Andy DuMaine is a 1983 graduate of the School of Journalism (so already I trust what he has to say…), but he spoke about his path after college and the route he has taken to become the president and founder of shrinkingfootprint. He has roughly 20 years of advertising experience, working in the U.S. and the Caribbean and has been fueled by what he says was his dream to use advertising to help change the world. And sustainability marketing is the way to do it, he says.

DuMaine was clear when he said that even in this time of economic crisis, sustainability marketing is a good field to enter because it is something that every organization is in need of. It requires looking at what kind of “footprints” you are leaving on the environment and how you can cut back on that. It’s not just good for the environment, it is necessary.

The lecture’s visual aid was a powerpoint presentation filled only with what could be described as middle-school art sketches, but they told his story and made his point. He said he was aware that most Ph.D’s do concise presentations with lots of numbers, but his presentation was intentionally different because his whole goal is about changing mindsets and the social norm.

Andy almost seemed a bit neurotic, maybe slightly over-confident at times, but it was just his passion and true vision for what he sees as the necessary path for the future and his desire to convey that to a room full of people who also have an opportunity to make a difference.

He has a Web site, shrinkingfootprint.com that had this quote on it:
“No one can say with any certainty what the future holds, but whatever it is will be green. Like it or not. Ready or not. When resources are waving the white flag of surrender, pursuing a more-for-less agenda will become the corporate equivalent of showing up at an organic farmer’s market in a black Hummer. Sometime soon businesses will count inputs and outputs the way they used to count pennies. The long accepted practice of poisoning the well in the name of progress is likely to lose favor with a thirsty populace. Those unwilling to go quietly into the green beyond will find taxes on their carbon, trash and commutes paving the way to enlightenment. Come hell or high water the era of mindless waste is over.”

In 2004, he founded shrinkingfootprint to help implement this vision and use his advertising expertise to help change the world.

Shrinkingfootprint uses strategic communications to help organizations to do more for less. It focuses mainly on the tourism industry and changing the ways they attract customers. For so long, the industry has left big footprints on small places and in an effort to accommodate as many people as possible at the lowest rate possible, societal and environmental corners were cut.
Although, when asked if he was a consultant, he cringed at the term and responded that he preferred “advocate of social change”.

Sustainability marketing is about changing people’s mindsets and behaviors into more eco-friendly habits, he said.
After the lecture was over and people began to disperse, I too left the room and walked through the quad. I walked and was still thinking about the lecture and felt such a strong sense of desire to help. After a minute of mental debate, I turned around and headed back to the room. I found Andy and told him how interested I was in hearing more about this industry and was so impressed to hear what he was doing. He was very nice and gave me his card and told me to shoot him an e-mail.

I did as I was told, and sent him an e-mail about how to learn more about sustainability marketing. He gave me the name of 2 books: The Green Marketing Manifesto (“I am not happy with the quality of the writing, but it is a good overview of the industry.” –AD) and Getting Green Done: Hard Truths from the Front Lines of the Sustainability Revolution (“I really enjoyed this one. Well written. –AD)

He told me to read these books and let him know what I think. He also said that when and if the opportunity ever presented itself when he needed help, he would keep me in mind. Who knows what that means, and if anything will ever come of that, but none the less, I felt like that lecture opened my eyes to an entirely different side of the marketing, advertising, and public relations industries. A side that I am very much inspired and excited by.

Speaking of careers, I have been thinking a lot about what I want to do in the future, which is a good idea I suppose since I will be facing the real world in a little over a year.

I think that I would like to go into non-profit public relations. I don’t have a particular organization in mind as of yet, but it would be an organization that I care a lot about. A project that I did for one of my PR classes required my group to create a PR plan for the Special Olympics. We used the cutting-edge KDPaine CustomScoop program that allowed us to sort and analyze publications that had written about the Special Olympics in the past year. From there, we analyzed the tone and messaging of the organization as portrayed through the media. Then, my group developed a 20+ page plan, highlighting our recommendations of goals and objectives that aligned with the Special Olympics’ mission. This really peaked my interest for the non-profit sector and for that organization.

Until next time.

Needless to say, this recent salmonella-peanut butter issue has been quite the scare. Surely, my jar of beloved peanut butter wouldn’t be infected.  I quickly alerted my friend Elizabeth, a fellow peanut butter lover, and together we sounded the alarm. As I started mentioning it to various people, most of them already knew, to my surprise. They’d heard it on the news, or had gotten a e-mail, or had seen someone’s Facebook status alerting them.

