The Power of Branding (A Story of Two Supermarkets)

Archive for the ‘Social Innovation’ Category

The Power of Branding (A Story of Two Supermarkets)

January 30th, 2012, by Sloane Berrent. 1 Comment »

There is a story I recently heard that I haven’t been able to get out of my head. I told some of my team and then I’ve found myself telling it to friends, in meetings, on the phone. That’s called “stickiness” and so I want to share it here as well.

There are two supermarkets. You walk into the first supermarket and they’ve run out of a product you want and you think, “That’s really a crap store.” You walk into a second supermarket that you really admire and they’ve run out of the product and you think, “I should have been here earlier.”

That’s good branding.

How we feel about places, people, things we interact with on a daily/weekly/monthly basis matters. It matters because our perception of a place becomes reality. Reality is a hard thing to shape, it’s not as cut and dry as everyone would have you believe. After all, the second a moment passes it stops being reality and becomes memory – the most personal and subjective emotion in the world.

Whether you’re creating a Brand from scratch, in the process of reinvention or elevating your Brand to another level, remember you have limited opportunity to create a “moment of truth” and those moments matter. This message applies to all businesses, nonprofits, startups, etc. It’s these succinct stories and messages that I’ve been thinking a lot about as I work to build brands in my day-to-day work.

What’s your story? Which supermarket are you?

This story comes from Michael Wolff, Founder of Wolff Olins (and comes at 3:42 on the video above). I found his video on m ss ng p eces, a Brooklyn-based creative company who created videos for the Intel Visual Life series. I found them through Cowbird, the new storytelling project website from Jonathan Harris. I met Jonathan at Davos in 2010 and greatly admire his work, creativity and creation of new projects on the web.

The Pipeline Fellowship Announces Call for Applications in NYC and Boston

August 23rd, 2011, by Sloane Berrent. No Comments »

When I first heard of Natalia Oberti Noguera, the Founder and CEO of the Pipeline Fellowship I was instantly drawn to what she is actively creating – a network of women angel investors. Women have a long history of giving back – philanthropy – but have not made the same impact in the investment community. I simply had to meet her!

Natalia and I first spoke over the phone and she invited me to a really special and unique one-day conference she held this spring where women (and some men) gathered to learn the nitty-gritty of investing. It wasn’t fluffy inspirational talks (though they have a time and a place!) it was really tactical information. A lot of it was way over my head – a good thing – since the women in the room have a net worth way over my head too and were moving towards becoming accredited investors.

In the past few months, I’ve been thrilled to see Natalia speak at Microfinance USA and read features on her and articles about Pipeline in Forbes, Women2 and Next Billion – and these are just the ones I stumbled across!

So for all of those reasons and a thousand others, I wanted to help spread the word about their current applications that open until next Monday, August 29th. More information is below and here is the application to apply. Stay tuned for more in the fall about the new class of Fellows!

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The Pipeline Fellowship seeks to increase the number of women angel investors (only 13% of U.S. angels are women[1]) through its six-month angel investing bootcamp, which is specifically designed for women who are first-time angel investors. While Fellows come from a variety of backgrounds (law, finance, healthcare, the arts, small business, and more), they all share a common interest in learning to invest for good.

The program trains women philanthropists to become angel investors through education (modules on due diligence, term sheets, valuations, board governance, etc.), mentoring (matching each participant with an experienced angel investor to serve as a role model), and practice (participants commit to invest in a woman-led for-profit social venture at the end of the training).

The cohorts are intentionally small (10 women) and designed to encourage teamwork, co-mentoring, peer-to-peer learning, as well as group decision-making in the investing process. Each participant commits to invest US$5K for a collective US$50K investment in exchange for an equity stake in the woman-led social enterprise of the group’s choosing. The inaugural Pipeline Fellowship class (NYC 2011) will be announcing their investment in late October.

