Can marketing make the world drool for “man-made meat?”

Credit: Shutterstock

“Man-made meat may be just around the corner,” proclaimed Food Navigator earlier this month.

What an awesome marketing challenge!

Dr. Mark Post, physiology professor at Maastricht University in The Netherlands, leads a team of scientists who are developing meat products made grown from stem cells taken from healthy cattle.  His team’s work was featured in a New Yorker article (May 23, 2011) which also provides insights on the pros, cons and in-between opinions regarding “test tube meat.”

The genesis of this concept traces back to William van Eelen, a Dutchman of privilege who ended up in a concentration camp during WWII.  There, he witnessed horrendous treatment of prisoners and the animals kept there as a food source.   After the war, haunted by memories of starvation and animal abuse, van Eelen decided to dedicate his life’s work to growing meat without inflicting pain.

Thanks to van Eelen’s persistence, the award of a patent and some NASA-funded experiments that proved growing food outside of a body was indeed possible, there are now teams forming at universities throughout the world. While their passions are varied, the welfare of animals and the planet are front and center to most of the development.  PETA has even provided funding. 

Currently, our 7 billion fellow earthlings consume 90 pounds of meat per person, for a collective intake of 285 million tons of meat each year.  Continue reading

Tags: CBD, Colman Brohan Davis, cultured meat, environment, Lori Colman, man-made meat, marketing meat, New Yorker, Sustainability, Test tube meat

More on Millenials…the Eco Generation

LifeWay Research conducted a poll of Americans born between 1980 and 1991, and the results suggest that this generation possesses a common interest in environmental stewardship. 87% of poll participants feel personally responsible for cleaning up the ecological damage of previous generations.

LifeWay’s president, Thom Rainer, will capture these insights in a new book called The Millennials: Connecting to America’s Largest Generation. 

Poll results also suggest that companies and politicians need to be very aware that this generation also acts on their eco-principles. 73% say they would like a job that benefits the environment, and most are alert to the environmental views of candidates when they go to the polls. An article on Lifeway’s site contains this quote from Ranier, “Any outright dismissal of environmental issues will be seen as crass ignorance regarding both the people and the planet.”

Tags: brand, consumer, Energy, environment, millenial, positioning, Research

Viral Gets Nestle … The Palm Oil “Incident”

Yes, it’s great when viral advertising takes hold, isn’t it?  Nestle Amsterdam achieved “viral advertising icon status” with its fake Jesus commercial (see previous blog posting).  Nestle corporate achieved “viral advertising wrath”, big-time, by attempting to remove a viral Greenpeace ad linking Kit Kat bars to climate change from YouTube  .  “This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Société des Produits Nestlé S.A.”

What chaos!  What a backlash!

Activists, outraged consumers and digital geeks all united in the thrashing of Nestle throughout social media outlets.  Many were incensed by Nestle’s use of palm oil, purchased through Sinar Mas—a company with one of the worst environmental records and linked to illegal deforestation.  Others were angry that a corporation would violate the basic tenets of social media by banning someone else’s video. 

Nestle’s rather benign and rarely visited Facebook page was barraged with comments ranging from generally to aggressively nasty comments and other creative expressions of the Kit Kat and Nestle logos.  Nestle further dug themselves into a hole by threatening action against copyright violators. 

As the online frenzy moved to the terrestrial world through protests and events, Nestle finally took it seriously and on May 17, issued a statement that Sinar Mas is no longer part of their supply chain.  However, Nestle does still purchase palm oil from Cargill, which is supplied in part by Sinar Mas. So, the online discussion continues and the anti-Nestle throng continues to multiply.

I like to talk with our clients about emerging consumer demands for transparency … and provide a gentle warning that the days of the passive consumer are over.   This trend has steadily grown over the past couple of years, as consumers started scrutinizing company practices in addition to the nutrition labels.

Sustainability is also a huge topic on the minds of consumers, increasing considerablyly as purchase criteria for both foods and supplements.  And companies can’t disrespect this; consumers have ways of peeking behind the curtain and are not shy about voicing their findings loudly, clearly and globally.

For those who haven’t seen it, here’s a link to the Greenpeace video as well as info on Nestle’s announcement to discontinue with Sinar Mas.

http://bit.ly/9LQtXF

Tags: consumer, deforestation, environment, Greenpeace, Lori Colman, Nestle, palm oil, Sinar Mas, Social Media, viral advertising

I’m buying an Electrolux

Wired is reporting that Electrolux is going to clean up the oceans to harvest the plastic it needs for manufacturing. They want to increase the recycled plastic content of their ‘green’ vacuums  from 70% to 100%. They can’t do that now because there’s a lack of available plastic on land to recycle.

Electrolux’s Vac From The Sea project will reclaim plastic in the Pacific, Indian, Atlantic and Mediterranean oceans, as well as the Baltic and North seas. Read More

Now everybody, I’m sure that it would NOT be a good idea to stop recycling plastics so that companies like Electrolux feel more urgency for this project. But if you’re someone who uses recycled plastics in product design, I would get on board now.

Tags: environment, green marketing, plastic, recycle

Leafy Green Viral Marketing

Nissan has been pushing its latest technological breakthroughs in lithium ion powered cars with a video posted on YouTube. The name of the car is Leaf. It’s an interesting move that will hit car lovers, environmentalists and the general populace with equal emphasis. I like the simple, creative way the message is portrayed and the heightened sustainability prowess it gives Nissan. Viral works, to prove it, watch the video.

Tags: car, Creative, Energy, environment, Lithium Ion, Nissan, Technology, viral, YouTube

The carbon footprint in your wine

Newsweek reports that if you’re a New Yorker, you leave a much smaller carbon footprint drinking a French wine shipped by sea over the Atlantic (2.93 pounds of carbon per bottle) than you would drinking a Napa vintage that was air shipped or trucked in (7.05 pounds per bottle). Interesting factoid, and a good reminder that the method of transportation matters as much as the distance when calculating carbon. Shipping by sea generates less than half the emissions associated with planes and tractor-trailers.  Of course, this is not a problem when you drink locally-made beverages. Here in Chicago, we love our beer. CBDers have chimed in with our favorite Chi-town brews:  Goose Island’s 312 and Matilda , Half Acre and Two Brothers. Though not a beer, my personal favorites are the amazingly delicious organic liqueurs made by Koval, a boutique distillery in the heart of the city. Chime in with your local favorites.

Tags: carbon footprints, Energy, environment, environmental, Goose Island, Green, Half Acre, Koval distillery, Two Brothers, wine