Rethinking the
Consumption Compulsion
Teaque Lenahan, Associate Partner, gravitytank
Alan Marks, SVP Corporate Communication, eBay
Nathan Shedroff, Program Chair, MBA in Design Strategy
Sustainable Brands, May 2009

The most pressing questions of our times:
What’s a more sustainable world look like?
What’s a more meaningful world look like?
What’s a post-consumer world look like?

more sustainable
What’s a more meaningful world look like?
post-consumer

What’s a more sustainable world look like?

“In a stable economy,
sustainability is the competitive
advantage strategy.
In a down economy, sustainability
is the turnaround strategy.
In a collapse, sustainability is a
survival strategy.”
Hunter Lovins, 2009

What’s a more meaningful world look like?

What’s a post-consumer world look like?

We need to :
Think in systems
Engage deeply with our clients & customers
Focus on efficiency, value, and health
Focus on experiences & benefits, not products
Create better assessment tools & metrics
Require transparency & accountability of everyone
Engage diverse stakeholders
Work in multidisciplinary teams
Create new visions based on core meanings
Re/create new economic models
Create new roles for advertising
Re/create new corporate charters

We already have tools to use :
Sustainability Helix
Integrate Bottom Line
Okala™ Curriculum
Meaning and Experience Models
covive.com/gri
grossnationalhappiness.com
B-Corp & Corp2020
sustainableminds.com
www.eiolca.net
(and many more)

Sustainability Helix
Governance and Management Stakeholders & Communities
Operations and Facilities
Design and Process Innovation
Human Resources and Corporate Culture High degree of organizational alignment
Marketing and Communications
Partnerships and Stakeholder Engagement
Stage 0: Stage 1: Stage 2: Stage 3: Stage 4:
Unsustainable Exploration Experimentation Leadership Restoration
“Business as Usual”
natcapsolutions.org/HELIX.htm

DESIGN SUSTAINABILITY
BUSINESS

DESIGN SUSTAINABILITY
MEANING
BUSINESS

makingmeaning.org
DESIGN SUSTAINABILITY
MEANING
VALUES
EMOTIONS
PRICE
FEATURES
BUSINESS

makingmeaning.org
Core Meanings:
Accomplishment Harmony
Beauty Justice
Creation Oneness
Community Redemption
Duty Security
Enlightenment Truth
Freedom Validation
Wonder

SIGNIFICANCE DURATION
Meaning Initiation
Status/Identity Immersion
Emotion/Lifestyle Conclusion
Price Continuation
Function
TRIGGERS EXPERIENCE BREADTH
Sight Product
Sound Service
Smell Brand
Taste Name(s)
Touch Channel/Environment
Concepts (Space)
Symbols Promotion
Price
INTENSITY INTERACTION
Reflex Passive
Habit Active
Engagement Interactive