Green Printer Blog

Earth Day takes place this April 22nd.

As a green leader or entrepreneur, the day begs the question, what will you be doing?

In a mad public relations world that anchors on events as a tangible “touch point” in lieu of diving into the messier (and harder to track or control) world of ‘awareness’, Earth Day is one of many symbols (i.e. polar bears) we use when speaking to some of the starker and concrete practices of the planet’s ecological anxieties. Read the rest of this entry »

By Contributing Writer Melissa Chungfat | Part of Green Printer‘s ‘Design Goes Green’ dispatch.

While more people are cutting back during the recession, green sales still remain strong with companies that have positioned themselves well in branding and marketing. It’s a topic that the much anticipated April 20th PSFK “Creativity for Change, Ideas to Make Things Better” conference in New York City will be speaking about as part of their sustainable and socially conscience agenda.

Recently, GreezBiz.com reported on a survey that revealed, “68 percent of consumers say that even in a recession they would remain faithful to a brand if it supports a good cause; nearly seven in 10 would be prepared to pay more for eco-friendly products.” Buyers plan to remain loyal to products that they perceive to have strong social value. Read the rest of this entry »

Green Printer speaks with Corey Szopinski, Principal and Founder of Core Industries.

Your firm has worked on some pretty cool projects like Live Earth and Pepsi, 1% for the Planet and the Volkswagen Carbon Neutral Project. Tell us what your clients come to your company for and what makes Core Industries different from other interactive strategy, design and development firms.

We’re the next evolution of a boutique interactive marketing firm. We are one of the few very high end development shops that has a clear mission of focusing on the triple bottom line: people, planet and profit. Clients come to us because they know that we get invested in their projects, their company, and their people, because we care about what we’re doing… we not out to make a quick buck. In fact, our overall mission is to help foster the emerging green economy. Our way of doing that is by using graphic design, computer science and marketing strategy to help our clients be more “sustainable”. And for us sustainability has a dual meaning: it means being responsible for our environment, but it also means making sure the business is sustainable. In other words, we help our clients thrive, not just survive. Read the rest of this entry »

Design Goes Green – The first of a series of articles by Green Printer on the cross-section between the environment, business and the creative communications industry.

1. Jill, you are an artist, designer and crafter. Tell us about what you do and what you create.

First and foremost I create detailed native nature drawings. With these, I create an eponymous line of paper goods and fabric accessories. I’ve been an “indie-craftpreneur” since 2001, selling my goods on my retail website and in boutiques worldwide. I also create murals, take on custom art commissions, and the occasional graphic design project for like-minded businesses. Read the rest of this entry »

A Green Printer dispatch.

NOTE: Thank you to Lisa Campbell and Steven Campbell for the following correction. Green Smith was the public relations company contracted to collaborate on, not create, the plantatree™ campaign, and the product was actually developed by Lifford Wine Agency. More details about the wine product and it’s creation are at plantatreewine.com.

What does design have to do with my organization? It’s a question business owners, non-profit leaders and institutions often ask. And, the answer is: lots.

A senior colleague once told me, “Form is just as important as content, Olga and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

And yes, it’s been drilled into our heads: “you can have a great product, but if you don’t [insert verbs like 'market', 'brand', 'package' here], you won’t succeed, etc.”. And it true. But design is more than just a means to an end to sell more of your widgets. It also plays a role in the improvement and development of your offerings and sometimes, your organization. Read the rest of this entry »

A post by contributing writer Melissa Chungfat.

A www.greenprinteronline.com dispatch.

I talked to one of my friend’s yesterday and she told me that the staff Christmas party wasn’t nearly as joyful as in previous years. Half of the people who came to the party were let go. There have been record layoffs since the economy has gone south, and it’s hard to talk to someone whose family hasn’t been impacted in some way.

Social and environmental advocates around the world worry that the economic challenges will be used as an excuse for more inaction on the environment. Before the environmental issues went viral, ecopreneurs took the lead to help and protect the environment. Where there was a lack in political will, ecopreneurs filled the gap.
But so far, it looks like the Obama-Bidon administration sees the environment as an opportunity to jumpstart the new 21st century economy.

In this week’s press conference, Obama said investing in entrepreneurs is a necessary “down payment.” Read the rest of this entry »

A www.greenprinteronline.com dispatch.

A post by contributing writer Melissa Chungfat.

Obama, quite literally, has the weight of the world on his shoulders. His consistent rhetoric and his positive impacts in the community played a big part in his landslide victory. Now everyone is watching him closely to see if he delivers on what he promised to the public. After all, when it comes to credibility, actions speak louder than words, and people judge companies the same way.

Since green has gone mainstream, there are a lot of companies who have been greenwashing, spending money or time on giving the appearance of being green instead of spending resources to alleviate environmental impact. The environmental marketing company TerraChoice released the study “The Six Sins of Greenwashing“, which found that 99% of 1,018 common consumer products randomly surveyed were guilty of greenwashing. That’s a lot of lying.

Read the rest of this entry »

The green we need

A www.greenprinteronline.com dispatch.

A post by contributing writer Melissa Chungfat. 

When Barack Obama delivered his speech on November 4, 2008, he mentioned the challenges of a planet in peril and the worst financial crisis in a century. In the spirit of collaboration, he called upon all Americans to “join in the work of remaking this nation.”

 You can now check out the Clean Tech for Obama website. Cleantech and Green Business for Obama (CT4-O) is a self organized, volunteer based constituency group supporting the Obama campaign. Read the rest of this entry »

A www.greenprinteronline.com dispatch.

Let’s kill the business card, the paper one that is.

Why do we need it anyways? It does that hideous bent corner thing when you take out of your wallet (excuse us “Mr. That’s-why-I-get-my-cards-lamented”, you are an exception), the VP of Financial Genius gets tossed next to the Hatha yoga instructor and besides, that font you chose, with painstaking care, is ugly anyways. Read the rest of this entry »

A www.greenprinteronline.com dispatch.

You run an sustainable organization, receive referrals from the Internet and want a brand that’s memorable. You also want to automate your web traffic.

Enter the green widget – a ‘brand confirming’ tool you can’t overlook. If you have a brand, says Stefan Juhl, a widget will only confirm (or make others more aware of) your brand values. So, what is a widget anyway? Erick Schonfeld explains and Max Gladwell defines the role of a widget as one of the many tools a social (change) media practitioner can employ. Read the rest of this entry »