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The fun part of the day came later when Portland entrepreneurs John Friess (Wired.MD, Journey Gym, Seven Planet), Josh Friedman (Eleven Wireless, NedSpace), Martin (Climate Prosperity Portland, Formos) and I had drinks with Tom Szaky – it wasn’t your normal night of casual conversation over a beer. We took a detour to NedSpace and watched Friess give a straight-faced demo of his prototype product Journey Gym while the four of us were heckling him (at 10pm with a few drinks in us). The evening continued at next-door bar Lotus where we all brainstormed various products to make out of used toothbrushes, sun glasses, and dozens of other waste streams that could now have innovative uses once they’ve been separated from the rest of garbage before they get to landfills. Most off-the-wall idea: make kid-wagons out of compressed, used toothbrushes. Friess – you’re going to need to explain that concept a little better to me now, because it sounded so good Thurs night.

1. Craft culture is mostly anti-Big which is why #portland has few fortune 500 companies here about 1 hour ago from TwitterBerry

2. Sohrab – branding portland – it has a craft culture. About the work, unpretentious, very real, natural about 1 hour ago from TwitterBerry

3. Tribal love – costco – amazing brand. costco members and employees love that brand. Costco does not care about wall st, but main st about 2 hours ago from TwitterBerry

4. Starbucks is trying to capture its dna that is there but they’ve lost their way. Now, more about efficiency and profit, not the experience about 2 hours ago from TwitterBerry

5. You need to create love with your consumers. All touchpoints need to fully connect with specific target market about 2 hours ago from TwitterBerry

6. Ziba has evolved from product design company to customer experience firm about 2 hours ago from TwitterBerry

7. Sohrab – design thinking is all about making the complex clear about 2 hours ago from TwitterBerry
   
   

8. For agencies – the cultural ingredient mix that is the special sauce. Cultural context of ziba often takes 18 months on average. about 2 hours ago from TwitterBerry

9. Designing consumer experiences – meaningful to consumer, strategic to the brand about 2 hours ago from TwitterBerry

10. Ziba other offices are san diego, tokyo, shanghai – I did not know they are so global about 2 hours ago from TwitterBerry

11. What breaks did you get? Sohrab – “you make your own luck” about 2 hours ago from TwitterBerry

12. 25 year anniversary for ziba this year about 2 hours ago from TwitterBerry

13. Sohrab started ziba because of an entrepreneur named sam bosh who gave sohrab royalties for designing a new atm machine about 2 hours ago from TwitterBerry

14. Sohrab, right before college graduation, fell in love with industrial design – a mix of engineering and art about 2 hours ago from TwitterBerry

15. At portland biz journal breakfast with sohrab @ziba – he started feeling the downturn in dec 07, but since feb 09 lots of new small projects about 2 hours ago from TwitterBerry

In order to gain inspiration and ideas for the website, the eROI team did an extensive amount of research, along with a competitive analysis, to see what other green companies were doing on their own sites. Though the team looked at other sites for inspiration, they knew they wanted to differentiate Seven Planet from all the others. What resulted was a well designed layout with a different look and feel than the rest. The team put a lot of emphasis on the overall design of the e-commerce site, paying close attention to ensure that the mission of Seven Planet was evident in the website’s design. Even though the “bones” and overall structure of the site have launched, the team still expects more ideas and feature sets to roll out as the site continues to grow and interest by the community is generated.

The concept of mindful commerce was especially important to the founders of Seven Planet. Specifically, they wanted to bring the supplier of each product to the forefront. This was done by incorporating the supplier’s story above each product page, helping to give them an avenue of online marketing (something that is especially nice if a supplier doesn’t have a strong online presence yet). The site is also heavily focused on inviting and teaching the consumer to “be green,” even if they happened to be prior to visiting the site. Along with having consumers aware of their online presence, the creators of Seven Planet also wanted to have awareness of the physical location of the first store. To do this, the eROI team needed to explain the physical general store and the connection it has with the online general store. Inevitably, the end goal is to have a physical presence on each of the seven continents.

