Fairtrade Flavours this Fortnight

Fairtrade Fortnight has returned, and this year it’s all about showing off.

Businesses, says the Fairtrade Foundation, need to be ‘loud and proud’ about how they’re helping sustainable development through fairtrade. What better week to start getting loud than this?

Sainsbury’s agrees. As of today, you can find fairtrade coffee from the Democratic Republic of Congo on its shelves. And Cadbury is getting loud too, keen to let everyone know about the Fairtrade goodness of Dairy Milk. 20% of profits from the chocolate bars sold during the fortnight will go towards solar power projects in Ghana.

If you’re looking to participate on a personal level, you could get involved with the world record attempt for bunting (fairtrade style, of course). Personally, I think I’ll head down to Soho’s Fairshare store on Berwick Street, where they’re serving up Fairtrade Flavour cupcakes. What tastier way to show support?

Marketing a Bigger Picture

Marketing has the power to transform brands, inspire consumers and move the world. But has marketing forgotten its own potential?

A new white paper from The CarbonNeutral Company says that too many companies forget to think about branding when they think about sustainability. Instead of inspiring consumers to favour responsible companies, marketing has become fixated on the short-term and oblivious to consumer interest in the bigger picture.

And there’s no doubt there’s interest. Recent research indicates that a corporate citizenship strategy accounts for 13% of consumers’ overall impression of a brand, and two-thirds rate environmental and ethical issues as important when deciding which brands to buy.

The potential for sustainable messaging hasn’t been lost on all. Ethical brands such as Innocent and Green & Black's have become household names through making it easy for consumers to put their money where their ethics lie.

We know there’s a market for inspiring sustainability messages. Now we need the marketing teams to get inspired.

Greener Love

For those of you dashing out today for some last-minute Valentines shopping, take a look at The Guardian’s guide to making those roses and chocolates a bit greener.

Don’t worry, you don't have to do a zero-carbon option of serenading from a balcony instead of giving a card.

The Guide will have you buying your card from M&S’ FSC-certified range, indulging in some Booja Booja organic chocolates, and heading out for a romantic meal at sustainable restaurant The Zetter. This is full blown direction to greener loving.

Oxfam 100% giving

Oxfam have just launched a new concept called 100% giving that involves companies paying the charity running costs so 100% of money donated goes to the cause.

www.oxfam.org.uk/giving

I've seen the Oxfam pitch and it's positioned as the biggest innovation in corporate giving for well...a long while. Their vision is that they lead it but that other charities and corporates adopt it.

The idea came from detailed consumer research about obstacles to giving and apparently one of the biggest ones is that people think most of their money goes to admin / marketing etc rather than to help those in need.

It's a clever concept but is it opening a can of worms and presenting a challenge for non-100% giving in the future?

Livewell

The WWF has come out with a 'Livewell diet' deemed to be cheap, nutritious and good for the planet.

It's actually not that much of a shift from what we eat now, less meat and more complex carbs but interestingly the same amount of dairy and an emphasis on white bread. There's no booze in there either so no comments on the environmental impact of vineyards...

Plus at £29 / head for food only I'm not sure whether low income families would manage it financially.