2011 was a good year for clean energy, but 2012 could be even better

Though the climate change debate still rages on and the U.S. isn’t doing nearly as much as we could to curb climate change, the newest reports show that we are making visible progress in the arena.

The year 2010 was the first that saw investment in renewables surpassing fossil fuel investment. Last year, clean energy investment on the global scale was a record $260 billion. Bloomberg estimates that, in some areas, solar power is currently at “grid parity,” or able to compete without subsidies. In the parts of the world where solar is not at grid parity, it is predicted to be highly competitive within the next ten years. Wind power is expected to reach grid parity in windy areas in the next several years.

Bloomberg sounds fairly optimistic about renewables in the coming year, but Reuters is taking a more cautious approach, citing the eurozone economy, increasing cost pressures, and competitive strain as factors that may impede growth. On the other hand, Paul Nillesen, PriceWaterHouse Coopers’ renewables partner, is confident that “highly strategic, and mission critical” solar and energy efficiency deals will still have their place in the market.

Taking matters into your own hands sometimes is the only way to get anything accomplished. Even if they are rather tiny hands. But that’s just what a bunch of fourth graders from our very own Brookline, MA have done.

These kiddiewinks were appalled enough by the trailer of The Lorax that they made a petition on Change.org to get the basic premise of the story—that of “greed, exploitation, and the consequences of environmental rapaciousness”—put back into the movie adaptation.

As you probably recall, this is not the first time Hollywood has made a complete and utter mockery of a classic Dr. Seuss tale. The upcoming pièce de barf is, unsurprisingly, one of those watered-down, feel-good, hey-everything’s-okay-in-the-end-because-he-gets-the-girl-and-isn’t-that-what-really-matters type of flicks that makes people cry in a good way. I know Hollywood makes these movies because we pay to see them, but when fourth graders are telling you something is wrong with the way society is represented in a film, well, that should be a big red flag right there.

Hey, what a great parable for the real world! Just pretend like we’re not decimating the environment, flash a lot of smoke and mirrors (“clean energy destroys jobs!”) and the problem will go away. Right? Right?!

Apparently, even fourth graders can smell bullshit. Feel free to sign the petition and tell Hollywood to cut the crap.

Being an intern is all about appearances. The appearance of intelligence. The appearance of competence. The appearance of caring about your appearance. But let’s be honest, you’re an intern, nobody expects you to be intelligent, competent, or even presentable. Most companies are happy when their interns even show up on Friday morning, with or without a massive hangover, fresh hickies, and their shoes on the wrong feet.

In fact, the only thing they really care about is that you’re there and look busy. Busy interns mean a thriving company, or at least that’s what your boss thinks. So take the time to make yourself appear busy. Your boss will be happy, you’ll avoid doing any actual work, and people will stop coming to you with “can you enter 900 contacts into a spreadsheet for me” or “we need 17 pizzas and 38 grande lattes for a business meeting in 5 minutes.”

Here are a few of the steps I take to always appear like I have a lot to do:

Type a lot. For people born in the stone age (read: your boss) typing means that you’re working. Even if you’re g-chatting with that girl from your Shakespeare seminar (let’s be honest, you only signed up for this class to meet girls), or writing the Facebook event description for your next toga party, your boss will think you’re working hard.

Use the word “swamped.” Here are some examples: “I’m just so swamped with all the work from the Johnson account right now,” “After Cathy left on maternity leave I’ve been so swamped with the extra work load,” and “Sorry, I can’t get you post-its from the supply cabinet, I’m really swamped.”

Finally, when in doubt, make yourself look tired, annoyed, and confused all at the same time. This is an advanced tactic, so it will need some practice, but here are a few tips: rest your head on your hand and slowly rub your temple, let out an exasperated sigh every time your boss walks past your desk, wrinkle your eyebrows and stare blankly at the computer screen, and it always helps to have a loud stapler to aggressively showcase your emotions.

Use these simple steps and you’ll reap the rich rewards that come with any successful internship: a minimal travel stipend, school credit, and (maybe) a letter of recommendation. Well, at least you won’t have to do any work.*

*unless of course you’re an intern at Captains of Industry and you get the chance to write a totally tongue in cheek blog post on your second day

Regarding Captain Fred’s earlier post on Google’s transforming digital to analog, another lesson can be learned for content creators, especially those of the video/audio persuasion.

