a huge Government department which increases the market sector by 25% than that is a big story .
So frankly don’t tell me you have moved to green energy my readers won’t care, so I don’t care.
However tell me a story about how you have gone through your entire supply chain from top to bottom, the issues you had to face- particularly if they were an ethical conundrum- any unusual choices you made and why, then the green energy switch becomes part of a much wider and more interesting story.
If company Y ‘s new organic cloths shop in backofbeyondsville is part of a revitalisation of a town centre that has been devastated by ring road supermarkets well there is a great story there, the story would be the revitalisation of the town centre, but the star of the story could be Company Y’s little old organic store.
In this case the individual actions of Company Y have been contextualised into something much bigger, but because it was Company Y thorough sheer cunning who raised the context first they get the story- the 15 other, equally deserving shops that opened before Company Y become background material and are buried in the trend.
If you are a small company just setting out set, you don’t have PR experience or VC backing to employ one then set your targets accordingly. Not your ultimate object, which can still be that full page in the nationals, just the target steps it will take you to get there.
Remember the following facts, and for this I probably will have the wrath of hacks descend on my shoulders for near and afar.
The biggest sin of journalism is plagiarism, they teach every budding hack that at journalism school. Like all sins it occurs all the time.
The thing is however to see it as a food chain, the big fish are always eating the little fish, the little fish are nimbler and faster, we have to be to survive, and the big fish are slower.
In English what I mean is that it is a very rarely does a story appear out of nowhere, national newspapers are awash with regional newspapers- why, because the regional have more hacks closer to events, so they get them first and then the big boys move in and take the story over.
Very few ethical business stories go from nowhere to the national press, ethical news sites and magazines, like the new consumer, the ecologist even www.naturalchoices.co.uk have often covered the story first, the bigger writers read these sources and pull in any interesting stories that may interest them.
So what I am saying unless your best mate work on a national don’t forget to get to know the press next to you, they know your sector, the story doesn’t have to be so big for them to cover it and with that base covered it is easier to start climbing the greasy pole to national fame.
Lord I have just realised I have rambled on for ages, sorry about that but I have hardly touched the surface.
It’s given me an idea for a series of articles though- how ethical companies can get PR and not pay for it, what they need to do and how to do it.
And it is not impossible to get good PR even if you have no training, or contacts- its just, well more difficult, and takes longer.
The key question when doing PR is what is new about this, what does it change, who benefits, who is threatened?
So many PR releases I get are company X announced that it is changing to green energy, or company Y opens a new shop in backend of backofbeyondsville.
The point of when you are trying to write article to answer a cynical reader’s question- so what?
If the company that is slapping a solar panel on the roof is Natural Choices Media then it means a great deal to me as an individual but frankly not a fig to the rest of the world, if it happens to be the every office of the Green Party, well its hardly unexpected, the Conservative Party offices would raise a wry smirk and get onto the news as a greenwash story- however if the change is so big, say a huge Government department which increases the market sector by 25% than that is a big story .
So frankly don’t tell me you have moved to green energy my readers won’t care, so I don’t care.
However tell me a story about how you have gone through your entire supply chain from top to bottom, the issues you had to face- particularly if they were an ethical conundrum- any unusual choices you made and why, then the green energy switch becomes part of a much wider and more interesting story.
If company Y ‘s new organic cloths shop in backofbeyondsville is part of a revitalisation of a town centre that has been devastated by ring road supermarkets well there is a great story there, the story would be the revitalisation of the town centre, but the star of the story could be Company Y’s little old organic store.
In this case the individual actions of Company Y have been contextualised into something much bigger, but because it was Company Y thorough sheer cunning who raised the context first they get the story- the 15 other, equally deserving shops that opened before Company Y become background material and are buried in the trend.
If you are a small company just setting out set, you don’t have PR experience or VC backing to employ one then set your targets accordingly. Not your ultimate object, which can still be that full page in the nationals, just the target steps it will take you to get there.