On the Seven Planet site, the design team presented two completely different design concepts to the founders. One direction focused on clean lines, a lighter color palette, and more modern elements. The other, and the one chosen, had an organic feel, comprised of earth tones and lots of texture. The founders decided to go with the latter because it spoke to a more simple life, with people getting back to basics.

This look also echoes the in-store feel that the creators wanted; a space filled with natural fibers and materials. To accompany the layout of the brand, the eROI team developed a strong icon set to match the 7 silos represented in the logo. The number “7” is an important component to the company brand and is seen throughout the website in various ways including the 7 different colors chosen for their color palette. Working with a neutral background, the designers brought the colors in subtly as to not take away from the earthiness, and chose subdued, warm colors. The chosen photography is intentionally authentic and genuine, representing natural elements such as the sky, plants and anything else that one finds on our planet.

Since Seven Planet was one of the first websites to use a powerful new e-commerce platform called Magento, eROI was excited to push the limits and maximize the new abilities that Magento enabled us to do for this site. This included ratings for the products; an elegant, intuitive, and easy one-page checkout process; and the CMS capabilities in addition to e-commerce. There is strong integration of JavaScript on this site: dropdown form fields, the one-page checkout process, homepage slide-show, and dynamic hero graphic. Lastly, dynamic data is pulled in from various parts of the site (including green tips and the latest blog post being pulled onto the homepage) allowing the content on the site to refresh as new information is added.

The Seven Planet e-commerce site demonstrates a beautiful balance of usability and content. The team did a great job in utilizing Magento deep feature set combined with each of their own talents. Props to the eROI team and especially those who worked so diligently on making it happen. Be sure to check it out!!!

Today was the first day of the soft launch of this green general store. eROI designed and produced this dynamic, search-engine-friendly, e-commerce site, so please check out the site (www.sevenplanet.com) and check back in to this blog for a more in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at what went into the thought process for the business model, website strategy, design, and development.

E-commerce site: http://www.sevenplanet.com

Tom Szaky is one of the hottest, most dynamic, young green / sustainable entrepreneurs in the country.  I’m writing you because I know you’d love meeting this amazing entrepreneur who is coming to Portland b/c of its green, sustainable presence (and because I asked him after getting to know him at the past two Inc. 500 conferences).

Tom Szaky is an absolutely amazing speaker (up there w/ President Clinton as another keynote at the Inc. 500 conference last year).  I invited him to fly out here from Trenton, New Jersey to speak to 45-60 entrepreneurs at eROI and he’s able to be here on Sat, Nov 15 at noon (free lunch). This is a Starve Ups event – thanks to John Friess and the Starve Ups member companies for making this happen.

He really is an amazing guy (27 years old and running a $15 million green / sustainable company called TerraCycle where everything about its product and packaging comes from waste) – please consider coming to this.

Here is my past blog post and a Danny Deutsch video:
http://eroidays.com/2007/09/10/amazing-inc-500-conference/

Please let me know if you are interested.  Thx.

Traditional Green perspective – The more eco-friendly, the more expensive
The larger stores like Walmart & Target are leading the way for more than Whole Foods, etc.

Bottles (Plastic)
Revsed Virgin 30% Recycled Compostable
$0.02 $0.05 $0.07 $0.15

Our products must be: Better, Cheaper, Greener

Pre-Consumer/Post-Consumer (overprint CDs/DVDs), 75% of gift cards never leave warehouse

70lbs waste was produced to make 1lb of waste

99% of what you buy is waste in 6 months

Waste is America’s biggest export

Key is to separate waste

CapriSun- 4.5 billion drink pouches per year

Terra Cycle gets paid to collect the waste (profitable) becauses it is branded

Sort, Sanitize, Waste in Trenton, NJ – then gets flown to Mexico & gets sewn there

Revenue: 3M -> 8M -> 15M

What are the solutions for retailers for greent?
Working with big brands to create creative solutions

You have to evaluate on first two- Better, Cheaper (prove ROI) BTW-it’s Green

Do NOT sell on the virtue of being green. Green is the assumed baseline now. It’s the gravy on top.

Recycle Bank- give credits/$ coupons for recycling more. They’ve increased recycling rate from 20% to 90% in some small cities.

