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My daughter recently turned 16 and was faced with the reality of “cash crunch” at the gas pump. She ranted last weekend about the unfairness of it all. As if the price of gas was a conspiracy to limit her ability to exercise her new found freedom. “Why haven’t they created better cars, that plug-in? Cars that don’t use gas? Cars that use better technology? That get 100 miles a gallon?” To which I answered in a typical Mom way…”because they didn’t have to.” Then I had an actual conversation with her about how the hideous gas prices and the resulting angst and downright vocal anger of millions of people is probably the only way real change will occur.

Maybe, just maybe, some good will come out of $4+ per gallon and real change will occur. The signs are starting to point that way. It made big news earlier this month when the Federal Highway Administration released their March, 2008 numbers, which showed that some 11 billion fewer miles were driven this March vs March 2007.

And tonight, I read with interest that none other than former Intel Chairman, Andy Grove, a man who “has a knack for sensing when circumstances should force changes at a company or an industry” is pushing hard for rapid development of electrical transportation.

As someone who is actively car shopping to replace my gas guzzling SUV with a much more efficient vehicle and disappointed with my options…I say GO ANDY! More power to you.

I hope someone else as passionate picks up where he left off.  Check out this Gates rant that turned up among the internal e-mails turned over in the antitrust suits against the company.  The comments are  almost as entertaining.

I recently came across an interesting piece on Blendtec’s successful viral marketing campaign, “Will It Blend?” Initially, Blendtec faced the obstacle of being an unrecognizable brand that wasn’t receiving much attention from consumers. To change perceptions, they used Blendtec’s CEO Tom Dickson as the spokesperson and blend expert and created a series of videos that tests the blending power of its Total Blender.

The videos, found on YouTube and at the WillItBlend.com site, blend everything from golf balls and Rubik’s Cubes to iphones. Blendtec even started taking personal requests from its viewers.

The most recent blending includes the new Weezer CD and a can of pork and beans (to coincide with Weezer’s new song “Pork and Beans” off of the Self-Titled “Red Album” which will hit stores in June). The word-of-mouth campaign now has a cult following, has garnered over 100-million views and has made over $50,000 in ad revenue. Will It Blend? That is the question!

This spring has hosted a plethora of cable shows about being green. It’s all the rage! So many people genuinely care about the environment and want to live their lives with an eye toward helping, and not hurting, the planet and the atmosphere. They want to make a commitment to living, and buying, green and are being egged on by HGTV and their mantra “change the world, begin at home.”

Until recently I had a view of green that encompassed some products that conserve energy and some products that are made of recycled components of non-biodegradable materials – in an effort to keep them out of the landfill. Some of the products that I had seen were kind of funky looking – some in a cool way – and all were outrageously expensive. So a commitment might mean spending a lot of money – albeit an investment – to get a product that may not appeal to your aesthetic senses. And I just had to ask myself, was I going to be one of those people – you know, the Hollywood types – who rush to spend their expendable income on all the latest gadgets so that they can be the greenest of everyone they know? The jury was still out.

And then the paradigm shifted. I think it began with one “special” episode of house hunters that featured a couple in search of a “green” home. Being green is a whole lot more complicated than I had ever imagined. And that’s good and also bad. It’s good in that there are some very simple things – that are free, or at least cheap – that are critical in the world of being green. For example, not throwing things away because they’re old. Use them anyway – the Europeans do. If they’re ugly, decorate them – but don’t throw out the old to make way for the new – that’s a big no no. Being a product of the American “throw-away” society is not green!

On the other hand, the House Hunters couple went through a major mental exercise when examining all of the appliances in the various kitchens. Some of them were very old – that’s good. Oh wait, then they’re not energy efficient – that’s bad. I’m still not sure which way to go in that battle, but I think it’s something like: buy the new appliances and then make your dish washer and refrigerator into dressers for your clothing. Your old stove could be used to store wood for your fireplace – and Oh God, I don’t know if you’re supposed to have a wood burning or gas fireplace – or neither!

Suffice it to say that “it’s not easy being green”. But it’s worth making the effort to do a little research on the topic. I will guarantee that you’ll find some things that will be easy to do and make you feel as though you’re making a contribution. It’s likely that there are already some things that you’re doing and you don’t even know it – remember when you chose to hang on to great Aunt Mabel’s desk and not pitch it into the neighbor’s dumpster when they were remodeling – give yourself some props for that. Undoubtedly you’ll find some things that you’re not quite ready to commit to – but keep them in mind for later. Once you know the score – you can decide how green you want to be how soon. And let’s face it – green’s not going away any time soon so you might as well jump in and test the water!

Now here’s a thought provoking and powerful PSA – a real-life, yet simple, example of what it would be like to suffer from asthma.

It’s interesting to see the number of organizations out there that are using these types of tactics and imagery to tell their story. No more boring and uneventful 30-second PSAs that leave you wondering if you should give to the cause.

This one really hits home.

Is an ad that is nothing short of brilliant! It is captivating consumers and annoying the crap out of commercial hating zealots. I don’t know who did this ad – but I am in awe. They’ve taken a sing songy, hard pressed to rhyme jingle, added some goofy looking average as hell guys and some totally lame head bobbing and they’ve created the latest cult following.

