Twist of Lime Is A Marketing & Content Services Agency
I’m proud to announce the launch of my new business: Twist of Lime is a marketing and content services agency.
I’ve taken the skills I’ve developed as a marketing and communications specialist for several organizations over the better part of the past decade and parlayed them into this new endeavor. It occurred to me some time ago that here in our relatively small community there are a few graphic designers who specialize in Web design and there are a number of developers/programmers (nobody’s really sure what that number is—they keep a pretty low profile) who do Web development and other similar work. There are even a few agencies that bring the two disciplines together in one shop. But nobody seems to offer complete marketing services or content development or upkeep.
Anyone worth their salt works with their client to develop a good site outline, but often the creation and collection of that content is left up to the client. Some even offer a content management system so the client can update their own content, but if they don’t stay familiar with how the CMS works or have time to deal with updates, it becomes more of a burden and more often than not their site goes stale.
As for marketing, there are a couple of more traditional ad agencies offering media buying in addition to their other services, but not usually of the online variety, and no one comes close to offering comprehensive strategic marketing planning.
Enter Twist of Lime.
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“Locavores” Unite In Driggs, Idaho, For Local Food Appreciation
I just returned this evening from a great community event: it’s called Locavores and it’s all about local food producers coming together to raise awareness about food being produced locally in the Jackson Hole area. The event was in Driggs, Idaho, on the “other” side of Teton Pass, which is a relatively more hospitable environment for growing food than the Jackson Hole valley.
The event was inspiring on several levels. First, it’s so good to know that the food you’re eating came from not too far away and that you can meet those interesting individuals who made it. For example: I like to eat meat, but I’m married to a vegetarian and, probably for the better, I don’t get to eat too much of it. I also feel strongly that much of the meat produced in this country is raised in ways that not only aren’t natural or good for the animal being raised, but they’re really bad for those of us eating it. So the best thing you can do if you like to eat meat is eat meat that comes from animals that are raised humanely on food they are supposed to be eating. What am I getting at? Would you rather eat steak from a cow that’s raised in tight quarters on corn and antibiotics or from a cow that’s allowed to graze freely on grass?
Happy Earth Day Round Up
Well, today is Earth Day and I have to say, even though I saw it coming, it caught me completely off guard. So, other than the obvious things that I try to do every day like not drive my car, turn the lights off, and recycle everything I can, I thought I’d at least spread a little link love. Needless to say, there a helluva lotta sites dedicated to being green. Not the least (or most) of which is mine. But hey, if you’ve got some time, check out some of the following. You might even learn something!
Treehugger has an Earth Day roundup with all kinds of things from cool things you can do to a survey asking what you are doing.
Green Daily offers some things you can do around your home; specifically, switching all your incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescents. While you’re at it, check out Energy Star’s site for more household energy saving tips.
AutoblogGreen reports on Alaska Public Radio’s story about those using biodiesel and “vegoil” in the cold northern climes. You can download the mp3 by clicking here.
Getting back to business, Duct Tape Marketing suggests buying local for Earth Day…and every day.
The Energy Blog takes the opportunity to help a couple of electric car manufacturers do some Earth Day marketing.
It appears even Disney is jumping on the Earth Day bandwagon. Ecorazzi reports this morning that Disney has launched their new nature site called Disneynature “to produce documentary films about the environment.”
Finally, I found this little gem of a video offering a brief look at the history of Earth Day. Enjoy, and Happy Earth Day!
Green Gap Survey Says: Americans Misunderstand Environmental Marketing
No kidding.
“…almost half (48%) of the population erroneously believes a product marketed as “green” or “environmentally friendly” has a positive (i.e., beneficial) impact on the environment.”
The article points out several interesting statistics, not the least interesting completely contradicting the title of the article: “61 percent of Americans say they understand the environmental terms companies use in their advertising.”
Simplifying Work & Life: Energy Saving Tips And The Four Day Work Week
computer technology is responsible for 2 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions — the same amount as all air traffic.
(Unfortunately, you’ll have to become a member to read the articles on ClimateWire, but don’t worry, I’ll sum up the important stuff from this article right here.)
The article goes on to lay most of the blame on supercomputers, stating that the Leibnitz Computer Center in Munich, Germany, is
tackling the problem, but not without a €120,000 ($185,000) monthly electric bill.
Most of that energy usage comes from keeping the massive banks of computers cool, yet some of it comes from running the computers themselves:
A new supercomputer at the Leibniz Computer Center will use the same amount of power that a 400-ton high-speed train uses to accelerate from zero to 186 miles per hour.
Going on to lay some of the blame of energy consumption via computing on the average citizen, the article claims that:
Rough calculations determined that one Google search consumes enough electricity to run an 11-watt, energy-saving light bulb for 15 minutes to 1 hour.
If you’re concerned about the amount of energy you consume through your computer, here are a few things you can do:
We Are All Corn People
But the one that caught my attention was this video featuring a short interview with the director of the new documentary from Mosaic Films titled “King Corn.” Having just started Michael Pollan’s “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” I knew right away that the premise was the scarily too-close-to-home reality that we’re all “corn people.” Watch the video. Check out the trailer. Go see the movie. Read Michael’s book if you so desire. And then think very, very hard about the decisions you make about what you and your family eat.
April Fools Day As Marketing Springboard
Rather than jump directly on the bandwagon and post something about April Fools day actually on April Fools Day (‘cause that would be too on-top-of-it for this blogger. I’d hate to get a heart attack or something…), I figured I’d wait a week and see what the fallout was and how the blogosphere reacted to it.
I caught a few things right off the bat on Tuesday morning, but most of the April Tom-Foolery on the Internet seems to be in the form of jokes, such as the new-to-me but obviously not new concept of “Rick-rolling.”
But what I’ve been looking more for is which companies are successfully using April first as a way to promote their product, tongue-in-cheek style.
Which Is The Greenest Brand? “None”
Green brands, or brands that aspire to be green, have a ways to go, according to the 2008 Brandjunkie Survey Results. When asked, “What brand do you think is truly (going) green? Why?” the number one answer was: none. By a strong 19.4% of the vote, most survey respondents felt there was no brand out there that was truly “green.” The top responses included:
“Companies will pretend they are environmentally aware except they still have, primarily, only their own interests in mind and are therefore never truly green.”
“All brands are out to please their stockholders.”
“There are attempts at establishing green credentials—but these attempts are happening in silos within brands and companies. Very often, the ‘green’ aspect of the business is far outweighed by the ‘non-green’ areas.”
