Rss
What a great way to change up what can sometimes be a boring part of the wedding!
Archive for July, 2009
Just For Fun: Great Wedding Entrance
Friday, July 31st, 2009Happy Birthday Norman Lear
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009by Eric Goldstein
Norman Milton Lear, born July 27, 1922 is a classic American television writer and producer who produced such sitcoms as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times and Maude.
His contributions to popular culture are profound, as well as his ability to sew and dismantle racial, prejudice and political power and project to the masses should continue to be applauded.
To get a really good sense of this mans contributions but more importantly – his style, demeanor, pride, integrity and full-heartedness, check out this documentary from the Sundance Channel with Norman Lear and his friend Howard Shultz, Chairman of Starbucks. A very inspiring watch.
Enjoy! And Happy Birthday Norman from your fans at Olive.
Get Well MCA!
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009by Eric Goldstein
All of us at Toast & Jam and Olive Studio, without hesitation are huge supporters of the band The Beastie Boys. Recently, Adam Yauch of the infamous trio has humbly declared he has recently been diagnosed with cancer (near the throat/lymphnode). We just wanted to take a moment to send our best – and we wanted to send out some serious positive energy.
Now Adam can “Kick It”.
Marketing Sustainability
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009by Christian Bayley
The past year has seen a renewed interest from corporate America to embrace sustainability. We have watched over the past decade as this has moved from trend to mandatory initiative. This is largely thanks to consumers who are finally speaking up with their voices on social media portals and with their dollars as they support local and sustainable products. Indeed a decade ago I remember consulting with several larger companies who wouldn’t go down this path simply because people wouldn’t pay the premium price needed to make back the corporate investment into sustainable goods. Early initiatives in fact focused on consumer education to create “pull through demand”. . .that is a bigger consumer group demanding these products so that corporations would have no choice but to act, and ultimately have profitable ventures in this space.
However while there has been a lot of progress made, there is a lot more work to be done. It is up to consumers once again to keep setting the bar higher and higher. Corporations also need to move these initiatives out from behind marketing, and truly make them new core values to their corporate charters. Being sustainable means reimagining your entire way of doing business. How is product made, distributed, consumed. What is the carbon and water impact of an organization. How much collateral is made from printed materials instead of digital ? How is power consumption and travel handled? How efficient are buildings and plants? What kind of stewardship of these issues is being done at the corporate, community and employee level? Little changes can lead to big impact, but with the voice that consumers have today via social media. . .little changes also ring hollow and nothing less than a full corporate effort will be praised. I am excited that future generations are growing up with this as such a central issue to our lives, but we cannot wait for new generations to assume corporate power, the path must be laid now. Companies that truly embrace this value should stand to profit and earn marketshare, which at the end of the day is the best kind of marketing out there.
Olive Notes: July
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009As the summer heats up (its 102 today. . .bleh), it seems like Global warming , droughts, the price of gas and sustainability start getting more attention. The reality is that while some progress is being made with these issues there is a lot of work still to be done by our generation and future ones. We at Olive have been fortunate to have worked on the front lines of sustainability for the past decade, and this is the theme for this month.
We have worked with all kinds of companies dealing with these issues from a wide variety of angles: homebuilders, architects and designers, building material companies, restaurants, energy companies, LEED consultants and even retailers. We give a tip of the hat to anyone who has struggled with how to make their company and lives more sustainable. We have watched the public learn new terminology and being from Portland we are proud to be in one of the leading cities of this movement.
So this month, we ask you to consider ways to make your work and home environments more sustainable as we look at this issue through many different viewpoints. And don’t forget to sound off in the comments this month to highlight other companies making a difference and tell us about the things you do in your lives to be more sustainable. Click and Contribute!
Christian Bayley
Sound Off: How do you go Green?
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009Everyone has their way of making a difference in the world. We would like to know some of the tricks that you may utilize to be more green in your everyday routine. It could be something as simple as using a coffee mug when you get your morning coffee rather than wasting the paper cup. Share some of your secrets, sound off in the comments section!
Just One Man’s Claim – On United Airlines
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009by Eric Goldstein
Well, I doubt the claims department at United Airlines wasn’t expecting this to get as big as it did. A musician was flying United Airlines. He sees his luggage (guitars) being tossed around and not treated with care. He lands in Chicago and to his dismay, there was indeed damage to his instruments. He goes through various claim recovery steps within United Airlines “process” and tracks who he spoke only to find at the end of his troubles, the answer is NO to his request for recovery.
He decided to write a song and post video on YouTube. To this day, over 4.25 million people have clicked to watch this video. That’s a lot of people being influenced around which airline they might or MIGHT NOT travel in the future. Reputation management rule #1. Customer is always right. It would have been much more cost effective and appropriate for United Airlines to treat him with more respect, pay what damages he was claiming than to the be the subject matter of such a creative and memorable, viral clip.
Also, we now know who Dave Caroll is.
Glass + Concrete = Kitchen Countertop
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009by Eric Goldstein
IceStone® products are the ideal choice for ‘green’ kitchen countertops. They’re also a great option for backsplashes, bathrooms, vanities, bathroom dividers, tabletops, interior walls, and commercial flooring applications. Beautiful shower surrounds and bathtubs could be made with IceStone® durable surface material. It can be shaped, water jet cut, inlaid, mounted vertically or horizontally. While there are 24 standard colors available, the color palette is infinite.
And their from Brooklyn. We love Brooklyn.
Having Fun With Recycling
Saturday, July 25th, 2009by Eric Goldstein
When I was at school attending University of the Arts in Pennsylvania, we had a group of students come in from RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) and present their solutions to a challenging design project: Making toys from recycled material. I remember being so impressed by their solutions – using detergent bottles and being very literal with the use of their shapes and bottle/cap functionality for play purposes.
That’s why we love Green Toys.
Start Simple: Recycled Plastic Milk Jugs
We use recycled milk containers as the main ingredient in creating our toys. Yes, the exact plastic milk jugs that you and your family drink from every day. When you finish your milk and toss the container in the recycling bin, these milk containers are collected at your curb by a local recycling company, who then sorts them from all the other types of plastic. Next, the milk containers are reprocessed into super clean fresh plastic. For you plastic geeks, the plastic material we use is called high-density polyethylene (or HDPE). This material is considered one of the safest, cleanest plastics around.
We could also do a whole article on their packaging but we’ll wait for the next issue….aww heck..
Check out their packaging solution for their INDOOR GARDENING KIT.
BRILLIANT WORK. Thanks Green Toys!
CRAYON RINGS by Timothy Liles!
Friday, July 24th, 2009by Eric Goldstein
Made of washable crayons – multi-faceted rings are fun, colorful and a nice alternative to adorning/color matching your outfit. Fun for adults and kids. Washable. Just another great step towards thinking outside the box (of crayons).