It was today that I logged on to PR Week and saw an article about the peanut butter-salmonella issue. When I clicked on it, I read the article and had a new found appreciation for PR.

Like I said before, I’m a junior at UNC and on the public relations sequence. So, I’ve taken several classes centered on public relations and it fascinates me about how many powerpoint slides I have to see, textbook pages I have to read, and lectures I have to listen to on how exactly to define public relations. And in the end, each powerpoint slide, lecture, or author inserts that PR is still fairly indefinable because its responsibilities are so expansive and ever-changing.

The article I found was just another facet of the public relations industry I had not yet thought about.

In the PR Week article, the American Peanut Council paired with Ogilvy PR Worldwide and Argyle Communication to keep people up to date on the peanut butter product recalls.  The digital practice at Ogilvy started to monitor Facebook groups, related Youtube videos and comments, Twitter and blogs. All of these tactics were to find the various outlets and update them via e-mail with the latest information and news.

The article also mentioned that global PR firm, Barson-Marstellar, was hired to help with the product recall.

Federal agencies, like the CDC and FDA, especially made good use out of some public relations tactics. They made online communication a central focus. Updating their Web sites multiple times a day, issuing up to date news releases, holding regular media phone calls to update journalists. The FDA even created a database where consumers can find a list of the recalled products.

I just think it is fascinating that there are so many ways now to reach people, and how pervasive technology has become in our lives.

In this case, public relations has played such a major role in keeping people safe. So many times PR gets a bad rap, recognized for its role as spin-meisters. But here is a real live case where the role of public relations is to inform and educate the public. Without the increasing interconnectedness that technology offers and the dedication to reaching it publics that public relations provides, people would not have all the information they need to know about this issue.

So, just remember that public relations isn’t always so bad next time you chomp into your pb and j, mk?

Until next time.

]]> http://altyrianview.com/intern/?feed=rss2&p=46 http://altyrianview.com/intern/?p=33 http://altyrianview.com/intern/?p=33#comments Fri, 16 Jan 2009 18:47:26 +0000 catherine http://altyrianview.com/intern/?p=33

Hey Hey Hey! I’m the new intern, Catherine, and its my first day! I’m a junior at UNC-Chapel Hill. Go Heels!!..sorry, it’s been ingrained.

I’m a Journalism and Mass Communication major following the public relations sequence. It just so happens that good ol’ cousin John works here, at Altyris. Since John is a UNC alum, he’s been able to give me some good advice. So when I mentioned I was looking for more learning experience in the industry, he suggested Altyris. I jumped at the opportunity because over the years I’ve heard about the wonderful work environment-racing around on razor scooters, closing down early to see movie premieres. I can’t wait to be surrounded by such a creative and energetic team of people.

I am in the second semester of my junior year and live in Chapel Hill, so I commute here on Fridays. The drive isn’t so bad..on days when I don’t get lost. But basically, I am very excited about this opportunity to get my foot in the door at such a unique agency and learn more about such a diverse, exciting and fast-paced field.

Until next time.

My experience at Altyris has been more than just the things I’ve learned. I have been fortunate to have had a position where the people were as great as those here.  Eunhee and I have never been treated differently than anyone else because of our intern status which, in my opinion, says a lot about the atmosphere here. I really believe that an internship at a larger company may not have been as beneficial because I may not have gotten as much individual guidance and because I would not have the luxury of the small agency environment that I loved about Altyris.

I agree with John that Edwards was smart to use social media in his campaign and not so smart to discard it when he dropped out of the race.  According to the article I read, Obama is on top of social media and is up-to-date on how younger generations communicate and what they want.  How does he know what they want?  Visit his site and there’s not only a blog but a place to sign up for an Obama social network where you can talk about issues and even send policy recommendations directly to the campaign.  His site also offers constantly updated BarackTV, widgets, ringtones, downloads and other media to attract the tech-savvy young voters.  The campaign is led by 24-year old Chris Hughes, who helped launch Facebook with then roommates and co-founders of the social networking site.  Obama is being very smart to appeal to the younger crowd as more and more young people are voting and wanted to get involved.  His approach definitely sets him apart from other candidates who are more traditional in their approaches.