If I can collect enough of 1 thing, it creates value. Lock up I own these waste streams.

BILL McDONOUGH- Cradle to Cradle (Upcycling vs. Downcycling)

Natural Foods Tradeshow, Expo West, Expo East
• Tiny consumer products & companies inspire to be in Whole Foods
• People who are authentically green who don’t work with big brands/retailers

Question: In Germany, charge a lot for garbage to consumers and retailers

Clorox – Green Works – owned the market by being same low price and green

All purpose cleaner- same exact stuff as all the other stuff

Hi everyone,

Pardon the intrusion, but this is pretty cool… CAR-FREE STREETS in Portland! Details are below.

Come and check it out. Or volunteer even!

Our friends at the Community Cycling Center are putting it together, and they’d love to see you (and your families) there.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Greetings CCC Supporters,

Sunday Parkways is a day of car-free streets, where 6 miles of North
Portland roads will be closed so that the community can bike, run,
skate and celebrate the outdoors together. The Community Cycling
Center is hosting a bike activity center at Peninsula Park and we need
your help in staffing these different activities. Our bike activities
include.

Free demonstrations (fix a flat, safety checks)
Basic bike education for children and adults
Free mechanic repair and safety checks for kids’ bikes
Information about the CCC and our programs, shop and volunteer opportunities.

To volunteer, please read on for more information

What: Sunday Parkways – Six miles of local streets in North Portland
will be closed to traffic from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The circular route
will give Portlanders a chance to get out and be active right in their
own neighborhood. Participants can walk, bike, run, stroll, and roller
blade along the route to activities in the parks as well as to nearby
shops and businesses in the vicinity.

When: Sunday, June 22nd

Where: Peninsula Park, 700 N Portland Blvd, Portland, OR

Shifts: 7:45-11:00am; 10:45am-2:00pm

Positions and Skills:

Demonstrations: Intermediate mechanical aptitude
Bike Education: Experience teaching bike safety to children ages 6-15 years old
Mechanic: Advanced mechanical aptitude
Tabling: Ability to represent the CCC in the community by effectively
communicating the mission, vision, values, and programs of the
organization.

TO VOLUNTEER: Email Volunteer@CommunityCyclingCenter.org

and please provide the following information.

Name
Email Address
Position and shift you would like (first-come, first serve)

Sincerely,

Neal Armstrong
Volunteer and Event Manager
Community Cycling Center

Bike Shop
1700 NE Alberta Street
Portland, OR 97211
Hours 10am – 7pm Tuesday through Sunday
Shop: 503-287-8786

www.CommunityCyclingCenter.org

Bicycles are a tool for personal empowerment and a vehicle for social change.

Regardless, let’s talk about the joy you get when you see a really clever business card. That brand experience, when hand-delivered, can be so powerful and positive, why would I want to eliminate that experience. Business cards are an extension of your company’s brand, but more importantly, your personal brand and a pride in both team and individuality. The good business cards I get make me laugh or spark a conversation. There’s a reason that business cards have been around for centuries and it’d be a shame for every technology entrepreneur to continually think that their technology will replace some age-old medium completely. It almost never does. We need to be comfortable with many mediums living side by side in a complementary fashion.

Alright, I’m done with my rant. Now you can read the full article on Sustainable Life Media >>

RmbrME’s Gabe Zichermann: “Ditch the Business Cards”

SLM: So how does RmbrME work?

Gabe: RmbrME is a pretty straightforward service. Sign up for an account and link it to whichever social networking sites you use – LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. (RmbrME supports all of them). When you meet someone you’d like to exchange information with, you simply text “rmbrme” with the phone number or email address of the person you’d like to contact. That person then receives an instant invitation from which they can connect with you on any social networking site that they choose and also access your contact information.

The service grew out of a simple frustration that I had with the tremendous waste associated with paper business cards. I looked at the business card and thought, “Wow, this really serves an incredibly brief purpose. I just take it back to my office and copy down the information into my computer.” People go to conferences and come back with piles of business cards that eventually end up in the trash.

