In the last week, the bad news about the current state of BDA’s (Big Dumb Agencies,) keeps getting worse. Publicis announced Q2 2009 earnings, saying that the recession, which started in 2007, was “unexpectedly steep,” and the company was facing “increasingly extreme” market corrections. Net income was down nearly 14%, and they are also in the bag to General Motors for $15 million. Over at Omnicom net income was down nearly 25% and they are talking about a further round of layoffs on top of the 3,500 people they’ve axed in the last few months. It’s the same dismal picture [...]

In a recent interview with Fast Company, Patagonia founder, Yvon Chouinard offers his thoughts on running an environmentally conscious business and what is on his mind – the “myth of sustainability”, an ideal he sees as a path rather than [...]

Less than two weeks after the release of the Greenpeace report “Slaughtering the Amazon”, which analyzes the Amazon cattle industry, Brazil’s three largest supermarket chains, Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Pão de Açúcar, decided to suspend contracts with suppliers found to be involved with deforestation in the region.
Furthermore, the Brazilian Association of Supermarkets (Abras) stated that guidelines will be developed to prevent that from happening again, and independent auditing will be allowed to ensure that cattle products are sourced only from legally explored Amazon lands.
Following this trend, Adidas and Timberland stated that they too [...]

CNN reports that in-store health clinics are growing in popularity. Retailers such as Wal-Mart, Walgreens, CVS, Safeway and Kroger are all seeing increased interest in the basic medical care services offered inside their shops. These easy to access, and relatively inexpensive clinics offer medical advice, vaccinations and treatments for minor medical problems. Combining low cost (the average visit costs about $60) with the convenience of having a doctor inside your local super-center have made these micro-clinocs a go-to resource for patients looking to escape the broken and expensive health care system.  It’s believed that this kind of health care will [...]

The Guardian recently sat down with Rob Bondurant VP of Marketing at Patagonia and asked him to discuss their sustainable model and how they will continue to innovate for the future. Beyond simply furthering the reach of their own brand, we found Patagonia’s desire to provide leadership in the areas of ethical business practices to be particularly noteworthy.
During 2008, the company started the Organic Exchange with the sole purpose of training other companies to source and manufacture organic goods. In an effort to provide their customers with greater access to information and promote transparency, they created the Footprint Chronicles, a study [...]