The Organic Center, an organization that helps consumers, policy makers, researchers and the media understand the benefits that organic products provide to society, is throwing their 5th Annual Bay Area Celebration ‘for the Health of Our World’ on September 12th.

Brand Engine is a sponsor of both events during the celebration. In addition, Will Burke is a discussion leader at the morning’s ‘Entrepreneur’s Open Forum’, which will focus on strategies for healthy business growth. The event is hosted at Numi Tea Garden in Oakland at 10 am. For more information and to RSVP for the morning forum, click here.

The evening celebration at Clif Bar in Berkeley will feature organic hors d’oeuvres, a silent auction and a 15-minute film festival showcasing Food Inc, FRESH, Soil: In Good Heart. For more information and to RSVP for the evening celebration, click here.

As the sun set, I finished day one at the Palm Court with Indian food, a glass of beer, and smart conversation. All natural and organic of course! Today was about learning and getting a sneak peek at some of the products that will be exhibited the next three days.

In the morning our Brand Engine team (Heidi, Eric and I) listened to four speakers – Patrick Rea, Michael Movitz, Carlotta Mast and Bob Burke – bring their perspectives on the year ahead. With two different research methodologies, Patrick and Michael forcasted similar growth rates for the industry in the coming year. Somewhere around 7.5% and that the years of double-digit growth rates may be history. The only exception, is the natural household products which is still an emerging category.

Michael, in his analysis of the industry, provided some important insights on the natural products consumer and marketplace. Focusing on the consumer side, here are the key insights:

• The top two consumer segments (very committed, 3% and heavy, 17%)  purchase 80% of all natural products
• The top two consumer segments have increased their spending 12% over the last year. The next segment (transitional, 25%) was down 12% and the last segment (trial, 55%) was down 1%
• Strongest growth is expected in the Natural Standard (e.g. Seventh Generation) and Specialty Natural (e.g. Late July) categories – both considered “authentic” natural products
• The Natural Perception and Conventional Naturals (e.g. Greenworks) segments are expected to experience slower growth
• Of US households, 96% have purchased natural products, 61% have purchased organic

The big take away for me was the word authentic. It’s an imperative for our branding process. The brand stories we design for our clients first and foremost are authentic. Consumers demand it. And the natural product consumer demonstrates the importance of authenticity by spending their dollars on those brands that are authentic. Another insight that should come as no surprise, is that consumers who are the most committed to your (brand, cause, product, category, etc.) will spend the most (time, effort, money, etc.). The more you know about why your most loyal consumers buy your product, the more successful your brand. It’s all about focus. And I don’t mean focus groups. You need to get into your consumers lifestyle and that cannot be quantified on an excel spreadsheet.

From a marketplace view here are some key insights:

• Private label is a growing presence (up 44%) and worthy competitor with price not the only decision factor – quality and variety are on par with establish brands
• The growth of Whole Foods over the last 10 years has been so significant that it has become a third market channel
• Healthy products drive spending but it must be connected with value
• Retailers are cutting out SKUs

The marketplace insight parallels the consumer insight. For brands to succeed, they need to bring value, be differentiated, and be meaningful. Now we are talking.

Bob spoke of whats hot including: sustainability, native sugar, biodynamics, precycling, bulk, anti-aging, ancient grains, affordable indulgences, fair trade, gluten-free, probiotics, natural cleaning.

Stay tuned for more from Anaheim.

If you are open to changing the conversation, you will enjoy IBM’s (IBM) 80 page report on The Enterprise of The Future. The introduction from the site:

“What will The Enterprise of the Future be like? What will your business look like in five years, or even ten? While we don’t have a crystal ball to provide all the answers, The IBM Global CEO Study sheds light on what the future may hold.

Through interviews with 1,130 business and public sector leaders worldwide in 45 countries, the IBM Global CEO Study provides new and compelling perspectives on strategic issues such as global integration, new and changing customer groups, and business model innovation — facing organizations of all sizes.

Only those organizations that understand and prepare to address the new realities of the integrated market will be able to harvest its full potential.”

The report includes some interesting insights, facts, questions to consider about your own business, and several case studies. A quick and informative read. Highly recommended.

Brand Engine core values + long-term client success = great story. At Brand Engine we live sustainability. And when one of our clients is recognized for their environmental efforts, we like to brag. In Good for Earth, Good for Business, a San Francisco Chronicle Business article by George Raine, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) ranks number 11 of 63 large businesses graded on their environmental record. The ranking was done by Ceres, a Boston group that joins investors and environmentalist to promote that going green makes good business sense (and I completely agree).

From the article – HP… is nearly three years ahead of schedule to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of its products and operations to 20% below 2005 levels by 2010, and went on to increase its overall target to a 25% reduction.

Over the past year, Brand Engine has contributed to communicating HP’s commitment to the environment. We helped re-launch HP Eco Highlights, a labeling program to inform consumers on the environmental features and impact of HP consumer products.

Stay tuned for the case study.

In a crowded category we recognize Pizza Fusion for changing the conversation. From brand positioning, product (pizza) design to retail environment and delivery vehicles, Pizza Fusion has established themselves as a leader and innovator of Pizza.

By thinking outside the pizza box they created a brand that by word of mouth, people will drive one hour to experience. Yes, Toto this is not your typical pizza restaurant. What is their recipe for success? It all starts with a clear and focused vision for the brand and attention to every detail down to the type of paper towels and toilet paper (100% post consumer by the way).

