triggerhappymedia

DROME magazine is pleased to announce the launch of

sideways
a smart art project

New York, March 19th 2008
9.00 p.m. - midnight

7 World Trade Center, 52nd floor, 250 Greenwich Street

smart chose DROME magazine as the only Italian magazine together with 10 other excellent cross-culture magazines from all over the world, to select the gifted artists of different ages, backgrounds and levels of fame of the sideways project, the sought-after art anthology book produced by Die Gestalten Verlag in conjunction with smart.

The recent ecology-inspired works recommended by DROME are by: Karin Andersen, Zaelia Bishop, Silvia Camporesi, casaluce-gegier, Rubens Lp, Native & ZenTwo, Christian Rainer, Sten and Fernanda Veron.

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Trigger: smart green marketing and Drome magazine

The copy for the latest Louis Vuitton ad reads: A journey brings us face to face with ourselves. Berlin Wall. Returning from a conference. Mikhail Gorbachev and Louis Vuitton are proud to support Green Cross International.

For Louis Vuitton, this campaign is meant to convey the rich heritage of the company. It’s also a bit of green marketing (which is oh so fashionable even if there isn’t a clear connection between the product and green initiatives). Gorbachev is the Chairman of the Board for Green Cross International, an organization comitted to environmental issues.

Photographer Annie Leibovitz captures Gorbachev in what can only be called chic discomfort, and the message is confusing. If the former leader of the Communist Soviet Union has a Louis Vuitton bag, should I want one, too?

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Trigger:”Grobachev Made Me Buy It” by Eric Wilson
Site: NY Times

A certain multinational media company is encouraging its employees to include the following as part of their e-mail signature:

Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.

What a brilliant reminder to think before needlessly wasting paper!

For more green news, check out IHT’s report on the recycling in Paris, Stockholm, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Milan, and Berlin.

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Trigger: Recycling: a global work in progress

Melting icecaps, abnormal weather, Al Gore movies- the ominous fate of our dear Earth received a lot of buzz this past year.

Corporations have surely taken notice that offenses against the environment can damage reputations and cost consumer dollars. It was only a matter of time until this concept was spun around: as eco-horror rises, so will the value of going green.

While Corporate Social Responsibility is by no means a new concept, get ready for it to be the next big thing in marketing. Research that will become increasingly important include the sort produced by Innovest Strategic Value Advisors. Every year, Innovest announces The Global 100 Most Sustainable corporations in the World at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland (January 24-28).

The companies vying for a spot on the list are subjected to a rigorous environmental and social assessment. That said, the 2006 winners list included a fair share of puzzling choices: Glaxosmithkline PLC (pharmaceutical monster), Cadbury Schweppes (junk food generators), Diageo (beer and tobacco distributors), Johnson & Johnson (animal testing repeat offenders), and Nike, Inc (sweatshop labor sweatsuits).

A skim through Innovest’s methodology tutorial clears up this initial confusion. The Global 100 are not judged based on their ethical worth. The criteria Innovest uses is an “attempt to balance the level of environmentally and socially driven investment risk with the companies’ managerial and financial capacity to manage that risk successfully and profitably into the future.” Consequently, Innovest thoroughly evaluates each contender, but through the lens of their profit potential from following “green and accountable” industry trends.

While the motivation is less than admirable, at least the profitability of Corporate Social Responsibility will result in more socially and environmentally conscious businesses. It’s disheartening, however, that many of last year’s Global 100 have vanished from this year’s list- apparently quite a few corporations dubbed sustainable in ‘06 couldn’t sustain the title into ‘07.

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Trigger: The Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the world
Quote: “How can a fast food company and a weapons maker be in the Global 100?”