With an eye on the future, it's important for your business to build its environmental sustainability reputation and credibility. It makes all the difference if your company is perceived as a value player in the green movement - and as we all know - perception is reality.
No business wants to be open to accusations or even worse the perception of green washing. The lesson here is you must foster and demonstrate through positive actions a deep and long-term commitment to sustainability issues and effectively communicate to your customers and community.
To build your Eco-cred follow these steps:
- A company should engage with a variety of different local/national or perhaps even international groups that have sustainability goals in common with yours. This engagement should be accomplished on a regular basis, and is preferable to single issue initiatives as it reaps much more positive results and cumulative benefits.
- Consider paarticipating in local programs. It is not necessarily better to focus on high profile media opportunities. In fact, in many cases, going local is the preferable tact.
- Always research the groups you are working with and/or sponsoring for their credibility as well. What have they accomplished in the past and what are their goals regarding sustainability? Teaming up with an organization - private firm, public entity, or not-for-profit - with a lot of sustainable cred can make all the difference.
- Initiate programs and actions that present your company as a meaningful contributor and practitioner of sustainability practices. Don't fool and don't spin this issue, as a bad reputation is going to be very hard to fix.
To build a truly sustainable business reputation companies must do more, a lot more, than just talk a good show or implement a few superficial energy saving initiatives. The environmental program you adopt must be strategic, long-term, thoughtful, and productive not only for the company but for the community at large, and your customers. Being part of the global ecological initiative and demostrating your commitment to it will bring significant benefit to your firm's eco-credibility and, over time, your firm's profitability and goodwill.
By: Jim Lavorato
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
CUSTOMERS DRIVE SUSTAINABILITY
Completed in September, a survey undertaken by the Packaging Industry Digest (PID) reported that 66% of companies (across all products and industries) reported that customers are driving their sustainable decisions. However, the survey found that only 21% of companies have formal, written policies on sustainability. This points to a real disconnect between customers/consumers and companies' sustainable practices and policies. Additionally, a full 53% of companies reported they have no measurement tool in place to evaluate performance or track progress of their sustainable activities.
As a counterweight a whopping 93% of the companies surveyed stated that Green Washing - the deceptive use of marketing by companies to spin their products and policies as environmentally friendly - was an on-going problem in their purchasing decisions regarding sustainability.
The PID study which surveyed over 500 companies of various size further reported that 69% of companies expect to receive a return on their investment in sustainable upgrades and capital improvements. With 82% expecting a payback on their investment within 2 - 5 years.
When, not if, you begin planning for your company's sustainability contact the Arboreel Group* - which can assist, direct, provide follow-up, and quantify your progress, savings, and ROI.
*Arboreel Group - Designs, develops and certifies environmental sustainability programs and initiatives for cinemas and is managed jointly by Entertainment Equipment Corporation (entequip@aol.com) and Screentrade Magazine (screentrademagazine.com). Arboreel Group is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council and an EPA - EnergyStar participant.
As a counterweight a whopping 93% of the companies surveyed stated that Green Washing - the deceptive use of marketing by companies to spin their products and policies as environmentally friendly - was an on-going problem in their purchasing decisions regarding sustainability.
The PID study which surveyed over 500 companies of various size further reported that 69% of companies expect to receive a return on their investment in sustainable upgrades and capital improvements. With 82% expecting a payback on their investment within 2 - 5 years.
When, not if, you begin planning for your company's sustainability contact the Arboreel Group* - which can assist, direct, provide follow-up, and quantify your progress, savings, and ROI.
*Arboreel Group - Designs, develops and certifies environmental sustainability programs and initiatives for cinemas and is managed jointly by Entertainment Equipment Corporation (entequip@aol.com) and Screentrade Magazine (screentrademagazine.com). Arboreel Group is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council and an EPA - EnergyStar participant.
LOOKING AT CLOUDS
Want to reduce energy costs & consumption - one sure and simple way is to get rid of your computing equipment. If your company is large enough to run various applications on a daily basis look to the clouds for a solution.
Cloud computing is used to store, retrieve, and manipulate company files and data. Cloud computing users only use what they need and pay for only what they use. When a company stores applications in the clouds, money and energy is saved because applications run on shared infrastructure where many businesses are utilizing the same server. Think of your emails - they're in a cloud and do not reside on your PC.
Subscribing to a cloud service provider requires little or no capital. The service is delivered over the Internet for a monthly fee and has the potential of saving a business a lot of money.
Cloud computing has been in existence for several years so any "bugs" cloud providers may have experienced have now been solved, and they are very safe. Cloud providers include Amazon, Microsoft, and IBM to name just several.