First, the brand platform. Pizza Fusion is more that a gourmet pizza restaurant. Started by two college buddies Vaughn Lazar and Michael Gordon, Pizza Fusion is about integrity, social responsibility, healthy, ecological. Their tag line sums up their mission and values quite nicely: Saving the Earth One Pizza at a Time. By putting a clearly differentiated stake in the ground, Pizza Fusion positioned themselves as a leader from the start. As “Big Dave” Ostrander, a pizza consultant said, “They’re basically competition proof. They’re very unique in the product, the passion, the ingredients, the look and the taste.”

Thanks “Big Dave” for a great quote and stealing a bit of my thunder. Indeed the product (pizza) design fully supports the brand position. Their unique skateboard shape signals that this is a different kind of pizza experience. They back it up with ingredients that are 75% organic, locally sourced and are free of GMO’s, preservatives, pesticides, trans fats, etc. Their Vegan pizza has 100% nondairy soy mozzarella cheese alternative. And they have a gluten-free menu with includes pizza, brownies and beer.

The retail environment also follows in lockstep. Each restaurant is LEED-certified for environmentally sustainable construction. Reclaimed wood table, insulation made from blue jeans, utensils made from potatoes are just some of the methods to reduce – and promote – their eco footprint. When it comes to home delivery, all the vehicles are hybrids. And customers get a discount for returning pizza boxes to be recycled.

Pizza Fusion lives their brand in every aspect. They walk the talk and customers reward them with their love. And we are talking big love.

1. From two restaurants at the beginning of 2008, the franchise ended the year with 16 locations nationwide with 75 restaurants in development
2. Sales are projected to be $15 million in 2008 and double to $30 million in 2009
3. Recognized by Plenty Magazine – The Plenty 20 Awards for 2008
4. Top 10 Vegan-Friendly Pizzerias in the US by PETA
5. Top 10 Green Business of the Year by Co-op America – two years in a row

Sources: Pizza Fusion, BrandWeek – Brands on the Verge – Any Way You Slice It, Pizza Fusion Is Unique

Eugenia Levenson at CNN Money has written a wonderful article about Nike’s efforts to reposition itself as both an environmentally and socially responsible company. In 1998 founder and CEO Phil Knight acknowledged that “Nike product has become synonymous with slave wages, forced overtime, and arbitrary abuse.”

After years of being known as a sweatshop-running giant, Nike appears to have made a conscious effort to reevaluate the impact of its design on the world around them. The formation of what is known as “Nike’s Considered Team” is a good indication of such a change.

From the article:

“A prime example is Nike’s Considered team, an in-house sustainability think tank that is tackling issues like waste reduction by harnessing the company’s creative engine, the designers. They are the ones who make hundreds of choices about how shoes are made, so Nike created a tool that quantified the environmental costs of those decisions: the Considered Index..”

Now it seems that designers are able to plug in the specs of a shoe design and the system will give them instant feedback on how their design scores from an environmental point-of-view.

From the article:

““What designers do really well is solve problems,” says Lorrie Vogel, a designer who is the Considered team’s general manager. “We just make it really easy for them to understand what those are.””

Brilliant.

Although a healthy planet is its own reward, we are proud to be one of the first full-service branding and design firms to be certified by the Bay Area and Marin County Green Business Program.

Certification is awarded based on continuous compliance with environmental regulations, conserving energy, water, and other materials, implementing sound environmental practices that prevent pollution and waste generation, and sharing environmentally responsible practices with other businesses in our community.

To read more about the Green Business Program, click here.

McKinsey & Co. recently released a report on what countries can do to reduce overall greenhouse emissions. BusinesWeek captured the essence of the report in a simple, easy to read chart that shows a range from the cheapest to the most expensive measures to reduce greenhouse emissions. McKinsey states that by doing all the measures — “would cut 3 billion metric tons of emissions per year in 2030 vs. what they would be at current growth rates. That would put emissions below current levels.” What I found most interesting is that the cheaper measures are something that most consumers and businesses can do today. Change your lighting. Upgrade your home appliances (refrigerator, hot water heater, HVAC, washer and dryer, TV, to name a few) to more energy-efficient models, drive a more fuel-efficient car or truck.

Yes, there is an initial investment to make these changes. And yet your return may be realized in just a few months. At Brand Engine, we replaced all of our lighting at the studio — reducing our carbon emissions by over 50% (just from the lights) while increasing the quality of the light (color and brightness) and the visual comfort level for our employees ( e.g. less eye strain) — and will recoup our investment in less than 10 months based on a lower monthly electrical bill. Not bad.

Another great article in Metropolis Magazine reminding us that “jones-ing” has no age limit and design is not just a pretty face. Philip Nobel writes about his mid-life reintroduction to skateboards. Beyond a vehicle to capture the joy of his teen years, Nobel sheds light on the design revolution that has taken skateboards from fashion and sports into “…the most efficient, elegant form of urban transportation…” You decide.

Trendwatching.com posted this brilliant article on eco-friendly design and its relationship to the modern consumer.

From the article:

When applying this ever-wider embrace to green products and services, the shift looks somewhat like this: we’ve gone from ECO-UGLY (ugly, over-priced, low-performance, unsavory yet eco-friendly versions of the ‘real thing’) to ECO-CHIC (eco-friendly stuff that actually looks as nice and cool as the less sustainable originals) to now ECO-ICONIC:

ECO-ICONIC | “Eco-friendly goods and services sporting bold, iconic markers and design, helping their eco-conscious owners show off their eco-credentials to their peers.At the heart of ECO-ICONIC is a status shift (isn’t there always?): many consumers are eager to flaunt their green behavior and possessions because there are now millions of other consumers who are actually impressed by green lifestyles.”