Sometimes, a peak inside the production can itself become another story to be told. The entire production can be an asset to be mined for additional content. For me, the behind-the-scenes action can be just as fascinating as the final deliverable.

We’ve all become accustomed to watching the EPK—the electronic press kit—in our latest Hollywood blockbuster DVD purchase, rental, stream, or download. Making-of shorts and special effects breakdowns even seem to be popping up on cable TV too.

Different aspects of the production can be highlighted depending on the target audience. For instance, a video magazine could focus on the camera equipment used, or a prop makers blog can talk more about the set design.

Peter Jackson has done the same thing recently with his Hobbit production videos. The blog posts act as extended trailers, whetting every fangeek’s appetite for a return trip to Middle Earth. One of my favorite TV shows, “Leverage,” also did a quick show ‘n’ tell with the making of one of those wide canvas slo-mo freeze-frame TNT promo shots.

Leave it to Google, the most virtual company imaginable, to create a brilliantly 3 dimensional, hands-on (literally) model of what google maps can do for you. Here’s a write up from AdWeek, and a peek at the video:

What’s great about this is that it so clearly, cleanly, and fun-ly (okay, I know that isn’t a word) takes something that lives entirely within the digital world, the world of ones and zeros, and makes it as simple to follow as a children’s toy. You really connect to what Google maps is doing for you.

And here’s the takeaway – the more virtual your product or service is, the more you need to make it real, tactile, HUMAN. The world around us has changed dramatically, but we’re still wired pretty much the same as cavemen (er, cavepeople). If you can hold it in your hands, if you can see it, you can understand it. It makes an emotional connection. As marketers, that’s our job. And in this execution Google and Venables Bell have hit a homerun.

My parents, living in a remote corner of Vermont, used to fork over $70 bucks a month for their 150 cable TV channels. They had to. It was the only way to get the good shows and movies. Today, I get most of that content via the Internet, thanks to high speed wireless that’s now available even in very rural areas. $19 bucks a month for wireless, with zero cable bill. According to the most recent Deloitte survey of viewing habits, I’m far from alone: 9% of respondents have cut their cable cord, while 11% are thinking about it. This trend is going to accelerate. For advertisers, it’s one more data point that shows that interactive online marketing – driven by good content – will be THE dominant force in marketing (even more than it already is). The push towards Internet-delivered content will also likely get a major boost when Apple introduces their own TV system; you know it’s coming, right? They’re going to do for TV what the iPhone and iPad did for communications and computing, crushing other technologies and transforming how we enjoy our entertainment, and by default how we engage with advertising.

There are so many good ideas still floating around in the advertising ether, you’d have to be blind not to see that. Er, sorry blind people, I didn’t mean to leave you out. You probably get that a lot. Actually, someone is thinking of you. And they’re thinking of you in perhaps the juiciest, most delectable way possible—through dead cow patties.

In an effort to get the word out about their braille menus, a restaurant named Wimpy, together with their ad agency, made 15 burgers with sesame seeds on the buns which spelled out messages in braille. These burgers were offered to 15 blind patrons, and the whole shebang was filmed, resulting in the requisite INSTANT VIDEO SENSATION SWEEPING THE NATION! Because of 15 special burgers, 800,000 people now know about Wimpy’s braille menu.

Wimpy’s did a lot of things right: they (presumably) named the restaurant after what may be the most OG hamburger-loving character of all time, they targeted their audience and appealed to them in a meaningful (and memorable) way, and they didn’t spend a whole lot of money to get the message across. And they undoubtedly changed the way a lot of people look at a small and largely inconsequential food product. (Really, what business do sesame seeds have being on all burger buns all the time? So the buns don’t look too naked? Sesame seeds are the pasties of the fast food world.)

So if Boston is due for a blizzard, The Weather Channel might give a heads up to a flashlight or backup generator manufacturer that they should snap up some air time to advertise.

The Weather Channel hired a meteorologist for a particular role—vice president of weather analytics. What does he do in this role, you ask? He will sell highly targeted weather predictions to the channel’s advertisers.