The Creative Alliance, Strategic Marketing, Interactive, Public Relations

How Many Light Bulbs Does it Take to Change a Planet?

The recent Live Earth event has clearly set the bar higher for integrated-media, world-unifying events. Two billion viewers, nine million initial web streams with an anticipated total of 300 million video web streams expected before it’s all over.

From the standpoint of massive visibility with a friendly audience it was a success. But I’ve got grave doubts about the bigger questions of what good it really did—what net benefit to the planet was actually realized. The carbon footprint caused by the excessive, even conspicuous, consumption of energy was greater than all the light bulb changes and grocery bag re-use will ever be able to compensate.

Here at The Creative Alliance, we’d call that a bad ROI…that is, if the real goal was to save the planet. If, on the other hand, it was an effort to revive some flagging music careers (Madonna) or make a political point, maybe Live Earth achieved something.

This was a classic example of egos, ambition and showmanship replacing real substance. That’s the definition of an inauthentic brand.

What’s so sad is that the event’s organizers lost the chance to really change a paradigm by having the whole thing run digitally on the Web—no massive traffic jams to get people physically transported to events, no gratuitous light shows.

Put simply, this was an event that actually contradicted its own stated values. They preached to the converted and made fools of themselves to those all-important swing consumers. This is the kind of mistake big, terrible corporations and politicians are supposed to make.

Fortunately, many smaller organizations are learning how to truly make energy conservation a reality by having more online events and by taking other common-sense measures. The lesson here is that BIG almost always corrupts—it’s true of corporations, of religious organizations, politics and multimedia celebrity events. The real key to success is usually found on the small scale of life, in unrecognized acts of consistency, thoughtfulness and ingenuity.

That’s true of marketing and branding, too. Great customer experiences, thoughtful expressions of gratitude for a client’s business, meaningful investments in the community. These are the virtues of a truly great organization and an authentic brand.