All indicators point to yes!
Wedding ring made with repurposed Welsh gold? Check.
A call for charitable contributions rather than gifts? Check.
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Posts Tagged ‘sourcing’
Are William and Kate New Consumers?
| Tags: conscious consumption, green, Kate Middleton, mindful consumption, New Consumer, Prince William, provenance, recycling, royal wedding, sourcing, Sustainability 
Post a Comment | in Consumerism, Eco-Consciousness, New Consumer, Purposeful Pleasure, Responsibility, Rightsizing, Sustainability, Uncategorized, Values, Youth
Is Walmart the New Sheriff in Town?
We’ve written before about Walmart’s role in introducing consumers to the principles–and purpose–of sustainability. Now Advertising Age explores how the retail giant is throwing its weight around with suppliers, using a carrot-and-stick approach to induce them to reach a slew of environmental and health goals:
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| Tags: Advertising Age, conscious consumption, CSR, food, green, mindful consumption, packaging, recycling, regulation, sourcing, Sustainability, Sustainable Product Index, Walmart, waste Post a Comment | in Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate/Brand Leadership, Eco-Consciousness, Growing Up, New Consumer, Prosumers, Responsibility, Rightsizing, Sustainability, Uncategorized, Values
The State of Green Business 2011
Noted environmental activist and business analyst Joel Makower and GreenBiz.com have released the fourth annual State of Green Business report. In it, Makower makes note of what he and his group consider the top 10 sustainable business trends of 2011. A very brief recap:
1. Consumer Giants Awaken to Green
CPGs, long reluctant entrants into the green world, are suddenly leading the way toward sustainability. Kraft, SC Johnson, and Unilever were among the CPG giants making green pronouncements–and strides–in 2011. P&G says it’s on target to meet its 2009 commitment to sell $50 billion in “sustainability driven” products by 2012.
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| Tags: accountability, CSR, green, GreenBiz, Joel Makower, packaging, provenance, recycling, sourcing, State of Green Business 2011, waste Post a Comment | 2 Comments | in Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate/Brand Leadership, Eco-Consciousness, Growing Up, Responsibility, Sustainability, Uncategorized, Values
In the Spotlight: London’s Unpackaged
Unpackaged is a London grocery store opened in 2007 by Catherine Conway. As the name suggests, customers bring their own containers (ranging from reusable bags to scrubbed takeout boxes and bottles) and fill them with goods from the store.
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| Tags: conscious consumption, Euro RSCG, excess, food, green, mindful consumption, New Consumer, organic, packaging, provenance, recycling, Retail, sourcing, Sustainability, thrift, values, waste Post a Comment | 2 Comments | in Community, Consumerism, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate/Brand Leadership, Eco-Consciousness, Growing Up, New Consumer, Prosumers, Responsibility, Rightsizing, Shopping, Sustainability, Uncategorized, Value, Values
5 Ways You’re Changing the World with Your Money
Have you felt the end of the recession yet?
It’s officially been over for quite a bit but, you and I both know, the global economic crisis is far from over.
The economy is in a period of great reset. The old ways will fall away and new ways of commerce will prevail. This isn’t a far-flung prophecy; it’s an observation of changes taking place already.
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| Tags: cause marketing, conscious consumption, consumption, CSR, culture, DIY, excess, financial crisis, freelancing, frugality, green, John Gerzema, mindful consumption, mindful spending, New Consumer, provenance, Recession, Retail, Scoutie Girl, self-employment, service economy, simplicity movement, sourcing, Sustainability, Tara Gentile, thrift, transparency, values Post a Comment | 1 Comment | in Community, Consumerism, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate/Brand Leadership, Design, Eco-Consciousness, Growing Up, New Consumer, Prosumers, Purposeful Pleasure, Recession, Responsibility, Rightsizing, Shopping, Social Media, Sustainability, Uncategorized, Value, Values
10 Trends in Mindful Consumption
The era of mindless consumption is over. Consumers now want a simple, sustainable, and self-sufficient life.
Conspicuous consumption. Shop till you drop. All-you-can-eat buffets and supersized meals. The post–World War II era has been marked by a voracious hunger for more. In affluent countries, people bought too much, ate too much, used up too much, and owed too much. Yet, for many, it still wasn’t enough. There was something missing—lots of things, really. Among them, a sense of control and self-sufficiency, personal responsibility, and feelings of community and authenticity. Replacing the constant accumulation of “stuff” with these more substantive intangibles lies at the heart of the current shift toward mindfulness—a movement in which heedless excess is exchanged for a more conscious and considered approach to living.
