The Social Customer Manifesto

LOHAS Leadership Summit

Incredible session. The two key thoughts.

Dominique Counseil (President, Aveda):

"As a leader: I don't think it's our job to have ideas...there are plenty of ideas around us. We need to listen more." (ed. - YES!)

Michael Crooke (CEO, Revolution Living):

"I think the most major thing that we've done with technology is how we market our brands. Word Of Mouth Marketing is the only way to grow and nurture our brands in an authentic way. You've got to have authenticity and transparency, and things like blogs are a big part of that. We're using RSS feeds, and podcasting, and the demographic we're going after isn't a demographic...it's a psychographic...and those people want to connect to the company, and do it on their terms, and on their platform. The more ways a customer can connect with the company, each new way has the potential to double the customer's lifetime value. Because of blogs, because of podcasting, because of Word of Mouth, we'll connect."

More after the jump.

Steve Case Keynote At LOHAS

Steve Case just finished his keynote at LOHAS. Here's what he said. Good stuff, sensible guy.

Bonus link: Photo of Steve Case being attacked by giant rosebush.

Liveblogging LOHAS - Megatrends with Patricia Aburdene

Patricia Aburdene is the author of Megatrends 2010: The Rise of Conscious Capitalism.

According to Aburdene, "conscious capitalism" the predominant trend to watch in the coming years.  (In contrast to what she calls "unconscious capitalism" as defined as Friedman's statement "the social responsibility of business is to increase profits.")

Three ways to run a company to meet these trends correctly:

• Values --work harder to link the values you stand for with your product
• Standards -- Eductate the customer to differentiate between diluted standards, and the higher standards that you embrace.
  
• Authenticity -- Walk the talk.  The customer needs to know that the way that the business is run is aligned with the same values that show up in the marketing of the product.
  

More here.

Liveblogging LOHAS - Mycology With Paul Stamets

Hee. All about mushrooms!

Liveblogging LOHAS - Marketing

Am livelogging the LOHAS conference in Santa Monica over the next couple of days. (I'll be doing the full writeups over at the Blue Marble blog.) First session was "LOHAS Marketing."

Host:
Mark Spellum, Editor in Chief, Plenty Magazine

Panelists:
Susan West Kurz, CEO, Dr. Hauschka Skin Care
Rick Ridgeway, VP Communications and Environmental Initiatives, Patagonia
Laura Coblentz - VP Marketing, Wild Oats
Peter David Pedersen - CEO, E-Squared

That said, the two lines that popped out, from Susan Kurz, "Authenticity is the ultimate luxury" and the one from Rick Ridgeway, "when given a personality test, companies are social deviants and pathological liars" require some further thought.

More after the jump.

LOHAS: Locked And Loaded

Next Thursday and Friday, I'm really looking forward to participating in the 10th LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) conference in Santa Monica. Speakers are going to include:

• Steve Case - Revolution Living Chairman & AOL Co-Founder
• Dominique Conseil - President, Aveda
• Lynn Powers - President and COO, Gaiam
• Paul Ray - Integral Partners and Author of Cultural Creatives
• Niel Golightly - Director Sustainable Business Strategies, Ford Motor Company
• Philippe Cousteau - EarthEcho International
• Susan West Kurz - President, Dr. Hauschka Skincare
• Laura Coblentz - VP Marketing, Wild Oats
• Mark Spellun, Editor-in-Chief, Plenty Magazine
• Rick Ridgeway - VP of Comm. & Env. Programs, Patagonia
• Patrica Aburdene - Social Forcaster, Author
• Gwynne Rogers - Strategic Marketing Consultant, Natural Marketing Institute
• Steve French- Managing Partner, The Natural Marketing Institute
• Peter David Pedersen - CEO, E-Square
• Carol Atwood - Spartacus Media
• Lawrence Comras - CEO, Greenhome.com
• Paul Stamets- Mycologist, Author, Inventor & Founder of Fungi Perfecti

(Disclosure: I'll be there supporting Cerado's relationships with EarthHealers and Blue Marble.)

Bonus: Anyone interested in going to Belize to learn firsthand about jungle survival?