SAW a good idea

Blog Action Day 2009: The Changes We've Made

Today is Blog Action Day, and the topic this year is Climate Change.  Renegade has been working to improve our relationship with the environment for over two years now, and I believe we've accomplished a great deal. 

Here's a quick summary of the things we've done in the past 2 years:

• Cut our copy paper usage 44% per person by printing double-sided
• Decreased our energy usage 75% by using more fans and windows and less AC, using laptops instead of desktops, and shutting down our computers every night
• Banned paper coffee cups and plastic mugs and replaced them with glass (a move that paid for itself in terms of footprint size and fiscal cost in less than a month)
• Stopped ordering cardboard boxes and began reusing the packing materials we receive in the mail
• Began recycling!
• Supplied tire pressure gauges to every Renegade with a car to promote fuel economy
• Switched to a hybrid car service
• Made the switch to eco-friendly cleaning supplies

There's still so much more work to be done to lessen Renegade's impact on the environment (not to mention the rest of of the ad industry).  By taking the initiative to improve our impact as a company, we've impressed upon many who have worked with us in the past 2 years the importance of making eco-changes in their own lives - an accomplishment in and of itself.  I believe it is the responsibility of companies like Renegade to show their workers and as many other people as they can how to protect the environment, rather than harm it.

Back in 2007 we created a screen saver that gives tips for being green and allows users to contribute. It's called the Greensaver. Download it now!

VW's Theory of Fun

Volkswagen is, as usual, doing things differently and getting some some positive attention for it. 

This morning a composer friend of mine posted a video on Facebook of "piano key" stairs.  His post had nothing to do with VW advertising and less to do with marketing in general.  He just found the video interesting because of his relationship with music (I'm sure of this because he posted the Swedish version of the video and he definitely doens't speak their language).  After finishing watching the video, I clicked on the link, expecting to be directed to some sort of music school related experiment site, and was (momentarily) suprised to be directed to a lightly branded VW website proclaiming (once I ticked the UK flag for English):

"This site is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better."

This mini guerrilla campaign/behavioral experiment is doing exactly that:

The piano installation was created to encourage people to make the healthier choice to take the stairs instead of using an escalator.  The before and after shots of the staircase vs. the escalator prove the trick works.

The next video depicting "The World's Deepest [Trash] Bin," an outdoor public garbage can that makes a cartoonish sound of something falling very very far, had the effect of getting park-goers to not only throw away their own trash, but also to clean up the rest of the park just to hear the falling sound again. 

Next, they promise to come up with a fun way to recycle. 

I say, GO TEAM VOLKSWAGEN (BDB Stockholm)!  This bare bones project of theirs sure is a great example of a lot of good things advertising: marketing as service, combining online and offline, and making a good idea viral by keeping it open-ended and by not shoving a ton of branding down the throats of those who couldn't care less about cars (i.e. my buddy the composer).