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| Tags: abundance, accountability, ActBolder.com, Admap, Ann O'Reilly, APA, artisanry, Botox, BP, buy local, buycotts, Carrotmob, cause marketing, community, conscious consumption, consumption, counscious nourishment, CSR, customer engagement, Eco Options, Euro RSCG, excess, finance, financial crisis, financial literacy, food, frugality, gardening, green, Home Depot, Hyperconsumption, Marian Salzman, mindful consumption, Mint.com, money, MoneyStrands, New Consumer, organic, packaging, provenance, recycling, relationship marketing, reputation, Retail, saving, simplicity movement, simplification, slow food, slow travel, sourcing, Sustainability, thrift, transparency, values, voluntourism, Walmart, WARC, waste Post a Comment | 8 Comments | in Community, Consumerism, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate/Brand Leadership, Eco-Consciousness, Growing Up, Marketing, New Consumer, Purposeful Pleasure, Recession, Responsibility, Rightsizing, Shopping, Sustainability, Uncategorized, Value, Values
Thoughts from a Mindful Spender
This post was written by Sue and first appeared on her blog, Butterfly Balance. In it, she perfectly encapsulates the mindset of the New Consumer and the four emerging paradigms of embracing substance, rightsizing, growing up, and seeking purposeful pleasure. It is reprinted with permission.
Mindful spending is something I’ve only started really implementing in the past few years. A great deal of my life was spent pulling out credit cards a bit too freely, running up debt, and confusing wants for needs. I’ve done a lot of soul searching about the whys of what I’d done in the past, and why that couldn’t continue anymore. I’m grateful to have righted the situation before things got worse than they were and learning to live within my means.
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| Tags: Butterfly Balance, conscious consumption, ethics, excess, fair trade, food, fresh, green, ingredients, mindful consumption, natural, New Consumer, PCC Market, processed food, purity, quality, Retail, Scoutie Girl, sourcing, Sustainability, values, waste Post a Comment | 1 Comment | in Consumerism, Growing Up, New Consumer, Purposeful Pleasure, Responsibility, Rightsizing, Shopping, Sustainability, Uncategorized, Values
Living la Vida Local
For the New Consumer, the “L” in SOL food (sustainable, organic, local) has taken on added importance in the past couple of years. At a time when people are feeling disconnected and turned off by the plasticity of the modern world, locally produced goods from small businesses have taken on an attractive patina of authenticity and communitarianism.
Euro RSCG’s New Consumer research shows that growing numbers of consumers in developed markets want to feel a stronger connection to the goods they buy—and to the people who make them. Looking at our U.S. sample (n=1,500):
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| Tags: conscious consumption, Etsy, Euro RSCG, farmers, Flying Pigs Farm, food, Food for Tomorrow, food trucks, Foodzie, green, Holton Farms, Joe Wirtheim, local, mindful consumption, Museum of Natural History, organic, Organic Valley, Outstanding in the Field, provenance, recycling, simplicity movement, Smithsonian, SOL food, sourcing, Sustainability, values, Victory Garden of Tomorrow Post a Comment | 4 Comments | in Branding, Community, Consumerism, Eco-Consciousness, Marketing, New Consumer, Purposeful Pleasure, Sustainability, Uncategorized, Values
Disposable Culture & Our Fear of Commitment
This post originally appeared on Scoutie Girl and is reprinted with permission. It speaks to the New Consumer paradigm of Purposeful Pleasure. What can brands do to imbue their goods and services with greater meaning and longer-lasting satisfactions?
We live in a disposable culture. Our lives are like giant landfills. We’re surrounded by junk.
We pay 99 cents to download disposable music. We drive through “restaurants” making disposable food. We wear disposable clothes so we don’t ever have to be without the latest trend. We create relationships—families even—that have disposable bonds. The entirety of our culture can be thrown away and bought anew.
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| Tags: commitment, conscious consumption, culture, disposable, food, Kelly Diels, mindful consumption, money, New Consumer, Retail, Scoutie Girl, simplicity movement, sourcing, Tara Gentile, values, waste Post a Comment | 1 Comment | in Consumerism, New Consumer, Purposeful Pleasure, Shopping, Uncategorized, Value, Values
The Reverse Walmart Effect
Giapo is a gelato store in Auckland, New Zealand, run by Gianpaolo Grazioli, a young Italian man. I haven’t been there personally but those who have describe it as “a lovemark . . . dripping with mystery, sensuality, and intimacy” and its products as “the only thing you need in life.” For today though, we’re going to put the in-store ambience to the side and try to forget about how tasty the gelato is. As much as Grazioli is brilliant on these fronts, what he really excels at is building and maintaining relationships.
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| Tags: Ben Phillips, ConnectNow, conscious consumption, consumer consciousness, consumers, consumption, customer service, Euro RSCG, Euro RSCG Sydney, Facebook, food, Gary Vaynerchuk, gelato, Gianpaolo Grazioli, Giapo, green, mindful consumption, New Consumer, provenance, Recession, reputation, Retail, simplicity movement, social networking, sourcing, Sustainability, Twitter, values, Walmart Post a Comment | 5 Comments | in Community, Consumerism, New Consumer, Purposeful Pleasure, Recession, Shopping, Social Media, Sustainability, Uncategorized, Values