Remember the following facts, and for this I probably will have the wrath of hacks descend on my shoulders for near and afar.
The biggest sin of journalism is plagiarism, they teach every budding hack that at journalism school. Like all sins it occurs all the time.
The thing is however to see it as a food chain, the big fish are always eating the little fish, the little fish are nimbler and faster, we have to be to survive, and the big fish are slower.
In English what I mean is that it is a very rarely does a story appear out of nowhere, national newspapers are awash with regional newspapers- why, because the regional have more hacks closer to events, so they get them first and then the big boys move in and take the story over.
Very few ethical business stories go from nowhere to the national press, ethical news sites and magazines, like the new consumer, the ecologist even www.naturalchoices.co.uk have often covered the story first, the bigger writers read these sources and pull in any interesting stories that may interest them.
So what I am saying unless your best mate work on a national don’t forget to get to know the press next to you, they know your sector, the story doesn’t have to be so big for them to cover it and with that base covered it is easier to start climbing the greasy pole to national fame.
Lord I have just realised I have rambled on for ages, sorry about that but I have hardly touched the surface.
It’s given me an idea for a series of articles though- how ethical companies can get PR and not pay for it, what they need to do and how to do it.
Wednesday, 13 June 2007
Editor's Choice - Natural Choices Green and Ethical Living
Editor's Choice - Natural Choices Green and Ethical Living
Ha, looked impossible but actually very easy-now I just have to populate it with great reads.
The site slowly marches on- very slowly
Ha, looked impossible but actually very easy-now I just have to populate it with great reads.
The site slowly marches on- very slowly
Are Organic standards under attack from GMOs? - Natural Choices
Are organic standards under attack from GMOs? - Natural Choices
There is a whole load more to this story, feels like I have scratched the surface, why 0.9% is this an industry lobbyed for level of 'acceptable' contamination- when I mean industry I mean biotech industry not organic industry. I think this needs returning to with the help of GMWatch
There is a whole load more to this story, feels like I have scratched the surface, why 0.9% is this an industry lobbyed for level of 'acceptable' contamination- when I mean industry I mean biotech industry not organic industry. I think this needs returning to with the help of GMWatch
Wednesday, 30 May 2007
Air Freight-Organics and the Soil Association
Well it feels like it is beginning to get together on the writing side, when I was in London at the Organic Expo I meet Peter Melchett, the Soil Association's policy director, so I thought I would drop him a line to comment of the SA's Green paper on Air freight. I had just finished off a quick article for naturalchoices See Soil Association- Organic and air freight, are they compatible? . Luckily I managed to squeeze in a quick 20 minute chat, as Peter was driving to the train station, it gave me another article on the subject, this time a more personal approach Peter Melchett Interview . Makes the site feel that it has a more rounded view of the subject. I tried a similar approach with the sexy green car show and that worked, so it is an approach I think I will develop.
When i worked at Decision News Media we had a Editorial Director, Jenny- who talked about a site's radar- what are the key events the site is designed to signal, the trends and developments. I can't say I have got the naturalchoices one sorted out just yet, the eco ethical sector is frankly just so big, if I just did the eco side it may be manageable but the whole Fairtrade, Trade justice, anti-poverty let alone ethical investment is just too interesting to leave aside, plus of course is that the fact that they correspond very closely with my own political point of view that I feel I would be writing only half the story if I didn't cover them. No doubt it will settle down soon.
When i worked at Decision News Media we had a Editorial Director, Jenny- who talked about a site's radar- what are the key events the site is designed to signal, the trends and developments. I can't say I have got the naturalchoices one sorted out just yet, the eco ethical sector is frankly just so big, if I just did the eco side it may be manageable but the whole Fairtrade, Trade justice, anti-poverty let alone ethical investment is just too interesting to leave aside, plus of course is that the fact that they correspond very closely with my own political point of view that I feel I would be writing only half the story if I didn't cover them. No doubt it will settle down soon.
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