Applications for the 2011-2012 Boston- and 2012 NYC-based Pipeline Fellowship programs are now being accepted on a rolling basis until Monday, August 29, 2011. To apply, go to: http://pipelinefellowship.producteev.com

The Pipeline Fellowship trains women philanthropists to become angel investors through education, mentoring, and practice. In addition to an all-day conference, the program’s educational components include a series of workshops on topics such as portfolio strategies, due diligence, and valuation. Each Fellow is also paired with an experienced angel investor who serves as a role model and a sounding board, sharing feedback and advice. Lastly, the Fellows put their education to work by selecting and investing in a woman-led, for-profit social venture.

Weekly Dose Of Inspiration On The Web

August 17th, 2011, by Sloane Berrent. 1 Comment »

Photo courtesy of Greeblemonkey

I really enjoyed the feedback I received from my last series of Recommended Reading so I’m going to continue the series here. While that very often includes will be articles and posts I’ve read online, I also really would like and envision this space to be able to share videos, music and anything else I find interesting. I see these as my “gems” and for the purpose of this series of posts, I’m going to call it your “Weekly Dose Of Inspiration On The Web.”

The beginnings of each article are included (where it fits), but I definitely suggest that you click through to read the posts in their entirety, leave a commend and see what others are saying!

Google’s biggest CSR opportunity yet
In the hype over how Google has up-ended the tech world with its purchase of Motorola Mobility, one aspect of the deal hasn’t yet attracted attention – but is potentially the most important. Google entering the hardware business should lead to the one breakthrough the market truly needs: a smartphone free of conflict minerals.

How Cindy Gallop Broke Through the “Thick Layer of Men” and Became the Counterpoint to Porn
My inaugural post helped benchmark where we are. The majority of my posts from here on out will help tell the stories of where we are going, who is going to get us there and what lessons we can learn from one another to get there even faster. I also frame up the personal side of things to help give depth and context to each interviewee’s insights and advice. First up, one of the most accomplished and authentic women I know: Cindy Gallop. Not only was Cindy the first woman to have a seat on Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) Global Group’s board, but she is also tackling the topic of sex education from an extremely refreshing and effective angle withMakeLoveNotPorn. More seats in the board room? Safer, happier, healthier sex? Yes to both, please. So: How do we get there? Cindy’s responses explore these topics and more (including “the bitch complex” and solutions, solutions, solutions).

10 Rules For Brilliant Women
I coach brilliant women, lots of them. Dedicated, talented, brilliant women. Most of the time, they don’t know their brilliance. They are certain they “aren’t ready” to take on that next bigger role. They are more attuned to the ways they aren’t qualified than to the ways that they are. They are waiting for someone to validate, promote or discover them. Sound familiar? It’s time to step up, brilliant women.

Finance Forward Issue 2 (May 2011)
We are happy to present the second edition of Finance Forward, an environmental scanning document which looks at forces shaping inclusive financial services in Africa (and beyond). The benefit of periodically scanning the business, economic, social, technological, physical, and political environments in the background of the “system” of financial inclusion is that we can continue to monitor and understand the implications of further developments in these trends and act upon our learning. We scanned a large number and variety of articles (academic and popular) that were published during the fourth quarter of 2010 and first quarter of 2011 to produce this issue of Finance Forward. In these edition we present six themes which are built upon those found in the first edition.

I process it differently now. Views on my travels in developing countries.

March 12th, 2011, by Sloane Berrent. No Comments »

Above is a slideshow of my first day in Haiti with the Fairwinds Trading and the #heartofhaiti bloggers. What’s amazing is that each picture tells a story. A photo is really just a moment in time and from the second before to the second after everything changes. It captures how you feel just then.

So when I was thinking about Haiti and the difference in the experience for me versus some of the other women bloggers who haven’t traveled as much to the developing world I couldn’t help but have an important revelation.

I process it differently now. Developing countries have a different affect on me now than before.

I’m still struck from the moment we land at how different the developing world is from the developed. And I’m still in awe at the differences. But certain aspects I see differently. I still see the trash on the streets and the lack of infrastructure (old cars, building falling down) but now I see past that a lot more quickly.

My eyes now focus on the kids playing, the laughter of women gathered on a street corner, the way people are helping each other cross the street and carry heavy loads.

People ask me what draws me to the developing world and what I say is that it sets me straight. It reminds me of what’s important in this world – people. And I simply love experiencing new places, my senses alive and taking in every moment, every sight and every smell. I like testing my internal compass, I like finding a way to connect with people when I don’t speak their language. And I love being able to debunk myths of what traveling to developing countries is like to people when I get back.

