When it comes to determining the best tasting rum, vodka or whisky, there's always controversy. In terms of cachaça (Brazil's sexy spirit), there's a myth around Anísio Santiago, this hard-to-find, priced-like-a-great-Bordeaux brand is worshiped by aficionados around the country as the very best Brazilian cachaça. Anísio Santiago is named after the legendary figure who began distilling in Salinas (State of Minas Gerais) back in the 40's and put this small town on the map as the cachaça capital (a bit like what Lynchburg is for the Tennessee Whiskey). The original name was Havana which the family had to give up due to a trademark dispute, renaming it later.
Out today Exame Magazine (my all-time favorite business publication in Brazil) with a cover story on PepsiCo's CEO Indra Nooyi. Great article explaining how multinational corporations are adapting to a new world order where understanding the dynamics of emerging markets like China, India, Brazil, is key to any company that operates globally.
In the same spirit, New York has a fantastic project of re-greening the High Line. The High Line is an elevated railway that snakes around Manhattan's west side built during the Depression and has been abandoned for a few decades. It is slowly being transformed into an urban walkway full of grassy paths, gardens and trees. I read that the first section, from Gansevoort Street to 20th Street, is scheduled to open at the end of the year. 
Small is Good Again - The Emergence of Eco-Brands
I have been on the road traveling to different markets reporting on the state of environmental branding and packaging, and espousing its benefits. As CEO of Cornerstone Strategic Branding in New York and Sao Paulo, Brazil, I have had the opportunity to work with a wide range of package goods brands competing in international markets such as the United States, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, South Africa, United Kingdom, South Korea, Pakistan, and many, many others. My company has been in business for 18 years and during that time I have secured and worked with clients in over 23 countries including those in North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
A topic of continuing interest to me and to an increasing number of my clients are the trends to increased use of environmentally friendly packaging and the introduction of a new class of brands which I call “Eco-Brands”. With the help of some of my colleagues at CSB, I have researched these trends extensively and the result is a comprehensive presentation on the subject with a global perspective.
I discovered that there is a lot more activity going on in the use of environmentally friendly packaging than what we see here in the U.S. What was even more striking is the emergence of this new class of brands called Eco Brands.
These are brands which from the moment of origin are created with a mission, a brand positioning and “value set” that clearly focus the brand on behaving in a way that is protective of the planet. There are many ways that Eco Brands achieve this with their packaging, in addition to how they also reflect this in their product and everything that they do.
Some of these brands only use recycled materials in their packaging such as recycled/post consumer paperboard, recycled PET plastic resin (RPET), recycled glass, etc. Some of these brands use these materials in combination with new materials called bio- resins made from sustainable plant materials such as corn and cane sugar starches that replace traditional petroleum based resins, made from a non- renewable resource.
Some reduce their use of these materials altogether and eliminate complete “layers” of packaging to become more environmentally friendly, while reducing costs. Others do all this and also print their packaging using water and/or vegetable based inks with very low VOC’s (volatile organic compounds). These inks can replace traditional inks formulated with environmentally dangerous solvents high in VOC content.
The most interesting thing I learned about these Eco Brands is that some of these brands have been around for a while and how, in a very short period of time, have grown in sales significantly. Take for example the brand Burt’s Bees. Their website defines the brand ‘s mission as follows: “We create natural earth- friendly personal care products formulated to help you maximize your well being and that of the world around you”. The intriguing thing about this brand is that it has been around since 1984 and as recently as 2003 had only $8 million in sales. Just 5 years later, what do you think their sales are? Try $250 million.
Another example is the Eco Brand Seventh Generation. Seventh Generation is a household cleaning products brand with a line that includes dishwashing detergents, surface cleaners, paper towels, toilet tissue, disposable diapers, etc. The company and brand was established by Jeffrey Hollander who was once president of the Rainforest Foundation and on the Board of Directors for Greenpeace.
Seventh Generation was founded in 1988 and generated $1million is sales in 1989. Ten years later sales volume grew somewhat modestly and incrementally to reach $11 million in 1999 and grew to $25 million in 2004. What do you think their sales are now? Try approaching $100 million.
These examples illustrate the power of the Eco Branding concept, even if you start small. Consumers are not only now buying products that deliver demonstrable benefits equal to or superior to traditional, non –eco products, they are also buying into a value set that is aspirational to them.
The Eco Branding concept says that you can, in fact, start small, do good, build an environmentally positive track record and succeed. This approach is beginning to debunk the myth that many packaged goods companies have ascribed to for years that says new products have to be tested to validate wide scale share and volume potential in order to be commercially viable.
The most compelling news of late on this subject is that the continuing escalation of the price of oil, and it’s effect on rising costs of packaging materials and a host of product ingredients and materials, has now made the cost of goods for Eco Brands, which have historically been a bit more expensive than traditional brands, much more competitive now in many categories.
This was underscored by a recent article in the Wall Street Journal entitled “Green Products Gain From New Price Equation”. One example given is a line of compostable dinnerware made by a Colorado company called Eco-Products. Eco Products manufactures their dinnerware using a bio resin made from corn starch and does not use a petroleum based resin. Therefore, their cost of goods has remained stable while the costs of petroleum based resins have continued to escalate, thereby now making Eco-Products dinnerware prices competitive to traditional dinnerware brands made out of petroleum based plastics.
The message to the marketing community is to take note of this phenomenon. Re-orient your thinking. Think small, do good, build a positive environmental track record and ride the Eco Branding wave.
With the continued escalation of oil prices into the foreseeable future, and the rising consumer demand for products that are friendly to the environment, the future of Eco Brands has never been brighter.
Christopher Nunes
CEO
Cornerstone Strategic Branding, Inc
I'm at the BA Lounge at the Heathrow Airport on my way to Lausanne where I'll be staying for a 1-week leadership program at IMD. I'm very excited. 
Last night I bought a book at Heathrow Airport on my way back to Brazil. It's called The Economic Naturalist - Why Economics Explain Almost Everything, by Robert H Frank. Half way through the book and I immediately got hooked on how the author presents basic economic principles using fun day-to-day situations. The book takes the reader on an interesting journey on why many strange things we find in everyday life actually make perfect economic sense.
Yesterday I met with Ming Liu, from OrganicsBrasil - an organization that is dedicated to promoting Brazilian organic products in the International market, an ambitious project of bringing together organic growers, manufacturers and accredited certifiers. I had already noticed a strong presence of Brazilian organic producers at some of the food trade shows I've visited lately (which made me particularly happy since my wife has been an organic fan for years). Brazil, which is already an agricultural superpower with it's amazingly rich biodiversity and vast natural resources, has all the elements to become a major player in the growing market for organic products. The companies participating in the OrganicsBrasil initiative cover a wide range of categories from the açaí superfruit, to coffee beans, cosmetics, sugarcane products, to whole grains. 
We just concluded a pitch to find a new advertising agency for some of our accounts. It was an extremely rewarding experience since we had the opportunity to see creative work through the lens of some of Brazil's most amazing Brazilian agencies. At the end, we rewarded four brands to a small creative boutique that has been operating in São Paulo for less than a year: PeraltaStrawberryFrog. The agency which was founded in Amsterdam in 1999, is headed in Brazil by one of the country's most talented creatives Alexandre Peralta. They have a fascinating more collaborative approach to the entire brief and creative process, bringing revived energy, fresh ideas and a different approach to just about everything, a spirit that has captivated my marketing team. In the few weeks we have been working together, I can already feel that this little frog will inspire us to re-think our communication in a beautiful way.