Cloud computing is used to store, retrieve, and manipulate company files and data. Cloud computing users only use what they need and pay for only what they use. When a company stores applications in the clouds, money and energy is saved because applications run on shared infrastructure where many businesses are utilizing the same server. Think of your emails - they're in a cloud and do not reside on your PC.
Subscribing to a cloud service provider requires little or no capital. The service is delivered over the Internet for a monthly fee and has the potential of saving a business a lot of money.
Cloud computing has been in existence for several years so any "bugs" cloud providers may have experienced have now been solved, and they are very safe. Cloud providers include Amazon, Microsoft, and IBM to name just several.
Friday, January 08, 2010
THE TECHNICOLOR "OVER/UNDER" 3D
The Technicolor on-film system enables exhibitors (worldwide) to use their current 35mm projectors to exhibit 3D films. The on-screen image is comparable to digital 3D and will allow exhibitors to charge a ticket premium just like digital 3D.
Requirements for the Technicolor 3D are a silver screen and certain lighting and film projection parameters which must be met and maintained to run their system. Technicolor will provide a special lens to each exhibitor meeting the specified requirements. Proper evaluation of each auditorium to comply with Technicolor's projection specifications and installation of the lenses will need to be performed by a Technicolor certified cinema equipment dealer that is also a bonafide technical cinema service provider - such as Entertainment Equipment Corp.
The system works with industry accepted polarized glasses and all of the film prints will be optimized for 35mm 3D using Technicolor's new post-production over/under processing.
Requirements for the Technicolor 3D are a silver screen and certain lighting and film projection parameters which must be met and maintained to run their system. Technicolor will provide a special lens to each exhibitor meeting the specified requirements. Proper evaluation of each auditorium to comply with Technicolor's projection specifications and installation of the lenses will need to be performed by a Technicolor certified cinema equipment dealer that is also a bonafide technical cinema service provider - such as Entertainment Equipment Corp.
The system works with industry accepted polarized glasses and all of the film prints will be optimized for 35mm 3D using Technicolor's new post-production over/under processing.
Thursday, January 07, 2010
3D BECOMES MORE INCLUSIVE & PROFITABLE
Currently to run a 3D movie an exhibitor needs a Digital Cinema Projection system and a compliant 3D system - costing approx. $100,000. Given this situation, thus far, only a small number of cinema screens (approx. 3000 out of a total universe of 35,000 in the U.S.) have opted for this capability and the ones that have only upgraded one or two screens at each multiplex.
Now Technicolor, a stalwart in the cinema industry, has developed a new on-film 3D System which will be made available to exhibitors in the near future. The cost of the Technicolor 3D will be much less than the current digital based systems and should be viewed as very good news for both the studios and exhibitors.
3D films generate a significantly greater per screen gross vs. 2D versions of the same movie - so distribution of more 3D films should generate higher grosses and attendance. The U.S. boxoffice gross will exceed $10 billion for 2009 - a record, but not a lot of revenue for a major industry. For example, Wal-Mart grosses $10 billion in sales on any given day. However, the cultural footprint of the cinema is huge in comparison to its dollar value. And certainly for big media a movie's theatrical release is only a small portion of a movie's life cycle as a product. By lowering the cost of 3D, Technicolor's new on-film system will be a boom to the movie industry - both for distributors and exhibitors alike and validates the premise of those, like myself, who have been postulating for some years now, that going digital would be the demise of Hollywood as the studios would lose distribution control. And as we all know, in the digital domain, it's distribution, and not content, that is King.
Now Technicolor, a stalwart in the cinema industry, has developed a new on-film 3D System which will be made available to exhibitors in the near future. The cost of the Technicolor 3D will be much less than the current digital based systems and should be viewed as very good news for both the studios and exhibitors.
3D films generate a significantly greater per screen gross vs. 2D versions of the same movie - so distribution of more 3D films should generate higher grosses and attendance. The U.S. boxoffice gross will exceed $10 billion for 2009 - a record, but not a lot of revenue for a major industry. For example, Wal-Mart grosses $10 billion in sales on any given day. However, the cultural footprint of the cinema is huge in comparison to its dollar value. And certainly for big media a movie's theatrical release is only a small portion of a movie's life cycle as a product. By lowering the cost of 3D, Technicolor's new on-film system will be a boom to the movie industry - both for distributors and exhibitors alike and validates the premise of those, like myself, who have been postulating for some years now, that going digital would be the demise of Hollywood as the studios would lose distribution control. And as we all know, in the digital domain, it's distribution, and not content, that is King.
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