And just why are we so mesmerized? Well, to start with, these guys are people we know – they’re so common we see them everywhere – we identify them with the average, but slightly grungy, person that we all know. So they’re relatable. But when you add that to the fact that they’re singing a song that required no talent to write or perform you have to wonder why’s it so cool? And I think it has a lot to do with the attitude. Devoid of any emotion the lead singer is giving a matter of fact accounting, and jarringly humiliating demonstration, of his own financial devastation. You don’t see anger or pent up frustration – just bad rhyming and goofy head bobbing. And good luck trying to get that jingle out of your head!

The picture he paints in each spot is so common to so many people, but in reality the prevailing attitude is generally one of depression or rage at being forced unfairly into a reduced lifestyle. Not so for our lead singer. He gets that his poverty status is his fault because he didn’t take advantage of “F – R – E – E that spells free credit report dot com, baby.” While his nonchalance in the face of unexpected poverty serves to validate our own stupid mistakes – if he can roll with it so can we – by showing us what his stupidity costs him, he is at the same time educating us to take those credit gremlins seriously so we don’t end up in his predicament. Its pain free learning with a dash of humor on top!

What’s really ingenious is that the ad takes an incredibly mundane topic – checking out your credit status, and manages to get three key messages over to the viewer without risk of sending them into coma – or to another channel. First, they get a clear and scary picture of what bad credit can do to your life, Second, they get that there’s a F – R – E – E service that can help them find out their current credit status so they can make some educated decisions about how they should proceed with purchases and Third, they learn just exactly how and where to find this information. Such a difficult thing to accomplish and they make it look so easy. And the campaign has real legs to boot.

I now know that neglecting your credit rating can cause you to have to live in your in-laws cramped basement, make you work in a cheap restaurant wearing a pirate’s hat and drive around in a junk that will make you the laughing stock of the road. I just hope they keep going – I can’t wait to see where they take “the band” next!

For someone who watches the Super Bowl for the commercials only (except next year when the Cleveland Browns will be playing of course), I LOVE the commercialization of Valentines Day! Bring on the hours of television ads featuring heart-shaped diamonds, pink and red flower bouquets and the wide variety of greeting cards that provide 1,000 ways to say “I Love You.” According to Forbes Magazine, the National Retail Federation’s 2008 Valentine’s Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey has estimated that consumers will spend approximately $17 billion on the holiday. That’s approximately $123 per person celebrating the love affair, which is up from $120 last year.

Along with traditional advertising tactics, many companies are interactively involved in promotional contests that play off the holiday’s theme. 1-800-FLOWERS.COM recently announced their winner of the “The Valentines Day Song – The Greatest Love Story Contest,” which asked people to upload their love story related video. The winning video, produced by “Traphik” is featured on YouTube today and sure to get you in the mood for love.

What a beautiful way to recycle and reuse. From Dutch Design Week: designer Anke Weiss has created a series of lights from used food and drink packaging.

Weiss traces the patterns and text on the packaging with hundreds of pin-pricks, which allow the light to shine through.

The lights were exhibited at Eat Drink Design in Eindhoven during Dutch Design Week last month.

The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative is so very cool and I’m glad to be a part. I bought one and donated one on day one of the special “Give One, Get One” promotion. Tonight I got the following email:

Thank you for being one of the first to participate in Give One Get One.
All of us at One Laptop per Child were inspired by the number of people who joined our Give One Get One program on its very first day! Your participation makes you part of the growing community of people working to give children all over the world new opportunities to grow, explore, learn and express themselves.

Your XO laptop is on the way.
Your donated XO laptop will soon be delivered into the hands of a child in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Haiti, Mongolia or Rwanda. In one of our recipient children’s own words, “I want to thank you people because you had given us the laptop and I love it so much.” Your generosity will make a world of difference in these children’s lives, and in the future of their respective countries.

Thanks to your early action, your XO laptop is scheduled to be delivered between December 14 and December 24. Our “first day” donors are our highest priority and we are making every effort to deliver your XO laptop(s) as soon as possible. We will send you an update upon shipment.

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What a great cause. What a great project. If you don’t know much about it, you can watch this video where Nicholas Negroponte (MIT media lab founder) and founder of the One Laptop Per Child project explains the project vision and goals.

The One Laptop per Child project’s “Give One, Get One” program has been extended through Dec. 31. According to reports, donations averaged about $2 million a day. On that pace, the OLPC should move about 490,000 units by the end of the year.

The big question many are asking is whether 490,000 units will be enough to rate the non-profit OLPC project a success.

That’s an issue that was raised in this Wall Street Journal article on Saturday. The basis of the WSJ story was this: Negroponte created a great idea but hasn’t hit his $100 mark for the price of the XO (yet) and after three years only 2,000 students in a pilot program have laptops. Some big orders may be on the way. However, Negroponte did rile up the for-profit biggies like Intel and Microsoft enough to bring down the costs of laptops in the developing world. If Negroponte’s project didn’t exist rest assured that Intel’s Classmate PC wouldn’t either.

My take is that Negroponte’s project is a huge success (regardless of the number of laptops he sells) merely because it forced a very important issue (education) to the forefront and got tech giants on board and created positive change.