When you look at the photos above, I hope you see the life in them. I hope you see the hope, creativity and progress. There’s more than the ruins, you just have to look beyond the obvious. In other words, process it differently.

Take 5: Kiva Alums, Where Are They Now?

December 14th, 2010, by Sloane Berrent. 2 Comments »

Recently named to Oprah’s Favorite Things list, Kiva is a constant in many of my business and personal relationships. Much of that is from my time as a Kiva Fellow. One of the biggest perks of being a Kiva Fellow is being associated with the other amazing people who are also Kiva Fellows. While our time together is limited, we are only together in-person during a week long training at Kiva HQ in San Francisco, we are all linked together by our shared experiences in the field around the world. There are Kiva Fellows out there doing amazing work in sustainable development, microfinance, technology, getting their masters in business or public administration and running companies.

I wanted to take a moment to share some cool projects I do know about, there are many many others. But here are five of my favorite people I met through Kiva and a quick glance of “where are they now.” Support their organizations and follow these rockstars, they are on the cutting edge of their fields and amazing people to know. I also created a list on Twitter called “Kiva Fellow” which you can follow.

1. iMentor’s mission is to improve the lives of young people from underserved communities through innovative, technology-based approaches to mentoring. Over the past ten years, iMentor has transformed over 20,000 lives including matching over 10,000 mentor-mentee pairs, and partnering with 30 NYC schools and after school programs in four of New York City’s five boroughs and programs all over the country. Hanh Tran, a Kiva Fellow in Vietnam, who recently graduated from NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service, is now working at iMentor as a Program Manager.

2. It’s hard to pick one venture of Halle Tecco’s, so I’m going to include two. First, before becoming an intern at Kiva, Halle founded YogaBear, a national 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to promoting more opportunities for wellness and healing to the cancer community through the practice of yoga. Yoga teachers and studios around the country provide free services to those in the cancer community. This past year she authored with friends, including another Kiva intern Analisa Shah (a powerhouse herself), The Flexitarian Cookbook, a cookbook for carnivores and vegetarians, with recipes from chefs around the country. Proceeds from The Flexitarian Cookbook benefit Slow Food USA and Yoga Bear and can be purchased here.

3. You all know Habitat for Humanity, right? Founded in 1976 by Millard and Linda Fuller, the organization has built over 350,000 houses around the world, providing more than 1.75 million people in 3,000 communities with safe, decent, affordable shelter. Dave McMurtry, a Kiva Fellow in Libya, now serves as the Senior Vice President of Strategy for Habitat International. In his role, he travels the world to visit projects and is hard at work at new and innovative strategies to take Habitat forward. I always love hearing about his exciting travels.

4. Worldreader’s mission is to make digital books available to all in the developing world, enabling millions of people to improve their lives. Where many schools and villages lack a library because they cannot keep current books in circulation, worldreader provides an endless amount of learning with one device. Zev Lowe, a Kiva Fellow in Indonesia, leads worldreader.org’s finance and research, and supports trial development while based in Barcelona. Zev, also known as an international man of mystery, is an enigma. Worldreader is so lucky to have him.

5. Pando Projects is a nonprofit that empowers people to step up as leaders and develop new, local solutions to the problems in their communities and called “the next big thing” by Kiva CEO, Premal Shah. Milena Arciszewski (who wrote a guest blog post on The Causemopolitan this summer) is the Founder and Executive Director and has been working on Pando since she returned to the States earlier this year from a yearlong Kiva Fellowship in Bosnia, Kenya and the Philippines. Launching in 2011, they are currently looking for 10 people (age 18+) with ideas that can be executed within 3 months in the New York City area. You can find out more about submitting a project here. Milena is a true social entrepreneur. I have loved hearing about Pando from an idea she described over dinner at the Bohol Bee Farm in the Philippines to seeing it executed on the verge of launching, it’s the makings of an incredible success story.

Any Kiva Fellows Alumni reading this, please send me your updates or leave a comment below and I’ll include you in an upcoming post!