Private Jets Fight Back

Ah, the private jet. What with the recent Detroit bail-out debacle closely followed by the private-jets-to-the-superbowl story, it's received its fair share of negative headlines recently. Epitomizing as it does the twin evils-du-jour - excessive spending and excessive carbon emissions - the private jet is threatening to become the symbol for all that is wrong with business 1.0. No wonder then that Cessna is fighting back with an ad, breaking today, which seeks to position the private jet as a tool of executive efficiency and smart leadership.

Our instinct on this one? Probably not going to work. As a real price for carbon looms on the horizon, the private jet will become substantially less financially viable than it is right now - and business leaders will need to consider alternative ways to meet their needs.

So what to do if your client is heavily invested in a carbon-intensive legacy technololgy whose time, it seems, has come? This is where it's helpful to separate brand from product. What does the Cessna brand stand for that can carry it into the future? What are the tools of smarter business of tomorrow?

At Ogilvy's new building on 11th avenue, we'll have access to (our client) Cisco's Telepresence technology. It's pretty cool, as close to being in the same room as you can get without actually being there. Their website is encouraging people to 'save more, travel less'. Now that's what we call sustainability-inpsired innovation.

Green Innovation at its Best

By now you've figured out that sustainability is a major driver of innovation. And, the Prius aside, it also lends itself to some amazing design. This is not your father's Birkenstocks.

Marc Alt, designer and member of The Greenery Lab-- Ogilvy's living library of sustainability thinkers-- is the founder of a competition that shares with the world some seriously green gadgets. Have a look. I want them all.

http://www.greenergadgets.com/index.php/design-competition/

Dear Mr. President

Last week Professor Steve Rayner of acclaimed Oxford University posted an op-ed letter on Wired.com to our future President.

http://www.wired.com/politics/law/magazine/16-10/sl_rayner/

His POV is that the future is now: It's time for the US to stand up and take charge in the battle against climate change.

As Professor Rayner points out, once the US puts it full weight behind something (WWI & WWII), changes happen and they happen fast.

With lots of talk about "Change" these days, we trust the candidates are listening.