RmbrME was born out of the desire to eliminate that paper waste, making the connection seamless, and also making the experience much more real-time than it is today.

Read the full article here >>

Article excerpt:
Your green top 10 list for 2008
So you’re ready to get started. Here are 10 more things you can start doing right away, all in 2008, to create a comprehensive, compelling and results-driven green strategy for your business and brand.

Internally
1. Recycling: Surprisingly, not very many of us are doing it, and not nearly to the level that we easily could. Office recycling programs now easily tackle not just paper, but also glass, aluminum, cardboard, catalogs, magazines, etc. — all in the same bin. Think also about how your company recycles office equipment, computer supplies, etc. Much of these tools can be donated or sold to companies and third-world companies that will put them to good use, reducing the need for new equipment manufacturing, which itself creates an incredibly high carbon footprint.
2. Transportation: Encourage and subsidize more of your employees to use group and public transportation. Rethink whether or not you need that business trip, or if a phone call, WebEx or video conference could suffice.
3. Power management: Consider implementing a PC power management solution, such as those described above. This can have an immediate impact on not only carbon footprint, but also operating costs.
4. Office guidelines: Default all printers to duplex printing. Encourage employees to only print what’s necessary and to use “soft copies” for everything else. Encourage and reward activities across the company that demonstrate employees “living the green brand.” You’ll be surprised what unique and compelling green strategies individual employees come up with that can become internal and external sustainability strategies for your business and brand.
5. Supplier & partner guidelines: Encourage or require your partners and suppliers to maintain certain green-friendly operating standards. Several companies, such as Wal-Mart, are already doing this, and are thereby impacting sustainable practices well beyond their own.

Externally

6. Community engagement & activation: Encourage your customers to be green with you. If you’re enacting PC power management solutions within your business, encourage your customers to do the same. Getting them involved and participating with you in your green strategies is an excellent way to build community and create strong bonds between brand and customer.
7. Community participation: Find ways to actively participate in existing community activities, organizations and other efforts to be green and sustainable, especially efforts that align with your company and brand’s core values and brand message. This can be local or national organizations and efforts — focused on employee participation or widespread customer activation.
8. Channel choices: Consider the carbon impact of your marketing channels, and how you read, influence and empower your customers. Participating in a trade show, for example, is a carbon footprint-heavy strategy compared to an online-based, community-based activity that likely can achieve the same awareness or demand generation results. And if you’re making channel choices based on what’s most sustainable, tell your customers and prospects about it. They’ll appreciate the motivation behind your choice.
9. Competitive advantage: If being green is truly a key and possibly new part of your brand message and positioning, lean into it. Make it something that everyone across your organization — sales, marketing, customer support, etc. — is reciting as a mantra in their individual engagements with your customers and prospects. Make your green strategy a true competitive advantage.
10. Endorsements & associations: Partner with Energy Star, buy products from suppliers with strong environmental stories (such as HP for computers and printers), and work with credible speakers, writers and authorities already in the green and sustainable world to align with your brand, endorse your strategy and help tell your story.

Learn more, get involved, live the brand!
These pointers, of course, are just the tip of the iceberg. Green opportunities are proliferating and the opportunities for smart brands to get involved at a tangible level and make a significant impact — for their companies, their bottom lines, their market share and their employees — is real and very dynamic.

Below are several links to start investigating what other companies are doing, and to spark your own creative juices.

Microsoft has published a strong sustainability white paper detailing its commitment to sustainable business practices. It’s a good read, especially for new ideas that might make sense for your company and brand.
Verdiem is one of the leaders in helping large brands and enterprise companies significantly reduce their PC energy usage, costs and carbon footprint. Learn more about them here. You can also learn more about broader opportunities on Green IT.
Check out several well-written green marketing blogs, including Sustainable Marketing, Marketing Green and Green Wombat.
The Climate Savers Computing Initiative is another simple, fast step to help you and your company do its part.

Matt Heinz is senior director of marketing for Verdiem and the author of Matt on Marketing. Matt also recently completed work on two books, Are You Selling Pants, or Selling A Dream? and Move The Mouse & Make Millions.