Vacuum cleaners made from the plastic waste collected from The Baltic Sea

Here is a textbook example of cause marketing. A brilliant example. 

Vacuum cleaners are made for cleaning and to make that extra clear, Electrolux took the idea of cleaning into a higher level and decided to collect plastic waste from the world's major oceans and seas, so they could raise public awareness that plastic waste is polluting vulnerable marine habitats and produce a limited number of vacuum cleaners out of the plastic they gathered. 

Here is their vacuum cleaners collection made out of plastic derbies:

From left to right: North Sea Edition, Indian Ocean Edition, Medittareanen Sea Edition, Pacific Ocean Edition, Baltic Sea Edition.

The global reach of this project is remarkable, as even me, who lives in a small place called Estonia, is touched by it, as my home country runs alongside the Baltic Sea. Although the waste gatherings were made in Poland, Latvia and Sweden it still rings my bell more, than to hear that someone gathered plastic waste form the Indian Ocean. 

Read more about the plastic gatherings and recycling from here and watch the video to illustrate their cause:

Although it's one-time action as we are dealing with the limited edition here, it is still a very smart, simple and inspiring idea. And please note that the pretty vacuum cleaner are not for sale. They are made for making a point. You can buy a piece from their Green Range called Ultraone.

While selecting my country from the webpage, as it forced me to read swedish, I was amazed by the countries list. There was no Estonia, there was European Union. This page did not open. And there were Latvia and Lithuania, but no Estonia.  And to my big suprize there was a country called Soviet Union, which to my knowledge stopped from existing 1991. See it yourself from here. 

Mouth propaganda

The answer to my last blog post is not TV, newspaper ads or direct mail. These seemed like wallpaper. I shut my sensors off and did not notice them. The reach and reliability of these messages is not what a marketer dreams of. Not any more.

I analyzed what were the messages that reached me, during this dark time of no internet and the only ones that really affected me were simple recommendations. From friends and family. This is no new revelation. For centuries there has been recommendation letters for recruitment and then there were bibles like "The Tipping Point" and "Buzzmarketing". Online marketing platforms use them, catalogues use them etc. but it is fascinating that mechanically forced recommendations do not work anymore. If a friend sends me an e-mail recommending me to go to a spa or buy a new and better frying pan - I delete the mail. It is already spam for me. It does not matter it came from a friend.

If my relatives and friends discuss over dinner-table that SEB and Swedbank are no good anymore for pension fond portfolio management, and they are moving over to LHV, although they take bigger fee, then this is what I want for my brand. I did not notice the TV ads LHV was running, but I immediately started to think, if the information came from people close to me.

It seems like a spontaneous talk, that cultivated during dinner chit-chat. But was it really? LHV has lately very vigorously spread into ATL and we can see that taking over pension fonds is their goal of the year. And they have invested in it. I'm anxiously waiting for the results as luckily these are measurable. So is it really possible to create massive WOM without ATL support?

Here is a nice graph by Nielsen to make the trust levels very clear. Basically now people believe the talk of the stranger more than TV ads or brand websites. That's the power of online forums. The power of free speech. 

To make the merger of business and anthropology make wonders, keep in mind the core principle. You have to earn peoples trust to be effective. The closer/ must respected the recommendation source is to you, the better it works. Please also note that if I see a friend recommending me something every day, it is wallpaper. If I see it once a year, I take it as gold, depending how close/ reliable the person is to me.

The key is to create outstanding experiences in the first place. If the product/ service is not outstanding, then there is no reason to buzz about it. If it is outrageously outstanding then the word will spread around organically, if not, then ATL support is needed, to spread to masses. There is no suits-all solution for all brands and every brand should find out the solution best for their brand.

Three weeks without Internet.

I consider myself the biggest internet addict I know. I work, consume information, prepare for school, communicate with friends and family, run my everyday errands like banking, shopping, vacation planning and etc. via Internet. And now due to some changes I had to manage without it.

What a shock.

I thought it will be liberating, but was it really? What did I learn? Work – absolutely not possible to manage. Luckily I had a vacation and no harm done, if not to consider some personal projects.

Information came mainly via TV and not in the amount and shape I’m used to. I am used to create my own information flow in the internet, so I consume only the information I’m truly interested in. So not completely satisfied with the local news, as it’s not tailored according to my needs. Although if there would be a hurricane, earth quake or some other major disaster I should know of, I would know and I would not die.

I was totally cut out from social communication as I manage it via msn, Facebook and e-mails, as I’m from the new era of communication and instead of meeting my friends, I tend to communicate electronically. I’m not used to pick up the phone and ask “Hey, what’s up, how you’re doing?”, what’s worse, actually get dressed and visit someone instead of calling. I do it from time to time, but not on the regular basis. So now I get sms-s and calls inquiring “are I still alive?”. As for the known quote: if you’re not online, you do not exist.

There is also one institution who thought there is something wrong. My home bank, because my regular payments were not on time. I dragged myself to the bank office and made my payments manually via payment machine, which was a first time experience for me. Pleasant luckily. It was very easy to handle.

As for the vacation planning, it was a total failure. How do you book something if you do not know how it looks and what is said about it in the forums. How do I know if the price-range is reasonable or is there a room for negotiations? I can handle some background checking via phone in Estonia, but if my interests are behind the national border? How do people without internet travel at all? I do not understand. They look at some packaged offer from the newspaper ad and read from the encyclopedia what the main attractions are? What if I’m into fine dining or extreme tourism? I should then totally rely on the travel agency and that robbes away my independence. Or I can just hit the road and see what tomorrow brings… which is a nice option, but not always. Especially if you plan to travel with kids.

Anyways living without internet in the longer run is expensive. Your choice is limited and the effort made, to consume, bigger. Also the phone bill.

There are still many families who run their everyday lives without internet. My dad for example. I still wonder how he manages all his errands so well. Although I have to admit, the life tempo is from another dimension and comparable to geese migration speed. As a marketer it triggers, how to reach those households, without internet. There in an answer. About it in my next post.

Brainwashed by Disney

Being a parent, Disney, as a brand, is part of my everyday life. We have different Disney channels via satellite, most of our DVD selection is Disney produced, the kid’s playroom is, let’s say, accompanied with „a few“ Disney books and toys. Trip to Disneyland is a dream, which will come true eventually, as she is very persuasive. And she is only five. She is brand-washed and she loves it. I do not mind. I like Disney as well, as I find it safe, educating, entertaining and I still continiously refuse to grow up. The whole concept is so well targeted and continuously wholesome that it is inspiring, and I let it happen in front of my very own eyes.

If a kid finishes watching a Disney fairytale cartoon on DVD, there are so called extras. which run automatically. These are fully packed with brand conscious materials, which are truly inspiring. There are people behind the hard work, sparkles in their eyes, telling how they made one frame like… 30 days until it was perfect. There are gardeners from the Disneyworld who are talking about the passionate effort they made to build this dream land just for the joy of making it. They have captured the essence that drives kids. Joy of creating something, just because it is fun and makes you feel good. And they sell it good. What an industry.

Disney channels run neo-Disney programs mixed with some traditional programs. But definitely is Disney not resting in its glory. It’s conquering new horizons. Hanna Montana for example and etc. Please look at those pictures made few years ago by Anne Leibovitz, which is an advertising campaign letting people know that Disney is old and safe combined with new and exciting. Lovely pictures.

Scarlett Johannson as Cinderella


David Beckham as Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty

Jennifer Lopez as Jasmine and Marc Anthony as Alladin

Roger Federer as King Arthur

Jessica Biel as Pocahontas

Rachel Weisz as Snow White

See the whole photo series from here.